Behind the Scenes
By John Fonville on January 6, 2012 at 8:17 AM
Posted in: Marketing & Communications
Ever watch a favorite GEICO commercial and think, “Who comes up with these ideas?” GEICO Now goes straight to the source and talks to the creative director behind some of GEICO’s most loveable characters—from the Gecko to the guinea pigs.
He dishes about the Gecko’s origins, how one GEICO character got his own ABC sitcom, favorite moments on set, and more.
Read about it at geiconow.com.
I LOVE Maxwell the pig! In an era when so many commercials are not at all creative and can be very inappropriate, the Geico commercials with Maxwell are fun, light-hearted, and very creative. Sure, not everyone may love his squeel, but I think most people would agree that his presence is intended to make people happy, rather than attracting their attention through more offensive and/or run-of-the mill ways. Really, is a squeeling, happy pig so annoying when the majority of commercials are incredibly boring, inappropriate and/or really poorly written? Long live Maxwell!
I love the pig (reminds me of my Navy SEALson), but…why would I choose to be in the same insurance pool with him?
just kidding. I love creative commercials that make me laugh,
Anyone in the mood for bacon?
WHERE Is MAXWELL ???????? WHERE Is MAXWELL ?????? HELP,…….ANYONE !
This is SERIOUS, Very SERIOUS !!!
I LOVE MAXWELL ! I LOVE his WEEEEEEEEEE-ing, Everything about him !
BUT,
I have’nt seen him on TV in well over a month (the Boston TV area).
He disappeared from TV around April 1, 2012.
Someone PLEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEZ tell me when he’ll return to BOSTON (area) TV.
I absolutely hate Geico’s current series of commercials. The cavemen have become too precious. The gecko is an annoying little fop. And the squealing pig…oh my god, is there any more annoying character on all of television right now? Seriously Geico, it’s time to switch ad agencies. Judging by the other comments on this blogpost, I’m pretty sure this one will never see the light of day.
“Who comes up with these ideas?” Yes, who comes up with annoying screaming pigs? Annoying laughing witches. I cant move fast enough to mute the volume or change the channel when your annoying,stupid commercials come on. At least the cave men din’t make these annoying sounds.
I cannot mute fast enough on that annoying laughing witch. Worse commercial on tv next to the singing on jtwentwoth commercial.
There aren’t many commercial characters that make my skin crawl. One is certainly the annoying little Gecko with the fop british accent. Geico seems to just try too hard. Too damn many commercials. I guess that means people are buying their insurance. I wouldn’t touch it.
Oh thank you for the latest piggy on the airplane commercial! I laugh everytime I see it. The stewardesses are just perfectly prissy. I love the gekko and loved the cavemen, too.
The pig sucks. The lizard was alright but the pig I can’t standThat’s airplane commercial sucks. The zip line commercial sucks. That weird guy with his eyes really close sucks. Geico and Geico commercials suck.
I hate your commercials. Especially that pig.
I have never had a problem with Geico commercials however that last pig commercial on a mountain top on a date, with a female is totally inappropiate and gross, who comes up with this ridicoulous ideas. I hope it could be removed from TV, it’s just very disturbing
The pig was always annoying. Now he’s tending toward gross. I guess the “parking” concept is supposed to be funny. It isn’t.
It will be to the relief of many of us when this spokesman is dumped.
Yeah, because filing a complaint = business.
I hope sarcasm isn’t lost on your room-temperature intelligence.
God, even the comment form on this blog sucks.
I simply despise Geico’s commercials. ALL OF THEM!
Every time that lizard shows up on my TV screen, I cannot mute it fast enough.
As a marketing professional, I have seen many appalling campaigns, however Geico takes the price on bad taste.
Please make it stop!
Thanks
First of all, I LOVE all the Geico commercials. I find them creative, original, and refreshing. While the Gecko is clever in its own right, my favorite character, hands down is the pig, Maxwell (yes,I confess, I actually know his name). For those of you who actually use the word “hate” to describe your dislike for these commercials, frankly are taking life way to seriously. This is not a real character people! Lighten up and understand that the marketing team behind Geico is doing what they are charged to do and that is to promote the Geico brand and it appears have been quite successful at it. For those of you who would actually drop GEICO over an ad, well, that is just bizarre. Personally, I don’t have GEICO Insurance because I have another company that works for me but if for some reason my company came up with crazy ads, I wouldn’t cancel because of ads, it would be because they don’t serve my needs. Lighten up people and rediscover the child within that must have hightailed it out of you a long time ago. And to those of you who are going on and on and take offense with the hilltop scene I say…Seriously? Do you take this much offense at what’s shown on “reality” TV?
Most GEICO commercials are very entertaining but the one with the pig parking with the girl and the sexual inuendo is creepy. Very inappropriate
Geico I will not ever buy your insurance because your pig in the car was innapropriate and sick. You show bad judgent for allowing such a ad. All our friends have found the ad sick and discusting. Shame on you Geico.
A woman who wants to make-out with a pig? Are you serious? How sick are your advertising execs.? Are they on Crack??? Get that weirdness off TV! I have children for Gods sake!
I agree the ad is bordering on beastiality and is disgusting
Anyone with a functioning brain would agree 110% with those who have commented on the absolutely disgusting, vile, vulgar commercial depicting a human female and the pig..it is pure filth and the subject of beastiality is neither entertaining nor amusing….it has always been a heinous flaw in Mankind ..the Geico employee who okayed it and the person who created it are both lacking in common sense and maturity! BEASTIALITY IS PROOF OF HUMANS DEPRAVITY AND INSANITY….ONLY EVIL IGNORANT HUMAN COWARDS ABUSE ANIMALS!
I would like to also state that both the Geico employee who okayed the pig/human female commercial and the person who created it should be fired and Geico should issue a formal apology to those of us who are deeply offended by it and realize the commercial desensitizes society and those who practice beastility should be told exactly how insane they are.
I am a professional in the marketing industry. The spot the pig and the woman stranded in a car has an immoral and sickening underpinnings that refer to bestiality. This leads me to ask bigger questions that point to the storyboarding team. I will research this and put them out here. I encourage all people of faith, especially Christians, to find a different insurance carrier. No apologies will suffice from Geico.
Sorry to the creatives on this project, but I totally despise these characters, the gecko and the pig.
The are really annoying.
Saying that people are talking about geico due to them is a weak excuse for crappy character creation.
I agree!! It doesn’t matter if it is a “fake” pig or not. It is the general idea. While I can deal with most of the inane commericials, most of them have been good. This commercial flirts with the idea of bestiality, and has made me think twice about considering a switch….which I HAD been doing.
PULL THIS COMMERCIAL ASAP!! (Oh, btw, I’m a former Marine, and have heard and seen nearly everything. I do NOT get offended by every little thing…..but THIS??????)
I know there is a school of advertising which maintains that a commercial must be obnoxious in order to be effective. GEICO apparently subscribes to this philosophy. For the record, let me say this: talking lizards, squealing pigs, watermelon smashers, psychotic basketball players, cackling witches, and all the rest of the GEICO cast of offensive characters never persuaded me to buy anything. At this point, nothing short of a loaded .45 would ever persuade me to switch to GEICO. Hope I didn’t give GEICO’s ad agency any ideas with that last statement!
Don’t mind the pig on the plane ~ but the pig on a date is offensive! Can’t believe the higher ups ok’ed this commercial!
Geico’s commercials – well, some of them – are OK a couple of times. But they’re on nonstop, which makes them massively annoying and leads me to wonder how much money the company’s wasting on its ad budget that could go to reducing rates.
Very few commercials make me change the channel, Geico has at least 3 on that list. How does the fcc allow you to crank the volume up on these annoying noises (pig whee, dumb lizard flat tire? When you’re selling a product or service, not all attention is good attention. I’m on this blog, not because I’m buying something, but because you need to know what is losing you customers. I will never use this company and will do my best to make sure others don’t.
If Geico ran ads that did not insult people like the moron running dashing around insulting people and throwing trash at them they might improve their sales.
Of all of your commercials the one cited above is the most offensive. How your experts could expect that having that man running around bashing things would make anyone want to buy your insurance beats me. I would say get it off the air ASAP!
Reading all of these negative comments, makes me think everyone of these negative comments came from their competitors. The FACT that the Dikembe Mutombo commercial on YOUTUBE has 2,415,071 VIEWS says something. It says, people are actually going to YOUTUBE to watch GEICO commercials
Peace. I love the GEICO Commercials, sure beats the annoying E-TRADE baby, that’s for sure.
Are they proud of their commercials? Really nice when you see the pig stealing a guys girlfriend due to lower rates. Way to show viewers that they have some morals. Now we have cheating pig. That is very low. The pig is about as bad as the Caveman, though nothing is worse that the Gieco with a fake accent. Glad I switched. I did save on my car insurance, Progressive. Go Flo!!!!!