Geico
Gecko - Six-inch green computer-animated lizard seen
on a series of successful Geico Car Insurance commercials at the
beginning of the Millennium. In the earlier commercials,
pesky phone
callers were confusing the Gecko's phone book listing with the Geico
Car Insurance Company. Speaking in a British accent (Dave Kelly), the
irritated Gecko voiced his discontent with the intrusive consumers looking
for cheaper insurance. Actor Kelsey Grammer supplied the
original voice for the Geico Gecko in the first ad.
English actor Jake Wood, 33, supplies the Cockney accent in the
latest batch of Geico commercials.
Later, in the series of ads,
the Gecko decides that if he can't beat 'em, he'll just try to
join the company as an official mascot. At the Geico audition,
the Gecko lizard meets the former Taco Bell Chihuahua mascot who
steps out of forced retirement to also audition for the role of Geico
mascot. When the dog sees the Geico lizard as potential
competition, he says "Oh, great, a talking gecko."
The Geico
Gecko character was created by the Martin Agency, a Richmond,
Virginia based ad firm. The latest Gecko animation is supplied
by Framestore, a New York-based company.
The Gecko debuted in 1999 for Geico, a Berkshire Hathaway-owned insurance company based in
Washington, D.C. The tagline for the Geico commercials
reads: "Fifteen minutes could save you 15 percent or more on car
insurance."
TRIVIA NOTE: A follow-up of very funny
30-second Geico ads appeared in 2001. The series of three spots
were called "Squirrel", "Car Pool" and "Wuxia." The "Squirrel
spot (written by Joe Lawson and Raymond McKinney and art
directed by Tye Harper) shows a couple of squirrels playing
chicken on a country road that causes a car to swerve off the
road and crash. Thrilled with their results, the giggling squirrels
give each other a high-five for surviving the ordeal.
The "Car
Pool" spot (created by copywriter Anne Marie Hite and art
director Clairborne Riley) featured a plump working mother who
apparently has no car insurance. As she arrives at her
daughter's school on foot pretending to be a car, the mother
honks an air horn while displaying a bumper sticker on her rear
end that reads: "My child is an honor student. When a youthful
bystander asks "Is that your mother?", the woman's mortified
child claims not to know her.
And a spot called "Wuxia" (written
by Joe Lawson and Raymond McKinney and Art Directed by Tye
Harper) parodies the Ang Lee movie Crouching Tiger, Hidden
Dragon (2000) as salesmen perform aerobatic martial arts
moves while they process insurance paperwork. When a policy
holder inquires "How does Geico process my claims so quickly?",
an insurance man replies "Ancient martial arts secret from the
Wuxia (an ancient text)."
