I received this advertisement in the mail. It begins:

Friends,

Unfortunately GEICO continues to portray Cavemen as inferior and simple-minded in its advertising. For us, it’s been a year of hard work. We took our message of tolerance to the streets, gained national attention in the media by defending our status as equals, and showed how Cavemen are contributing members of society.

However, GEICO stands by its original decision to belittle Cavemen with little regard to how it affects us. In spite of an “apology” and indications that GEICO would cease and desist its public slander of Cavemen, the company continues to use the slogan, “So easy a caveman can do it,” in its advertising…

It was unclear who sent the letter. On the surface, the sender was writing a “political” letter, complaining about the values espoused by the company. Only after reading the small print it became obvious that the letter was in fact sent by the company itself.

The goal of this letter is to build upon the insurance company’s latest advertising imagery and tagline. It’s certainly clever, but misses the goal: getting prospective clients to contact them because they offer best price/service mix.

Here are some suggestions I’d recommend making to this ad:

• Contact information . As a minimum, create a URL for this campaign, which would redirect to the real company.
• Focus on benefit . The direct mail piece was intended to be humorous, but it missed the chance to mention the benefits of this company’s products. This is especially important for people who haven’t seen the advertisements before and are only seeing references to other ads.
• Make it transparent . At the end of the direct mail, show the “punch line”: Who really made this ad? Why they did it. How to contact them. Why the reader should contact them.