Tara Guelig and “a reality show” ad

Trade and services are impossible without ads. And recently advertisements have begun to look like reality shows with real people taking part in them. A bright example of such an ad is that with participation of Tara Guelig, a girl of 26, who holds a bachelor's degree from The College of William and Mary and a master's degree from George Washington University.

Tara did not expect to become a hero of the ad. It so happened that some time ago she met with an accident - ran into the back of a truck at very low speed. She wrote GEICKO (the insurance giant) a letter. When everything was arranged, she just sent them a note saying thank you for great customer service. And in a year she got an invitation to take part in an ad, acting herself. So GEICO flew Tara and a guest (sister and Wellsboro High School senior Julian Guelig) to Los Angeles, first-class, in October. GEICO planned originally to pair Tara with world-renowned magician David Copperfield. But when Copperfield disappeared, GEICO brought in The Pips, Gladys Knight's backup singers, to pinch-hit.

Tara knew almost nothing about the Pips, but her mother told her about these nice well-known people. The Pips are actually a brother of Gladys Knight's, and a cousin, the third Pip passed away, so they have one of Gladys Knight's backup singers from Vegas to fill in.

Tara enjoyed working with the Pips who were really friendly and sociable and seemed to enjoy what they did. Even the number of takes (in one day of taping, a crew of 30 to 40 workers did 70 takes of Tara with the Pips) didn’t spoil the whole impression of the action.

Tara appeared in the ad without makeup and in her usual clothes. "They wanted to contrast me with The Pips and make it believable that I was a real person," Tara said. She expected that the whole team of specialists would work with her, but representatives of GEICKO wanted to emphasize that she was a real person and not an actress with the learned part of words. Even when she looked too unnatural or the words seemed to be too rehearsed, thay had to do everything once again.

Tara became famous after the advertisement had been shown on TV. She got a number of calls from her friends and acquaintances. "One of my old track coaches from college called me (Sunday). My ex-boyfriends are calling me. It has been a lot of fun in that sense," Tara said. Tara’s mother Daria said that her daughter had a nice ability of turning bad events into good events!