GEICO GOES HEAD TO HEAD WITH ANGRY BIRDS IN NEW AD
MOBILE GAME CHARACTERS BROUGHT TO LIFE WITH BESPOKE ANIMATION FOR INSURANCE TV CAMPAIGN
BACKGROUND:
GEICO has a history of working with famous film and TV characters. For their 2021 ‘Bundling’ platform they had already worked with Disney’s Animal (‘There’s an Animal in the Attic’) and Hanna-Barbera Animation’s Yogi Bear (‘Yogi Bear Joins the BBQ’). GEICO and their creative agency The Martin Agency were looking for another popular animation property to get their message across about making insurance easier by bundling home and car insurance together.
THE CALL TO BORN:
The Martin Agency wrote a brilliant script with everyone’s favourite flightless flock, Angry Birds, from the famous mobile game developed by Rovio Entertainment. Destroying pots and disturbing the neighbours, the feathered foes needed to be seen causing havoc in someone’s back garden to help show how GEICO makes insurance easy. Born Licensing were called on to reach out to Rovio and to use our extensive experience in this area to negotiate a license on behalf of The Martin Agency and GEICO.
WHERE BORN LICENSING ADDED VALUE:
Born Licensing’s extensive experience in licensing animation and entertainment IP for advertising campaigns allowed The Martin Agency to focus fully on production whilst relying on us to facilitate the license agreement and to manage the resource-heavy approvals process on their behalf.
THE DEVELOPMENT:
After presenting the script to Rovio and working with them to get the concept approved from a creative standpoint, we then had to decide which version of the birds would be best for the spot. It was agreed that the movie version of the Angry Birds would be the best fit for this campaign and so Born Licensing then worked with Rovio to release the assets to The Martin Agency under a release form whilst the contract was being worked through. This allowed The Martin Agency to meet key deadlines within their production schedule.
THE APPROVAL PROCESS:
Born Licensing worked with Rovio to ensure The Martin Agency had all the assets needed to bring the Angry Birds to life in post-production. We got access to references such as pantone guides and sizing charts to ensure the birds were being depicted as accurately as possible. Rovio had to review and approve all elements of the campaign that featured their IP and so Born Licensing managed the submission and approvals process making it as smooth and streamlined as possible.
THE LAUNCH:
The 30-second film premiered during the widely viewed 2021 Macy’s Thanksgiving Day parade – reaching a total of 25.4 million viewers. The parade has been described by NBC as their ‘Super Bowl for family viewing’ so it was a perfect pairing for GEICO and Angry Birds. The launch was supported with social on both GEICO’s and Angry Birds’ channels.
THE EXPERIENCE
Born Licensing managed the entire licensing process from start to finish, including development, negotiation of commercial terms, the contractual process, invoicing, the brand assurance / approval process and everything else that came up relating to the use of Angry Birds in the advertisement.
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