Warren Buffett promoting business like Richard Branson?
I was flipping through the Dec 14, 2009 issue of Newsweek and on the inside cover there’s a spread advertisement for GEICO. What’s different about this one is that the text refers poignantly to the greatness of Warren Buffet:
What the Gecko lacks in stature he certainly makes up for in ability. In fact, under the ownership of Warren Buffet’s Berkshire Hathaway Inc., he’s helped GEICO rise to become the nation’s third-largest car insurance company. [...]
Has the Gecko really been Buffet all along? 
Also, The GEICO logo now features in small-type: “a subsidiary of Berkshire Hathaway Inc.”
The whole thing caught my eye since I’m reading at present Buffet: The Making of An American Capitalist which goes into detail about the GEICO investment in the late 70s. The 2009 recession has definitely positioned Warren Buffet as an investment genius even more so than before. The fact that GEICO uses his persona image to promote itself and associate with those values is similar to how Branson uses his feats and persona perception to aid the promotion of his Virgin businesses.
