Do You Know This Pig?

"If it ain't broke, don't fix it." - A brilliant man with terrible grammar.

Whenever somebody gets the chance to walk into an advertising agency and share this tidbit of wisdom, we will all really appreciate it. Too many times agencies take something that's working and decide they need to mix it up to draw a bigger response, but they wind up alienating the same consumers who were on their side. 

Now I'm not saying that they need to stay static in their advertising ploy, because in many instances that could be the kiss of death for a brand. However, when a company decides they want to go in another direction they need to analyze the perspective response, and then commit full board. Running multiple campaigns with different brand characters just confuses and frustrates consumers into turning their heads or changing the channel. 

Remember this bloke?

Of course you do. Not that I need to tell you, but the gecko in question is the Geico gecko. We know him. We love him. His image has become synonymous with the brand. Brilliant marketing. But time and time again companies prove that sometimes we can't leave well enough alone. There's always something better. Something more relevant. Something more...

Maxwell! 

"Yeah JD?"

Get off of my television!

This pig did nothing but annoy me as a consumer. Do I understand where they were coming from? Yeah...actually, no, not at all. 

You have your own talking animal already, why borrow one from a children's rhyme? This idea probably should have gone wee wee wee all the way back to the drawing board.  

In most cases I would explain how terrible I think it is that they couldn't commit to their new potential brand character, but thankfully someone at Geico decided to keep one foot on the ground. If not for the continued use of the gecko, Maxwell would tarnish the brand image. Of course I would be remiss if I said that I didn't like any of the Maxwell commercials. Pig in a blanket? Definitely comical. But can he stand on his own? Absolutely not. Nor should he ever. 

A valiant effort Geico, but I think its time that little piggy goes all the way home. Geico needs to stick to what they know best: small British lizards and their infamous "Did You Know?" commercials. 

They've found the formula for success, and until it ceases to be successful, my vote is to keep it going. Hopefully they will, but only time will tell. So until then...