It's So Easy, Even ABC Could Do It

In March, ABC confirmed suspicions that the characters from Geico’s popular Caveman Ads would be featured in a pilot for a prime time comedy spot on ABC. The move, which marks a modern blurring between advertising and entertainment, seems primarily a marketing response to technology that allows viewers to skip their TV ads, as well as a desperate attempt for ABC to produce a successful sitcom.

The history of ad to TV characters is mixed. CBS’ 2002 attempt to create a “Baby Bob” show after the successful ads for a successful Internet failed. But The California Raisins, who originated from ads for the California Raisin Advisory Board, became a 1980s pop-culture hit and had a cartoon series on CBS.

According to the Wall Street Journal, a major explanation for the widespread popularity of the ads is Geico’s large advertising budget – it evidently spent about $403m on ad time and space in 2005. The ads are clearly more in the “building value” than “extending reach” category – they mainly serve to increase name recognition of Geico through the “Geico: so easy a caveman could do it” slogan, as well as to associate the company with the somewhat cerebral comedy and irony of the caveman as urbane sophisticate.

Geico’s caveman characters and lexicon are now ingrained in popular culture. WSJ reports, “fans at college sporting events have been known to hold up signs that say ‘Beating (team name) is so easy, even a caveman can do it.’” A line from one of the original ads, where the cavemen are taken to dinner by ad executives to apologize for the offensive ad, is now widely recognizable - “I’ll have the roast duck, with the mango salsa.”

-Katie, Helen, JungIn, Pam