Are brand mascots making a comeback?

Summary

In the world of marketing, brand mascots have long been a beloved tool for capturing attention and fostering emotional connections. After a period of decline, characterized by concerns about their fit in a serious branding world and associations with past cultural missteps, mascots are poised for a resurgence. This summary outlines the potential comeback of mascots, emphasizing their ability to create unique and enduring brand impressions. With advances in technology like generative AI, the future looks bright, offering new ways to integrate mascots into branding strategies in engaging, modern ways.

Highlights

• Brand mascots are super memorable and excel in grabbing attention! ⭐️
• Mascots were once seen as outdated but might be making a comeback. 🔄
• The power of mascots lies in their emotional connection with audiences. ❤️
• In Japan, mascots are cultural staples, boosting tourism and brand power! 🎌
• Duolingo’s mascot is a social media star, proving mascots' modern relevance. 🌟
• New tech like AI is reshaping what mascots can do for a brand. 🔧

Key Takeaways

• Brand mascots are five times more effective than logos in capturing attention! 🎯
• Despite being seen as outdated, mascots have a huge potential for future branding. 🚀
• Modern mascots thrive with technology, blending AI and creativity. 🤖
• In Japan, mascots are a key part of culture, enhancing tourism and brand identity. 🗾
• Brands like Salesforce and Duolingo successfully use mascots to engage audiences. 😄
• Mascots need long-term strategy, though often undervalued in short-term marketing efforts. ⏳

Overview

Remember those bright characters from cereal boxes? Surprisingly, mascots are five times better at capturing brand attention than logos. However, many brands have retired them, considering them unfit for today’s serious, ethical brand images. But wait! According to recent insights, the mascot’s future is far from over—they might just be gearing up for a grand return.

While some mascots carry the baggage of historical missteps, their potential in modern marketing is immense. They’ve always been about more than entertainment; they create memorable, emotional bonds, sticking in consumers’ minds long after digital ads fade. In Japan, for instance, mascots remain highly valued, proving they can thrive when embraced with creativity and cultural integration.

Technological advances are setting the stage for mascots’ evolution. AI is enabling the creation of vibrant mascot universes, integrating them into brand ecosystems as never before. Whether it’s Salesforce’s Astro or the quirky antics of Duolingo’s owl on social media, the mascot comeback is real! These cuddly characters are ready to redefine long-term brand loyalty, offering a delightful touch to modern marketing.

Chapters

• 00:00 - 00:30: Introduction: The Nostalgia of Brand Mascots This chapter delves into how nostalgic brand mascots, like those seen on cereal boxes, are powerful tools in marketing. It references research by Ipsos, which analyzed 2,000 advertisements in the US, highlighting the significant impact of brand logos and slogans compared to other branding elements in gaining branded attention.
• 00:30 - 01:00: Brand Mascots' Decline and Resurgence The chapter discusses the decline and resurgence of brand mascots. It highlights how mascots were once extremely effective at capturing branded attention and were memorable to consumers. However, their popularity has waned, with many mascots disappearing over time. The text explores why this decline has occurred, suggesting that mascots might not align with the image of modern brands that emphasize seriousness and ethical goals. Nonetheless, the chapter implies that there might be a potential resurgence for these characters.
• 01:00 - 01:30: Understanding Brand Mascots This chapter delves into the world of brand mascots, emphasizing that they are not exclusive to large consumer brands but can be effectively utilized by a variety of brands in different contexts. The future for brand mascots appears promising, contrary to some beliefs. The narrator shares their two-year exploration into the essence and future prospects of brand mascots, driven by a personal fascination and deep interest in the subject, to the extent of becoming a brand mascot themselves.
• 01:30 - 02:00: Types of Brand Mascots The documentary explores the fascinating world of mascots and their significant influence on modern brands. It delves into the history, decline, and the future potential of brand mascots. The chapter begins with an introduction, where a character moves into a neighborhood and is welcomed with homemade biscuits, symbolizing the welcoming nature mascots can embody. The focus is on the power and impact brand mascots can have as discussed by Steph Hanley.
• 02:00 - 02:30: Challenges and Benefits of Mascots The chapter explores the various definitions and roles of mascots, noting that they can be considered fluent devices or brand characters. It highlights the origin of the word 'mascot' from the French 'mascot,' meaning lucky charm, and explains how it was historically associated with animals and objects seen as symbols of good luck. Over time, the use of mascots expanded to sports teams and corporate brands, where they are often referred to as brand characters.
• 02:30 - 03:00: Mascots and Marketing Strategies The chapter focuses on the use of mascots and marketing strategies, specifically emphasizing the role of brand mascots as distinctive brand assets. It highlights the example of M&M's and other brands like Kellogg's that utilize multiple brand characters. The purpose of distinctive brand assets is to serve as branding devices that trigger brand recognition and recall among consumers. The chapter includes insights from marketing science expert, Jenny Romanuk, who explains the function and importance of these branding tools in marketing.
• 03:00 - 03:30: Cultural Impact of Mascots The chapter titled 'Cultural Impact of Mascots' explores the role and significance of brand mascots in the marketing landscape. It highlights how mascots serve as distinctive assets that help brands stand out and be recognized in various media and sales environments. The discussion focuses on the importance of creating memorable mascots that captivate the audience's attention amidst the plethora of marketing activities that often go unnoticed. The introduction sets the stage for a deeper exploration of brand mascots and their role in cultural and consumer contexts, emphasizing their influence on brand recognition and customer engagement.
• 03:30 - 04:00: Mascots in the Digital Era The chapter discusses the various types of mascots, categorizing them along two axes: from realistic to fictitious and from fully human to nonhumanoid objects or creatures. The range includes celebrity endorsers to fictional creatures like bunny rabbits. It mentions that in the 'realistic human' category, the ultimate representation is a personal brand.
• 04:00 - 05:00: Modern Uses and Examples of Mascots The chapter discusses the concept of 'interest media,' as opposed to traditional social media, highlighting the personalized connection between creators and their audience. It examines how creator brands thrive in this environment alongside politicians.
• 05:00 - 06:00: Future Trends in Brand Mascots This chapter explores the evolution and future trends in brand mascots. It highlights how mascots like Nespresso's and fictitious human characters such as Mr. Eaglow, Mr. Bird's Eye, and KFC's Colonel Sanders play a pivotal role in branding. These mascots, often depicted as real people, can be easily replaced, exemplified by the recent change in Mr. Eiglo's representation.
• 06:00 - 07:00: Conclusion: Embracing Mascots for Branding The chapter titled 'Conclusion: Embracing Mascots for Branding' discusses the strategic use of mascots in branding. It starts with a playful reference to the replacement of a personified character by a new actor and emphasizes the emotional and cultural connection mascots can create, citing examples like office pets or famous mascot animals. The dialogue highlights the nostalgic and sensory appeal mascots can have, referring to the PG tips chimps and their associated catchy advertising slogans that stress the unique quality of a product. These references underline the role of mascots in promoting brand identity and consumer loyalty, as they bring products to life and make them memorable.

Are brand mascots making a comeback? Transcription

• 00:00 - 00:30 Remember waking up as a kid, reaching for your favorite cereal box, and seeing those colorful characters smiling back at you? You probably do. Science has shown us that they are one of the most effective branding tools in the marketing world. Ipsos did a nice bit of research on what helps ads get branded attention, as they call it. They analyzed about 2,000 ads from across the US, different categories and different lengths. And they found that while brand logos and slogans were clearly the most common branded asset in ads, brand
• 00:30 - 01:00 characters were five times better at getting branded attention. They are super memorable. Yet, I find myself in this graveyard of mascots with more and more disappearing every day. Why is that? What is happening to our beloved mascots? What is going on with these cute and fluffy characters? Some will say mascots aren't cool anymore. They don't fit in a world of serious, purposeful brands with ethical goals. They represent the mistakes of our past.
• 01:00 - 01:30 They're only for big consumer brands. But in reality, they can work for many brands in many situations. Luckily, something is happening. In fact, the future for brand mascots might be brighter than you think. I've spent the last two years on a journey trying to understand what makes brand mascots tick and how their future might look like. Because if you haven't noticed, I'm a bit obsessed about them. Heck, I even became one [Music]
• 01:30 - 02:00 myself. In this documentary, I want to take you through the amazing world of mascots and the power they have for modern brands. From their glorious past to their murky decline and their huge potential for the future. Hello. I saw you move in and I wanted to welcome you to the neighborhood with some homemade biscuits. The power of brand mascots. Documentary by Steph Hanley. First, let's start with some
• 02:00 - 02:30 definitions. There are many ways to describe mascots. Fluent devices, brand characters. Actually the word mascot came from the French mascot which means lucky charm. From the 10th to the 20th century the term was used in reference to any good luck animals and objects. And then later on we started using them for sports themes and of course brands. Similar to brand mascot, we often use brand character too which has a similar
• 02:30 - 03:00 meaning. For example, M&M's has multiple brand characters and so does Kell. We'll keep referring to them as mascots. Personally, I really like that reference to the French lucky charm. Brand mascots are part of a bigger category of what we call distinctive brand assets. Here's my favorite marketing science professor, Jenny Romanuk, to explain. Distinctive brand assets are anything that you want to be a branding device whereby its primary purpose is to trigger the brand in the
• 03:00 - 03:30 minds of category buyers. And they're important because so much of the marketing activity we put out there or when our brand's out there um people don't notice it. And distinctive assets are what gives us um sort of bit of um oomph in our branding to enable us to stand out and be identified in any media or sales environment. So, now that we've established what brand mascots are and how they fit into the broader branding landscape, let's dig a bit deeper into
• 03:30 - 04:00 the types of mascots that exist. Of course, there are many types of mascots, ranging from celebrity endorsers to bunny rabbits and anything in between. As most things in life, we can put them on a quadrant where we have one axis going from realistic to fictitious and the other going from full realistic human to nonhumanoid objects or creatures. On the top left, we have human and realistic where the ultimate expression is a personal brand. Now, in
• 04:00 - 04:30 the era of not social media, but interest media. Hey guys, I am currently on an island infested with snakes. so good which is basically a onetoone relationship with that person. Lots of creator brands live in this space but also politicians. A bit less real are the celebrity endorsers and spokespeople for brands. They are people that are endorsing the brand through their own person and are lending their credibility
• 04:30 - 05:00 and fame to the brand. Nespresso. What else? And then of course there is fictitious human mascots like Mr. Eaglow or Mr. Bird's Eye for non-Europeans or KFC's Colon Sanders. [Music] Howdy folks. It's me, Colonel Sanders. These can be represented like actual people but can more easily be replaced. For example, Mr. Eiglo recently got
• 05:00 - 05:30 retired by a slightly younger, sexylooking Italian actor. I'm sorry, Mr. Eaglow. And then of course, there is realistic yet nonhuman creatures. This can be as simple as your office dog or other animals like the PG tips chimps. What? No PG. Have they no taste? You can really taste the difference in a cup of PG. Tender tips make tasty tea. A golden cup of PG. That's what I call good taste. On the bottom right, we have my
• 05:30 - 06:00 favorite quadrant, which is the fictitious nonhuman mascots. These can be anything from furry bears to geckos and walking peanuts. [Music] Oh, hey. Of course, many of these have humanoid features, as the goal of mascots is often to humanize a brand, even through fictitious non-human creations. Each of these types of mascots has its own benefits and risks. For example, looking at personal brands,
• 06:00 - 06:30 these are tied to the person and that person can age or change or want to do something else and then the brand asset on its own is harder to sell and harder to use. Or for spokespersons, if good old George Clooney decides to do ads for a different coffee brand, those memories will no longer be exclusively linked to your brand. Nespresso, what else? Maybe Senseo. That fictitious category in my opinion is what has the most potential
• 06:30 - 07:00 as a longlasting asset for a brand. You can own them. You can evolve them. You can make them say what you want. They are exclusively linked to your brand and they don't age. So, it's clear there are many options when it comes to picking a mascot. But why do they work so well? I asked my favorite order on brand, Paul Feldick. Brand mascots. Yes. Well, I I have to ask my friend here, Alexander the Mircat, to help me with this one. Um,
• 07:00 - 07:30 I am Alexander, founder of compare the mircat.com, where we compare mircats, size hobbies, you know, but lately we get many people looking for car insurance. I I think the power of the brand mascot is kind of clear from this that that we we are very susceptible to kind of furry animals for one thing. I mean not that all mascots are furry animals. Um but they touch us in a way that you know abstract ideas don't. I
• 07:30 - 08:00 mean they are either human or quai human. Um and so we relate to them in in that very emotional way. They also tend to be unique in the way that human beings are. So that they are instantly memorable and not to be confused with other brand mascots. So for example, you can probably think of more than one polar bear. There's Foxy's glacia mints in the UK. But Fox, why should I? Can't
• 08:00 - 08:30 you see I've already made a mint? That was the crest of bear. It's Froy, man. I don't want to drink the ocean cuz man, that's really rough. But when it comes to crust, here's one bear that just can't get enough man. There's the one who appears for um Coca-Cola, who I don't think even
• 08:30 - 09:00 has a name, and there are probably others, but we instantly know what each of those polar bears is. It's not just here is a polar bear, but here is a character. While lots of marketers think the goal of advertising is to persuade people to think of your brand as better, research shows the primary way an ad works is actually to help the brand get stuck in people's heads so that later when they're thirsty or their car dies or whatever, they think of your brand of juice or your brand of car at all. You know, I suppose the trick in
• 09:00 - 09:30 audiovisisual advertising is to use the living, is to use something that that does move, that does, you know, hold attention. And that that really means a a person or a character or an animal of some kind that's repeatedly used. And that's why fluent devices are so important. Hey, you. The power of brand mascots links to something we call anthropomorphism. This is the tendency
• 09:30 - 10:00 for human beings to endow something nonhuman with human traits and characteristics um emotions and intentions. For example, people give names to their cars and they talk to their cars. Uh, and the reason for anthropomorphism is because we can more easily relate to things that we perceive in humanlike terms. Hey, you great. So,
• 10:00 - 10:30 we should be seeing mascots everywhere, right? Hey you I noticed in the IPA's data going back you know u looking back you know for many years is that these fluent devices had been going out of fashion that they were being used less and less particularly in the time since the the digital revolution and since advertising spend was being put on uh you know in more more digital channels
• 10:30 - 11:00 and social channels. And that uh is really worrying because of course these things are hugely effective as I've described. I think they've been in decline for a very long time. Um I think there's always been that tendency. Why is that? Why are we so afraid? Is it because mascots have a dark and murky past? First off, some mascots are just not representing the right idea. Many of them originate in racist or misogynist past. The Anjamima
• 11:00 - 11:30 brand is getting erased. The name and logo are being dropped from all products, including the iconic pancake mix and maple syrup. Within hours of the Anchamima announcement came word that Uncle Ben's rice would get a new brand identity, too. Some of them are just downright creepy. [Music] [Applause] We love these songs cuz they are good to
• 11:30 - 12:00 us. No, they are tasty. They are crunchy. They are warm because they to them. But is that really all there is to it? After all, science has shown us that mascots work. My point is not that every brand should have a mascot. My point is that a lot of people seemingly believe mascots aren't cool nor effective. And there are a couple of reasons for that. It might be that we no longer see the role of
• 12:00 - 12:30 brands to be entertaining in a time of purpose-driven and meaningful differentiation. You know, this guy or maybe we're all bamboozled by the fancy tech and digital stuff. After all, who needs a furry animal when you have AI metaverse personalization? Well, I think people take them a bit too seriously and and I'll illustrate this by way of an anecdote. I did some work for a bank a while back and they had a mascot from the historical days. There
• 12:30 - 13:00 used to be a building society that was a very cute character and they refused to use it because they were worried people wouldn't think they were a serious bank if they had a cute character as their mascot. And the agency actually came up with a new campaign one time and they had their ads in a campaign and as a joke they made an ad with this mascot vacuuming the bank after hours and when we tested it it scored like three times
• 13:00 - 13:30 the branding scores of the actual campaign they had launched. You know that sort of thinking is why something that could be a very valuable branding device is kind of left in the drawer or neglected. So, it's clear that brand mascots do have a role to play in modern marketing. But how could a new mascot era look like? To find that out, we need to visit a mystical country where mascots still reign, Japan. In Japan, mascots are huge. The
• 13:30 - 14:00 yuruchara are used as a key tool for promotional business. The term yuruchara translates to loose characters or relaxed characters which refers to the cute and approachable nature of these mascots. In Japanese culture, the concept of kawaii is deeply ingrained. Mascots are designed to be adorable with round shapes, big eyes, soft colors, which makes them appealing and endearing to people of all ages. Eurara play a
• 14:00 - 14:30 vital role in promoting tourism in Japan. Many cities and regions have their own mascotss which visitors often associate with their travel experience. Tourists seek out these mascots for photo opportunities and souvenirs making them an integral part of the tourist experience. They even have an award show. Take that, K. Is your brand boring as hell? Get a brand mascot today and get customers cheering again for you. But what about the rest of the world?
• 14:30 - 15:00 Are mascots really doomed? Not really. Heck, they might even be making a comeback. Let's look at some examples. First, let's have a look at some unexpected industries. Take Salesforce, a B2B SAS company. Their mascot, Astro, started as a small little helper in the product, and it's now a key part of their language. There are also many, many smaller brands that have amazing mascots, from a coffee shop to a pizza house. And yes, they work on social media, too. Check out Duo Dolingo's
• 15:00 - 15:30 mascots doing unhinched stuff on Tik Tok and it's working. The language learning app announcing the news in a post that's already amassed more than 100 million views, saying authorities were investigating the cause. But TBH, he probably died waiting for you to do your lesson. Effectively, brand law is all about how you go from a set of brand guidelines to a brand universe. The best example that I always use for this is um
• 15:30 - 16:00 taking Dolingo and Jo's Green Owl and then taking Tony the Tiger, the the tiger on the front of the Frosties box that everyone's kind of familiar with. They're both essentially the same thing. They're a brand asset. They sit at their purest form. They just sit on a set of brand guidelines uh with some rules and regulations set around how you can use them. And they're effectively a little drawing on a page. Tony the Tiger is relegated to the front of the box of of Frosties and has very little law built behind that asset and therefore doesn't feel like a character, doesn't feel like
• 16:00 - 16:30 something that you relate to, doesn't feel like something that you want to interact with. Basically, the way that Duo has kind of broken out of that box and become, to be honest, I would say an internet celebrity, a celebrity on in in his own right. He has more followers than Brie Larson who's kind of, you know, Hollywood celebrity. The way that he's broken out of that is through brand law. That is the number one key to turning something that is a brand asset into something that is a a brand character. Basically, a great example how new social media platforms and
• 16:30 - 17:00 mascots are another opportunity for the future. One of my favorite mascots ever is Mailchimp's Freddy, especially as they didn't only use it as an advertising asset, but it was integrated in their product experience. For example, when I had to send out a big email blast to tous thousands of people, there was this small cute animation that brought a lot of delight at this moment of stress. Unfortunately, Freddy got killed. Or what about the amazing story
• 17:00 - 17:30 of Tourism Australia that used a cute rabbit and a unicorn to lure people back to Australia? So the origin of the come and say goodday campaign it really started uh in the middle of the pandemic maybe even before the pandemic um post the bushfire crisis that we had here in Australia. We needed an idea uh to tell the world that Australia was open and ready to welcome the world back down. So an an important input into the brief to M and Sachi was the work that we did at Tourism Australia around understanding
• 17:30 - 18:00 our brand codes. So we did a body of research in all of our 15 markets to understand all of those associations positive and negative you know visual um audio etc to really understand what would stand out what would help set us apart from other markets. So after I don't know 6 months worth of work and I don't know how many hours from the team uh we finally distilled it down and the answer was a kangaroo. Now I'm obviously joking. There are a lot of other brand codes that you would see peppered through the
• 18:00 - 18:30 whole campaign. Um, but no doubt, um, having this lovable, this sort of positive, this iconic, this uniquely Australian animal, um, like a kangaroo, uh, was an incredible thought starter for us and for the agency. Um, and they came back with this really lovely idea, uh, of having a souvenir kangaroo. And I love that it's not just the animal kangaroo, but it's a souvenir kangaroo. There's a wonderful tie to tourism uh in that. But the idea that you'd have this this um this souvenir kangaroo who longed to see the country, but she'd
• 18:30 - 19:00 never been out hopping around the world. Master of hypnosis up here. Yeah. Good day, mate. I'm sorry. Are you saying giddy up? No, I good day just means hello. Oh, good day. Or hopping around the country rather. Um was really quite magical. You know, the idea that she would take you on this journey um was really lovely. when we saw the first few iterations of the of the real Ruby. We had a couple rough drawings early on, you know, took us a little while to get to what the character sketch was going to be like, um, seeing her, uh, come to life on paper like that. And Louie as
• 19:00 - 19:30 well. Um, knowing that Louis was going to be voiced by, you know, Will Arett with this sort of, you know, gruff comedic voice, um, it was just, it was hysterical. It made us laugh every time we we put those two pieces together. That's a really fascinating story. Are mascots really making a comeback? Hey, we might even see the return of the hamburglar. Rubble rubble. But what about the future? How will new technology impact
• 19:30 - 20:00 mascots? Remember this suit? This is actually Allen's mascot. Allen is a health tech company active in Europe and in Canada. I've been working at Allen for a few years now and it's been fascinating to see how thanks to the rise of generative AI, we've been able to create a universe around this mascot. What started out as a 2D mascot evolved into a 3D project where we had quite a lot of heavy costs and lots of iterations with 3D agencies to work on
• 20:00 - 20:30 this mascot. now is something that all people inside of Allen can easily generate amazingly looking consistent images with our mascot. But we're not stopping there. We're using gamification, personalization, and of course video AI to bring this to the next level. And who knows, maybe next year a full featurelength film about Allan. I even created my own little mascot for this channel called Auto. And thanks to Generative AI, I can easily create new images, do animations with
• 20:30 - 21:00 it. But it's not just me. Here are the stories of some of my good friends that created their own mascot. Pinky is our brand mascot. He is a vivid magenta low poly style flamingo with cool shades. So we explored hundreds of different concepts using AI sketching and we narrowed them down and we teamed up with a talented 3D artist to bring it to life. Uh and that's the power of a strong mascot, right? It gives your brand a face, a personality, and that's what people remember.
• 21:00 - 21:30 And so the hat became a physical mascot first. Um, and then kind of inspired very much by by Steph and and and kind of Harris and other collaborators that I knew from marketing Twitter, I decided to look at using AI tools to create a um a virtual mascot and it just kind of helped build recognition and to kind of keep me salient. Given the reach of popular creators like Mr. beast. I believe we will start seeing more
• 21:30 - 22:00 fictional characters or faceless channels that will build huge audiences. More and more of this website's top performers are faceless. There seems to be an entire trend nowadays of not revealing that much of your personal life online. And surprisingly, the less the audience knows, the more they seem to engage. Take Corpse Husband for example. Highly influential creator with over 7 million subscribers. Dream with almost 20 million. The rapidly growing VTuber community. Something has clearly shifted in entertainment culture. I
• 22:00 - 22:30 think generative AI is a real opportunity for a lot of brands to explore and be more creative with characters. I can be anything I want. And then there is the rise of AR and VR opening again doors for immersive storytelling with these characters. Imagine the difference for a brand experience when you have a real character that people can interact with versus just logos and fonts and color. Hey, is anyone there? Yes. What are you?
• 22:30 - 23:00 I'm a tool. I'm here to find a new best friend. There's one of us for every one of you. You can talk to us about whatever. So, it's clear brand mascots have huge untapped potential to become a brand building powerhouse. And as we've seen from its original days as a lucky charm, maybe it's time for brands to start embracing their luck a bit more. As the wonderful Andy Ner says, it's time to go luck yourselves. My name is
• 23:00 - 23:30 Paul Bailey. I'm brand strategy director at Halo and longtime fan of brand mascots. I spoke to some of my favorite brand mascots and asked them why they think they've fallen out of fashion. Over the last 10 to 15 years, we fell out of fashion because of what we were great at, building brands over the long term. We're not tactical executions for businesses focused in on shortterm sales. The trouble is this is what businesses generally have become obsessed with short-term performance marketing. As brand assets, we need time
• 23:30 - 24:00 to do our best work. Time for the business to build the right associations with us via the brand. We think businesses need to move the dial back towards long-term brand building and get a better balance. And thus, brand mascots are a great tool to do this. Yes, we need time and money to have an impact, but will have long-term effects not only on your brand, but on your audience. Now, these brand mascots are over 30 years old. Tony the Tiger,
• 24:00 - 24:30 Follow the Bear, Jolly Green Giant, Michelin Man, and the Juror Bunny. But they've seared their way into my mind, and they're not going anywhere soon. By developing a brand mascot, you could be investing into more than 30 years of positive mental associations. Let's close this video by taking a moment for our fallen heroes. Oh, and don't forget to subscribe. Thanks for watching.