GEICO DIRECT AUTO INSURANCE.

Campaign Name: The Sensible Alternative: TV Campaign

Product/Service: GEICO Automobile Insurance

Agency: The Martin Agency, Richmond, VA.

Diamond Echo Award

GEICO's key distinction in the auto insurance industry is its method of conducting business-- direct

The company wanted to communicate five important tenets about its insurance: a 15 minute rate quote; 15 percent savings; complete 24-hour service; eliminating the middleman and 48-hour claims handling.

A combination of national cable TV, spot TV and national and local radio was used to reach the target audience of adults 24-64 years old. The majority of TV ads consisted of a combination of two 15 second spots which were to fill a single 30 second unit. This was done to allow is to vary messages by market, place emphasis on the key offer (15 minute rate quote and 15 percent savings), and ensure that the phone number/call to action would appear twice within the 30 second unit.

Each ad not only used a strong call to action but a sense of humor to convey the sales message. For example:

Open on a man sitting at a table reading a newspaper. He has a cup of coffee in his left hand. Man casually checks his watch. Accidentally pours coffee in his lap. Continues reading the paper.

Voice over: Paying too much for car insurance isn't any smarter.

Cut to GEICO phone number.

Ending: GE/CO. A 15-minute call could save you 15 percent or more on car insurance.

This series of humorous ads ran for the 12 months of 1998. Telephone inquiries that year exceeded 1997 phone levels by 44 percent. This made 1998 the most successful year in GEICO's 62-year history, for the fifth year running. Inquiries for each of the past four years have increased an average of 40 percent. New business (policies) for the year were also up 44 percent from 1997 and 106 percent versus the planned 1998 objectives.

GEICO reports that the cost per response was $23. The cost of this particular campaign is proprietary, but the total cost for all production/media for 1998 was approximately $30 million.