Geico: Hit, Hit, But Now a Whiff

Geico is an interesting advertiser to watch.  

First, they created their Gecko campaign, which was a very memorable and distinctive way to capture attention, create brand recognition and get people to listen to Geico's marketing messages.  Then, Geico topped themselves with the wildly successful Caveman campaign (Geico.com:  So Simple a Caveman Could Do It).  I don't think any other advertising campaign has ever been so successful that Hollywood made a sitcom out of it.  Well-deserved congratulations are due to everyone at Geico and their agency for these two advertising home runs.

Unfortunately, Geico has just launched a third campaign that's a dud.  It's focussed on how much money you can save with Geico.  Not a bad message in this time of economic distress, but why did Geico think they needed a third campaign to deliver this message?  Couldn't the Gecko or the Cavemen have communicated this message?  Yet Geico went to the time and expense of creating a third campaign.  Not only has this cost them time and money, but it has diminished their focus on two proven campaigns.  

I'm sure the logic behind this move had something to do with Geico wanting to keep the other two campaigns' messages "pure" and feeling that they needed a new campaign to focus on what Geico must believe is a very important "value" message that's obviously extremely relevant right now.  

I could ALMOST agree with this logic if Geico's third campaign weren't so poorly executed.  It features a stack of money with some weird looking eyeball type of thing sitting on top of the pile of cash.   This money/eyeball thing shows up unexpectedly to the background tune of "Who's Watching Me" and puzzles people (including viewers in my opinion) who wonder what the heck this stack of bills with the odd peepers is all about.  That's when the Geico value message kicks in. 

On the plus side, the new campaign has the same quirky brand personality of the other two Geico campaigns.  However, it lacks the appeal and humanity of the Gecko and the Cavemen.  As viewers, we LIKE the gecko and the cavemen.  There is nothing to like about this odd stack of money with the creepy eyeballs.   The casting of the spots is equally puzzling.  The people in them aren't funny or amusing or even appealing.  They're all kind of clueless, much like I have been every time I see one of these new ads.

No one hits a home run every time.  Geico's ad and marketing people have certainly performed far better than most.  They have two campaigns to be proud of.   I think the "marketing sanity" thing to do would be to retire this new effort sooner rather than later.   I hope Geico gives us more of their two powerhouse campaigns.  More of the gecko!  More cavemen!  

I HOPE that this new effort does not signal that Geico is getting tired of their gecko or getting bored with their cavemen.  They've got two thoroughbred campaigns.  They ought to ride them until they drop.  And both still look pretty darn fresh to me.