Video: Meerkat more popular on the internet than Cheryl Cole
Aleksandr Orlov in a Compare the Market TV advert
Thursday August 13 2009
Aleksandr Orlov, the Meerkat star of TV adverts for insurance website comparethemarket.com, has become a huge hit on Facebook and Twitter, with more fans that Cheryl Cole and Lily Allen.
Since the advert's launch in January, Compare The Market has had an increase in internet traffic of 80pc, receiving 3.6m hits and counting.
Aleksandr has more than 500,000 Facebook fans and 22,000 followers on Twitter. And on photo-sharing site Flickr , there is a popular gallery of Aleksandr's family.
Andrey Arshavin, Arsenal's Russian striker, has been teased by his team-mates for sounding just like the meerkat.
In the advert the upper-class meerkat with a fondness for smoking jackets bemoans the fact his site, Compare The Meerkat, is being flooded by confused people looking for Compare The Market.
At the end he signs off with a single-word catchphrase: "simples" (pronounced "seemples"). The voice is provided by Simon Greenall, most famous for playing Alan Partridge's Geordie pal Michael in I'm Alan Partridge.
Head of marketing Mark Vile said: "We knew Aleksandr would help us be remembered in a market that has never been considered interesting.
"It was the result of a creative brainstorming session around the 'comparethemarket' name."
Comparethemeerkat.com, set-up to accompany the adverts, has proved almost as popular as the car insurance site. Also launched in January, the site is hosted by Aleksandr, who introduces visitors to various types of meerkat, from ballerinas to poker players.
A new advert is scheduled for autumn – and a toy is planned in time for Christmas.
© Telegraph.co.uk
- Ben Leach
