Advertising / GEICO

15 minutes can save you... well, you know.

GEICO is an insurance company that spends around a billion dollars a year in advertising. Their commercials are unavoidable on American television. The campaigns are well known for using strange off-the-wall or satirical humor, usually to reinforce an advertising slogan. GEICO has several mascots, the most famous of which is Gecko, the cute anthropomorphic lizard known for his trademark Cockney accent. Following the Gecko are the racially offended cavemen, Kash, the creepy stalking wad of cash with googly eyes, Michael McGlone, the Film Noir spokesman who asks rhetorical questions with the same answer to “Can GEICO really save you 15% or more on car insurance?” and lately Maxwell the Pig has cropped up in a slew of commercials as well (debuting in one of McGlone's commercials, as a matter of fact).

GEICO now has its own YouTube channel, where you can watch some of their commercials online.

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Recurring characters and segments:

• The GEICO Gecko: Their original charming reptilian mascot. He would frequently promote GEICO while being in humorous situations. He wasn't always so buddy buddy with the company however, in fact his first appearances (when he was played by Kelsey Grammer—yes, that Mr. Grammer) had him complaining about people confusing the word gecko for GEICO and informing them that they should call the insurer if they needed to save money on car insurance and stop calling him unless they, ya know, needed an actual gecko to do whatever it is that a talking gecko does...
• Maxwell the Pig: A recurring character who's the little piggy who cried "weeee" all the way home and can fly (at least on a plane). Interestingly enough, Maxwell's commercials were a Spin-Off of the Michael McGlone commercials.
• "I've got good news". A character presents some bad news to another, then follows up with "I've got good news. I just saved 15% or more on my car insurance by switching to GEICO."
• GEICO Cavemen: A group of Neanderthals living in modern time who are offended by GEICO's slogan: "So easy a caveman can do it." Spawned an extremely short-lived Sitcom called Cavemen on ABC.
• Parodies
• Blueprint commercials
• My Great Rides
• GEICO Racing
• 15 Minutes Online
• Not An Actor: Ads where a real GEICO customer gives a testimony while a renowned personality spices up their claim, such as Don Lafontaine or The Pips.
• TRS: The Real Scoop: A satirical parody of E! True Hollywood Story documenting the lives of fictional characters, ending with how they saved hundreds in car insurance.
• The money you could be saving: A series of ads involving a creepy wad of cash watches you to a cover of Rockwell's "Somebody's Watching Me" (performed by Mysto & Pizzi). It's the money you could be saving by switching to GEICO.
• Talking inanimate objects
• Rhetorical Questions Campaign: Commercials that feature Michael McGlone asking: "Could switching to GEICO really save you 15% or more on car insurance?" and answering with a rhetorical question and a comical Cutaway Gag.
• Short Stories and Tall Tales: Re-tellings of these such as Jack and the Beanstalk or "The Itsy Bitsy Spider," used to promoted GEICO renter or homeowner's insurance. These started as radio ads, and the TV versions simply show a hand flipping through a book telling and illustrating each tale.
• Xtranormal: Commercials made with text-to-speech movie maker Xtranormal; to show how fast one can save with GEICO in fifteen minutes, that's how long it took to make the commercial itself.
• Easier Way to Save: People give testimonies about ridiculous things they've done to save money, followed by "There's an easier way to save: GEICO." For example, since security systems are so expensive, a couple adopts a "rescue panther", but they lose sleep as a result.
• Get Happy, Get GEICO: These commercials show a humorous scene before two guys named Ronny and Jimmy ask how happy are people who switch to GEICO before referencing the scene.
• Did You Know...?: This is one of their newer ones, with someone saying, "Did you know that GEICO can save you 15% or more on your car insurance?" Another person replies with "everybody knows that" before the other person retorts with "Did you know...", followed by a Little Known Fact. Then the scene cuts to a literal depiction of that.
• Made of Money: A man made entirely of money rides by, presumably to imply that you too could be "made of money" if you save money by switching to GEICO. Seen only in the ads for GEICO motorcycle and boat insurance.
• "You Can Count on GEICO": A series of commercials showing a very typical situation where a voiceover says "As long as X, you can count on GEICO saving you money!"
• The Hump Day Camel, whose commercial (part of the "Get Happy" campaign) went viral. Also showed up in a "No Talking or Phones" Warning called "Movie Day!"
• Rocky and Bullwinkle gave a special cameo appearance (in crisp, fresh animation, no less) in the commercial "The Gecko's Journey."
• It's what you do: This one shows a scene of a regularly recurring thing, like a horror movie character making bad decisions, saying "If you're this, you do this. It's what you do." Followed by, "If you want to save 15% or more on car insurance, you switch to GEICO. It's what you do."
• "Maybe you didn't contact Geico because...", a series of short jingles offering possible (yet outlandish) reasons for why a person didn't call Geico (dog buried the phone, or laptop stolen by a monkey, etc.).
• "You can't skip this GEICO ad because it's already over." - a series of ad-bursts at only 5 seconds airing on services like YouTube or Hulu. If you actually want to view more, you can see extended versions online. A fake freeze frame gag usually follows.
• "Proudly serving the military" - although it's not necessarily widely known, GEICO originated in specializing in insurance for those in the federal government and military (the name "GEICO" stands for "Government Employees Insurance Company," which is still their "official" name; you'll see it on the super-official letterhead they use for court documents^note Being car insurance carriers, they're in court a lot, defending the cases of policyholders in states where third-party auto accident insurance is the norm.). These ads will usually be trotted out on or around patriotic holidays.
• "Take a closer look" - Someone namedrops GEICO to a friend and they reply that they should "take a closer look" at insuring with them. We then see characters on normally-inanimate objects (i.e. the characters on a clock, the decorative designs on plates, fleas on a dog) interacting with each other.
• "Surprising" - Ads which show something surprising, followed by saying that saving 15% or more with GEICO isn't surprising.
• "Great Answer" - People in troubling situations have to answer to their crimes, but save themselves by answering that switching to GEICO can save money on car insurance.
• Ads being "condensed for your viewing convenience", by a giant wall with a GEICO logo on it.
• "There's A Chance" - A series of radio ads that point out that while there may be a chance your GEICO agent may share an exact odd trait like you, there is a far better chance that they can help you save money.
• "Saver Yourself With GEICO" - A series of radio ads in 2019 that describe you being placed in an awkward situation that you couldn't get out of, but that GEICO could get you out of paying more for car insurance.
• "Could Have Used Those 15 Minutes" - A series of radio ads in 2019 that describe an awful situation that took about 15 minutes, made even worse by the fact that it was 15 minutes you could have spent switching your insurance to GEICO.
• "You Had Every Good Reason" - A series of radio ads in 2020 that described a rather unpleasant situation they claim you had "every good reason to avoid", followed by saying you had no good reason to avoid switching to GEICO.
• In December 2018, GEICO began a "Best of GEICO" campaign (beginning with an ad for a fictitious compilation of every GEICO ad ever on home video), placing 10 popular GEICO ads back on air and encouraging viewers to vote for their favorite, as part of a contest with the winner getting to make a cameo in a new GEICO commercial).
• Sequels - A similar concept to the above - three characters from past campaigns return in new commercials.
• "Believe it" - someone apparently remarks on something that is unbelievable, saying that they can't believe it. However, they are not talking about said crazy scene, but the fact that they just saved by switching to GEICO.
• Bundling made easy - A series of commercials that promote the home-and-auto bundle by making puns out of common household problems, such as a couple talking about a "clogging problem" and cutting to a family in the floor above them clog dancing.
• "What are you waiting for?" - An average person is urged to switch to GEICO with "What are you waiting for? [Unlikely scenario of a celebrity doing something nice for them]?" Then said celebrity appears doing the nice thing described.
• "I Feel Useless"- A series of radio ads from 2019 which invole a common every day object talking about how they feel useless compared to GEICO which does a lot more.
• "Great savings without all the drama" - an actor or singer gives a dramatic, moving performance, but they point out it's really not necessary because it's so easy to file your claim with GEICO.
• "It's Easy to Switch"- a series of radio ads from 2021 that talk about how easy it is to switch to GEICO, but that may make you think that everything is easy which could have unfortunate implications.
• "It's right in front of you!"- a series of radio ads that talk about how switching to GEICO to save money on car insurance is so easy, it's right in front of you, comparing it to a series of other things that are "right in front of you".
• Home problems- In these TV ads, people mention having a typical home problem which turns out to be something else. For example, mentioning having a rat problem turns out to be the band Ratt.
• "You need GEICO!"-In these TV ads, someone is shown performing a task that is incomplete because there is something else they needed to do. The commercials run with a narrator saying "If you do X, you need Y. Likewise, if you need to save on insurance, you need GEICO."
• Obviously stressed homeowners: Someone is doing something outrageous to relieve stress about renting an apartment or buying a new home (i.e. a lady has a didgeridoo player follow her around at work) until someone suggests they talk to GEICO.
• More: Someone discusses how "I switched to GEICO and got more" with a friend during some activity; as they point out how extensive GEICO's coverage is, said activity grows more elaborate (two guys work out until they become musclebound, a Christmas light display becomes bright enough to be seen from space).

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GEICO commercials provide examples of:

• Affably Evil: Griswalda casually tests potions on her new roommates. But hey, she cooks dinner and likes cats! Her roommates got exactly what they wanted.
• All Cavemen Were Neanderthals: The whole gag with the Caveman commercials is that they have this facial structure, but are otherwise a fully assimilated minority group.
• Answer Cut: The "Did you Know?" and "Rhetorical questions" campaigns.
• Anthropomorphic Typography: One GEICO commercial depicts the letters G, E, I, C, and O with arms and legs, dancing around to celebrate GEICO being over 75 years old.
• Bad News, Irrelevant News: One series of ads was like this. A guy talks to someone else, saying "I've got bad news. [insert story here]...but I've got good news: I just saved a bunch of money on my car insurance by switching to GEICO!" which of course is of no use whatsoever to the person hearing those words. "Switching To GEICO" was the original Trope name, in fact.
• Bait-and-Switch: A variation on the Bad News, Irrelevant News series: parody ads for the promotion of fictitious products, anything from fast food to long-distance phone service to a reality TV show. After hyping the product in question and what it does, the promo declares that one thing the product won't do is save you money on car insurance. Then the GEICO slogan appears, after which the commercial reverts back to the phony product with the announcer(s) declaring, "Why haven't you called GEICO?"
• Being Watched: Kash, the wad of money. It's always follows you, and it's always watching you.
  Background Music: I always feel like somebody's watching me....
• Breakout Character: Often—beginning with everyone's favorite Gecko. Then there's Maxwell the pig, who originally showed up in one of the Michael McGlone commercials. And then...the excited-about-"Hump-DAY!!!" camel.
  • Apparently, people thought the cavemen were this, too—hence the sitcom. Didn't catch on—and the company stuck to commercials.
• Celebrity Cameo: Besides numerous celebrities As Themselves, there was also Talia Shire as the Caveman's psychologist.
• Commercial Switcheroo: The above mentioned Bait & Switch runs on the switcheroo principal when it advertises the false product.
  • One of the sequels commercials appears to be an ad for a lumber warehouse, until the owner sees that his wood is being chucked by woodchucks.
• Contemporary Caveman: Somehow, cavemen are a minority group.
• Cool Old Guy: A commercial has a grandfather rapping and dancing to a beat he made.
• Crossover: Yes, their ad campaigns meet. "Could switching to Geico really save you 15% on car insurance? Did the caveman invent fire?" Cut to caveman in modern high-end apartment, who sees the camera, sighs, then presses a button on a remote. Fireplace comes on.
  • In an "It's what you do" ad, camels in a zoo are complaining that people keep yelling "Guess what day it is?" at them.
  • One of the Commercial Switcheroo ads features fitness expert Tony Little and appears to be the start of an ad for one of his exercise machines.
  • One of the "I Have Good News" ads features Speed Racer
  • One of the Gecko's commercials featured a Crossover Cameo appearance by the Taco Bell Dog.
  • People who switch to GEICO are happier than the Pillsbury Doughboy on his way to a baking convention.
  • The "let's go to the lobby" characters appeared in one "No Talking or Phones" Warning commercial.
  • The Gecko and Caleb The Camel appeared in an M&M's commercial.
  • And of course, several commercials featuring Looney Tunes characters.
  • Dora the Explorer and her monkey companion Boots are seen in one of the "It's what you do" ads, upsetting a group of explorers in a frigid wasteland who discover that they're too late to stake their claim.
  If you're Dora the Explorer, you explore. It's what you do.
  • Rocky and Bullwinkle in "The Gecko's Journey". Wile E. Coyote and the Road Runner in another commercial in the same series.
  • The final commercial in the "Best of" campaign featured several characters with the contest’s winner in a trailer. The camel also got a cameo being pampered in another trailer.
  • On one of the bundling insurance ads, a family complains that their new home is in bear country, and get their backyard picnic stolen by Yogi and Boo Boo.
  • A fall 2021 commercial features Animal in the attic.
  • A later ad has a couple having trouble with Angry Birds slingshotting themselves into their property.
  • Another ad has the Gecko in Temple Run 2, running from a giant demon monkey with Guy Dangerous.
  • Clifford the Big Red Dog (specifically his animated counterpart from the 2019 series) appears in a 2022 commercial, where he causes trouble for his neighbors.
  • Another ad has a couple complaining of all the hammering next door... coming from their neighbors the Thors.
  • As long as people talk baby talk to dogs, even police officers and McGruff the Crime Dog, you can count on GEICO saving folks money.
• Cutaway Gag: They go way out of their way for these.
  • The Get Happy, Get GEICO campaign inverts it; the gag sets up the description as the punchline.
• Deliberate Values Dissonance: The Caveman commercials portray the company as casually racist towards cavemen, with the "dumb brute in a loincloth" portrayal of the in-universe ads being roughly equivalent to blackface.
• Dissonant Serenity: If you're a golf commentator, you whisper. It's what you do. Even when a kraken is attacking the players.
• Distressed Woodchopping: They have a 2018 commercial where a couple is chopping logs with karate to deal with the stress of moving to a new house.
• Does This Make Me Look Fat?: One of the commercials involves a wife asking her husband the question while wearing a new dress. Not paying attention, he replies "You betcha." The punchline being "In the time it takes to pull out the sleeper sofa, you could save hundreds on car insurance."
• Door Dumb: The "Push It" commercial opens with a guy pulling on a push door, then Salt-N-Pepa show up and sing "Push It."
• Drill Sergeant Nasty: For Is the Answer to This Question "Yes"?, where the response is "Does a former drill sergeant make a terrible therapist?"
• Dualvertisement:
  • In one commercial, the Gecko turns from promoting insurance to the benefits of Helzberg Diamonds. It's corporate synergy at work: Both companies are owned by Berkshire Hathaway.
  • A 2021 ad featured the Gecko imagining what things would have been like if he had been an Eternal, while promoting the Marvel film Eternals.
  • Two ads from 2009 were created to promote The Princess and the Frog — one featured moviegoers chasing the Gecko and mistaking him for Prince Naveen, and the other featured Prince Naveen himself calling the Gecko to get advice on how to turn back into a human.
• Early-Installment Weirdness: In the Gecko's first few commercials, he was unaffiliated with GEICO, and just got annoyed at people mistaking him for the company. He was also voiced by Dave Kelly (and in one commercial, Richard Steven Horvitz), not Jake Wood as was the norm in later ads. His very first appearance depicted him as more animalistic, and had him voiced by Kelsey Grammer.
• Employee of the Month: One advert had The Gecko get the award of Employee of the Month. He is quite happy about this and doesn't even seem to mind that the honorary parking space is way too big for his miniature sports car.
• Facepalm: The Gecko, when the company briefly considers using a campy cartoon version of him.
  "So you've turned me into a cartoon. Lovely."
  • There's also a print ad that talks about saving money with GEICO being no laughing matter. The ad depicts an iguana stating "I-guana save you money" and the Gecko standing next to him, facepalming.
• Fantastic Racism: The cavemen really don't like the phrase "So easy a caveman can do it." Having to deal with casual prejudice is a focus of the show.
• Finger Wag: One commercial has NBA player Dikembe Mutombo blocking various things that people throw and then wagging his finger at them.
  "Not in my house!"
• Fractured Fairy Tale: Some of the fairy tales ads for the department that does stuff like renters insurance, such as retelling of "Ba Ba Black Sheep" in which a guy doesn't have any wool because all of his wool sweaters, as well as his flat-screen television and other stuff were stolen by some hooligan. Fortunately, he had the renters insurance, so they replaced it all and later the guy who stole the stuff was caught selling it online and arrested.
• Freak Out: In one of the Cavemen commercials, a lone Caveman wearing glasses, a white polo shirt and his long hair in a ponytail despondently roams the streets at night when he suddenly comes across a billboard for GEICO with the "So Smart A Caveman Can Do It" slogan. Fed up with cavemen being mocked, the Caveman drops to his knees and screams into the air. He then rips off his shirt and glasses, lets down his wild hair and begins jumping around and howling into the night like a stereotypical caveman.
• Friendly Enemy: The "Frenemy" campaign features Will Arnett as a rival insurance salesman to the Gecko. While they do share a fairly intense (and somewhat one-sided on Will's part) professional rivalry, they're friendly enough to attend hockey games together.
• Fun with Homophones: One commercial involves a couple who loves their new home, except for the fact that it has "aunts."
• Halloween Episode: A series of ads in October of 2019 put out a few spooky-themed ads with the tagline "Happy GEICOween!" One of these ads featured Casper the Friendly Ghost annoying the residents of a haunted house. Another included a witch as an unsavory roommate, and another featured the Gecko and a new homeowner exploring the dark and spooky attic of the latter's recently-bought house.
• Has Two Thumbs and...: A radio ad has a man tell how he saves money by sending mail via pigeon. After admitting that his mail usually doesn't end up at its assigned destination he says "...but who has two thumbs and isn't buying stamps? This guy!"
• Here We Go Again!: In one of the "what are you waiting for?" ads, Olympic gymnast McKayla Maroney vaults onto a rooftop to retrieve a Frisbee accidentally thrown there by two young men, only to have the guys throw it onto another rooftop, which leads Maroney to react with the "McKayla is not impressed" pose.
• Implausible Deniability:
  • The in-commercial version of Geico claims they didn't know the cavemen were still around, even though the original commercial had the one offended be part of the film crew.
  • The pirate captain in the parrot commercial swears up-and-down that he never said any of the mean things about his crew that the parrot is saying, even though it's fairly obvious the parrot got it from him.
• In a World…: One ad of their "not an actor" campaign had a customer testimonial assisted by Don LaFontaine.
  "In a world where both our cars were totally underwater..."
• Interspecies Romance: One commercial showed Maxwell the Pig on a date with a human woman, while another had the Gecko as the best man at a wedding, where a bridesmaid flirts with him.
• Is the Answer to This Question "Yes"?: Michael McGlone's ads are centered around this trope.
• It's Personal: In the spot where the mother calls her secret agent son, she says that the squirrels are back in the attic but his father refuses to call the exterminator.
  Mom: He says it's personal this time.
• It's What I Do: Inverted: "If you want to save money on car insurance, you switch to Geico. It's what you do."
• Kangaroo Court: One of the ads has a man on trial for robbing a house. Despite the mountains of evidence that he did it, including a picture he took of himself robbing the safe and twitter post saying "#JustRobbedTheSafe", the judge immediately dismisses the case when the man says that you can save a bunch of money on car insurance by switching to Geico, because as that particular campaign suggests, that's always a great answer.
• Kinda Busy Here: If you're a mom, you call at the worst time. It's what you do. If you want to save 15% or more on car insurance, you switch to GEICO. It's what you do.
  Hero: (answers ringing phone while facing enemies) Where are you?
  Mom: Well, the squirrels are back in the attic.
  Hero: Mom?
  Mom: Your dad won't call an exterminator.
  Hero: Can I call you back, Mom? (starts punching people)
  Mom: He says it's personal this time. [...] Where are you? It's very loud there. Are you taking a Zumba class?
• Large Ham: The Gecko in the flat tire ad.
  "SOMEONE HELP ME, I HAVE A FLAT TIRE!!!"
  • The camel, too, is especially fun to watch: "Guess what day it is!"
  • Bullwinkle, from the Rocky Mountains commercial (part of the Gecko's Journey), could also likely be considered for this trope.
• Literal Genie: In one of the "Did You Know?" ads, a guy summons one of these and wishes for "a million bucks." He is given a million male deer.
• Mascot: Several. The Gecko is the most famous.
• Metafictional Device: To demonstrate that words really can hurt you, a character is knocked off a horse by giant words reading "The End".
• Muppet Cameo: A 2021 "bundling made easy" ad has a couple complain about an animal in the attic. As in the Muppet Animal.
• Mythology Gag: In one ad, the Gecko lampshades the fact that the reason for the company's spokesanimal is a gecko is because they sound similar, harking back to the original ads, where the lizard complained about the similarity. In the same ad, he notes that if GEICO sounded more like a puma, the mascot would probably be a Cute Kitten.
• Not in Front of the Parrot!: One of their "It's what you do" commercials has a pirate captain's Pirate Parrot repeat his plans to hide the gold from his crew, as well as call them stupid and smelly.
  Announcer: If you're a parrot, you repeat stuff. It's what you do. If you want to save 15% on car insurance, you switch to GEICO. It's what you do.
  Parrot: Rawk! It's what you do!
• Noodle Incident: In one early commercial, a GEICO spokesman recalls going across the nation to promote insurance. He sends a contextless message to the people of Grand Rapids: "I didn't know that was meatloaf."
• "No Talking or Phones" Warning: Many ads have variants shown in movie theaters, replacing the exhortation to switch to Geico with one to silence your phone before the movie (while still also advertising Geico).
• Oblivious Transformation: Griswalda turns one of her roommates into a cat-girl when giving her dinner to taste. All the woman says is it needs salt, and says she's fine as her other roommate brings out a cat-toy.
• Offscreen Crash: In the squirrel ad a car swerves to avoid a squirrel that runs across the road right before it skids off screen and a crash is heard.
• Ominous Music Box Tune: In a Gecko commercial, the Gecko is exploring the attic of a newly-bought house with its owner. After the Gecko opens a music box,^note Being British, he calls it a "tiny dancer" the owner turns on the light, finding the attic is full of mannequins as the music box slows to a stop.
  Gecko: Enjoy your new house!
  Homeowner: Nope. No thank you.
• Pinocchio Nose: Pinocchio is one of the characters they use and, of course, whenever he tells a lie, his nose grows. This causes a problem when he becomes a motivational speaker and tells people they have potential...only for his growing nose to reveal he doesn't actually believe in them.
• Pocket Dial: This is featured in one of the "It's what you do" ads. A man is about to propose marriage to his girlfriend when suddenly the girlfriend's cell starts ringing. She answers it, but it's her brother Todd butt-dialing her, resulting in her and the boyfriend hearing cheering and screams from a baseball game. Then...
  Todd: I know we just met like two months ago...
  Woman at ball-game: Yes!!!
• The Power of Trust: The Gecko claims this is why he has his job.
  Interviewer: Right, but a talking gecko. Why?
  Gecko: I'll tell you why: because people trust advertising icons. Some bloke tells you to go to GEICO.com and you're like, "Really, just who might you be?" But a gecko—he can be trusted. I ask if you want to save money on car insurance, and you're like, "Yes, thank you. Mind babysitting my kids?" And I'm like, "Of course I'll sit with the kids, you're like a brother to me."
• Reading the Stage Directions Out Loud: According to one ad, "if you walk the walk, you talk the talk", as demonstrated by an Old West sheriff who recites his every gesture out loud.
• Real Trailer, Fake Movie: This is combined with a "No Talking or Phones" Warning in one of the "it's what you do" spots where a secret agent is chased up to a roof where there's a waiting helicopter, only to a phone call that turns out to be his mother, rambling on about some squirrels in the attic and asking if he's at a zumba class because there's so much noise.
  Announcer: If you're a mom, you call at the worst time. It's what you do.
• The Scapegoat: When something goes wrong on the peanut butter assembly line, you find a scapegoat. It's what you do.
• Serious Business: The many different campaign setups can make it seem as though saving money on car insurance has become a serious thing.
• Side Effects Include...: One It's what you do ad features Boyz II Men working at a pharmacy and soulfully singing the side effects of a prescription, which includes chronic flatulence, since what they do is make anything sound good ("Sooooo, gassy girl~")
• Shout-Out: Both the Michael Mcglone ads and the Gecko ads have at times featured Looney Tunes characters.
• Sluggish Seal: One commercial depicts an Ice Hockey game where one team has a walrus as its goalie. The point is that saving with GEICO is "walrus in a goal" easy, since there's no way for a puck to get by the walrus. (Well, the commercial ends with the walrus, named Duncan, falling asleep and the coach telling him "No sleepies.")
• Spin-Off: "Could switching to Geico really save you fifteen percent or more on car insurance? Did the little piggy cry wee-wee-wee all the way home?" Cut to a pig in the back seat of a car squealing "WEEEEE! WEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!" in a high pitched voice at the top of its lungs. When the driver says "Max, we're home," the pig casually says thanks in a much deeper, very adult and casual-sounding voice. Next thing you know, "Maxwell" has become an ad campaign of his own.
• Super Bowl Special: The company regularly debuts its commercial campaigns on the largest stage.
• Tagline: 15 minutes can save you 15% or more on car insurance. Or, 15% or more on "well, you know..." Also seen in web ads - "15%... need I say more?"
• Talks Like a Simile
  Ronny: "Jimmy, how happy are folks who save hundreds of dollars on car insurance?"
  Jimmy: "Happier than [insert inverse Cutaway Gag setup].”
• Timmy in a Well: In this commercial, a guy tries to get a cat to do this and, of course, fails.
  If you're a cat, you ignore people. It's what you do.
• Too Dumb to Live:
  • One early campaign featured something like this; each animated short had a curious man doing something really dumb (like walking up to a cannon and then pressing a button next to it, causing the cannon to fire in his face), at which point the voiceover announcer would say, "We all do dumb things. Paying too much for car insurance doesn't have to be one of them."
  • Also, "Horror Movie". Even the Killer does an eye roll and has a look on his face that simply says "At this point, I'm doing mankind a favor".
• The Unreveal:
  • The question of the Gecko's origins comes up at a board meeting in one commercial.
    Male executive: With all due respect, if I was tiny and green and had a British accent, I'd have more folks paying attention to me too. I mean, (mocking, overly broad British accent) "Save money! Pip pip cheerio!"
    Female executive: British? I thought you were Australian.
    Gecko: Well, it's funny you should ask, 'cos actually I'm from—(Smash Cut to the GEICO logo)
    Voiceover announcer: GEICO. Fifteen minutes could save you fifteen percent or more on car insurance.
  • In another commercial, the Gecko asks for a copy of a GEICO employee's PowerPoint presentation, and he agrees... only to realize that he doesn't know the Gecko's name. The employee awkwardly tries to ask for the Gecko's name, but the Gecko doesn't say what it is and just stares at the guy.
• Unusually Uninteresting Sight: When Maxwell gets pulled over by a cop.
  Police Officer: You know why I pulled you over today?
  Maxwell: Because I'm a pig driving a convertible?
  Police Officer: Tail light's out. Fix it.
• Visual Pun: A 2020 campaign for bundling insurance runs off a formula where a family complains about a typical household problem, then cuts to a scene playing off a homophone of said problem.
  • The first ad features a couple that just moved into a new apartment despite a clogging problem in the apartment above. We then see an entire Swiss family in the upstairs apartment doing clog dancing.
  • The second ad has a couple complain about a rat problem in their house. Cut to the band Ratt playing loud music in their kitchen.
  • The third ad has a couple discuss their new house's ant infestation. Cue several boisterous middle-aged aunts bursting into the house to complain about everything.
  • A fourth ad has a couple discussing their neighbors' fencing. Cue their neighbors, in the middle of a heated fencing match.
  • A fifth ad has a couple complaining that the pipes are making strange noises. Cue bagpipers playing on the plumbing.
  • A sixth ad has a couple warning about an animal in the attic. Cue Animal going wild in the attic.
• What Were They Selling Again?: It's rare that any of their commercials actually says much about insurance. They are pretty good about actually naming the company, though.
• What Year Is It?: In one ad, a man digs a number of old things out of his couch including Dave Coulier from Full House, who asks "What year is this?" followed by a Laugh Track.

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