Major Marketing Changes at GEICO
For a long time, GEICO has been a big spender on radio. By volume, GEICO is the 13th largest radio advertiser in the country. In the first six-months of 2022, GEICO aired 546,753 commercials on sports broadcasts and news and music programs.
That’s about to stop.
GEICO just laid off a huge number of people in its marketing department. In addition, for years it has used Horizon Media to do its marketing. That agreement — now going 25 years strong — is under review.
A company called MediaLink will be doing that review.
According to the media publication, Ad Age, the staff cuts are for a number of reasons. Big rate hikes, the closing of 38 offices in California and a marketing staff that has begun talking about unionizing.
GEICO says it is going to offer positions in other departments when possible, and many will get severance benefits and services to help them find other jobs.
“Like most large companies, we continue to review and adjust our staffing to respond to changing customer and business priorities,” GEICO said in a statement and addressing Horizon Media, noted it has “not ended relationships with any of our media or marketing partner agencies.”
Another take on the marketing change has to do with how people are using media these days. Market researcher eMarketer’s Insider Intelligence report is reporting that the reliance on traditional advertising channels like cable TV and radio is changing.
Its research says 33.1% of the viewing population of the U.S. is cutting ties to paid TV.
That means many companies — like GEICO — will probably be cutting the linear cord and moving to digital video. And while that sounds like one possible answer, Insider Intelligence also notes that insurer digital ad dollars are shrinking.
However, shrinking or not, digital advertising done by insurers so far this year has hit $12.15 billion.
Source link: Insurance Business America — https://bit.ly/3T6augs |
