45. GEICO's TV Lizard

Nowadays, GEICO is a well-known insurance company. For years, however, it was unnoticed. Other companies, like and Farmers, were more popular. Then GEICO tried different; it got a new ad agency.

The of the agency, Billy Ray Childers, was from . Years ago, he had tried to start his agency in Manhattan. But when New Yorkers heard southern accent, they gave him the cold shoulder. , Billy Ray returned to Virginia. Someday, he hoped teach those New Yorkers a lesson.

He set his new ad agency in Raleigh. Then he up GEICO headquarters in New York. He told that they could improve their sales if they a gecko to advertise GEICO. They balked at , but then approved his ad campaign. In the commercial, the animated lizard said, "I'm a gecko, a GEICO." GEICO was originally going to do TV commercial with the bright green lizard, and retire it. But viewers, especially women, fell in with the cute gecko. So GEICO decided to a few more commercials. And then a few .

The clever lizard with the British accent is eight years old and stars in a new every several months. It has made GEICO famous - as famous as the gecko itself!