Sunday, June 7, 2009
Geico cavemen can’t escape who they are.
You can’t escape them either, can you. Yeah, you know the answer. Geico is about the only brand I can think of with so many voices—yet all work at the same time. They have the gecko, a holdover character that many brands would’ve rode into the ground long ago. They have the Cavemen. They have testimonials. They have money with eyes. Speaking of, you might have thought the cavemen were hibernating after their failed sitcom, but they’re back.
Their latest spots (above and Bowling here), has them using Three Doors Down’ Let Me Be Myself as a metaphor for their life. The song applies to Geico too, although at first glance you wouldn’t think so, what with all those multiple directions. Generally, characters for brands work because they either polarize audiences equally with love/hate (Cavemen, BK King), or become icons(Maytag repairman, Mr. Whipple). Whereas almost all brands have one, Geico has at least two. Credit to them and Martin for not doing what many brands do every year: Follow a USA Today Fad Meter and switch out campaigns wholesale based on the results.
While money that stares at you and animated lizards seem far apart on the advertising food chain, the common denominator lies in their effective direct response sign-off “15 minutes could save you 15%.” My unscientific study shows that based on the incoming traffic here, Cavemen still have milage too: No.1 term people type to end up here is almost always make the logo bigger. No. 2? Geico cavemen.
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3 comments:
I have advocated for the murder of the gecko in the past, but in not killing him off, Geico/Martin extend the brand's reach. If you asked a grade-schooler to name an insurance company (not something kids buy or know much about) they could name Geico - along with money with eyes, a lizard and cavemen.
Love the bowling spot. Geico deserves credit for at least making the cavemen cool again after the whole sitcome fiasco could have buried them for good.
While each is effective toward branding, what's always surprising to me is that few understand that each icon brands a different aspect of the business. The Cavemen brand online services (so easy a caveman could do it) money brands the value proposition (that's the money you could be saving) and Gecko brands the corporate identity.
So while each icon works toward the whole of moving policies, the fact that few of us can reflect back what's actually being said by each is concerning. What's the point of having the different icons if the core meaning of each is being lost?
Still, there's no doubting the effectiveness of the campaigns and as entertainment they are usually quite good.
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