Bainbridge ferry again in the commercial spotlight

Published 12:45 pm Monday, December 22, 2014

The Geico gecko stars in a television commercial for the insurance company that was filmed aboard the ferry to Bainbridge Island.
The Geico gecko stars in a television commercial for the insurance company that was filmed aboard the ferry to Bainbridge Island.

Filmmakers doing a commercial for Array Health recently caught the ferry to Bainbridge Island to film passengers for a web-based advertising project put together by Edelman, a Seattle-based public relations company.

Filming took place aboard the Bainbridge ferry during two round trips on Wednesday,

Dec. 3, said Jadwiga Kellock, operations programs manager for Washington State Ferries.

Edelman did man-on-the-street style question-and-answer shoots with passengers about health insurance and their knowledge of private exchanges.

The Bainbridge ferry run received national attention over the past year for a Geico commercial that was shot aboard the Bainbridge-Seattle ferry last August.

During that all-day shoot, conducted on the Texas deck of the MV Wenatchee, a film crew of 30 people from Traktor Inc. and Geico Insurance shot a commercial featuring the Geico gecko playing the part of a standup comedian with the Seattle skyline in the background.

His jokes — “Here’s a good one, Seattle. What did GEICO say to the mariner? We could save you a boatload. What’s Seattle’s favorite noise? The Puget Sound.” — were each met with a dismissive blast from the ferry’s horn.

The commercial is still being shown on television.

Kellock said the Geico film shoot generated $6,200 for the state in “property use” fees.