15 Consumers could save you 15% or more on your production costs

As reported in MediaDailyNews, the Gecko has diverted his focus from suing everyone in the nation to engaging its consumers through a CGC campaign.

According to the article, this might be the first time that such a large scale CGC effort has been launched...but I'm not sure I'd agree, with other examples such as the Converse Gallery a little ahead in the "I was first" stakes.

Also interesting that the plan is to run the submissions on ifilm, "selected blogs" and the dedicated site, GoldenGecko.com.

No mention of turning these into REAL TV ads...which if so, would be a HUGE missed opportunity.

This raises interesting questions:

• Is GEICO doing this because they're cheap and are trying to save money (which is arguably 110% on message :))?
• Er, how does one plan to run these ads on blogs...will GEICO be purchasing space on said blogs, or hoping bloggers will run the ads independently? (Hint: If you don't sue me and promise to shave an extra 1% off my insurance, perhaps I'll re:think!)