Cavemen Rule the World!

What does it say of the state of TV land when execs are harvesting ideas from popular commercials? Creative drought or ingenious marketing tactic?

As the major networks spent the past week revealing their line-ups for next Fall, a buzz began over ABC’s decision to green light the creation of a 30-minute sitcom starring the now famous characters from the commercials. The three cavemen, originally played by John Lehr, Ben Webber, and Jeff Daniel Phillips in the commercials are set to be played by a new cast of Bill English, Dash Mihok, and Nick Kroll.

No word on why the original cavemen won’t be filling the roles.

While this seems like an original concept, making a series out of a popular commercial character, it isn’t the first time it’s been done. However, you’re not likely to remember the first attempt. Remember the old Quizno’s commercials with the annoying talking baby? Yeah, that was the first attempt. Lame, right? Well, in 2002 CBS decided to give it a shot. The show centered on a couple, played by Joely Fisher and Alan Arkin, whose infant son could (you guessed it) talk.

Amazingly enough, “Baby Bob” managed to last two seasons before getting the ax, so you could consider it somewhat successful. Given the passage of time, the show has passed from viewers’ consciousness (you can’t even find a clip on youtube). There is hardly more than a trace of it on the Internet with the exception of an entry on the Internet Movie Data Base (IMDB) and a few mentions in the news recently thanks to ABC taking a crack at the commercial-turned-sitcom genre.

From an advertising perspective, this is the epitome of branding success. What company wouldn’t want one of their brands to become so recognized and popular that it gets its own television show? GEICO is at the top of the advertising world at the moment, after churning out such entertaining and successful ads like, “Tiny House”, the GEICO Gecko, and the “Cavemen”. And, who can forget the commercials that made you think it was one commercial (where you’d either get really excited about the “make-believe” product or annoyed at the “infomercial”) only to have it turn out to be a GEICO ad. Since 1998, GEICO has seen their business rise from a $2.8 billion to an $11 billion dollar industry.

The question isn’t really WHY ABC has decided to do this, but HOW has it gotten to this point? Even though it’s not a popular trend (yet), if “Cavemen” ends up being a success you can probably expect to see this commercial-inspired type of television more frequently. What does that mean for the advertising industry? Nothing. It won’t change the way the ads are created or the purpose and intention of the ads. It will simply draw more attention to the creative power of the industry.

Television and Advertising industries are evolving, and rightly so. With the onslaught of DVR’s and the consumer’s ability to avoid commercials they don’t want to see, advertisers have had to come up with a new way to get their products seen. That comes in the form of product placement with in the show.

Now, does that mean that the Cavemen show is just going to be a half hour of shameless self-promotion by GEICO? Not exactly. While the copywriter who created the ads will be writing for the show, GEICO will have no creative control and will only receive royalties for the use of the characters.

What it does mean, however, is that the Advertising Industry’s power is having a greater effect on consumers than just getting them to buy the brand. With nearly 2 million views on YouTube, the Cavemen commercials are clearly capable of selling more than just car insurance. Time will tell if these characters have true staying power.

And, yes, like the Cavemen Ads, maybe a few ads here and there will have what it takes to be turned into TV shows. But, wait! Imagine the ad that goes on to inspires a movie! Who wouldn’t want to be working at that Agency?