Different Kind of Hook

Martin Agency Snares Wal-Mart Account With a Richmond State of Mind

So there is a gecko sitting in a big comfortable chair. He is a fairly conventional gecko. He has a green body, a bumpy white belly and bulgy eyes. The one exception about this gecko is that he talks -- with a working-class British accent. Oh, and he's giving an interview on a television talk show.

What he has to say in the next 30 seconds tells a lot about how a gecko -- a lizard! -- that sprang out of the creative minds of a Richmond advertising agency far from New York City could help snag a big-city advertising deal from Wal-Mart, the world's largest retailer. The gecko is asked why Geico -- the District-based insurance company -- would hire a chatty gecko.

"Well, entertainment," the gecko says. "You can't just tell people that Geico can save them money. It's true, yes, but a bit boring. So you have a little gecko entertain -- play a little guitar, whatever. They think they are watching entertaining television, but they are really watching" -- and now his voice lowers -- "a commercial."

The commercial is a decidedly self-referential effort, not just about the process of creating icons that sell products but also about the commercial's maker, the Martin Agency. The firm has risen to the highest ranks of the advertising world not from New York or Chicago but from its base in Richmond, mostly by following the gecko's method of entertaining audiences while subtly and creatively slipping in the message.

"It's more cerebral than slapstick," said Steve Bassett, who oversees the firm's Geico account. "It's a little more David Letterman, a little less Benny Hill."

Wal-Mart is tapping that approach. Last month it handed the Martin Agency a large but undisclosed piece of its $580 million-a-year advertising budget. Wal-Mart is attempting to expand its business beyond its core customer base by becoming a marketer that doesn't just promote weekly low prices, but does so with a certain flair.

"Wal-Mart has always been a company that's been operationally driven," said Mike Hughes, the Martin Agency's president and creative director, sitting in his office at the firm's downtown headquarters. "I don't want to change what Wal-Mart is. I want the world's best retailing company to also be among the world's best marketing companies."

Formed in 1965, the Martin Agency, which employs about 400 people, has created marketing campaigns that took hold in American culture. In 1972, the firm hatched the "Virginia Is for Lovers" tourism slogan, which helped it later land accounts with Wrangler jeans and Mercedes-Benz. It began working with Geico in 1994 and has produced campaigns widely praised in the ad industry.

Besides the self-aware gecko, there is a caveman who promotes the insurer's Web site -- the slogan is, "So easy a caveman could do it." The campaign had its origins in trying to illustrate the idea that even a dumb person could use Geico's Web site. Bassett said the agency asked, "So who is historically dumb that we won't offend?"

Another Geico campaign features stars (including Little Richard and Burt Bacharach) who team up with real Geico customers giving testimonials about the company's claims service.

"Denise Bazik is a real Geico customer, not a paid celebrity," one such ad begins. "So to help tell her story we hired a celebrity." Little Richard is sitting next to Bazik at a kitchen table. Bazik said she called Geico after hitting a deer, expecting to get just a recording. "Help me," Little Richard screams, as Little Richard typically screams. "Somebody help me!" You guessed it -- Geico did.

The Martin Agency also works for UPS ("What can Brown do for you?"), NASCAR, the Discovery Channel, Discover Card, Hanes and Barely There bras. (Warren E. Buffett's company, Berkshire Hathaway, owns Geico; Buffett is a director of The Washington Post Co.)