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The Government Employees Insurance Company, usually known by the acronym GEICO, is an American auto insurance company. GEICO is a wholly owned subsidiary of Berkshire Hathaway and, as of 2006, provided coverage for more than 10 million motor cars, trucks and other motor vehicles owned by more than 7 million policy holders. GEICO writes private passenger automobile insurance in the District of Columbia and in all U.S. states except Massachusetts.

History

GEICO was founded by Leo Goodwin and his wife Lillian Goodwin in 1936 to market auto insurance directly to federal government employees and their families. Goodwin was inducted into the Insurance Hall of Fame due to the success of the company. GEICO's business model was based on the assumption that such persons would constitute a more financially stable and less risky pool of potential insureds than the general public. After real-time access to computerized driving records became available in the 1970s throughout the United States, GEICO began to insure the general public in addition to its target demographics.

GEICO generally deals directly with consumers via the telephone and the Internet, freeing up capital that would otherwise be spent on employing insurance agents in the field and making the company the nation's largest direct writer of private auto insurance. GEICO does, however, market their products through a small number of field agents, most of whom are based near military bases. Although, in recent years, GEICO is now opening offices in locations other than near military bases. These agents are known as GFRs (GEICO Field Representatives).

Commercials

GEICO's advertising strategy incorporates a saturation-level amount of print (primarily mail circulars) and television parody advertisements, as well as radio advertisements. A common tagline used by GEICO is "fifteen minutes could save you fifteen percent or more on car insurance."

Stupid things

Early GEICO ads were animated and showed someone doing something stupid, such as pressing a button causing a cannon to fire at them. A voice over would then say "We all do stupid things. Paying too much for car insurance shouldn't be one of them." These were very short and were generally aired with two back-to-back.

The GEICO gecko

The company's ads sometimes focus on its reptilian mascot, the GEICO talking gecko, created by The Martin Agency and most recently a CGI creature generated by Framestore CFC. The gecko first appeared in 1999 during the Screen Actors Guild strike that prevented the use of live actors. In the original commercial, where the gecko pleads for people to stop calling him in error, mistaking gecko for geico, he was voiced by Kelsey Grammer. In the subsequent commercials, the gecko speaks with an East London Cockney accent, because it would be unexpected, according to Martin Agency's Steve Bassett. In current commercials the gecko's accent is more working-class (a typical Lombardo accent), perhaps in an effort to further "humanize" him. "As computer animation got better and as we got to know the character better, we did a few things," says Steve Bassett, creative director at The Martin Agency. "We wanted to make him a little more guy-next-door. And he looks a lot more real than he's looked before."

Parodies

Another common theme is misdirection, in which the commercial appears to be about an unrelated product (or, in fact, may not even be a commercial) and suddenly changes to become a plug for GEICO. The commercials use a variety of fictional characters such as Speed Racer and Bill Dutchess as well as real people such as Tony Little spoofing themselves. Other commercials relate to a hair loss doctor who has saved by switching to GEICO, a nature show about a fish, and a soap opera of a couple who are breaking up.

An additional commercial theme is the promotion of fictional products. In 2006 parody ads featured such products as long distance phone service, tomato soda, fast-food, and a reality TV show - in all cases, the parody portion of the ad ends with "but it won't save you any money on car insurance." After the GEICO slogan is heard, the commercials end with "Why haven't you called GEICO?" This use of fictional products in commercials is reminiscent of the Energizer Bunny campaign for batteries from the late '80s.

The parody pitch crossed over to the Caveman campaign (see below) in a recent 10 second spot that appears to be a talking heads news interview, but features the popular caveman.

Good News

In another ad campaign, a character would be breaking bad news to another, but then offer helpfully, "I've got good news," and explain, "I just saved a bunch of money on my car insurance by switching to GEICO!" Some of the ads were parodies and/or featured celebrities, including, for example, Esteban. The exchange became parodied for a time while the ads were popular.

Celebrities

There are also GEICO ads that feature stories from GEICO customers about situations in which Geico assisted them, but narrated by celebrities such as Charo, Charlton Heston, Burt Bacharach, Little Richard, Don LaFontaine, Peter Graves, and Verne Troyer. D.C. Douglas provides the voiceover.

Cavemen

A popular series of well-received advertisements used cavemen as pitchmen. Also developed by the Martin Agency, the ads centered on Neanderthal-like cavemen, no different from modern-day individuals (outside of the somewhat pre-historic facial features), encountering either an ad or commercial within the commercial that says "GEICO: so easy a caveman could do it," followed by their disgust with the supposed stereotype of cavemen stupidity. The ads posit a world where cavemen are still alive and active members of society in the present day, behaving and living nothing at all like the stereotypical cave man. The main characters presented in the ads are affluent, educated, and cultured, eating at fancy restaurants, going to exclusive parties, and seeing their therapists. The humor revolves around the relative normalcy of the cavemen's presence and their reactions to the stereotype represented in the ads, and their attempts at defending themselves from the stereotype.

The ads were so successful that a spinoff TV series, titled Cavemen, is being developed for ABC.

My Great Rides

In 2007, GEICO also launched a social networking site, My Great Rides, for motorcycle owners. My Great Rides is a place for cycle owners to share stories about trips they have taken on their bikes, as well as post pictures of their motorcycles, and comment on other members stories and pictures.

Competition

GEICO's major competitors include State Farm, Allstate, Progressive, Eastwood Insurance, Nationwide and USAA. Progressive is particularly countered in their commercials, with many GEICO commercials countering Progressive's claims of being able to quote their rates and those of several of their competitors' rates by stating that GEICO quotes are only available at GEICO.com.

References

1. Revenue: premiums written (2004), from Berkshire Hathaway 10-K
2. History on company website
3. GEICO at a Glance on company website
4. ^ Gecko wasn't first choice for Geico. USA Today, July 16 2006. Retrieved Feb 16 2007.
5. "Little Lizard Says 'Ello To A New Inflection", The Hartford Courant, 22 February 2006.

External links

• GEICO official website
• Caveman's Crib
• My Great Rides-Social Site for Motorcycle Owners
• Slate.com article "The Best Ad On Television"
• Geico Gecko Ads reviewed
• Geico Celebrity Ads reviewed
• Geico Caveman Ads reviewed

• Insurance companies of the United States
• Berkshire Hathaway
• Companies based in Maryland
• NASCAR sponsors
• Advertising campaigns