Mascot Mania: Does Your Business Need a Personality?

“Hi there! I’m Fifi and I’m a Frequent Flirter! And a fabulously flamboyant one at that. I can put a smile on anyone’s dial! Okay, so I’m not exactly modest, but hey, what can I say?…I’m a hit.”

Have you ever thought of using a mascot, a character, a prop, or even just a catch-cry to give your business a personality?

People – that is, your potential customers – love anything that amuses them or gives them an excuse to ‘play’, even if only fleetingly. We’re all kids at heart, and we love anything that provides a mental and emotional break from being an adult. A little bit of entertainment can go a long way in being memorable to your customers. Check out how sales guru Jeffrey Gitomer uses fun props to captivate his audience and get his message across in his weekly e-zine, Sales Caffeine. Oh, and there’s a few decent sales tips in there as well!

Actually, this post could easily have been titled: How To Have More Fun With Your Customers AND Entice Them to Bond With Your Brand (thanks for the whole “bonding” concept Brad!) … but that heading was a bit long!

Mascots get us where it matters because not only are they fun eye candy, they’re also likeable, i.e. “bond-able”. Mascots, characters and props give another dimension to your brand and offer people a reason to like you and engage with you. They also give people something to remember you by.

But mascots aren’t about silly, meaningless fluff. Quite the contrary. These guys are choc-full of meaning. And therein lies their power.

The cnnmoney.com article How the Pillsbury doughboy explains what you buy profiles a small marketing firm, Character, who specialise in bringing product mascots – and profits – to life.

Creating characters is “not about making stuff up but discovering the story inherent in the brand,” explains Hardison, the firm’s creative director.

Mascots, in the traditional sense, are indeed better known for their appearances in the sporting arena than on the business playing field, but there appears to be a change in the game plan.

The Shreveport Times article Mascots are not just for athletic teams anymore reviews this shift and examines their effectiveness in business.

Since mascots work well in building recognition and fan loyalty for athletic teams, it makes sense to extend them to nonsports entities, said Jim Riordan, who directs the master of business administration program in sports management at Florida Atlantic University.

After all, Riordan said, characters from Tony the Tiger of Kellogg’s Frosted Flakes to the gecko of Geico insurance have always been a part of the advertising scene.

The article also points out that some players are astute at picking up on their power.

The Ocean County library system got the message. Sparks, a book-reading dragon that Raymond Entertainment created, has helped drive attendance at the system’s 20 branches, said Mary Malagiere, chief librarian.

“We wanted something that would be attractive, and a little bit different, that would reach out to children and adults,” she said.

Sparks has been such a hit, he’s booked for a full slate of ribbon-cuttings and parades, and has a fan club of more than 600 members, Malagiere said.

And here’s an odd but intriguing phenomenon revealed by CRM Daily in their article Marketers Get Their Mascots on MySpace

Who knew being square was cool? On MySpace.com, Wendy’s cartoon marketing mascot Smart has more than 81,000 “friends” who’ve linked to his page and posted notes such as, “i luv u.”

In his profile, the Wendy’s burger-patty-shaped icon lists metal music, Angelina Jolie and TV show 24 as interests. Favorite nosh: Wendy’s bacon mushroom melt. Hero: Wendy’s founder Dave Thomas, of course.

Smart is an example of how marketers are riding the online community craze: seeding social-networking sites with faux profiles to connect with consumers.

So, you wanna get in on the act?

Getting Started: Just Add a Dash of Creativity

Creating a “real” mascot complete with costume can be a costly exercise. But you don’t have to go the whole hog. With a bit of creativity you can come up with a character that won’t bust the budget and will add an extra dimension, a personality, or a dash of humour to your business. All of which equates to attention for your brand.

My mascots came about through my game’s logo. When designing the logo for my game, The Meet MarketTM, I wanted to convey a sense of fun and playful flirting between a man and a woman. I also wanted to capture a sense of old-world innocence, because, in all seriousness, at the core of all the frivolity of my brand are some earnest ideals. Ultimately, I came up with two quirky and charming characters making eyes at each other over the game’s centerpiece, a loveheart. I hired a cartoonist to draw them, and named the pair Fran and Stan, but then renamed them to Fifi and Fred. Then one day I had the brainwave to bring this pair to life. To date I’ve only used them in one promotion (as dancers) when launching my business. But my plans for future promotions include a number of wacky, shameless publicity stunts for this pair of “reckless romantics”.

Meanwhile, to help promote my Frequent FlirterTM product range (the term Frequent Flirter comes from the game itself), which I sell at the local weekend markets and online, I hunted around for a mannequin that was vivacious enough to represent Fifi. I found her on ebay. Fifi’s a big hit with market visitors and I often introduce her into the conversation, which always draws them in. I would like to use her in a more interactive way with customers, but I haven’t yet determined exactly how to do that.

Right now, for the princely sum of $50 (including postage) Fifi provides me with:

– a means to display my goods
– a fun icebreaker and talking point to engage potential customers, and
– a character with which customers can “bond” emotionally

Further down the track, using Fifi and Fred as live characters I have the opportunity to attract publicity through promotional stunts.

Even Just an Image as a Prop Can Have a Powerful Affect

If you’re not buying the whole mascot craze, just a plain old image that represents your business in a fun way can produce the same result. Back in the 70s and 80s, Ansett Airlines, an Australian airline, painted cartoon wombat emblems just below the cockpit on their cargo planes (Electras and Fokkers) and had them embroidered on the pilots’ shirts. Wombats are cute little Australian marsupials renowned for sleeping during the day and coming out at night, so they called the pilots who flew these graveyard shifts The Wombat Squadron. The term became legendary and The Wombat Squadron, along with these now retired aircraft, have somewhat of a cult following. So simple ‘props’ can be very effective.

Check out this dude, The Blog Traffic King. It’s funny, even though he’s clearly royalty, he seems oddly familiar … ahhh, it’s Yaro!! Top hat Yaro! And I’m willing to bet it wasn’t an overly expensive acquisition!

Okay, so if you’re not into props, what about a catchy catch-cry? These can work wonders because they’re entertaining and memorable. In his Online Marketing blog Fred Schebesta suggests in his post, What I Like About Yahoo! Advertisements, that the Yahoo! catch-cry will one day be a relic and a benchmark of the online evolution.

But Then Again, Why Not Use a Real One?

Among the Church of the Customer’s September postings, Pets and Marketing looks at the enormous influence pets have over the lives of their “parents” and how that can affect your bottom line.

Pets are increasingly the bridge to connect with future customers, affiliates or members. A church in Chicago is offering a “Pet Blessing.” Hotels have pet packages so you can vacation with your pooch.

While reading this post I had to smile when I got to #3 of Lisa Johnson’s ideas on how to set your brand apart by tapping into people’s deep love for their pets: Create brand extensions for pets. One morning at the markets I had exactly this idea. Gina, the stallholder beside me, has a happy little dog that one day cottoned on that I was a good source of pats. Watching the dog repeatedly visit my stall, Gina’s 14-year-old son remarked, “Sacha’s a Frequent Flirter”. I laughed and thought, of course he his, aren’t all dogs? …”Aha”…Frequent Flirter dog coats!

The bottom line is, even if you don’t have a brand extension for pets, if 63% of US households have pets, as this post states, then it’s likely that a good deal of your customers will identify with your brand if you use a cute animal, especially your own pet, in your branding.

A local printer I knew had an adorable little dog that went just about everywhere with him. Fergus greeted the customers at the printing factory with all the gusto he could muster. While he did get a little over zealous at times, most people were very taken with him. But to my knowledge, the printer hasn’t yet capitalised on Fergus’ minor celebrity status in his advertising. Which is a shame, because using his cute little mug in local ads would be a charming and personal way to connect with customers.

The Simulated Mascot

If you’re not sure if a mascot or character would be right for your brand, take a look at Carlye Adler’s checklist on cnn.money.com Would a mascot help your business?

Regardless, even if you don’t intend to use a mascot, going through the exercise of creating one can assist you in getting a more cohesive grasp on your brand’s identity. What are its personality traits? What elements make it likeable? And how can they be portrayed? If it’s not obvious, then draw them out by role playing with different characters (people, animals, heroes) until you find one that embodies your brand. This process can be very enlightening.

Be careful though, because you may just bond with your creation in this process! Mascots are more than just part of your marketing tool kit, they become part of your marketing staff.

For me, Fifi has added value. When she’s not on duty, she lives on a box in my kitchen. So we have breakfast together, and she gives me a shot in the arm to get me firing. I mean, how could that face not turbo charge your day? Fifi makes me smile every time I look at her.