If anybody picked their March Madness brackets primarily based on the expertise in Geico’s marketing campaign for the match, they may discover themselves in good condition: Both of the school stars featured in its work, UConn Huskies guard Azzi Fudd and Michigan Wolverines guard Trey McKenney, are headed to the Final Four.
The advertising group at Geico wasn’t purposefully making an attempt to decide winners, in accordance to CMO Arianna Orpello. Instead, they had been largely centered on discovering athletes with tales that matched the narrative the corporate is making an attempt to convey in its docuseries marketing campaign about households and assist methods. The docuseries method, Orpello stated, is supposed to assist Geico stand out in the sports activities area, which is crowded with insurance companies.
“Geico has always tried to redefine the storytelling of the category,” Orpello, who joined from Goldman Sachs three months in the past, informed Marketing Brew. “That’s been happening for over 30 years, mostly in the traditional advertising space, and…we really tried to think about, ‘How do we create a different kind of platform for NCAA than we have in any of the other sports?’”
The ensuing marketing campaign, a three-part docuseries about Fudd, McKenney, and WNBA star and UConn grad Napheesa Collier, marks the beginning of Orpello’s effort to differentiate Geico in the insurance coverage class, in half by betting extra on women’s sports activities, she stated.
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The docuseries, Miles that Matter, focuses on moments of transition—McKenney is making his March Madness debut, and Fudd is about to enter the WNBA Draft because the projected No. 1 decide—and the way mother and father support their kids in these moments, usually with conversations throughout automotive rides to and from practices and video games.
“We really do believe that there’s a real connection to all of these transitions in life and the car,” Orpello stated. “It used to be that you sat at the dinner table and you had these connected conversations with your parents or your caregivers, and now that happens in the car, too.”
In addition to Miles that Matter, which is streaming on Paramount+, Geico, an official NCAA sponsor, is about to have a presence on the bottom at each the lads’s and women’s Final Fours with fan fests that embody photograph ops and merch drops. The firm can be the presenting sponsor of youth basketball occasions at each Final Fours, all as a part of an effort to drive consideration, likability, favorability, and, ultimately, new enterprise, particularly amongst ladies, Orpello stated.
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“We don’t have an awareness problem,” she stated. “We’re trying to connect…It is smart commercial business for us to be in women’s sports and in places where women want us to be.”
Geico, which is owned by Berkshire Hathaway, reported a lower in its pretax underwriting revenue for the fourth quarter of 2025 due in half to a rise in advert spend. Across the monetary and insurance coverage classes, complete advert spend elevated by about 14% YoY in the second half of 2025, up to greater than $6.6 billion, per MediaRadar stats cited by Emarketer.
Orpello can be monitoring social metrics like shares, engagements, and sentiment across the marketing campaign, which has thus far been about 95% constructive, she informed us. When Geico introduced its multiyear partnership with Fudd earlier this month, the model had its best-performing day of the yr in phrases of engagements, mentions, and impressions, in accordance to Orpello. Engagement with Instagram static posts that includes Fudd is 1,231% increased than Geico’s benchmark, Reels engagement is 392% increased, and TikToks are 1,459% increased, in accordance to the corporate. (Geico didn’t share its precise inside social benchmarks.)
Leading cross
With its general NCAA deal, Geico isn’t fully new to women’s sports activities, however Fudd is the primary girl athlete sponsored by the corporate, and Orpello stated Geico’s media spend nonetheless skews extra towards males’s sports activities. That’s one thing she’s working to change, together with by hiring somebody to lead Geico’s women’s sports activities efforts particularly. Geico can be sponsoring Deep Blue Sports + Entertainment’s upcoming Business of Women’s Sports Summit.
Orpello stated she’s hoping to at some point increase additional into different sports activities outdoors of basketball, significantly flag soccer. Geico might be sticking with basketball for the foreseeable future, although, with plans to activate alongside Fudd on the WNBA Draft, and certain in whichever metropolis she finally ends up enjoying for, Orpello added.
The model can even proceed to embrace storytelling and shoulder programming round women’s sports activities, Orpello stated. It’s something of a gap in the market, in addition to an space the place Geico can “stake claim on” as a part of its efforts to stand out amongst its opponents.
“These [women’s sports] experiences are deep and meaningful,” Orpello stated. “People don’t miss a game, and they don’t miss a story around their favorite athlete, and they want more of it. I think the question is, ‘How do we use our heft and our spend to drive that up?’”