Geico Elects to Go With Variety in Campaigns - Advertising

Excerpt from an article in

The New York Times

Friday, March 16, 2012

Geico Elects to Go With Variety in Campaigns - Advertising

By STUART ELLIOTT

HE is traveling “from sea to shining sea,” he declares, at a prodigious pace, visiting states with lots of electoral votes like California, New York and Texas as well as states with just a few like Nevada. And what he calls his “journey of epic proportions” is the subject of advertising worth tens of millions of dollars, on television and radio and on social media like Facebook and YouTube.

But no, he is not running for president. For one thing, his accent suggests he is not a natural-born American citizen. For another, he is not even human.

The “he” in question is the Geico gecko brand character, who is appearing in a campaign devised around a trip across the country. The campaign is joining at least five others that are currently promoting the insurance sold by the Geico Corporation, part of Berkshire Hathaway.

Geico likes to run several types of campaigns at the same time, each with a different theme. Its approach has inspired other insurers — among them Allstate, Progressive and State Farm — to pursue a similar strategy.

“We do have more than one arrow in the quiver, that’s for sure,” said Ted Ward, vice president and chief marketing officer at Geico.

“The common thread is the little green guy is ever-present in the mix,” he added, as the Geico “brand ambassador.”

The intent of the multiple campaigns is “trying to keep things fresh for the consumer,” Mr. Ward said. “We do some research,” he added, which finds that “people have some likes and dislikes” among the campaigns.

In addition to the gecko’s journey, they now include commercials that carry the theme “There’s an easier way to save”; ads that depict the Geico cavemen characters playing golf and tennis; commercials featuring an anthropomorphic pig that likes car, zip line and street luge rides; straightforward ads for motorcycle insurance; and magazine ads, tailored to the publications in which they appear, meant to remind readers that “it only takes 15 minutes to see how much you could save with Geico.”

Each campaign “has a purpose,” Mr. Ward said. “As long as each accomplishes its purpose, we’re comfortable with running more than one at a time.”

“And we have some more coming,” he added.