Geico Cavemen Rocking Again

For my money, the Geico cavemen were never more amusing than when they were playing golf, ordering mango salsa and talking out their issues on a therapist's couch (with Mom joining by speakerphone). Devoted metrosexuals, they hated Geico for promoting outdated stereotypes with the line, "So easy, a caveman can do it." That was almost four years ago. The sophisticated comedy is based on upping the ante in style and manners for these effete, bathrobe-wearing, loft-dwelling cavepeople, so they get more attitudinal with each primitive portrayal of their caveman forebears. That's a delicate, somewhat counterintuitive maneuver that's hard to sustain, especially in advertising. It's like Stephen Colbert affecting the air of an obnoxious Bill O'Reilly type, and then having to stay in character even while visiting Iraq, where satire is a luxury that seems beside the point.Colbert somehow managed to do it. But in truthiness, the past couple of years have not been so kind to the cave dudes. Getting their own network sitcom would seem to be the equivalent of jumping the mastodon. It bombed, big time. Afterward, some of the callower cave fellows showed up in ads so lame that they seemed to be knockoffs from another agency. They weren't. That was a real Geico cave character dancing with a caveman's overbite and unfunny abandon in one spot. Fortunately for the brand, The Martin Agency is adept at keeping three or four different sub-campaigns going simultaneously. So, the tiny, Cockney Gecko is still rocking. And the introduction of Kash, a stack of money with eyes, creeped me out initially, but now I think it's the essence of recessionary resourcefulness and stripped-down ad genius. As for the great-unwaxed cavemen: Something about three of the most recent spots feels funny again. In one, an affected caveman strips off his glasses, pulls the scrunchy out of his ponytail and rips off his shirt, running through an urban oasis while reaching heavenward. The most memorable spot shows two cave buds bonding at a bowling alley.Still, they seemed a bit inconsistent. Why would the caveman want to shed the shirt and tortoiseshell glasses? Aren't they a sign that he's no longer the primitive biped that Geico wrongly tags him?Mostly, the spots are funny and memorable because of the music -- an overwrought power-pop ballad that really builds. The lyrics distill the caveman essence perfectly by demanding, "Let me be myself!"It turns out the three spots are actually cuts from a new music video by 3 Doors Down (the band best known for "Kryptonite") released last week. The spots have added Geico graphics.The music video (which you can see here) struck me as a cheesy, embarrassing piece of work, until I realized it was supposed to be a takeoff on a cheesy, low-rent, generic music video. It opens with a cave-mascot getting out of a helicopter and follows his angsty, angry journey from throwing a fancy glass against a fancy glass wall to his running odyssey through the dark downtown streets to find himself, and a buddy, at a bowling alley.The video keeps cutting back to the band, showing them singing and playing, and the whole thing just seems odd. Geico definitely got the better end of the bargain in this bit of branded content. Even though the term "sell-out" has been moot for more than two decades in the music business, it's a definite devolution for 3 Doors Down. Maybe they're now down to two doors. But perhaps when one door slams, another opens.

Brand Marketing

Geico Cavemen Rocking Again

Barbara Lippert

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Barbara Lippert