Geico reinvented YouTube pre-rolls, launching the "Unskippable" campaign. The power of this wonderful idea stems from the fact the creative is made for the medium.

 

The objective of this ad was to communicate the Geico message in five seconds, while getting people to watch it for longer than that. The idea for Geico not only makes the five dreaded seconds worthwhile, but also makes it very difficult to stop watching until the very end.

 

"Unskippable" injected innovation into the otherwise creatively barren world of pre-roll ads with its series of boring, everyday scenes made utterly watchable and hilarious. The ads featured a family eating a spaghetti dinner, a backyard barbecue, an elevator and an office after-hours.

 

On the surface, the campaign defied everything that we know good advertising today is supposed to do. First, it is pre-roll, which is often the cesspool of creativity. It also promoted a straightforward (and boring) savings message. On top of that, the Geico logo was unabashedly huge in the middle of the screen. The music and copy was very annoying (intentionally). And finally, the videos even dared to tell viewers: "You can't skip this ad". Within five seconds you've heard that 15 minutes could save you 15% or more on car insurance. But at that point, things start getting interesting and very funny.