Saying it has already picked up "an early positive buzz," Navy Federal Credit Union confirmed Tuesday it has launched a stepped-up national media campaign to promote its GEICO Insurance linkup.
The branding push covers 37 markets and includes radio, newspapers and online ads. It began Jan. 17 and the credit union hopes to gauge results by May, according to Pat Schneck, senior vice president-marketing and advertising.
The campaign is distinctive from past GEICO tie-ins, Schneck said, considering "our new ads emphasize the partnership and the similarity of our two brands." Under Navy Federal's new media outreach, the nation's largest CU expects to conduct a higher level of buys in the spot ad market in the weeks ahead.
The GEICO insurance relationship with Navy Federal is nearly a decade old but the new push on auto/home loan insurance reflects a new test of linking up with one of the credit union's business partners in a concentrated media buy, Schneck said.
The radio and print ads were created by the Martin Agency of Richmond, Va., with input from Fitzgerald and Company of Atlanta joined by the Navy Federal and GEICO marketing staffs. The radio spots are 60 seconds in length.
Navy Federal's viral campaign on GEICO will extend to 13 external sites which, for example, would include such vehicles as Weather.com and Fox Sports in addition to Facebook, Schneck said.
"Our branding effort is aimed at bringing national attention to our partnership with GEICO," she said.
Navy Federal, she said, does expect to continue using traditional vehicles for its GEICO ads, including Military Times, base newspapers and direct mail, but "on this we're going one step further."
