This question seems to surface more and more on the branding front, so I thought to weigh in: The Gecko simply kicks the duck's feathered butt. Here's why. From a name recognition standpoint, Aflac's quacking duck did the brand wonders. We know the name, and associate "Aflac" with the duck. If I say: "The brand with the duck is . . ." Most people immediately respond, "Aflac." Unfortunately, very few people get the next question right: "What does Aflac do?" That's were the Geico's Gecko pulls ahead. By using a character, and bringing the character to the heart of their message (and even the delivery of it) Geico's approach is more effective, more strategic, gets name recognition AND answers the question, "What do you do?" In my book, Geico 1, Aflac 0.
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This has been said before and in different ways, but I was reading Eric Hoffer on mass movements this morning and I came across this gem of an epigram:
“You can make wild ducks tame, but you can never make tame ducks wild again,” said Watson Jr. “One might also add that the duck who is tamed will never go anywhere any more. We are convinced that any business needs ...
Ok, this one might not be earthshattering, but it's kind of fun. Sound is a great way to build brand recognition - think about all the jingles over the years that you could not get out of your head. 
