Geico: Fast Forward

Credits & Description:

Agency: The Martin Agency
Brand: Geico
Country: USA
Advertising Agency: The Martin Agency, Richmond
Entrant Company: The Martin Agency, Richmond
Media Agency: Horizon Media, New York
Pr Agency: Horizon Media, New York
Production Company: Mpc, New York
Group Account Director: Brad Higdon (The Martin Agency)
Senior Producer: Juliet Tierney (Mpc)
Sr. Integrated Production Business Manager: Amy Trenz (The Martin Agency)
Producer: Jason Gilbert (Furlined)
Executive Producer: Jon Spencer (Black Iris)
Executive Creative Director: Justin Bailey (Black Iris)
Broadcast Producer: Liza Miller (The Martin Agency)
Colorist: Ricky Gausis (Mpc)
Group Creative Director: Steve Bassett (The Martin Agency)
Production Coordinator: Valentina Cokonis (Mpc)
Account Executive: Allison Hensley (The Martin Agency)
Senior Producer: Amanda Patterson (Black Iris)
Executive Producer: Brett Alexander (The Martin Agency)
Assistant Editor: Brian Meagher (Cut + Run)
Junior Broadcast Producer: Coleman Sweeney (The Martin Agency)
Vfx Supervisor/Nuke Lead: Jim Spratling (Mpc)
Associate Creative Director: Mauricio Mazzariol (The Martin Agency)
Creative Director: Rich Stine (Black Iris)
Roto Lead: Sivakumar R (Mpc)
Producer: Annabelle Dunbar-Whittaker (Cut + Run)
Vfx Supervisor: Gizmo Rivera (Mpc)
Executive Producer: Carr Schilling (Cut + Run)
Executive Producer: David Richards (Furlined)
Line Producer: Deepanjali Singh (Mpc)
Senior Project Manager: Karen Mcewen (The Martin Agency)
Account Coordinator: Allie Waller (The Martin Agency)
Editor: Frank Effron (Cut + Run)
Engineer/Mixer: Jeff Mcmanus (Rainmaker Studios)
Senior Executive Producer: David Thorne (Furlined)
President: Diana Mcarter (Furlined)
Chief Creative Officer: Joe Alexander (The Martin Agency)
Composer: Justin Bailey (Black Iris)
Business Affairs Supervisor: Suzanne Wieringo (The Martin Agency)
Group Creative Director: Wade Alger (The Martin Agency)
Director: Nick Bell (Furlined)
Comp/Prep Lead: Avinash Bhandary (Mpc)
Executive Producer: Lexi Stern (Mpc)
Financial Manager: Monica Cox (The Martin Agency)
Creative Director: Neel Williams (The Martin Agency)
Outcome:
After three weeks, the campaign has over half a million views. Most importantly, the extended versions have almost as many views as the paid :15 pre-rolls. With a 91.7% correlation between paid and unpaid views, that means 9 out of 10 paid views are converted into voluntarily watching the full-length ads.
Campaign Description:
We decided to do viewers a favor: fast-forward to the end of our own pre-roll ad. At the end of each :15 pre-roll, viewers could click to watch the full-length ad and see what they missed. The full-length ads featured more GEICO messaging and more exposure to the brand.
Execution:
Our :15 pre-roll ads ran as paid media on YouTube. At the end of each :15 pre-roll, viewers could click to watch the full-length ad (also on YouTube) and see what they missed.   
Strategy:
Our target audience was YouTube viewers. We knew that this audience finds pre-roll ads annoying, so they “tune them out,” not paying attention. Our strategy was to create videos so disruptive and compelling that people would actually choose to watch more (then get more of our messaging as a result).
Synopsis:
This year, we had a new pre-roll problem. A 15-second media buy without any skip buttons. Our problem was two-fold. One, keep people from hating a pre-roll ad they’re forced to watch to the end. Two, get people to pay attention to our messaging.