Gio Compario Drives me Insanio!

The unforgettable, booming operatic voice of Gio Compario in Go Compare commercials has served two functions since its creation in late 2009; firstly, increasing brand awareness for the company by over 450%, but secondly, and perhaps more importantly, it has made me want to break the speakers on every television set I have ever seen it on! Yet, despite my negative emotions towards this ad campaign, I cannot argue that it commands an extremely high level of recall and is instantly recognizable, the obvious aim of the marketing behind the commercial.

If some of you are wondering why you don't recall Gio, this is a commercial from the United Kingdom, where Go Compare is based. As the ad sings, Go Compare is a price comparison website, not only for car insurance but a whole host of products ranging from Credit Cards to Mobile (aka Cell) Phones. The premise behind Go Compare's business model and to an extent this commercial is enticing consumers to their website with one product, in the hope that when they are there they will purchase more. The success of this concept therefore lies in the volume of traffic hitting the website, which according to the Go Compare press release from March 1st 2010 has risen 20% since Gio's TV debut.

With the rapid growth of product and price comparison websites over the last several years, companies such as Go Compare are faced with the challenge of differentiating themselves. There is no doubt that this commercial achieves that goal, albeit in a slightly annoying, obnoxious manner. Yet with both increased brand awareness and website traffic directly related to the advert, my grievance with Gio won't worry the owners of Go Compare who plan to "develop the campaign further throughout 2010."

I can't say that I'm looking forward to seeing or hearing more from Gio in the future, but I have to applaud the tactical marketing behind this campaign given its huge success.

Go Compare Commercial

Iain Atkinson is a Senior at Wake Forest and will graduate in May 2011 with a degree in Business Enterprise Management and a concentration in Marketing.