Cavemen is an example of a commercial that became a TV show about Cavemen that look and act like Neanderthals.
Tonight Cavemen premiered on ABC, but I didn’t get a chance to see the first episode yet. Also, there’s agency type promotional sites like Caveman’s Crib along with the Cavemen site which are poor user experiences as they are entirely Flash based.
Amazingly, the WikiPedia page for Cavemen totally misses the Cavemen GEICO phenomenon and writes just about the actually Cavemen of the past: “….A caveman is a popular stock character based on how early humans or homininans may have looked and behaved. The term is sometimes used colloquially to refer to Neanderthals, Cro-Magnon, or Homo sapiens of the Paleolithic era.”
However, there’s another Wikipedia page about the GEICO Cavemen (and I would not be surprised if it was partially written by ABC, or some other network involved with the production of the Cavemen show:
“…GEICO Cavemen are popular characters in a series of well-received television advertisements for the auto insurance company GEICO, that aired from 2004 to 2007. The campaign was created by Joe Lawson of The Martin Agency. In 2004, GEICO began an advertising campaign featuring Neanderthal-like cavemen in a modern setting.[1] The premise of the commercials is that GEICO advertises that using their website is “so easy, a caveman could do it”; and that this slogan offends cavemen, who not only still exist in modern society but live as intelligent, urbane yuppies. Jeff Daniel Phillips and Ben Weber played the two earliest cavemen and continuously reprise their roles. Actor John Lehr appears most frequently as the caveman. A fourth caveman is played by Ben Wilson.”
The WikiPedia entry for GEICO Cavemen references Cavemen’s Crib web site, which it reviews:
“…In 2007, GEICO created and launched an interactive Flash website starring the GEICO commercial cavemen entitled Caveman’s Crib.
The site invites users to a hip penthouse party at the caveman’s apartment.[4] If users click “Prep & Party,” they are transported to the “crib” with the party not yet underway. Max (Jeff Phillips from the Airport spot), is none too pleased with the early arrival. Roommate Marty (John Lehr from the Therapy spot), is stressing over the arrival of Tina. Users may interact with the GEICO cavemen as well as their clothing, electronics, books, magazines and appliances.
If users click “Snooze & Rejuve” they are transported to the morning after the party at the crib, and meet a third caveman, Neil (Eric Andre), who is napping on the couch. Users may interact with the cavemen and view camera phone video clips from the party itself, taken by several different guests points of view.[5] Some interesting facts arise from the caveman’s crib website”.
Glad there’s a Wikipedia entry to explain Caveman’s Crib as I didn’t “get it” from the Caveman’s Crib site.
There seems to be a good amount of Buzz going on around Cavemen just now according to Google Trends; just look at caveman show with stephanie lemelin, Tiffany Pollard and Nick Kroll and Bruce Mcculloch; there’s also a page on cavemen review worth looking at.
By the Way, here’s the Buzz that Cavemen is producing in the Blogosphere, according to BlogPulse:
Clearly, the spike on October 2nd, today, cooinsides with the launch of Cavemen on ABC.
Various ways people are searching for “Cavemen” are: “..caveman show on ABC, caveman tv show (again on ABC TV), caveman series which is based on the GEICO commercials, cavemen imdb, caveman tv, caveman cast, caveman reviews, cavemen reviews, caveman abc, cavemen, stephanie lemelin (actor), nick kroll (actor), america s most smartest model, cavemen abc, tiffany pollard (actor), caveman abc, cavemen cast, cavemen tv show, bruce mcculloch (actor), stephanie lemelin”.
The initial feedback online is good, such as: The new Geico Cavemen Show is Fantastic! with “..Fantastic, I look forward to episode 2″ and Cavemen (”….that giggle was just what the doctor ordered”) while I’ll have the roast duck with the mango salsa… says “I wish Larry David was the writer.