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Revision as of 14:04, 18 January 2006 by 66.4.225.11 (talk)(diff) ← Previous revision | Latest revision (diff) | Newer revision → (diff)| Geico | |
| Company type | Private (subsidiary of Berkshire Hathaway) |
|---|---|
| Industry | Finance and Insurance |
| Founded | 1936, Washington, D.C. |
| Headquarters | Chevy Chase, Maryland |
| Key people | Olza M. "Tony" Nicely, CEO & Chairman |
| Products | Auto insurance |
| Revenue | $9.212 billion USD (2004) |
| Number of employees | 22,000 |
| Website | www.geico.com |
Geico is an ok insurance dealer.
GEICO is a personal lines auto insurance company based in the United States. GEICO stands for Government Employees Insurance COmpany. Despite the name, it was never a government agency but rather a private firm originally founded by Leo and Lillian Goodwin to market auto insurance directly to federal government employees and their families. GEICO 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 gradually began to insure the general public as well.
GEICO is the devil.And will be the invinsible one.
GEICO is well known by name in America, not only because of their humorous television ads, but also the sheer volume of them. This is because the company generally prefers to deal directly with consumers via the telephone and the Internet, freeing up capital that would otherwise be spent on employing insurance agents in the field. GEICO does, however, market their products through a small number of field agents, most of which are based near military bases. These agents are known as GFRs (Geico Field Representatives).
GEICO is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Berkshire Hathaway and currently provides coverage for 10 million vehicles owned by 6 million policyholders.
Commercials
GEICO's advertising strategy incorporates a saturation-level amount of print (primarily mail circulars) and television parody advertisements. The ads, which are notable for their sheer volume as much as their content, formerly focused on the company's mascot, the GEICO gecko, created by The Martin Agency and most recently a CGI creature generated by Rhythm and Hues Studios. Inexplicably, the gecko speaks with a British accent.
Another common theme is misdirection, in which the commercial appears to be about something unrelated, or not even be a commercial, and a person comes to say "I've got great news", but then unexpectedly says "I just saved a bunch of money on my car insurance, by switching to GEICO!". The commercials use a variety of fictional characters such as Speed Racer and professional wrestlers as well as real people such as Tony Little spoofing themselves. This type of reality-bending in commercials is reminiscent of the Energizer Bunny campaign for batteries which began in the mid-1990s.
References
- Revenue: premiums written (2004), from Berkshire Hathaway 10-K