GEICO - Advertising Campaigns

Advertising Campaigns

GEICO has many well-known ad campaigns. All are made and produced by The Martin Agency, which is based in Richmond, Virginia. GEICO ads have featured several well-known mascots, including:

• "MARTIN", the GEICO gecko" (an anthropomorphic Day Gecko) who is the most prevalent spokesperson and speaks with a Cockney accent. The Gecko was initially voiced by Kelsey Grammer, followed by broadcaster Dave Kelly, and is currently voiced by Jake Wood.
• The GEICO Cavemen (from ads claiming using their website is "so easy, a caveman could do it") who then became the stars of the short-lived sitcom (unrelated to GEICO) Cavemen.
• Maxwell, the GEICO "Piggy" who shouts an annoying "Weeeee" in both radio and TV ads.
• A small stack of money with eyes and the song "Somebody's Watching Me" by Rockwell.
• Actor Mike McGlone, who uses film noir-style narration to compare the ease of GEICO to things, famous people, or idioms. ("Could switching to GEICO really save you 15% or more on car insurance?...Is having a snowball fight with pitching great Randy Johnson a bad idea?") The scene is then acted out, with typically humorous results. In addition to Johnson, other ads have included Charlie Daniels, R. Lee Ermey, and Ed "Too Tall" Jones among others, including Maxwell the Piggy.
• The "money savers" campaign enlisted actors to portray average consumers who have resorted to various humorous extremes in order to save money, such as teaching a dog to sing or teaching a group of Guinea pigs to row a boat and perform some mundane task for the consumer, and then presented switching to GEICO as an easy alternative to such endeavors with the common line ".... there's an easier way to save money."
• The "Happier Than...." duo features Jimmy and Ronnie playing a guitar and a mandolin, respectively, playing their instruments on a small portable stage. They comment on a fictitious preceding event, such as a man dressed in 15th century attire laughing as he leads a trio of speed boats. The names painted on the boats are Nina, Pinta, and Santa Maria. After cutting to the duo, one says to the other "You know, folks who save hundreds of dollars by switching to GEICO sure are happy." To which is replied "How happy are they (Jimmy/Ronnie)?" In the case above, it is replied "Happier than Christopher Columbus in a speedboat!"

There are also GEICO ads that feature stories from GEICO customers about situations in which the company assisted them, but are translated by celebrities like Little Richard and Joan Rivers. Film trailer announcer Don LaFontaine appeared in one such ad, shortly before his death. The tag announcer for these spots was D.C. Douglas.