San Francisco, CA - The Direct Marketing Association (DMA) today honored GEICO with its 2010 Marketer of the Year Award during a ceremony at the Moscone Convention Center, held during the DMA2010 Conference & Exhibition, the Global ROI Marketing Event.
 
Each year, the DMA Marketer of the Year award honors either a company or an individual for outstanding achievements in the multichannel direct marketing community.  This year, Lawrence M. Kimmel, DMA's CEO, presented the award to Anne Bodnar, Manager, Database Marketing on behalf of GEICO for their innovations, leadership, and work that exhibits corporate and environmental responsibility.
 
GEICO's roots are as a direct marketing company, and that tradition continues in their advertising today.  Skillfully using a wide variety of humorous icons and media including print, television, digital, mobile and radio, each communication is designed to build "sales overnight, brand over time."  By fusing brand with entertainment and melding traditional and direct marketing to appeal to all demographics, GEICO has enjoyed continued success.  
 
Past DMA Marketers of the Year:
 
2009  Best Buy and Zurich Financial Services
2008  eBay
2007  Microsoft-MSN
2006  Yahoo! Inc.
2005  David Neeleman, JetBlue Airways
2004  Jason Ackerman, FreshDirect
2003  Lowell W. "Bud" Paxson, Paxson Communications Corporation
2002  Shelly Lazarus, Ogilvy & Mather Worldwide
2001  Thomas O. Ryder, The Reader's Digest Association
2000  Janice Brandt, America Online, Inc.
1999  Jay Walker, Priceline.com
1998  Don Peppers and Martha Rogers, Marketing 1to1/Peppers & Rogers Group
1997  Susan Hendricks, Metromail Corporation
1996  Jim McCann, 1-800-FLOWERS
1995  Jack E. Rosenfeld, Hanover Direct, Inc.
1994  Richard Wolter, The Columbia House Company
1993  Jack Miller, Quill Corporation
1992  Jerome W. Pickholz, Ogilvy & Mather Direct
1991  Robin B. Smith, Publishers Clearing House
1990  Richard L. Benson, The Benson Organization
1989  Stan Rapp & Tom Collins, Rapp & Collins Inc.
1988  Walter Weintz, The Weintz Company, Inc.
1987  Rose Harper, The Kleid Group
1986  Alexander C. Hoffman, Doubleday & Company
1985  Harold L. Schwartz, Montgomery Ward & Co.
1984  Henry C. Cowen, The Cowen Group, Inc.
1983  Robert J. Teufel, Rodale Press
1982  David Heneberry, RCA Selecta Vision Video Discs
1981  Joseph Sugarman, JS&A
1980  Leon A. Gorman, L.L. Bean
1979  Victor Sawdon, The Sawdon Company, Inc.
1978  Robert B. Clarke, Grolier Enterprises, Inc.
1977  Nat Ross, Lincoln Graphic Arts, Inc.
1976  Lou Kislik, Publishers Clearing House
1975  Cornelius Keating, CBS/Columbia House
1974  Joan Manley, Time-Life Books
1973  Joseph Segal, The Franklin Mint
1972  Jerome S. Hardy, The Dreyfus Fund
1971  Herman "Sonny" Schwartz, Fingerhut Corporation
1970  Leonard Carlson, Sunset House
1969  Walter Hitesman, Reader's Digest
1968  Raymond C. Hagel, Macmillan Inc.