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" In a world increasingly populated by emasculated metrosexuals, the pop-culture caveman -- he of the grunting, stupid, and brutish variety -- is a visceral reminder that man&amp;#039;s raw sexual urges can&amp;#039;t be completely sublimated. (It&amp;#039;s why Colin Farrell has so much charm.) There&amp;#039;s something sexy about knowing there&amp;#039;s a man out there somewhere who wants to grab a fistful of your hair, drag you back to his pit, and have his way with you. But you won&amp;#039;t find him in a Geico commercial. Enter the age of the postmodern caveman: He whines about his domineering mother in therapy. He orders the roast duck with mango salsa. He sells automobile insurance for Geico. And now -- he might have his own sitcom. Earlier this month Variety reported that ABC is developing a half-hour show based on the Geico caveman characters. The script was written by Joe Lawson, the advertising copywriter behind the Geico series.  The Geico caveman sprung from the pages of a creative brief sent to the insurer from its advertising agency, the Martin Agency. We sat down with Geico and the Martin Agency&amp;#039;s creative team to plumb the appeal of their hypersensitive Cro-Mags. So what were you smoking during the brainstorming session? Where did the idea for the caveman come from?  Steve Bassett, creative director, the Martin Agency:  The Paleozoic era?  But why a caveman?  Ted Ward, vice president of marketing, Geico:  Here you have this Neanderthal from hundreds of thousands of years ago, in today&amp;#039;s world. We liked the visual juxtaposition of current technology and cave people coming together.  Bassett:  We wanted to communicate that Geico.com was very simple to use, and that people shouldn&amp;#039;t be scared to get a rate quote.  People seem to love the lumpy-headed characters. What do you think their appeal is?  Joe Lawson, associate creative director, the Martin Agency:  Obviously, it&amp;#039;s their incredible sex appeal. No, really.   Lawson:  On a base level, everyone likes humor, and we use dialogue-driven humor, whereas most commercials or sitcoms are over the top or slapstick. People are leaning more toward subtle, character-driven dialogue. It&amp;#039;s why shows like The Office and single-camera comedies, like Extras, do well.  There&amp;#039;s no broader social commentary that can be derived from it?  Lawson:  The cavemen on a very subtle level are reflecting and commenting on something that&amp;#039;s going on in culture, yes. The ad campaign acknowledges the world we live in, and ours is a politically correct country. People seem to feel victimized in some way no matter who they are, and that&amp;#039;s reflected in the ad.  When did you know they were a hit?   Lawson: I think we knew they were catching on when SportsCenter used one of the lines from the &amp;quot;Apology,&amp;quot; the &amp;quot;roast duck with mango salsa&amp;quot; line. In addition to that, the comments on YouTube were really positive. And the spots were getting a ton of views. But basically there&amp;#039;s no real way of knowing whether your audience is responding to the work or not. You just put it our there and hope for the best. Advertising is not a science, nor is it an art. It&amp;#039;s an abyss. You learn all you can, you use every tool you have, but in the end, if you&amp;#039;re doing what you&amp;#039;re supposed to do, you&amp;#039;re going where no one&amp;#039;s gone before. Regardless, after the second round of commercials came out, we knew we had something. The press and the blogosphere were definitely taking notice.      The &amp;quot;Apology&amp;quot; ad. Courtesy YouTube.com. You mentioned that each ad is almost like a short, inclusive character-driven comedy. How do you dream up these scenarios for the cavemen?  Lawson:  Where would they authentically and organically find themselves face-to-face with prejudice or predispositions? That&amp;#039;s the main thing. It has to seem believable, not contrived. At first the characters are interchangeable, but then as you develop the idea you try to figure which character and/or which actor has the personality trait that would bring the most tension, and therefore humor, to a situation. The &amp;quot;Airport&amp;quot; spot is simply inspired by the scene of Dustin Hoffman going home in The Graduate. I just though it would be a funny visual to have a caveman scrolling horizontally through the frame, but then having to walk back into the frame to confirm something offensive that he had just seen. And I really wanted music to play an important role. That spot was our reintroduction of the cavemen after a hiatus, so I really wanted it to feel simple and cinematic, while subtly continuing the narrative.      The &amp;quot;Airport&amp;quot; ad. Courtesy YouTube.com Joe, do you personally have a favorite caveman commercial?  Lawson: This sounds like a cop-out, but I like them all for different reasons. I love the simplicity and music of &amp;quot;Airport&amp;quot; and especially Jeff Phillips&amp;#039;s performance. I like &amp;quot;Apology&amp;quot; from the first round of spots because of Jeff and Ben Weber&amp;#039;s chemistry and Ben&amp;#039;s line, &amp;quot;I&amp;#039;ll have the roast duck with mango salsa.&amp;quot; I had written &amp;quot;petite filet&amp;quot; there, but he came up with something infinitely better. I love &amp;quot;Therapy&amp;quot; and &amp;quot;Self-Esteem&amp;quot; because I love John Lehr in anything. He&amp;#039;s just a brilliant actor and an amazing improvisational artist. With him, the script is just a jumping-off point, he always comes up with better dialogue. And I love Talia Shire as the therapist. I&amp;#039;ve had a crush on her since Rocky.      The &amp;quot;Therapy&amp;quot; ad. Courtesy YouTube.com. The cavemen are already on TV and the Web on sites like CavemansCrib.com and UpWithCavemen.com. Where are they headed next?  Lawson: They&amp;#039;re going beyond television. They have a very active social calendar.  Ward: They&amp;#039;ll be vacationing. They&amp;#039;re paying visits to the folks in South Padre Island, the Alabama Coastline, or Panama City. They&amp;#039;ll become one with the people. Some appearance-type stuff.  And what is the lifespan of the cavemen?  Bassett: We have great hope that the cavemen will live for several millennia. "^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://www.esquire.com/news-politics/news/a2765/geico032007/>