WHITEBOARD, THE
Central Penn Business Journal, Nov 13, 2009 by Taylor, David
GEICO, I’ve been watching you, but I don’t see what the big deal is
Dear GEICO,
I just wanted to write and say: I get it.
I. GET. IT.
You sell car insurance. I KNOW.
Fifteen minutes could save me 15 percent or more on my car insurance. O-K.
If there is a better example of the power of advertising, I don’t know what it is. You are running not one, but three campaigns simultaneously and have grown your sales by roughly a billion dollars ayear since 2001. Last year you spent more than $750 million on advertising. Heck, that’s more that Barack Obama, and he only did it for one year. With you it never stops.
It never, ever stops.
Repetition is rule No. 1 for successful advertising, and to achieve this you have developed your savings message into a three-headed campaign: a witty lizard with a British accent, a very sensitive caveman, and most recenty a wad of cash with eyes – which is, you explain persistenty, the money I could be saving with you. (I hear his official nickname is “Kash.”)
I can’t detect any obvious demographic or psychographic targeting within these approaches; just three funny, memorable ideas running at the same time. Your current and past campaigns are so good, they have been parodied in ways that essentially repeat your message millions of more times for free, especially the line, “But I just saved a bunch of money on my car insurance.”
I found out you’ve been around forever. Started in 1936 as the Gov- ernment Employees Insurance Company. In the ’70s you started selling insurance to the general public. In 1996, you were bought by Berkshire Hathaway. BINGO! King Midas himself, Warren Buffett, is behind your relentess success. That same year, you spent $31 million on advertising. In 2004, more than $500 million, and Mr. Buffett said, “I can’t wait to spend more.” He did and it’s working; you now have more than million policyholders and are highly profitable.
I would venture to say that every man, woman and child knows who you are and what you are promising. Even my dog is starting to get the idea, and she’s not that bright.
And yet, I have never called you. Never saved the number or clicked on a link. Why is that?
Maybe it’s because in spite of all your clever, entertaining ads, I still don’t believe you. Sure, I might save some money, but what would I be getting? I was so unsure, I a completely unscientific study of consumers by asking a bunch of people I know if they had ever called GEICO, and if not why not. The answer: They didn’t call because they don’t trust your product.
No one doubted your message of savings, although a few noted that other companies make similar claims. But several said there was a sense that yours is “cheap” insurance; and that if they needed to make a claim, it might not be a good experience.
So I would like to make a suggestion:
You have every right to tell me about your insurance company as often as you possibly can. And I don’t think you’ve missed many opportunities. But perhaps, now that you’ve tattooed your message of potential savings on my cerebral cortex, you could add a little proof of good service to your parade of messages
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