Auto insurance company Geico have been at the forefront of innovative advertising for close to a decade now. Weather it be their long-running “caveman” bit, their googly-eyed stack of money silently taunting would be Geico customers or the accent changing Gecko (he was an Aussie before, right?!), sheepishly spreading the gospel and delivering their message: “15 minutes or less can save you 15% or more on car insurance” . . . . Geico is doing something right.

These and many of the less memorable spots have been instrumental in shaping Geico’s identity and their meteoric rise within the auto-insurance sector. One of the top-ranked and top grossing auto-insurers, Geico’s image has been largely crafted by what audiences have demanded of them. This latest advert does little to change that trend.

Geico enlisted the online services of Xtranormal, an online film editing service that is more humorous than useful and falls proudly in the “time waster” segment of the online community. But as silly and time-waster-y as it can be (here, here and most famously here), Xtranormal is succinct, well programmed and most importantly, free. Geico took the bait and turned the entire act on it’s self-aware, self-referential head:

The most attractive part of this move isn’t the message, but instead the messenger. The cold, removed, readings of the characters (Beardogs? Dogbears?) are highly recognizable to anyone worth their weight in bandwidth, but to see this Youtube sensation appear in the middle of your favorite reality show, on your actual television no less . . . . it is a bewildering, enticing moment in medium crossover.