From spectator spots to need-to-know cycling terms, we have you covered with this Richmond 2015 Guide to the Races.

The Design 100: 2015 [app] design awards USA: GEICO / The Martin Agency | Best Expanded Service or Application

Project Overview

Insurance. Everybody needs it. But nobody wants to deal with it.

This called for an app that could help people help themselves in those mobile moments, while delivering the same functionality they've come to like on the website. So, we reinvented GEICO Mobile. An app that is both welcoming and beautiful, with a fresh visual and architecture foundation, original iconography and unique animations that feel natural. Helping people feel the ever-helpful delight of GEICO.

Project Brief

Insurance is something everybody needs but nobody wants to deal with. We reinvented GEICO Mobile as a tool that helps people help themselves—reducing calls to GEICO agents. This meant reworking the app into something people would want to use.

Project Need

We created an entirely new GEICO digital identity. This included rethinking and redesigning the user experience to be simple and inviting. It began with the visual foundation, making iconography, colors and animations that feel natural and welcoming. After extensive testing we rethought and redesigned what the app does so can predict what you need before you even ask. Common sense stuff that’s uncommon in the insurance world. In the end, we made GEICO Mobile into a likeable tool that people can use to solve problems for themselves. No GEICO agent necessary.

User Experience

With a personalized experience, we went beyond pretty typefaces by simplifying what the app does and filled it to the brim with practicality:

Late for a payment?
GEICO Mobile will gently remind you. And you can pay from wherever you are with just a swipe.

In search of some cheap fuel?
Save money at the pump by using our real-time gas price locator.

Want to start a claim at the scene?
The Accident Checklist helps you out on the scene. And you can start the claim process when it is the most convenient for you.

Have a flat tire?
You can get Emergency Roadside Assistance right through the app. GPS lets help know right where you are. Automagically. You’re back on the road with a few taps of your finger.

Need your ID Card…fast?
You can conjure up your GEICO ID Cards with the tap of a finger. Happily ending frantic glove box searches.

Project Marketing

Launching our app was a celebration, indeed. With a huge improvement to our best-in-class customer service offering, a proper release was in order.

From leveraging the voices of our current customer service representatives and GEICO Field Representatives, to launching traditional marketing and email campaigns, we made sure to get the word out about GEICO Mobile.

And of course, supporting our product with constant feature enhancements, we strive to surpass the needs of our policyholders at every step.

Oh, and some other folks have had some nice things to say, too.
GEICO Mobile was chosen as Best Insurance App by Forrester Research.
GEICO Mobile was chosen as the #1 Insurance Mobile App & Site by Keynote’s 2015 Mobile Insurance Scorecard,
GEICO Mobile has a high customer rating (as of March 2nd): Apple App Store - 4.69 / Google Play - 4.59

Project Privacy

• We obtain personal information from users directly, from transactions with us, and from third parties such as state motor vehicle departments.
• We do not collect personally-identifying information from users when they visit our Web site or online services unless they affirmatively provide it to us.
• We do not allow third parties to collect personally-identifying information from our users' computer or mobile device when they visit our Web site or use our online services.
• We will not sell their information to third parties.
• Any third parties who perform services for us are required to safeguard any customer information and may only use it in connection with performing those services.
• We extensively secure and limit access to our users' information.
• We protect information about potential, current, and former policyholders.

Team

GEICO:
VP IT: Steve Smith
Director Mobile: Pete Meoli
Manager Mobile: Eran Rosenberg
Manager Mobile: Lwin Moe
Manager Digital Experience: Derek Switzer
Lead Digital Experience: Carolyn Tran
Designer: Kait Hines

The Martin Agency:
Chief Creative Officer: Joe Alexander
SVP/Group Creative Director: Steve Basset
VP/Group Creative Director: Wade Alger
VP/Creative Director: Jordi Martinez
Associate Creative Director: Lionel Bui
Associate Director, Design: Josh Corliss
Associate Designer: Rozella Jacobsen
Associate Designer: Lauren Erickson
Copywriter: Dave Ashton
VP/ Director of Digital Production: Darren Himebrook
Digital Producer: Charlie Humphries
Strategic Planner: Monisha Tripathi
UX Designer: Josh Markowitz
VP/ Group Account Director: Brad Higdon
Account Supervisor: Parker Collins
Senior Project Manager: Jason Ray
Business Affairs Supervisor: Karen Taylor
Senior Integrated Production Business Manager: Amy Trenz

Continue to app design awards.

GEICO Unskippable will be awarded with two Gold CLIO Awards on September 30th in New York; one in the Innovative Category and another in the Digital Category. Congratulations to the team!

Continue to clioawards.com for the full list of winners.

Creativity-Online, By Alexandra Jardine

Geico marked the countdown to opening night of football season with another ad in its “It’s What You Do” series. This time, ’80s rock gods Europe sing their much-overplayed hit, “The Final Countdown,” as an office worker is waiting for his lunch to finish in the microwave. (Because if you’re Europe, you love final countdowns.)

Not only that, but Geico and The Martin Agency have launched an online “Countdown Generator” where you can create a personalized “countdown” with Europe as your backing singers, and send it to a friend. You can clock back to all kinds of events including weddings, parties or just the weekend.

Continue to Creativity

Creativity, by Alexandra Jardine

Watching this video promoting the "Latotstroller," a baby buggy which comes with 4X4 wheels, refrigeration for raisins, customizable sandcastles, bubbles and a "holographic generator," even the most indulgent parents might start to wonder if the world has gone crazy.

The ad gets more and more unbelieveable, as it moves into testimonials from nine month olds -- yet still you're not sure. At the end, you can click on the product website to find out more about the Latotstroller. Keep watching for the denouement; the stroller explodes, to be replaced by a message from Total Wireless: "If you think this is ridiculous, take a look at your wireless plan."

It's a funny and clever idea via The Martin Agency from Total Wireless, a prepaid mobile brand owned by Tracfone Wireless and available exclusively at Walmart, warning customers not to get oversold with things they don't want/need/care about. We're guessing the creative on this work is one of the many frustrated parents who just wanted a simple folding stroller but got sucked into something bigger.

Continue to Creativity.

Digiday, by Tanya Dua

Agencies may spend most of their time sprucing up their clients’ Instagram feeds, but several of them spend a considerable amount of time adding a good dash of creativity to their own accounts. Here’s a roundup of 10 of them.

The Martin Agency

The Martin Agency feeds its 2,200 Instagram followers with everything from random happenings around the agency offices to throwback ads to puppy pics. The agency has also started a tattoo series with the hashtag #martintattuesday, where it features employees’ tattoos and the stories behind them. The agency also tags its posts with #martindoes and encourages employees to do the same.

“It gives a glimpse into where we are and what we’re up to,” said Jordan McConnel, brand editorial manager at The Martin Agency. “We want people to be proud to work here and recruits to be excited about the prospect as well.”

Continue to Digiday for nine other amazing agency Instagram accounts worth following.