For The Love Of Brand Mascots - The Resurgence Of Brand Icons In Ads

Parag Bhatnagar Jun 03, 2022

Long have brands adopted mascots to cut through communication contours. Many have come and gone, but only a few remain etched in our memories. With time, as the idea of brands and advertising evolved, so did the way of communicating and connecting with the audience. Today, brands prefer celebrities and social media influencers for endorsements. Post-pandemic, however, with customers prioritising human connection and authenticity, there is a resurgence taking place.

We have come full circle

The world moves at the speed of the consumer, and consumers want interactions that most campaigns don’t offer. Not to mention, in a market cluttered with marketing campaigns that lead to low recall and increased social media trolling, mascots are being perceived as a safe and nonpareil way for brands to differentiate themselves. In today’s fragmented landscape, brands are recognising how mascots are a versatile choice to increase connections. Combined with the emotive interactions that AI can offer brands, the possibilities are endless. In fact, a recent survey by the Moving Pictures Company (MPC) indicated that with the use of well-crafted characters and mascots in marketing campaigns, companies can expect to yield a 7.9% higher profit to their campaign margins.

A walk down memory lane

Brand mascots have been a global phenomenon for more than a century and many a time, have sent a symbolic message to stakeholders. India has seen characters and mascots that date back to the 1940s, one of which is Air India’s iconic ‘Maharaja’, which is a global figure today. The amiable character and his expressions represent the warmth and hospitality one can expect on an Air India flight. While a new persona is introduced with every campaign, the brand maintains the trademark appearance and message ensuring consistent storytelling at every turn.

Another famous example is that of the Amul Girl, also known as ‘The Amul Moppet.’ The quick-witted character with one-liners gained prominence in advertising back in the 1960s and is regarded as one of the longest-running advertising campaigns in the world. An MPC whitepaper suggests that long-term campaigns featuring a character can increase profit gain by 34.1% compared to 26.2% for campaigns without one. The use of icons by both Air India and Amul can serve as a testament to this.

Cutting through the noise

Brand mascots are not limited to tangible products, some examples of which can be seen in the tech and service arena as well where unique characters have been crafted to weave a narrative about the company. In its brand campaign, Sahaj Software used characters that are shapeless shapes to demonstrate fluidity and adaptability in a bold attempt to create a brand narrative that revolved around the company culture.

The dependence of a brand on sustained communication to stay connected with its stakeholders has gone up significantly. This is why brands like Amul have remained loyal to the character they introduced. The blue-haired girl has taken over Amul's social media channels to comment with witty one-liners on national and international affairs, and promote the brand simultaneously. As a matter of fact, many brands prefer characters over celebrity endorsements owing to the brand’s ability to mould, evolve and control the former’s persona to drive emotional connection. Research has found that emotionally-led campaigns will generate almost double the profit of non-emotionally-led campaigns over three years.

Humanisation is key when designing a brand mascot

When it comes to storytelling, there are three dimensions that influence consumers' attitudes towards advertisements with characters: character attraction, nostalgia and trustworthiness. The characters introduced by brands are the key to breaking through consumer cynicism and capturing the market's continually fragmented attention span, which lies in the emotional connection that characters and mascots can form with audiences. That kind of emotional connection is priceless for brands and marketers alike, and characters and mascots provide a way of accessing it while also giving brands other benefits: increased longevity, brand loyalty and character ownership.

*The author is Parag Bhatnagar, Global Head of Marketing, Sahaj Software