History Advertising / CompareTheMeerkat

* {{Retcon}}: Of a sort. After years of trying to get car insurance customers off his website and out of his life, Aleksandr releases a new advert which... offers a free meerkat toy to anyone buying from comparethemarket.com. It's described as a thank you for ''not'' clogging up his site, but it still comes across as working with his greatest enemy. (The next twist was that Maurice (Aleksandr's opposite number at comparethemarket) ''hates'' the meerkat toys and want them stopped). This got even more confused in the Meerkat Movies and Meerkat Meals era, until the introduction of [=AutoSergei=] in 2020 seemed to make it official that Aleksandr and Sergei are now working for Compare the Market.

* {{Nerd}}: Sergei is the resident scrawny IT nerd, complete with big glasses, a dorky necktie, and a socially awkward attitude.

* OnlyAFleshWound: During "Battle Of Fearlessness", Aleksandr's great-grandfather is wounded and Sergei's great-grandfather holds him and screams a ''BigNo'' to the sky. Aleksandr's great-grandfather sits up and says:

* SkywardScream: Sergei's great-grandfather screams when he believes Aleksandr's great-grandfather has been killed in battle.

* OnlyAFleshWound: During "Battle Of Fearlessness", Aleksandr's great-grandfather is wounded and Sergei's great-grandfather holds him and screams to the sky. Aleksandr's great-grandfather sits up and says:

** In one of the [=AutoSergei=] ads, [=AutoSergei=] says "Simples" instead of Aleksandr, prompting Aleksandr to protest.

-->"[[MemeticMutation Simples!]]"

''Compare The Meerkat.Com'' is a series of adverts and a website designed as nothing more than ViralMarketing for an insurance website (comparethemarket.com). The adverts all take a similar format, Aleksandr Orlov the Meerkat will remind viewers that his website is for comparing meerkats, and not for comparing markets and urge viewers to check they have the correct URL. Then deliver his {{catchphrase}}. For some reason, they achieved massive popularity, especially.

[[LargeHam Simples]].

* CelebrityParadox: Nobody in ''Series/CoronationStreet'' seems to have noticed a sudden infestation of meerkats, a species native to South Africa and not Manchester, and nobody is asking whether this merits intervention by the zoo, the RSPCA, or Rentokil. (''Compare The Meerkat'' is "sponsoring" the show, with commercials at the start and finish of each segment. These feature the lovable animals drinking in the Rovers, dining in Roy's café, and doing other cute meerkat-ish things. But in plain view in one of the most close-knit, nosy, streets in [[OopNorth the north of England]]).

%% ** Sergei.

* HeterosexualLifePartners: Alexsandr and Sergei - they live and work together, appear to have no other friends, and, for a time, were raising a child together. The villagers will talk...

* FunnyBackgroundEvent: During the introduction of "The Battle Of Fearlessness" there are two meerkats having a sandball fight.

** That part of the ad campaign probably came about when they realized the FridgeLogic of a meercat with a [[MisplacedAccent Russian accent.]]
** Aleksandr's FantasticRacism concerning mongeese might not have sounded ''quite'' so funny if delivered in an authentic [[UsefulNotes/TheApartheidEra South African accent]].

* BigFancyHouse: Aleksandr and Sergei (and their pups) live in a giant Russian-style mansion.

* {{Dualvertisement}}: The Meerkat Movies campaign has Aleksandr and Sergei (and in some cases, their pups) watch various movies in theaters, such as ''Film/PeterRabbit'' and ''WesternAnimation/FindingDory,'' promoting how Compare the Market users can also get 2-for-1 tickets to see these movies. A few films, like ''Film/BatmanVSuperman'', even got limited edition tie-in dolls of the meerkats dressed as movie characters!

* CatchPhrase: Aleksandr ends ever (early) ad with, "Simples!"

* FantasticRacism: Confusing Meerkats with Mongooses.
** The twist is, of course, that meerkats ''are'' a kind of mongoose.

** "The Battle Of Fearlessness" is about how his great-grandfather led the meerkats to victory over Mongis Khan's hordes (and get wounded in the process, receiving a purple claw)
** On the welcome sign of the town Meerkovo it says "mongooses not welcome".

* FunnyAnimal: meerkats are intrinsically funny.

* {{Nerd}}: Sergei is the resident scrawny IT nerd, complete with big glasses and a dorky necktie.

* SimilarSquad: Recent adverts have revealed that Comparethemarket.com is run by a burgandy-dressing-gown-wearing loon called Maurice and his put-upon sidekick Spencer.

* SpyCatsuit: Standard dress for Agent Maiya.

* UnclePennyBags: Aleksandr is presented as an example of this trope

* BadBoss: '''Aleksandr'''. Poor, poor Sergei.
** However, Aleksandr ''does'' come to visit him in hospital in one advert. Granted, it's only to tell him he's 4 days late for work, but considering he actually bothered to go - and even brought flowers - it's actually kinda sweet.
* BerserkButton: [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7DGaFEWky0w You want MARKET!!!!!]]

* CatchPhrase: "Simples!"

* ChargeIntoCombatCut: During "Battle Of Fearlessness"

* ExplosiveInstrumentation: The new IT department computer.
* FantasticRacism: Confusing Meerkats with Mongooses

** The twist is, of course, that meerkats *are* a kind of mongoose.
* {{Flashback}}: The trilogy about Aleksandr's family. "Journey Of Courageousness", "Battle of Fearlessness" and "Streets of Ambitiousness".

* {{Jerkass}}: Aleksandr can be this at times, more so in the book.

* {{Lzherusskie}}: Aleksandr and Sergei
* MorePopularSpinOff: Compare the Meerkat is far more recognised than the website it promotes.
* {{Nerd}}: Sergei

* {{Pluralses}}
* ProductPlacement: The whole raison d'etre of the series
* PurelyAestheticGlasses: Worn by Sergei
* PuppyDogEyes: Oleg the meerpup. This convinces Aleksandr to keep him.

** Sergei.

* RidiculouslyCuteCritter: Ridiculously Cute Meerkats

* ShoutOut: One advert has Alexandr and Sergei recreate the famous "I'm flying, Jack!" moment from [[Film/Titanic1997 Titanic]].

* WhatWereTheySellingAgain: The advertisements are far more recognisable than the website they advertise.

* [[RidiculouslyCuteCritter Ridiculously Cute Meerkats]]
* SeldomSeenSpecies: Seriously, how often did you see meerkats before this?
** And meerkats became popular long before CTM when they were featured in wildlife documentaries; their social habits and quirks made them an instant hit. Lots of shops sell tacky resin models of anthropomorphised meerkats which appeared before CTM and are independent of association with it. The producers were just going with a craze for the creatures.

** Well, there was Timon from Disney/TheLionKing.

* {{Retcon}}: Of a sort. After years of trying to get car insurance customers off his website and out of his life, Aleksandr releases a new advert which... offers a free meerkat toy to anyone buying from comparethemarket.com. There's no set-up and no explanation; he's just suddenly working with his greatest adversary.
** Makes perfect sense in real life, of course. As comparethemarket.com watches their entire marketbase choose meerkat pictures over their fairly lousy quote comparison site, they pretty much had to take this route to drag them back again.
*** Didn't Sergei say it was thanks for going to the right website?
*** The latest twist is that Maurice (Aleksandr's opposite number at comparethemarket) ''hates'' the meerkat toys and want them stopped.

* AbandonedArc: The whole notion of Aleksandr running a comparethemeerkat website hasn't been mentioned in years and comparethemeerkat.com now just redirects to a general page about the characters. You can still compare meerkats on the Australian site, though that feature is pretty much TheArtifact by now.

* ExplosiveInstrumentation: The new IT department computer

-->'''Q''': ''Isn't a meerkat a type of mongoose?''
-->'''A''': ''NO! This great insult! Mongoose not good enough to lick dropping from my shoe! I am meerkat and I live in mansion filthy mongoose could only dream about in wildest dreams.''