Geico paved the way in which for insurance coverage mascots practically 30 years in the past, and whereas the model has gone by fairly a number of characters through the years—damaging raccoons, speaking camels, joyful piglets, gleeful woodchucks and Pinocchio—solely two have been in a number of spots and just one had its personal sitcom.
Most individuals consider the Gecko once they suppose Geico, and the cheeky lizard actually has earned his spot as a real promoting icon, however the Caveman rivals the gecko’s reputation. We simply haven’t seen him shortly.
Geico and longtime inventive accomplice The Martin Company will reintroduce the Caveman within the first of what seems to be a sequence of spots. The hero two-minute spot known as “The Nightmare” and it’s the primary time we’ve seen the character in a few years—twenty years if we go by what the character says within the spot.
“The Nightmare,” which is the longest advert Geico has ever run on TV, will air on NBC Sunday Evening Soccer Dwell. The spot options the Caveman waking from a dream in mattress along with his spouse, the place Geico’s notorious tagline continues to taunt him. He reads a letter to his spouse about Geico asking him to be in a brand new Geico documentary, and he or she urges him to set the file straight.
A quick historical past of the Caveman
Ever because the model asserted that “Geico’s really easy, a caveman can do it” in 2004, he’s taken offense. Now, years later, viewers get a glimpse into the Caveman’s private life and discover out why he’s returning.
“Again in 2004, Geico’s Caveman spots broke new floor in comedic promoting by telling the story of the anti-spokesperson. The tone was dry, edgy and generally biting. That’s a part of why it caught in folks’s recollections,” mentioned Neel Williams, group inventive director at The Martin Company.
Williams went on to say that re-introducing an advert icon just like the Caveman can’t be taken evenly, which is why the workforce took benefit of the two-minute alternative, which was in a position to present the vary of the character: dramatic, poignant, subversive, intimate and relatably human.
“After we dip into our personal nostalgia nicely, we wish to do it with objective, not simply because we are able to. This was a case the place the enterprise drawback, temporary and media alternative helped lead us to the last word execution,” mentioned Williams.
Whereas the Caveman has made some visitor appearances on choose Geico commercials since his first look, that is the primary time audiences will see the Caveman as a significant supporting character. There was a short-lived sitcom on ABC primarily based on the spokes-Neanderthals in 2007, nevertheless it didn’t discover an viewers just like the commercials had.