Brand Positioning 101

Earlier, I discussed the unique value proposition (UVP) concept, ie a special aspect of your offering that provides true or perceived value (emotional and functional benefits) to consumers. However, this post will extend that discussion to consider how your brand's UVP fits or is positioned within the context of your competitive market landscape. When measured properly, brand positioning aka benchmarking can even allow you to plot your and competing brands on a single graph using each brand's score where each score is based on consumers' perceptions of UVP. The scatter plot graph will therefore allow you to see the relative position of each brand. To further clarify; the graph would represent said 'market landscape' and the UVP score of each brand would be positioned as a plot point (perhaps using the brand's logo) on that graph.

On that basis, can you now see how 'brand positioning' may be understood to be the strategic process of creating competitive advantage in consumers' mind, especially at the 'evaluating alternatives' phase of their buying decision? Continual horizon scanning and proactive brand positioning or repositioning are the cornerstones for creating and maintaining a premium brand.

Why is brand positioning important?

The point of brand positioning is answering the question 'What value proposition sets (or can set) you apart from the competition?' Let's face it! If a brand is to be competitive to enjoy high income streams from an appreciative market, it needs bragging rights, about something.

Just imagine how, if your brand positioning makes you a clear outlier, your brand will be more 'recognizable' or better yet, can be 'recalled' (the 2 measures of 'brand awareness'). In turn, a brand with greater brand awareness is one that is sought after more.

As discussed previously, de-commoditizing, aka differentiating your product, even if it is an otherwise boring commodity allows you to communicate value and justify your price. 

Brand positioning is the sine qua non for effective market communication. It is afterall a means of using your bragging rights to establish your brand as a leader its unique way within the collective consumer mind. 

Differentiate on the basis of attributes that your customers use  for measuring significant value 

When customers compare brands, they do so on the basis of single variables (at a time) that are meaningful to them. For instance, legal customers may use the extent to which lawyers listen to them analytically, a form of customer service. A car buyer would not have the same criteria for a car salesman, even if he is concerned with customer service. In short, the positioning must be customized for each industry, segment, brand, product, etc.

Some attributes that are commonly used for brand positioning include the following. 

• product quality
• customer service
• convenience
• price
• differentiation

To illustrate, the quality-based positioning approach, companies may highlight their superior quality through product performance (perhaps in resolving a pain point), compliance with well established industry standards for quality (like ISO certification), exceptional craftsmanship, raw materials that meet well esteemed specifications, sustainable practices, small-batch production, ... in short, whatever it is that defines 'quality' in their industry. 

What attributes are important in your industry? How does your brand offer something that feels like a breath of fresh air to customers? For instance, if your industry offers a product  or service whose implementation or use are renowned as being complicated, does your brand offer strong customer support that makes the process much easier? 

Think insurance policies and their tedium! This is arguably the reason why Geico selected their famous 'grunt test' campaign. They wanted to show the world how their sign up process was so easy, that even a grunting cave man can understand it.

Attributes of focus should also change with emerging market trends. However, attributes can be anything that really matters to your consumers. Was your brand the first of its kind which is a fact that your customers value? Are you just the most popular? Are you the only one that responded to certain events that are near and dear to the hearts of your target market? Have you done a SWOT analysis of your competition and want to use a campaign to directly call out a competitior's weakness?

Most industries have multiple key attributes that can be simultaneously represented on 'perceptual maps' like below. Like in this example, consumers rate each key attribute so that brand managers can observe the relative position of all competing industry players. Each brand manager then contemplates "Do I like my current brand position?" "Is there a gap in the market that I can fill?" 

In the example above, taste and being natural are the 2 key attributes for 3 key players in the sugar industry. A gap exists in the quadrant for more tasty and less natural, which would be better than Equal's current position of low ratings on both attributes. Should Equal fill that gap? However, the brand manager may also consider shifting the brand's positioning to the right if trends emerge in which consumers are happy to sacrifice taste for more natural products. If Equal's brand manager wants to respond to that trend, that brand may produce a variant that is more natural, perhaps only to a marginal extent to perhaps offer a natural option that is likely more affordable than Truvia. 

The SWOT analysis of industry players (ie strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats) can provide many attribute ideas. 

Repositioning

Repositioning is brand risk management. Brand managers must continuously scan the horizon for changes that warrant significant branding response. Common prompts include changing target market (perceived) needs, improvements in your competitors' UVP, new product substutes and waning consumer interest. 

Case study: Perceptions of the Old Spice brand changed over time. Specifically, the brand was unable to attract younger male demographic because it was associated with 'old men'. To counteract this, the brand changed its image. It appealed to younger men by changing its personality with style elemnts like younger very masculine male models and campaign slogans like 'Smell like a man, man!' are cases in point. This not only changed the brand's demographic by raised sales by 27% within only the first 6 months of the campaign's launch in 2010 but also emerged its category leader as a consequence.

Case study: Starbucks lost over 28% profits over 2 years following the 2008 economic crisis. In the face of economic hardship, consumer attitudes changed. They began to see coffee as a commodity - an ostensible existential nightmare for a brand that built on presenting coffee as a luxury. Consumers were opting for cheaper options like McDonalds coffee. In response to this risk management 'white swan', the brand hired BBDO, an agency that specializes in branding to reconvince the market that their coffee was worth the extra cost. Its campaign included slogans like "If your coffee isn't perfect, we'll make it over. If it still isn't perfect, you must not be in a Starbucks." and "Beware of a cheaper cup of coffee. It comes with the price". In short, the brand used the quality positioning strategy. 

Case study: McDonalds recognized that consumer perceptions were becoming disfavorable. Specifically, consumers began to perceive it as unhealthy. The brand improved this reputation with healthier options like salads.

The brand positioning statement. 

A brand positioning statement briefly 1) identifies the target market, 2) describes benefits / value to the target and 3) implies current relative exploitable weakness in your competition or industry. This statement can be used for recreating mission statements for internal and or external customers. 

Examples.

• For serious athletes, Nike gives confidence that provides the perfect shoe for every sport.
• To cultured millenials, Starbucks is a premium coffee house that adds an intimate and valuable experience to a consumer's life style by integrating caffeine with a comproftable environment.

Steps: How to establish your brand positioning

• Know the key industry attributes and how to measure them.
• In most cases, a variable is simply a contiuum of the same thing. For instance 'price' is either low or high or range in dollar values. 
• In footwear, one key attribute is a categorical scale that has 'performance' and 'fashion' on either of its extremes. ('Correspondence analysis' is used for statistically for mapping categorical variables).  
• Determine your current brand positioning. This can be an informal 'back of an envelope' exercise and or part of a formal beta testing survey. 
• Analyze your compeitition; identify them and perform SWOT analyses for them (while also incorporating into them considerations of the PESTLE analsyis). In addition to this simple video, see the other more comlex discuss at the end of this post.  
• Analyze your industry for weaknesses that you can resolve. 
  • When Geico realized that an inherent weakness in its (insurance) industry was that consumers found the standard application process upsettingly difficult, they differentiated the brand by providing the value of convenience with an application process that was uniquely so much simpler that it could even pass a cave man's 'grunt test'.  
• If any, know your industriy's inherent shortcomings.
• Know your UVP
• Create a positioning statement for a promotional campagin. 
• Establish a suitable positioning strategy. This is particularly important when your attribute-related market positioning is similar to that of competing brands. In such cases, select a strategy as the basis of differentiation. Strategies may be one of the other attributes like one listed above; price, convenience and so on. The price-quality trade-off is very common. 
• M&Ms emphasized the product quality by stressing the product's durability, safety, reliability. Its tagline "Melts in your mouth, not in your hands" is consistent with that. 

                   

• Integrate your brand's differentiating qualities throughout your brand's organization, especially into all elements of the front line including brand personality like brand style, a 'differentiating tagline' and so on.
• Constantly evaluate how well your positioning is working.
• Scan the horizon for emerging trends that can change the nature of the market landscape and, by so doing, present new risks (opportunities or threats). 
• Reposition to adapt to emerging trends and circumstances. This often involves changing key brand elements like the product (qualities), price and even brand personality. 

     

• Avoid brand extensions that are generally unsuccessful and, over time, may even dilute the power of your brand position in the mind of consumers. Line extensions may include extending the product mix to include other types of products. The risk appears to occur when brands attempt to do something contrary to the key characteristic  that helped to gain its position with clarity in the minds of consumers. Examples include the following. 
• Bayer's was a leader as a pain relieving medicine because of 'Aspirine'. However, a subsequent attempt to use the well established name to introduce an alternative non-Aspirine pain reliever 'Bayer Migraine' failed.
• Dial was a well established brand for soap. However, when it introduced deodorant, the deodorant failed.
• My gag reflex is still strong every time I remember the case of Colgate, a well established brand renowned for clearn dirty mouths that then attempted to use their name Colgate for food products. Am I the only one that has this strong a reaction? Possibly not because the new food product was unsuccessful.

You can use perceptual mapping not only for single brands against others but also for different iterations (formulas, colors, etc) while doing new product development. Furthermore, you can make the graph three dimensional to include the variable of unassisted brand recall if respondents needed to name the competing brand. The plot for each brand will not be a dot but a circle whose size reflects the number of times it was recalled.

CONTENT RELATED TO BRAND POSITIONING

• Positioning is very important in the 'evaluating alternatives' phase within the customer's buying decision process.
• 'De-commoditizing' aka differentiating your product,
• Unique Value Propositions (UVP)
• Branding 101
• Brand core values
• Brand personality
• Brand mascot
• Brand awareness & brand awareness srategy
• Emotional marketing to emotionally engage your target market.
• Industry analysis
• Ansoff Matrix: Market & Product Development Strategy
• Porter's 5 Forces of Competitive Threats is an ideal accompaniment to a SWOT analysis.
• Packaging design strategy
• LIfestyle branding strategy
• SWOT analyses of key players in different industries.
• When completing your SWOT analysis, pay special attention to the strengths of your competitors, especially the leaders. Those strengths should not be the basis on which you should try to compete with them. You will need to find some alternative.
• Protecting your intellectual property
• Product demand matrix is essentially another type of brand positioning tool. However, its two variables are price and number of customers demanding the product. It therefore plots sales channel locations where your and competing brands may enjoy demand that corresponds with your product offering based on its level of high endedness and price. It is useful for figuring your more direct competitors and provides an opportunity to know which competitors to observe for inspiration for packaging, pricing and so on.
• Perceptual maps. When analyzing your perceptual map, see if the plots exist in all or most quadrants. This is favorable to a straight line. For instance, in simpler plots, price and quality are commonly used as the 2 attributes, However, since these variables are often highly correlated in the minds of the market, the plot essentially measures only 1 (and not 2) variables. In such a case, all of the plots form a clear straight line, often a diagonal one. This type of result is not ideal as it suggests that the research process was not designed to get maximum value from the data. To counteract this issue, it is advisable to use variables that are not as highly correlated. Having said this, note that patterns with wide gaps do not necessarily indicate this issue. In some cases, they suggest a gap that can be exploited or one tjat is undesirable. Examples of undesirable gaps include cases in which manufacturers will not make expensive products to be sold cheaply .... or customers won't buy expensive products that are low quality.
• The other way. Can you plot how you perceive key characteristics of your target market personality type? ... If your target's problems are special or outlying somehow, you might have the opportunity to personalize your messaging even further. For instance, Skinny-fat solution, a muscle building plan might signal to its target by saying, "It's hard enough for regular guys to build muscle. But us; the skinny-fat guys? It's impossible with the typical advice ..." Notice how this brand is making a very clear distinction between the regular segment and its own. It also shows how the competition is failing this niche. "... This is why I don't follow typical advice. Instead, I use my own 3-step system. Want to learn 
• Abovementioned case studies in other content
• Bayer's
• Colgate
• Dial
• McDonalds
• Nike
• Old Spice
• Starbucks
• Internal links: brand position statement;

Brand Voice - Taglines

Brand voice refers to the brand's comunication style that helps to evoke ideas of a brand's personality. It encompassesevery conceivable element; from word choice, level of formality to cultural slant and so on. Just like other external brand elemnts, it has its own special place in the brand style manual. The 'brand voice' complements other external elements (like the name and logo) in delivering the human-like brand persona so consistently that it is memorable. This post will exclusively discuss taglines, which is one way in which 'brand voice' is expressed. 

A tagline is a simple, concise phrase that is reiterated after a brandname, at the end of every advertisement or other marketing material. 

Ideally, it is used strategically, often communicating a brand's unique value proposition, competitive advantage (or why the market should select your brand over others and or what a business does. In other words, the focus of a tagline should not be to sound catchy if a catchy expression is not very meaningful in any of these ways. As modern consumers grow wary of stiff corporate language, taglines need to sound more and more like the voice of a familiar person with a personality the target finds attractive. 

Types of Tagline & Their Application

The following are among the most common types of tagline. Notice how they stress the brand's competitive advantage. 

• Differentiation tagline. Use this when you need a rallying cry to the public about why they should join your tribe over the competition. This tagline can be very useful for exclusivity marketing or brand positioning. For branding positioning, you stress that your brand is 'the only one that does __X__' or 'can render y results' (within the context of industrial conditions that make those results otherwise unachievable).
• Example: Apple - "Think different" because the Apple tribe is 'more creative' and therefore different from PC users who they consider to be mundane. This tagline is a rally cry to other 'rebel' and 'creator' personalities; essentially calling to them to step away from the uncreative, normal plebes and into their exclusive tribe.
• Example: The nature of its business sets the expectation that Tampa Gemeral Hospital has a naturally 'caregiver'  personality, a personality one might expect to have a sweet voice about caring the most. However, this brand differentiates itself unlike others with such bold language that it is hard not to notice it when it says that it 'Other hospitals practice medicine. We define it.' Contrast this with the softer voices of other 'caregiver' hospital brands like 'keeping you\ well', 'exceptional care close to you' or the Salvation Army's 'caregiver' tagline of "doing the most good". 
• Example: L'Oreal - "Because you're worth it". Having the 'lover' brand personality archetype, this brand meets esteem needs (see Maslow's Hierarchy of needs) and appeals to the vanity with hints of prestige. It is unapologetic about how its higher-than-usual price and unnecessarily fancy packaging. This language will resonate with those of like mind, people who think they deserve the 'finer' things. 
• Value-creation, results-oriented tagline. Use this tagline if you want to stress what the product will surely accomplish, especially if this is your brand's competitive advantage. I find that brands with a 'wizard' personality traits speak like this because they promise transformation, they present themselves as the catalyst to 'make things happen'.
• Example: These taglines are often used for products whose competitive advantage is related to high levels of hard and measurable performance. This is evident in cases like; Energizer's "Keep going and going" stresses performance; Tide's "Tide's in, dirt's out"; Good Year's "More driven"; Volvo's "For life" which is likely backed up by strict compliance with health and safety requirements that ensure good life-saving qualities.
• Example: Geico's '15 minutes could save you 15% or more on car insurance/' 

• Literal tagline. This tagline is not as emotionally exicting. Rather, it simply describes the brand's function or what it does, literally. It is ideal for situations in which the brand name on its own is not sufficiently descriptive of the business and or the brand is new in the market. 
• Examples. I think this voice reflects the sober nature of the 'sage' brand personality very well. It appears a good fit for situations in which the consumable product changes with each customer, thereby requiring a promise of the brand's work ethic. Illustrations include the following.  
• New York Times' "All the news that's fit to print" which suggests that it is a serious brand that only prints quality content. 
• Use taglines that are appropriate to your brand's stage within its life cycle. Specifically, resist the temptation to imitate the catchy and often vague nature of world famous brands. Remember that they are so well known that their voice no longer needs to inspire brand awareness. Literal taglines are more suitable than vague taglines like IBM's 'Think' are more suitable for a startup. Nike's 'Just Do It' would mean nothing for a startup but has great meaning for Nike. Literal taglines must use keywords to raise brand awareness. Examples: This type of tagline is useful for new businesses, especially when the brand name alone is not sufficiently descriptive of the offering. Illustrations include the following.
• Theresa Caputo, the Long Island Medium.
• By using the keyword 'car insurance, this example is include here. However, Geico's, '15 minutes could save you 15% or more on car insurance' is also a great results-oriented tagline that can be emulated by even very new brands. This is such a winner tagline because it concisely says so much; what they do, the results you can expect and it contains keywords (car insurance). It is such a winner that it likely made sales. If prospective clients not knowing it alongside competing brands like Statefarm or Allstate, it delivers much more useful information. For instance, Statefarm's tagline is 'like a good neighbor, Statefarm is there'  and Allstate's is 'you're in good hands'. While both acceptable, they rely on prior brand knowledge.
• Janes Doe, on-call baby sitters in Charington Towers

TIPS TO RECAP

• Keep it simple, short and easily digestible for your target market.
• Use power words that forms your message's 'rhetorical appeal'-related trigger / brand positioning differentiator, whether the most powerful one emotion (pathos) or logical (logos) or ethics (ethos / principles). Rhetorical appeals are methods of influencing others as defined by Aristotle. Power words should resonate with your target. Research 'power words' for your industry if you need help.
• Experiment! For instance, associate the tagline with your target's frequent habits. This is the basis for the success of Kit Kat's 'Have a break, have a Kit Kat' because pretty much everyone takes (snack) breaks throughout the day.
• Reflect the tone of voice of your brand personality. The vocabulary and other stylistic choices shoould reflect the personalities of the target market and brand. If you sell gardening gear, talk like a gardener (NOT a banker). If you are talking to tweens, loosen up your language accordingly and so on. Here are some examples.
• The  'rebel' personality has a tone that is more harsh, direct and blunt than normal. It is unapologetic.
• Harley Davidson - "Screw it, let's ride" is consistent with the brand's personality. Its target feel that, when life is stressful, they should all go riding.
• 
• Apple - "Think different"
• Keep and follow a brand style manual. For  instance, have templates that reflect how to respond to different circumstances.

MORE CONTENT RELATED TO EXPRESSING A BRAND VOICE WITH TAGLINES

• Brand voice & Tone 
• Social media content management
• Emotional Marketing
• Brand Positioning, Strategy
• Brand personality
• Emotional marketing to emotionally engage your target market.
• Branding 101. See where this step fit into the process of brand strategy management.
• Unique Value Proposition (UVP)

• Packaging design strategy

• Brand mascot
• Examples of taglines of famous brands. 

• Food &/ Drink
• Burger King - "Have it your way"
• Cadbury - "Tastes like this feels"
• California Milk Processor Board - "Got milk?"
• Cheetos - 'Dangerously cheesy' (formerly 'It ain't easy being cheesy', 'Hail cheeesar' and 'Cheese that goes crunch'. 
• Coca Cola - "Open Happiness!"; "Taste the feeling!"
• Dunkin' Donuts - "America runs on Dunkin'"
• Gatorade - "Is it in you?"
• KFC - "Finger lickin' good"
• Kit Kat - "Have a break, have a Kit Kat"
• Lay's - "Betcha can't eat just one"
• McDonald's - 'I'm lovin' it"
• M&M's - "Melts in your mouth, not in your hand"
• Red Bull - "Red Bull gives you wings"
• Skittles - "Taste the rainbow"
• Snickers - "You're not you when you're hungry"
• Starbucks - "Start the day with great taste"
• Subway - "Eat fresh"
• Tesco - "Every little helps"
• Wendy's - "Deliciously different"
• Skin care
• Asepxia - Experts in deep cleansing / "Expertos de la limpieza profundo"
• CeraVe - "Developed with dermatologists"
• Eucerine - "We believe in the life-changing power of dermatological skincare"
• L'Oreal - "Because you're worth it"
• Maybelline - "Make it happen"
• Proactiv - "Be proactiv"
• Technology
• Apple - "Think different"
• Audi - "Advancement through technology"
• BMW - "Designed for driving pleasure"
• Energizer - "Keep going and going ..."
• GE - "We bring good things to life"
• Good year - "More driven"
• Honda - "The power of dreams"
• IBM - "Think"
• LG - "Life's Good"
• Mercedes-Benz - "The best or nothing"
• Nokia - "Connecting people"
• Panasonic - "Ideas for life"
• Samsung - "Imagine"
• Sony - "Make. Believe"
• Volkswagen - "The car"
• Volvo - "For life"
• Services (financial, insurance etc)
• American Express - "Don't leave home without it"
• Citibank - "because the Citi never sleeps"
• HSBC - "The world's local bank"
• MasterCard - "There are some things money can't buy. For everything else, there's MasterCard"
• Robinhood - "Democratize finance for all"
• Apparel & Other Personal Adornments
• Adidas - "Impossible is nothing"
• Nike - "Just do it"
• Kay Jewelers - "Every kiss begins with Kay"
• Experience
• Disneyland  - "The happiest place on Earth"
• Information
• The New York Times - "All the news that's fit to print"
• Housekeeping
• Tide - "Tide's in, dirt's out"
• Other
• Garnier - "Take care"
• IMAX - "Think big"
• Lufthansa - "Nonstop you"
• Philips - "Sense and simplicity"
• Verison - "Better matters"

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