Changes: The GEICO Gecko

Revision as of 02:45, 27 September 2010

The company's ads sometimes focus on its reptilian mascot, The Gecko, an anthropomorphic Day Gecko created by The Martin Agency and most recently a CGI creature generated by Framestore CFC.

The gecko first appeared in 1999 during the Screen Actors Guild strike that prevented the use of live actors. The original commercial features the Gecko pleading for people to stop calling him in error as he is a gecko not to be confused with GEICO. Later "wrong number" ads used Dave Kelly as the voice of the gecko. In the subsequent commercials with Jake Wood, (which portray him as a representative of the company), the gecko speaks with an English (Cockney) accent, because it would be unexpected, according to Martin Agency's Steve Bassett. In current commercials the gecko's accent is more working-class, perhaps in an effort to further "humanize" him. "As computer animation got better and as we got to know the character better, we did a few things," says Steve Bassett, creative director at The Martin Agency. "We wanted to make him a little more guy-next-door. And he looks a lot more real than he's looked before."

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-[[File:lizard_geicogecko_2.jpg|thumb|300px|The Gecko]]
+[[File:lizard_geicogecko_2.jpg|thumb|300px|GEICO's mascot]]
-The company's ads sometimes focus on its reptilian [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mascot mascot], '''The Gecko''', an [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anthropomorphic anthropomorphic] [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phelsuma Day Gecko] created by [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Martin_Agency The Martin Agency] and most recently a [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Computer-generated_image CGI] creature generated by [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Framestore_CFC Framestore CFC]. [[File:Geico winner2 1.jpg|thumb|left|GEICO's maskot, The Gecko]]The gecko first appeared in 1999 during the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Screen_Actors_Guild Screen Actors Guild] [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Strike_action strike] that prevented the use of live actors. The original commercial features the Gecko pleading for people to stop calling him in error as he is a ''gecko'' not to be confused with ''GEICO''. Later "wrong number" ads used [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dave_Kelly_%28broadcaster%29 Dave Kelly] as the voice of the gecko. In the subsequent commercials with [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jake_Wood Jake Wood], (which portray him as a representative of the company), the gecko speaks with an English ([http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cockney Cockney]) [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Accent_%28sociolinguistics%29 accent], because it would be unexpected, according to Martin Agency's Steve Bassett. In current commercials the gecko's accent is more working-class, perhaps in an effort to further "humanize" him. "As [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Computer_animation computer animation] got better and as we got to know the character better, we did a few things," says Steve Bassett, creative director at The Martin Agency. "We wanted to make him a little more guy-next-door. And he looks a lot more real than he's looked before."
+The company's ads sometimes focus on its reptilian [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mascot mascot], '''The Gecko''', an [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anthropomorphic anthropomorphic] [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phelsuma Day Gecko] created by [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Martin_Agency The Martin Agency] and most recently a [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Computer-generated_image CGI] creature generated by [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Framestore_CFC Framestore CFC]. [[File:Geico winner2 1.jpg|thumb|100px|left|The Gecko]]The gecko first appeared in 1999 during the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Screen_Actors_Guild Screen Actors Guild] [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Strike_action strike] that prevented the use of live actors. The original commercial features the Gecko pleading for people to stop calling him in error as he is a ''gecko'' not to be confused with ''GEICO''. Later "wrong number" ads used [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dave_Kelly_%28broadcaster%29 Dave Kelly] as the voice of the gecko. In the subsequent commercials with [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jake_Wood Jake Wood], (which portray him as a representative of the company), the gecko speaks with an English ([http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cockney Cockney]) [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Accent_%28sociolinguistics%29 accent], because it would be unexpected, according to Martin Agency's Steve Bassett. In current commercials the gecko's accent is more working-class, perhaps in an effort to further "humanize" him. "As [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Computer_animation computer animation] got better and as we got to know the character better, we did a few things," says Steve Bassett, creative director at The Martin Agency. "We wanted to make him a little more guy-next-door. And he looks a lot more real than he's looked before."
 [[Category:Male]]
 [[Category:Animal]]