Gocompare.com "unlike any other financial publication you've ever read". In June 2009 the company launched an advertising campaign featuring a fictional Italian tenor called Gio Compario (pronounced: Jeo Campario) played by Wynne Evans. The advertisements feature 'Gio' singing the 'Go Compare' tune (inspired by Over There) in various locations, and was voted as the most irritating advertisement of both 2009 and 2010. In direct response to this reaction, Go Compare deliberately subverted the campaign in July 2012 by running a series of adverts where celebrity guests such as Sue Barker, Jimmy Carr, Stuart Pearce, Ray Mears, Louie Spence and Stephen Hawking
Compare the Market Australia business continues to use these characters in their own marketing. Another meerkat character, Baby Oleg, was introduced at the end of 2015. The storyline continued with Aleksandr Orlov buying the Compare the Market business, and introduced a human character named Tom. In 2017, the company launched a limited run of meerkat toys for their health insurance customers. Aleksandr’s catchphrase, “simples”, is so well known that it can be found in both the Macmillan English dictionary, as well as the Oxford English Dictionary. Compare the Market Australia Comparethemarket.com.au is an Australian price comparison website operated by Compare the Market Pty Ltd.