Brand Mascots

Previously, I discussed how trademarks are a form of intellectual property used to create a mental shortcut in the minds of your target market to identify your brand and prevent confusion in the market. The most commonly known types of trademarks include taglines and logos, especially logos. While logos may be seen as a necesity, a mascot is often perceived more like the luxury (of more ambitious brands, especially if a physical product is being sold). This post focuses on mascots because they are a unique type of intellectual property that can evoke more profound emotional engagement than the other abovementioned types.  

What is a brand mascot?

A brand mascot is a character that can greatly humanize or bring to life your brand's personality. It is a spokesperson avatar in one of numerous forms that include cartoonized human-like characters, anthropomorphic animals(ie having human attributes), real human beings, animated objects / animated product, stick men and so on. 

  

What are the advantages of a brand mascot?

• More relatable / emotionally triggering. They can create a greater emotional connection with your target market. In fact and as discussed below, mascots can even be more effective at evoking emotional responses than real life characters.
• Adaptive and interactive. The mascot is highly interactive and even adaptive according to tentpole marketing needs. It can physically attend events, dress up or down for different ocassions and even interact real time with the market. Its adaptations may also respond very quickly.
• More memorable and therefore remain more relevant and striking among competitors to target market. You are likely to remember Geico and Progressive more readily than competing insurance brands in a business that is often considered as boring requiring lots of tedium. This is especially useful for products that are considered dull or difficult to understand (like financial services, IT and so on).    
• Revenue generation. Branded merchandise and movie deals are examples of how mascots can be used beyond its original purpose. (When used these ways, mascots can also convert customers into brand ambassadors). 

Here are examples of successful brand mascots.

• Frosted Flakes may be considered to have the 'innocent' brand personality archetype. Their mascot appears to arguably also embody the 'hero' archeytpe as secondary. Their ads feature Tony the Tiger, the quintessential motivational friend, encourging young consumers, nicknamed his 'tigers', to bring out the tiger in themselves in their activities. His role is to encourage the bravery and confidence in children to tackle whatever activities they face. So after eating his cereal and sometimes drawing the tiger's stripes on their cheeks, the children's audacity rises so they can perform well. Rather than assume an austere lecturing style, he is one of the children, doing things they want to do. Ultimately, he is a friend they want to have. The brand covers all of its bases in that, it also ensures fussy children know in a reiterated mantra manner that, regarding the taste, the cereal is "not just good, they're GRRReat!". In short, this brand brings happy endings. It is not by accident that the mascot is a tiger, an animal that is associated with strength and courage. 
• M&M characters are an example of how objects (like the natural shape of the product) can be animated to represent its brand. Each M&M is simply differentiated by color. Although they started as only 2 characters, other characters have developed, each with a distinct color and consistent, fully fleshed out, multi-dimensional personality that together make their interactions look like the candy version of the Friends sitcom. In keeping with the brand's objectives, they are equally enjoyable among children and adults (which is quite different to other brand mascots like the Kool-Aid Man and Lucky whose presentations appeal only to children). For instance, they appear in daily, real life situations that are relatable to all ages. They have very relatable human flaws that make them so relatable and likeable. The characters are so well developed and humanly relatable that their advertisements and skits garner many YouTube views. Their advertisements have become Christmas classics, a tentpole marketing delight. The brand has been able to generate more revenue by selling merchandise (like mugs, shirts and so on)..      












 

Analysis of the M&M characters

Collection of M&M Advertisements

• Homer Simpson (of the animated sitcom The Simpsons) embodies and exaferates many American blue collar / working class stereotypes. He is obese, immature, outspoken, aggressive, balding, lazy, ignorant, unprofessional, and addicted to beer, junk food and watching television. However, he is fundamentally a good man and is staunchly protective of his family, especially when they need him the most.

 

• Flo aka the Progressive Girl is a fictional saleslady character that appears in over 100 Progressive Insurance advertisements. The role is played by a single actress and even has its own fan base on social media. Flo is recognizable by her extremely upbeat personality, sparkling white uniform, heavy makeup and retro hairstyle. 

 

 

Other Progressive ads:

Flo is omnipresent protector of homes and vehicles

• Geico is a brand whose mascot is a play on words because it is an anthropomorphic computer-generated image (CGI) day gecko (ie an often highly vocal lizard in warm regions). Although Geico is American, the mascot has a very distinctive Cockney English accent, a quality that americans find attractive and chic. His style is very 'guy next door' (ie he is pleasant, respectable and trustworthy, albeit possibly dull). The famous gecko has been the longest standing brand mascot of this brand.

 

Compilation of Geico advertisements 

Some tips for designing a brand mascot.

• Determine whether a mascot suits your brand. Mascots are mostly fun or even funny if representing a serious brand. Can a mascot be appropriate and relatable by your target market? If so, it may be be a good fit. Conversely, sober brands like funeral homes are an example of business types for which mascots are an unlikely suitable.   

• Align your brand mascot with your 'internal brand' (which includes unique value proposition, core values and competitive brand positioning in the market). 

• Keep in mind that you must make a 'best friend' for your target market psychographic. Always keep your target in mind because it must want to 'befriend' your brand mascot: Target customer profile (aka avatar); Buyer personality types. Pay special attention to the ideal selling style. (Be sure to include details in your brand style guidelines).

• Design all aspects of your mascot to be consistent with your predetermined brand personality and all its components (which includes voice). Afterall, unless it is intentional, you might not want incongruency between the physical mascot, his words and actions.   

• Although brand mascots are useful for any type of business, I strongly suggest that you give special consideration to to getting a brand mascot if you sell services. This is because, customers tend to make the buying decision on the brand more than any associated product when dealing with service companies. This is especially the case for services that are complex, dull, technical and tedious. Making things appear easier and using a mascot to communicate that message has been a key driver behind the success seen in insurance company mascots from Geico and Progressive. Mascots are an extra plus for companies that sell physical products. 
• Hire a professional graphic designer who recognizes the need to honor your branding efforts. This person should be comfortable reading through branding and other relevant details in your brand style guidelines document.  
• Ask your graphic designer to apply mascot design best practices. Include these rules in your brand style guidelines. Designs should have clarity in the following 3 ways. (See video about character graphic design).
• Clarity of Silhouette: The rule is that a mascot should be recognizable from its silhouette alone. If it is sufficiently simple, this is ideally possible in any art style. Notice in the examples below how the silhouettes are very minimalistic, showing no excess re shapes (like no extraneous folds on clothing or body). Furthermore, you should be able to flip the graphic horizontally without any awkwardness. The silhouette should be able to say a lot about the character at a single short glance. You and your graphic designers can check the compliance of a design by converting it to silhouette. Attempt to ensure that the most recognizable shape portrays the personality. For instance, square and rectangular shapes suggest stability, reliability and trust. Notice that Geico's gecko and Progressive's Flo both have overall rectangular shapes to suggest a more trustworthy, conservative, person-next-door type of personality (1st row of silhouettes below). Shapes that are overall round, or structures comprising mostly rounded edges or numerous round elements (like Homer Simpson's, Shrek's and Winnie the Pooh's pronounced pot bellies or Mickey Mouses ears and head) convey friendliness, happiness, softness and extroversion. This is evident in the 2nd row. Conversely, the sharp and jagged edges and sometimes triangular shapes portray danger, edginess, speed and intensity. This is apparent in the silhouette of Maleficent (3rd row). Notice how this shape language is communicated in props like iconic objects or clothing associated with the character (like Pooh's balloon or Maleficent's head piece, clothing and staff). These props are often exagerated for effect. Clarity helps to avoid confusion with other mascots or shapes. One way in which this is ensured is by adding and often also exagerating an element on the mascot's head, like Homer's 2 hair strands on his otherwise bald head (in the 4th row below), Popeye's pipe or Maleficent's horned head piece.        

 

 

• Clarity of color palette. Use few colors. When you use multiple colors, establish their hierarchy. In other words, one should be undisputably dominant while others exist to support it. You will know if the palette complies if the palette is recognizable from rectangular swatches alone. Read about color palettes 101.
• Winnie the Pooh rectangular color swatch.

• The Simpsons rectangular color swatch

• Ernie & Burt rectangular color swatches 

Also consider how colors evoke moods and hold different meanings across cultures when selecting colors. For instance, Pooh's yellow color evokes a sense of happiness. Furthermore, consider the cultural tolerance for color vibrance. For instance, since tropical regions tend to use brigher colors while temperate regions tend more towards muted, pastel colors, colors can signal the character's region.   

• Clarity through Exaggeration. To make the message unmistakably clear, exagerate the reality of key characteristic elements of the mascot, especially those that trigger the market's desired emotional response. For instance, you can exagerate shapes and colors; blowing shapes out of proportion and intensifying colors beyond their natural levels.  
• You may do this to make non-human structures express deeper human emotions that even transcends the possible range for the structure in real life. For instance, it is not surprising that many YouTubers post very emotional reactions of their pets to animated films like Lion King. In real life, the realistic images of National Geographic are unlikely to stir such strong reactions in not only humans, but even dogs and cats. 

• Exagerate the mascot's posture, gait and so on to convey emotions. The regal nature of My Fair Lady's Eliza Doolittle's classy posture is very distinct from Homer Simpson's posture and says a lot about each character. 

• Exagerate body structure and features to portray the mascot. Do not hesitate to stretch and lengthen the normal proportions of the human body. 
• Needless to say, if present groups of characters and your branding allows it, combine different body shapes and postures to stir more interest.  

• Improve your brand's recognizability; use your mascot as often as possible in your social media posts, as your social media avatar, in your brand's logo, marketing material, email autosignature and so on.
• Tread lightly when considering using a real person as the character as your brand mascot. Using real human beings can be particularly challenging if he or she does something that contradicts the brand's core values and offends your target market.
• Assign social media accounts to your mascot. 
• Cheetos, a brand that sells cheese flavored snacks has a Twitter account for its mascot Chester the Cheetah which, as at May 2021, has nearly 800k followers who are likely mostly teenagers. (See video compilation of Chester Cheetah commercials).

    

CONTENT RELATED TO CREATING A BRAND MASCOT

• Target customer profile 
• Tentpole marketing 
• Brand Positioning, Stratey
• When designing your mascot, convert these steps into rules in your brand style guidelines.
• Brand mascots are mostly used for children brands. However, as in the cases of service industries (like insurance) and even M&Ms, mascots can be creatively designed to appeal to adults also. 
• Some other mascots

Medical commercials exist less commonly than with other brands because they are allowed in only 2 countries; New Zealand and the US. Sometimes medical brands follow a different formula. Specifically, unlike other industries in which the mascot embodies the brand as a solution and other characters in commercials commonly represent target market representatives, medical brand mascots may be more closely related to the consumer and the consumer's problem. Examples of this deviation include mascots that represent the offending organs to be treated (like Salix's Xifan, a mascot that is an anthropomorphic knotted intestine) or the offending health problem (like Belsomra 'Sleep' cat and 'Wake' dog whose fighting in the night represent insomnia). See Belsomra Sleep cat and Wake dog insomnia commercial and Saliz's Xifan Superbowl-watching intestines commercial. Similarly, the Zoloft Blob represents the depressed feelings of the consumer that later becomes transformed by taking Zoloft's anti-depressant treatment.

Conversely, other medical brands follow the usual formula discussed in the main section of this post, ie using a mascot to represent the solution (not the problem). They include the following.

Sepracor's Lunesta's green fairy butterfly mascot. Once the consumer consumes the product, a treatment for insomnia, the serene creature flies into the patient's window and guides them to sleep like a type of guardian fairy to accompany a very soothing sounding commentary and background music. (See Lunesta's commercial). 

Jolly Green Giant. He is identified by his signature "ho ho ho!" (See a compilation of Jolly Green Giant video commercials) 

 

Pillsbury Doughboy. Within its first 3 years of his debut in the late 1960s, the Doughboy reached 87% recognition factor among consumers. He received fan mail, including requests for autographed photos.

Mike Wazowski