Geico and The Martin Agency had a huge hit with their "Unskippable" preroll campaign on YouTube last year, which Adweek named the best campaign of 2015. This year's follow-up campaign, though, needed a completely new hook—because the YouTube buy this time involves 15-second prerolls where no skip button appears at all.
But don't worry. Geico still has you covered.
Instead of showing you the whole ad in the first five seconds, and then rewarding you with quietly awkward comedy if you stick around, the new spots have a different structure—they show the very beginning and the very end of longer ads, but fast-forward through the middle. And if you're curious about what happened in the middle (and the ads suggest that some really odd stuff went down), you can click through to see the full spot.
Check out the spots, directed by Nick Ball of Furlined, here:
"Hike"
"Lake"
"Forest"
"Going Up"
It's not a radical departure from last year's ads. There's the same comedic vibe, and the same self-aware acknowledgment of preroll being, fundamentally, a burden. There's even another elevator spot. (Birds, fish and bears have taken the place of the dog, though.)
The conceit isn't quite as pure as last year's, if only because the viewer has to click through to see a second video—which feels like a big ask, particularly given that the campaign inherently admits even 15 seconds is probably too intrusive. But the ads are amusing, and you can't fault Geico for extending a campaign this smart and innovative.
CREDITS
Client: Geico
Vice President, Marketing: Ted Ward
Senior Director, Marketing: Amy Furman
Director, Marketing Media Advertising: Bill Brower
Sr. Mgr., Broadcast, Outdoor, Print & Sports Marketing: Melissa Halicy
Marketing Supervisor: Mike Grant
Marketing Buyer: Tom Perlozzo
Marketing Buyer: Brighid Griffin
Marketing Coordinator: Julia Nass
Agency: The Martin Agency
Chief Creative Officer: Joe Alexander
Group Creative Director: Steve Bassett
Group Creative Director: Wade Alger
Creative Director (copywriter): Neel Williams
Associate Creative Director (art director): Mauricio Mazzariol
Executive Producer: Brett Alexander
Broadcast Producer: Liza Miller
Junior Broadcast Producer: Coleman Sweeney
Group Account Director: Brad Higdon
Account Executive: Allison Hensley
Account Coordinator: Allie Waller
Business Affairs Supervisor: Suzanne Wieringo
Financial Account Supervisor: Monica Cox
Senior Production Business Manager: Amy Trenz
Project Manager: Karen McEwen
Production Company: Furlined
Director: Nick Ball
President: Diane McArter
Senior Executive Producer: David Thorne
Executive Producer: David Richards
Producer: Jason Gilbert
Editorial Company: Cut + Run
Executive Producer: Carr Schilling
Producer: Annabelle Dunbar-Whittaker
Editor: Frank Effron
Assistant Editor: Brian Meagher
Telecine: MPC
Colorist: Ricky Gausis
Animation/VFX: MPC
Executive Producer: Lexi Stern
Senior Producer: Juliet Tierney
Production Coordinator: Valentina Cokonis
Line Producer: Deepanjali Singh
VFX Supervisor: Gizmo Rivera
VFX Supervisor/Nuke Lead: Jim Spratling
Comp/Prep Lead: Avinash Bhandary
Roto Lead: Sivakumar R
Music: Black Iris
Executive Producer: Jon Spencer
Senior Producer: Amanda Patterson
Executive Creative Director: Justin Bailey
Creative Director: Rich Stine
Composer: Justin Bailey
Audio Post Company: Rainmaker Studios
Engineer/Mixer: Jeff McManus, Mike O'Connor