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Government Employees Insurance Company (doing business as GEICO)
Type	Private
Founded	1936, Fort Worth, TX
Headquarters	Chevy Chase, Maryland
Key people	Olza M. "Athony" Nicely, CEO & Chairman
Industry	Finance and Insurance
Products	Auto insurance
Revenue	$9.212 billion USD (2004)[1]
Owner	Berkshire Hathaway
Employees	22,000
Slogan	1. "Fifteen minutes could save you fifteen percent or more on car insurance." 2. "It's so easy a caveman could do it" 3. (Geico Motorcycle) One call could save you money on your motorcycle insurance too...let's ride.
Website	www.geico.com

The Government Employees Insurance Company, usually known by the acronym GEICO, is an American auto insurance company. GEICO is a wholly owned subsidiary of Berkshire Hathaway and, as of 2007, provided coverage for more than 10 million motor cars, trucks and other motor vehicles owned by more than 8 million policy holders. GEICO writes private passenger automobile insurance in the District of Columbia and in all U.S. states except Massachusetts. Image File history File links Broom_icon. ... A private company is a company that is independently owned. ... Year 1936 (MCMXXXVI) was a leap year starting on Wednesday (link will display the full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ... Fort Worth is the sixth-largest city in the state of Texas, located about 30 miles west of Dallas on the West Fork Trinity River and forming part of the Dallas/Fort Worth Metroplex. ... Chevy Chase is the name of both a town and an unincorporated Census-Designated Place (CDP) in Montgomery County, Maryland. ... Finance and Insurance is an industry group that mainly handles the transfer of paper and money, financial assets. These include: Accounting, Asset Management, Electronic Communications Networks, Financial Services Regulatory Agencies, Investment Banking Investment Firms, Investment Funds, Lending, Outsourced Financial Products & Services Marketing, Securities Brokers & Traders, Stock Exchanges, Trade Facilitation, and... To meet Wikipedias quality standards, this article or section may require cleanup. ... For the tax agency in Ireland of the same name, see Revenue Commissioners. ... The United States dollar is the official currency of the United States. ... Year 2004 (MMIV) was a leap year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Berkshire Hathaway (NYSE: BRKA, NYSE: BRKB) is a conglomerate holding company headquartered in Omaha, Nebraska, U.S., that oversees and manages a number of subsidiary companies. ... This article is about work. ... Look up slogan in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... A website (alternatively, Web site or web site) is a collection of Web pages, images, videos or other digital assets that is hosted on one or several Web server(s), usually accessible via the Internet, cell phone or a LAN. A Web page is a document, typically written in HTML... It has been suggested that this article or section be merged with Backronym and Apronym (Discuss) Acronyms and initialisms are abbreviations, such as NATO, laser, and ABC, written as the initial letter or letters of words, and pronounced on the basis of this abbreviated written form. ... To meet Wikipedias quality standards, this article or section may require cleanup. ... Berkshire Hathaway (NYSE: BRKA, NYSE: BRKB) is a conglomerate holding company headquartered in Omaha, Nebraska, U.S., that oversees and manages a number of subsidiary companies. ... Car redirects here. ... Trucks can refer to several things: The plural of: Truck, the motorized vehicle Truck, other uses of the singular As a name: Trucks was a rock band Trucks is a short story by Stephen King Trucks is a movie based on the Stephen King short story Trucks! is a television... Vehicles are non-living means of transport. ... An Insurance contract determines the legal framework under which the features of an insurance policy are enforced. ... ... A U.S. state is any one of the 50 states which have membership of the federation known as the United States of America (USA or U.S.). The separate state governments and the U.S. federal government share sovereignty. ... This article is about the U.S. state. ...

History

GEICO was founded by Leo Goodwin and his wife Lillian Goodwin in 1936 to market auto insurance directly to federal government employees and their families.^[2] Goodwin was inducted into the Insurance Hall of Fame due to the success of the company. GEICO's business model was based on the assumption that such persons would constitute a more financially stable and less risky pool of potential insureds than the general public. After real-time access to computerized driving records became available in the 1970s throughout the United States, GEICO began to insure the general public in addition to its target demographics. Leo Goodwin redirects here. ... Lillian Goodwin co-founded GEICO with her husband Leo Goodwin, Sr. ... The Insurance Hall of Fame is an international list of business leaders in the field. ...

GEICO generally deals directly with consumers via the telephone and the Internet, freeing up capital that would otherwise be spent on employing insurance agents in the field and making the company the nation's largest direct writer of private auto insurance.^[3] GEICO does market their products through a small number of field agents, most of whom are based near military bases^[4]; more recently, GEICO has begun opening offices in locations other than near military bases. These agents are known as GFRs (GEICO Field Representatives). Consumers refers to individuals or households that purchase and use goods and services generated within the economy. ... For other uses, see Telephone (disambiguation). ...

Commercials

GEICO's advertising strategy incorporates a saturation-level amount of print (primarily mail circulars) and television parody advertisements, as well as radio advertisements. A common tagline used by GEICO is "fifteen minutes could save you fifteen percent or more on car insurance." In economics, market saturation is a term used to describe a situation in which a product has become diffused (distributed) within a market; the actual level of saturation can depend on consumer purchasing power; as well as competition, prices, and technology. ... A parody advertisement is a fictional advertisement for a non-existent product, either done within another advertisement for an actual product, or done simply as parody of advertisements -- used either as a way of ridiculing or drawing negative attention towards a real advertisement or such an advertisements subject, or...

"Stupid Things" Ad Campaign

Early GEICO ads were animated and showed someone doing something foolhardy, such as pressing a button and causing a cannon to fire at them. A voice over would then say, "We all do stupid things. Paying too much for car insurance shouldn't be one of them." These were very short and were generally aired with two back-to-back.^{[citation needed]}

The GEICO gecko

GEICO's computer animated gecko.

The company's ads sometimes focus on its reptilian mascot, the GEICO gecko, a talking Day Gecko created by The Martin Agency and most recently a CGI creature generated by Framestore CFC. The gecko first appeared in 1999 during the Screen Actors Guild strike that prevented the use of live actors.^[5] In the original commercial, where the gecko pleads for people to stop calling him in error, mistaking gecko for geico, he was voiced by Kelsey Grammer. In the subsequent commercials, the gecko speaks with a Cockney accent, because it would be unexpected, according to Martin Agency's Steve Bassett. Jake Wood, a British actor and comedian, is the current voice of the GEICO gecko. In current commercials the gecko's accent is more working-class, perhaps in an effort to further "humanize" him.^[6] "As computer animation got better and as we got to know the character better, we did a few things," says Steve Bassett, creative director at The Martin Agency. "We wanted to make him a little more guy-next-door. And he looks a lot more real than he's looked before."^[5] Image File history File links GEICO_Insurance_Gecko. ... Image File history File links GEICO_Insurance_Gecko. ... Species 43 species; see text. ... Millie, once mascot of the City of Brampton, is now the Brampton Arts Councils representative. ... For other uses, see Gecko (disambiguation). ... Phelsumas are small lizards which are also known as day geckos. ... The Martin Agency is a fully integrated, national advertising agency founded in 1965 by David N. Martin with offices in Richmond, VA and New York City. ... The seawater creature in The Abyss marked CGIs acceptance in the visual effects industry. ... Framestore CFC is one of the largest digital film special effects companies in Europe. ... The Screen Actors Guild (S.A.G.) is the labor union representing over 120,000 film actors in the United States. ... Allen Kelsey Grammer (born February 21, 1955 in Saint Thomas, U.S. Virgin Islands) is a six-time Emmy and a two-time Golden Globe-winning American actor who is best known for his two-decade portrayal of psychiatrist Dr. Frasier Crane, whom he played for nine years on Cheers... St Mary-le-Bow The term cockney is often used to refer to working-class people of London, particularly east London, and the slang used by these people. ... Jake Wood (born 12 July 1972) is a British actor. ... 7th millennium BC anthropomorphized rocks, with slits for eyes, found in modern-day Israel. ... See also: Computer-generated imagery Computer animation is the art of creating moving images via the use of computers. ...

Parodies

Another common theme is misdirection, in which the commercial appears to be about an unrelated product (or, in fact, may not even be a commercial) and suddenly changes to become a plug for GEICO. The commercials use a variety of fictional characters such as Speed Racer and Bill Dutchess as well as real people such as Tony Little and Don LaFontaine spoofing themselves. Other commercials relate to a hair loss doctor who has saved by switching to GEICO, a nature show about a fish, and a soap opera of a couple who are breaking up. Another set of GEICO ads involved a fictional reality show called "Tiny House" in which contestants were forced to live in a half-scale house. Speed Racer is the title of an English adaptation of the Japanese anime Mach Go Go Go ) which centered around automobile racing. ... Tony Little (b. ... Don LaFontaine (born August 26, 1940 in Duluth, Minnesota), is a legendary voice actor famous for recording over 5,000 movie trailers, television commercials, network promotions, and video game trailers. ...

An additional commercial theme is the promotion of fictional products. In 2006 parody ads featured such products as long distance phone service, tomato soda, fast-food, a reality TV show, dolls, and even poking fun at the Old Navy commercials - in all cases, the parody portion of the ad ends with "but it won't save you any money on car insurance." After the GEICO slogan is heard, the commercials end with "Why haven't you called GEICO?" This use of fictional products in commercials is reminiscent of the Energizer Bunny campaign for batteries from the late '80s. The Energizer Bunny is the marketing icon and mascot of Energizer batteries. ...

The parody pitch crossed over to the Caveman campaign (see below) in a recent 10 second spot that appears to be a talking heads news interview, but features the popular caveman.

Good News

In another ad campaign, a character would be breaking bad news to another (such as a baseball manager lifting a struggling pitcher for a reliever), but then offer helpfully, "I've got good news," and explain, "I just saved a bunch of money on my car insurance by switching to GEICO!" That news, of course, is of no immediate use at all to the other character. Some of the ads were parodies and/or featured celebrities, including, for example, Esteban. The exchange became parodied for a time while the ads were popular. One of the most watched "I've got good news" spots was a Soap Opera parody featuring television actor Sebastian Siegel. This article is about the sport. ... Esteban (born c. ... The first TIME cover devoted to soap operas: Dated January 12, 1976, Bill Hayes and Susan Seaforth Hayes of Days of our Lives are featured with the headline Soap Operas: Sex and suffering in the afternoon. A soap opera is an ongoing, episodic work of fiction, usually broadcast on television... Sebastian Siegel (born March 6, 1974 in Oxford, England) is a British-American film and television actor. ...

Bland salesman

In another series, a GEICO pitchman is played by actor Jerry Lambert in an extremely bland and understated way, parodying the stereotype of an insurance man, such as reading to some bored-looking kids, from a book of fairy tales about insurance. In one segment, he reads a supposed e-mail from a viewer saying it would be "the bomb", i.e. something good, if the Gecko would do a dance called "The Robot". Cut to the Gecko doing that dance smoothly and gracefully (to the tune of a not-for-public-sale melody called "Sweet World" by a group called "Comega Men"^[7], which was used in the arcade video game In the Groove 2) and then back to the insurance salesman attempting to do the same dance, seemingly more stiffly than an actual robot would. Jerry Lambert (born August 8, 1957) is an American actor and playwright best known for his work on the ABC sitcom, Sons and Daughters, and commercials for products including GEICO and Cheese Nips. ... The robot (or mannequin) is an illusionary dance style - often confused with popping - that attempts to imitate a dancing robot or mannequin. ... In The Groove 2 is the sequel to Roxor Games 2004 arcade game In The Groove. ...

Celebrities

There are also GEICO ads that feature stories from GEICO customers about situations in which Geico assisted them, but narrated by celebrities such as Charo, Charlton Heston, Burt Bacharach, Little Richard, Don LaFontaine ("that announcer guy from the movies"), Peter Graves, and Verne Troyer. D.C. Douglas was also featured.^[8] María del Rosario Pilar Martínez Molina Baeza de Rasten (born March 13, 1951; disputed year 1941) better known in the Latin and Hollywood show business as Charo, is a singer, dancer, comedienne, actress and classical guitar player. ... Charlton Heston (born October 4, 1924) is an US-american film actor, known for playing larger-than-life heroic roles such as Moses in The Ten Commandments, Colonel George Taylor in Planet of the Apes, and Judah Ben-Hur in Ben-Hur. ... This biographical article needs additional references for verification. ... Richard Wayne Penniman (born December 5, 1932), better known by the stage name Little Richard, is an African-American singer, songwriter, and pianist, who began performing in the 1940s and was a key figure in the transition from rhythm & blues to rock and roll in the mid-1950s. ... Don LaFontaine (born August 26, 1940 in Duluth, Minnesota), is a legendary voice actor famous for recording over 5,000 movie trailers, television commercials, network promotions, and video game trailers. ... Peter Graves (born March 18, 1926[1][2]) is an American film and television actor. ... Verne Troyer (born January 1, 1969) is an American actor and stunt man. ... D.C. Douglas (born February 2, 1966, Berkeley, California) is an American character actor, voice actor, and director now living in Los Angeles. ...

Other recent ads have included James Lipton, Michael Winslow ("that guy from Police Academy who does the funny sound effects"), Peter Frampton, Joan Rivers, and The Pips just to name a few. James Lipton (born September 19, 1926 in Detroit, Michigan) is an American writer, poet, and dean emeritus of the Actors Studio Drama School in New York City. ... Michael Winslow (born September 6, 1958 in Spokane, Washington) is an American actor and comedian known as the Man of 10,000 Sound Effects for his ability to make realistic sound effects using only his voice. ... Police Academy is a long-running series of comedy films, the first six of which were made in the 1980s. ... Peter Kenneth Frampton (born April 22, 1950 in Beckenham, Kent) is an English musician, best known today for his solo work in the mid-1970s and as one of the original members of the band Humble Pie. ... Joan Rivers (born June 8, 1933) is an American comedian, actress, talk show host, businesswoman, and celebrity. ... For the BBC pips, see Greenwich Time Signal. ...

Cavemen

Main article: GEICO Cavemen

A popular series of well-received advertisements uses cavemen as pitchmen. Also developed by the Martin Agency, the ads center on Neanderthal-like cavemen, no different from modern-day individuals (outside of the somewhat pre-historic facial features), encountering either an ad or commercial with the tagline "GEICO: so easy a caveman could do it," followed by their disgust with the supposed stereotype of caveman stupidity. The ads posit a world where cavemen are still alive and active members of society in the present day, behaving and living nothing at all like the stereotypical caveman. The main characters presented in the ads are affluent, educated, and cultured, eating at fancy restaurants, going to exclusive parties, and seeing their therapists (portrayed in the commercials by two-time Oscar-nominated actress Talia Shire). The humor revolves around the relative normality of the cavemen's presence and their reactions to the stereotype represented in the ads, and their attempts at defending themselves from the stereotype. This article is about the fictional characters and marketing campaign. ... For other uses, see Neanderthal (disambiguation). ... For other uses, see Caveman (disambiguation). ... Although he never won an Oscar for any of his movie performances, the comedian Bob Hope received two honorary Oscars for his contributions to cinema. ... Talia Shire (born April 25, 1946), is an Academy Award-nominated American actress. ...

The ads were so successful that the commercial actors are appearing in a successful series of interactive websites written and produced by GEICO's in-house creative team at Caveman's Crib. A spin off TV series, titled Cavemen and starring new actors, debuted on ABC Television in October 2007^[9] to generally negative critical reaction. Cavemen was an American television show created by Joe Lawson and set in San Diego, California. ... The American Broadcasting Company (ABC) is an American television network. ...

My Great Rides

In 2007, GEICO also launched a social networking site, My Great Rides, for motorcycle owners. My Great Rides is a place for cycle owners to share stories about trips they have taken on their bikes, as well as post pictures of their motorcycles, and comment on other members stories and pictures.

GEICO Racing

The number 7 car of the NASCAR Nationwide Series is driven by Mike Wallace and is sponsored by GEICO. Commercials involving the race team are of a young boy claiming to be a relative of Mike Wallace and being a better driver. The boy says, "When people see Mike Wallace and the Geico number 7 doing well, they'll think of saving a bunch of money on car insurance. But when they see me, they'll say, 'There goes Loren Wallace;^[10] the greatest thing to ever climb into a racecar.'" Jeff Burton (99), Elliott Sadler (38), Ricky Rudd (21), Dale Jarrett (88), Sterling Marlin (40), Jimmie Johnson (48), and Casey Mears (41) practice for the 2004 Daytona 500 The National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing (NASCAR) is the largest sanctioning body of motorsports in the United States. ... The NASCAR Busch Series is a stock car racing series owned and operated by NASCAR. It is NASCARs minor league circuit (often compared to Triple-A baseball), and is a proving ground for drivers who wish to step up to the organizations big league circuit, the Nextel Cup. ... Mike Wallace, taken 2002 Mike Wallace (born March 10, 1959) is a NASCAR race car driver. ... Mike Wallace, taken 2002 Mike Wallace (born March 10, 1959) is a NASCAR race car driver. ...

The commercials are sometimes presented in an interview fashion, where an unseen narrator speaks to the ambitious go-kart driver. "What do you think of Mike Wallace?" the child is asked, to which he responds, "Whatever, he's out there selling car insurance, I'm out there to win." When questioned on his relation to the NASCAR driver, Loren shakes his head and concludes, "I didn't say I wouldn't go fishing with the man, all I'm saying is if he comes near me, I'll put him in the wall." To which the narrator questions him, "You don't race in the Busch Series." Loren replies "Listen, go-kart track, grocery store, those remote controlled boats; when it comes to Mike Wallace the story ends with me putting him in the wall." A kart racer takes a turn on an indoor track Kart racing (as the word is so spelled by enthusiasts) or karting is a variant of open-wheeler motor sport with simple, small four-wheeled vehicles called karts, go-karts, or gearbox/shifter karts depending on the design. ... Jeff Burton (99), Elliott Sadler (38), Ricky Rudd (21), Dale Jarrett (88), Sterling Marlin (40), Jimmie Johnson (48), and Casey Mears (41) practice for the 2004 Daytona 500 The National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing (NASCAR) is the largest sanctioning body of motorsports in the United States. ... Fishermen in the harbor of Kochi, India. ... Most recent champion(s) Kevin Harvick The NASCAR Busch Series is a stock car racing series owned and operated by NASCAR. It is NASCARs minor league circuit (often compared to Triple-A baseball), and is a proving ground for drivers who wish to step up to the organizations... A kart racer takes a turn on an indoor track Kart racing (as the word is so spelled by enthusiasts) or karting is a variant of open-wheeler motor sport with simple, small four-wheeled vehicles called karts, go-karts, or gearbox/shifter karts depending on the design. ... For a large scale grocery store, see supermarket. ... Mike Wallace, taken 2002 Mike Wallace (born March 10, 1959) is a NASCAR race car driver. ...

New ads in this lineup include Lauren referring to himself as being, "100 miles away and ready to strike," and "lightning in a bottle."

15 Minutes Online

Another series of advertisement features separate YouTube videos of seemingly nonsensical actions, such as a hallway mattress fight, or a highly unusual collection of expressions uttered by a webcam user (YouTube's Brandon Hardesty). As the videos continue, an announcer states, "There may be better ways to spend 15 minutes online." Similar to the 'Stupid Things' ads, these commercials are also often aired back-to-back. YouTube is a popular video sharing website where users can upload, view and share video clips. ... Brandon Hardesty is an American comedic performer noted for his YouTube fame. ...

TRS: The Real Scoop

Introduced in September, 2007, this series of ads features an E! True Hollywood Story-type show about famed fictional characters such as Fred Flintstone, Jed Clampett, and even a Cabbage Patch Kid named Ben Winkler claiming to have their cars (the Flintmobile, Jed's 1923 Oldsmobile truck, and a Plymouth Reliant, respectively) insured by GEICO, featuring interviews with made-up investigators (however, the Ben Winkler spot does not have an interview). E! True Hollywood Story is a TV documentary series on the E! Entertainment Television cable and DBS channel that deals with famous Hollywood celebrities, movies, TV shows and well-known public figures. ... Information Nickname(s) Twinkletoes Aliases Frederick F. Flintstone Species Human Gender Male Age Mid 30s Occupation Crane Operator Family Ed Flintstone (father), Edna Flintstone (mother), Rocksy Rubble (granddaughter), Chip Rubble (grandson), Bamm-Bamm Rubble (son-in-law) Spouse(s) Wilma Flintstone Children Pebbles Flintstone Portrayed by Alan Reed, Henry... Main cast of The Beverly Hillbillies: clockwise from upper left: Donna Douglas (Elly May), Stretch (Duke), Irene Ryan (Granny), Max Baer, Jr. ... Two Cabbage Patch Kids dolls Cabbage Patch Kids are a brand of doll created by Xavier Roberts in 1978. ... Oldsmobile is a brand of automobile produced for most of its existence by General Motors. ... Plymouth Reliant sedan with second facelift The Plymouth Reliant was one of the first two so-called K-cars (the other being the Dodge Aries) the Chrysler Corporation introduced for the 1981 model year. ...

Competition

GEICO's major competitors include State Farm, Allstate, Progressive, Nationwide, and USAA. Progressive is particularly countered in their commercials, with many GEICO commercials countering Progressive's claims of being able to quote their rates and those of several of their competitors' rates by stating that GEICO quotes are only available at GEICO.com. State Farm Insurance Companies are a group of large US insurance and financial services companies started in 1922 by former farmer George J. Mecherle (pronounced Ma-herl). ... The Allstate Corporation NYSE: ALL is the largest publicly held personal lines insurer in the United States. ... The Progressive Corporation (PGR), Progressive Casualty Insurance Company, through its subsidiaries, provides personal automobile insurance, and other specialty property-casualty insurance and related services in the United States. ... Nationwide Mutual Insurance Company & Affiliated Companies is a group of large U.S. insurance and financial services companies based in Columbus, Ohio. ... Please wikify (format) this article or section as suggested in the Guide to layout and the Manual of Style. ...

References

is the 197th day of the year (198th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 2006 (MMVI) was a common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ... February 16 is the 47th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar. ... Year 2007 (MMVII) is the current year, a common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar and the AD/CE era in the 21st century. ... The Hartford Courant is Connecticuts largest daily newspaper, and is a morning newspaper for most of the state north of New Haven and east of Waterbury. ...

External links

• GEICO official website