When a campaign slogan makes it into the common vernacular of popular culture, you know you've got yourself a hit. Insurance company GEICO can consider its advertising, from Richmond's The Martin Agency, such a hit.

When the "Good News" campaign first began with three spots in 2002, agency creatives knew they had a fun and effective way of conveying price savings information for various markets. What they didn't know, however, is that their non-sequitur tag model, "The bad news is.../ But the good new is I've just saved with GEICO" would have the impact it did.

Two famous instances of the tag being used - without duress or influence - are when an airline pilot and an on-air weatherman relayed bad news to their audience while following up with the good news that they switched to GEICO.

Clearly the campaign resonated. During this time the client's unaided brand recall numbers were the highest in the company's history. GEICO ordered another five spots from the agency and each of these real-life instances have since been made into radio spots.

The first three spots focused entirely on the misdirect, which creative director Steve Bassett says is what makes the campaign so memorable. This time around a new element is added as each of the spots spoof a different kind of TV show, including a soap opera, a home-repair show, a hair-replacement commercial, and reality court room programming. The exception is "Rapper" where a pasty white guy tries his best Eminem on a very unimpressed - and large - producer type. In each, the main character delivers bad news - like there's no way in hell you'll make it as a rap star - followed by their good insurance news.

Creative director Steve Bassett says four of the five spots ("Rapper" was shot on film) were shot on video to give them a real TV look. "We wanted to parody these genres and video was very effective to mimic the look. It looks like you've just happened upon a home-repair show or an episode of Court TV."

Director Craig Gillespie of LA's MJZ was chosen to helm the spots because of his "sensibilities with humor and his approach to comedy," says Bassett. The spots broke nationally - with regionally specific price messaging - on August 7. Bassett adds that if the success continues, we may see more Good News in the future.

View the spots:

http://www.martinagency.com