-By Gregory Solman

LOS ANGELES Farmers Insurance has issued requests for information in the review for its creative and media business -- and keeping pace with Geico is a top priority for the company moving forward, per sources.

Despite a big boost in ad spending from about $50 million just a few years ago to $160 million in 2007, Farmers is feeling the heat from Geico, which last year spent more than $500 million in domestic measured media, according to sources.

Farmers is looking for high-impact advertising that is compelling, engaging, entertaining and built around insight. "In other words," said a source familiar with the RFI, Farmers is asking shops, "Where's my gecko or caveman?" as it seeks ideas on par with Geico's well-known commercial icons.

The company is concerned that Geico's overall marketing spend could top $1 billion this year and that fully half of all consumers now get a quote from Geico when shopping for insurance, per sources.

Farmers believes its own recent promotional efforts have been lacking and should not have concentrated on building overall brand awareness at the exclusion of driving consumer behavior, sources said.

The client is seeking an ROI-oriented agency focused on advertising's incremental impact on generating new business.

The incumbent, Interpublic Group's Campbell-Ewald here, plans to defend.

Competitors progressing to the review's later stages will be asked to create an integrated campaign that includes media and online strategy, said sources.

The paperwork is due back Aug. 22 with a field of six to eight agencies named by early September, a cut to four finalists by mid-October and a selection by the end of that month, sources said. The client would prefer shops with a Los Angeles presence and 100-plus employees.

Recipients could not be immediately determined and neither the search consultancy Select Resources International nor the client could be reached for comment.

The RFI does not discuss ad-spending levels or agency compensation, but it does express Farmers' desire to catch up in a category in which it believes it is rapidly falling behind, sources said.