Where is the GEICO Gecko from?

You’ve got to hand it to the Geico gecko. He takes a completely boring product, insurance, and makes it interesting.

Of course, Geico has a history of making insurance interesting. It does so by throwing non-sequiturs at you in the form of talking cavemen, flying pigs, musical money stacks, and geckos with accents.

When it comes down to it, Geico Insurance Agency never really says a word about insurance or related coverage options.

Perhaps this is why their commercials are so brilliant. Every other insurance company bores us with policy details that simply put us to sleep, though many are beginning to take Geico’s lead as well.

And Geico certainly has the lead. The insurer spent the most on advertising in 2009 (most recent data available) by a mile and likely has held onto that lead if your television is any indication.

The Geico Gecko’s Humble Beginnings

That brings us to Geico’s most lovable TV mascot and advertising icon. The “Geico Gecko” or “gecko from Geico” name is what he has always been known as.

Wikipedia says the little green critter apparently came about because the name Geico was often mispronounced as “gecko,” and because animals have proven to create a strong relationship between customers and companies.

Gecko is the most charming and charismatic creature who has captivated audiences of all ages. It even went as far as becoming a published author because it was impossible for the company to include everything in just a 30-minute commercial.

See Spuds MacKenzie for more on that.

So Geico’s advertising agency, Martin Agency, started brainstorming and came up with a “quick doodle.”

Interestingly, it came about during the Screen Actor Guild’s strike when human actors were essentially barred from being in commercials.

So a lot of things had to come together to make it possible.

That doodle proved to be a goldmine for Geico, as it has been a prominent part of their ad campaign for about 25 years now. Moreover, the Geico Gecko triggers feelings of nostalgia which has an impactful effect. He’s a memorable and charismatic mascot that inspires trust with its humor and interesting tagline. When they created him, he was born from an amalgamation of many real reptiles. The starting model for the Geico Gecko is designed after a species called Phelsuma.

He was voted America’s favorite advertising icon back in 2005. In fact, it’s still their main mascot, and likely will be for the foreseeable future.

Is the original Geico gecko accent English or Australian?

The next logical question is where the famous Gecko is from. After all, Geico has posed the very question in one of its commercials, only to leave viewers wondering.

Well, anyone that knows a good English accent knows the Geico voice is definitely not Australian. See Paul Hogan (Crocodile Dundee) for more on that.

The Geico lizard voice is definitely an English accent, though it has varied over the years. The Gecko voice behind the Geico was originally performed by English radio presenter David Kelly and was later handled by English actor Jake Wood of EastEnders fame.

The most recent Geico lizard voice in the current commercials is a cockney accent, which is a working-class accent common in the East End of London, England.

So there you have it. The Geico lizard accent is definitely not Australian, and 100% English. For anyone familiar with accents, it’s pretty obvious.

Clearly, Geico just decided to make it a cliffhanger in their commercials to get more people to their website with the hope that they would request an insurance quote. Once again, a brilliant idea.

By the way, the Geico Gecko is the most recognized insurance mascot, beating out Flo from Progressive and Mayhem from Allstate.

For the record, the acronym for Geico is Government Employees Insurance Company. And the company has been around since 1936.