I stumbled upon a campaign that is fantastic and truly brings a character to life. It’s a different take on Geico’s Gecko, but it’s more involved and essentially sets up the meerkat as the CEO of the corporation, Compare the Meerkat. The meerkat is Aleksandr, a Russian meerkat, who compares markets (get it: meerkat, market) on numerous items, not just car insurance.

This campaign has absolutely everything -- the company never falls short. An interactive list on their Web site includes voicemail and ringtones from Aleksandr consumers may put on their phones (labeled "speeches"), music from Aleksandr (including his family song), bloopers from his commercials, and wallpaper for your computer.

If you’re interested in reading his biography (as founder of comparethemeerkat.com), he has written a letter to everyone in his broken English. Underneath his bio you can find the head of IT, Sergei, a meerkat who used to be head of principal design group for the Mir(kat) Space Station. He can also be found on Facebook and Twitter, which Aleksandr updates regularly.

This is a perfect example of using the Internet and social mediums to create a character and to bring him to life. He's engaging, creative, and a direct line for consumers' comments or questions. Consumers have different expectations now of customer service and companies, and creating a character who can be easily accessible and stand as the “person” behind the company serves not only as great advertising, it's also great public and customer relations, not to mention hilarious.