• by Richard Whitman , Columnist, January 7, 2019

For an agency, it takes more than a bit of confidence to launch a campaign asking consumers to weigh in on their favorite ad its done for a particular client. 

For me, in most cases, the answer would be they all suck, go away and stop bothering me. 

There are probably a handful of agencies that could pull it off and The Martin Agency — for its work for GEICO — is one of them. The work is iconic. 

And the shop has just launched such a campaign, which also speaks volumes about the confidence the client has in the agency. 

And true to form, they’ve launched the campaign with a funny ad that’s a send-up of those cheesy “Best Of” collections of music-by-the-decades ads, starring characters named Kurt and Linda. 

The ad opens with Kurt seated on the living-room couch chuckling at an old GEICO ad, where a squirrel narrowly misses becoming road kill. Linda struts in with her fancy almost-to-the-knee reddish leather boots (and matching belt) wondering what Kurt seems so tickled by. He gives her the low-down on the new campaign and how you can not only vote for your favorite ad, but also enter a contest for a chance to make an appearance in an upcoming GEICO spot. 

“I’ve always wanted to be in a commercial,” chirps Linda. 

You can check out the list of ads to vote for here. They’re all memorable and some are funnier than others, which is the basic point — everybody has a different opinion on which ad or ads tickle the funny bone the most. 

One of my favorites didn’t make the voting cut. It was a short, audacious, innovative pre-roll ad from a few years back called “Unskippable.” I still laugh every time I see it. 

Maybe you have to be a dog person to really appreciate it. Google it and decide for yourself.