Sialoren Spaulding and Tom Perlozzo of Geico on Crafting Ads Despite Rainstorms and Ghosts

The Gecko's expanding universe, Caveman's return, defying physics and more

Sia and Tom are both senior directors of marketing for brand and creative at Geico. 

We spent two minutes with Sia and Tom to learn more about their backgrounds, their creative inspirations and recent work they’ve admired. 

Sia and Tom, tell us …

Where you grew up, and where you live now.

• Sia: I was born and raised in Southern California—specifically, Imperial Beach. I’m currently living in NYC.
• Tom: I grew up in Ocean City, Md., and now I’ve landed in Silver Spring, Md.

How you first got into marketing.

• Sia: As an undergraduate at UCLA I was part of the Student Alumni Association—a group that’s responsible for putting on some of the most beloved events on campus. One of these events is Spring Sing, UCLA’s oldest musical tradition that launched the careers of Sara Bareilles and Maroon 5. In my first year with SAA, I was put in charge of marketing for Spring Sing, where I learned the ropes of traditional advertising from the professionals in our Alumni Association. Following the launch of our first-ever social campaign, Spring Sing sold out within hours, and I had found my career path..
• Tom: My marketing courses at the University of Maryland were always the most interesting to me, so I declared a marketing major early on. I spent a little time after college as an insurance agent and ultimately put my degree and insurance experience to use when I landed a role at Geico. I had a manager take an interest in me and bring me over to the brand and creative side, where I’ve been ever since.

Your most important creative inspirations, and some recent stuff you love.

• Sia: I’m a voracious reader, an avid street art enthusiast and a neophile. I’m always looking for new perspectives and novel experiences to fuel a subversion of expectations in the work I do personally and professionally.
• Tom: I’m a huge fan of comedy, grew up basically glued to Comedy Central. I developed an encyclopedic knowledge of Geico ads before I ever worked here. I have such a huge admiration for those who can make people laugh—it’s not easy.

Talk about concepting your latest bevy of work. 

• Sia: Once we got into creative development, we saw the benefit of our insights-driven approach, with The Martin Agency bringing a wide range of ideas to the table. That made the decision around what to produce pretty tough. In some campaigns—like “Geico Subconscious News” for renters insurance—the choice was obvious. That work was rooted in a powerful pain point for our customers that Geico could help alleviate. We knew upon first presentation it’d be a hit. But there were others, like “Legendary Truckers” for commercial auto, that weren’t as clear on the page. The execution depended so heavily on performance that securing buy-in required a lot of imagination and a little bit of faith.

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• Tom: This round of creative started with understanding who we’re talking to across each of our lines of business at a deeper level. We put ourselves in their shoes and created work specifically for them.

Talk about making the ads. 

• Sia: We managed to produce eight campaigns in six weeks, and it was a pretty wild ride. We started shooting auto and home in Los Angeles. And if you can even believe it, it rained every day of production. When you watch the “Babysitter” spot for home insurance, you’d never know that it was actually pouring (thanks to tarps, paper towels and leaf blowers). I’ll never forget the call I got from The Martin Agency as we wrapped our home shoot in L.A. and moved on to boat and RV in Austin. “We have a problem” was how our account team started the call. “Our hotel in Austin is haunted.” I laughed out loud, but they weren’t kidding. On our first night in town, I gave everyone on our crew a Ghostbusters pin, so we could wear them and keep the ghosts off set.

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• Tom: I lucked out with good weather and hotels that were not haunted. One of the things I enjoyed about the motorcycle work was the technical accomplishment. All the things flying out of the way of the biker and organizing themselves neatly back onto the shelf were shot practically. Some of it was reversed to give that magic effect of things not being governed by physics.

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Another recent project you’re proud of.

• Sia: Our Creative Studio team put together over 600 mid- and low-funnel assets to help round out these campaigns. And it wasn’t an accomplishment just because of the volume. We’ve made a concerted effort to add more analytical rigor to the creative development process. And this launch marked the second quarter we’ve used in-market data to optimize and inform our work.
• Tom: I was proud of a Gecko project, “Legend of the Lizard.” We dove into the Gecko’s backstory and did some fun world-building around why he’s so famous and beloved. Even brought the Caveman back, bringing the two universes together for the first time.

Someone else’s work you admired lately.

• Sia: I’ve gotten a kick out of the Cheetos work for their partnership with Netflix on Season 2 of Wednesday. It’s a strong example of surround-sound storytelling and integrated on-site activation. Brilliant stuff!
• Tom: The 2024 CeraVe Super Bowl campaign is a masterclass in omnichannel storytelling.

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Your main strength and weakness as a creative/business person.

• Sia: One of the reasons we’ve had such a productive year creatively is because we foster an environment that allows our creative folks internally and externally to be brave, think big and go bold. 
• Tom: Sia and I are both strong at seeing the positive and the potential in any creative idea, even if it’s not right for the moment. And we’re both very decisive, which is often hard for creatives.

A mentor who helped you navigate the industry.

• Sia: I have to shout out Sean O’Meara. He was the first account leader I ever worked for, agency-side. And while his passion and pitch skills were something to behold, what I’ve always admired most is how fiercely he champions his team. Over the years he’s been one of my biggest supporters—writing my letter of recommendation for graduate school and offering sage advice at every role change. Every time I fight for the work or my people, I hope I’m doing him proud.
• Tom: Gary Aurand has been an amazing boss and mentor over the years, and we came up together at Geico.

What you’d be doing if you weren’t in advertising.

• Sia: As an adjunct at the University of Southern California, the easy answer is teaching. But if I were doing something completely unrelated to advertising: teaching yoga on a remote beach somewhere.

• Tom: Cook, make music, build and renovate houses—something where I’m making something with my hands and I don’t have to sit still.