MG ParameswaranMember, Management Board,FCB Ulka Advertising

CASE VIEW ON

BRAND MASCOTS: THE CASKETS OF BRAND VALUES?

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Ref. MKTG-1-0028B

Member, Management Board, FCB Ulka Advertising

Former General Manager Sales at UDI Yellow Pages,

Marketing Services Manager at Boots Company India,

AE at Rediffusion DY&R

Ambi now has sevenbooks to his creditincluding : “FCB-UlkaBrand BuildingAdvertising –Concepts and Cases”;“UnderstandingConsumers – BuildingPowerful BrandsUsing ConsumerResearch”; “BuildingBrand Value - FiveSteps to BuildingPowerful Brands”(Winner of 2007NTPC – DMA BookPrize). His latest book“For God’s Sake - AnAdman on theBusiness of Religion”

InterviewedbyDr. Nagendra V. Chowdary

InterviewwithMG Parameswaran

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Interview with MG Parameswaran Brand Mascots: The Caskets of Brand Values?

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1. What is the importance, if any, of mascots in Brand Building, Marketing and ConsumerConnect? What purposes do mascots serve in a company’s DNA?

The use of Mascots can be traced back to the 1890’s and two of the oldest are AuntJemima [Cake Mix] and the Michelin Man. The use of mascots flourished in the 1950s withagencies like Leo Burnett creating mascots like Tony the Tiger [Kellogg’s] and Jolly GreenGiant [frozen vegetables], FCB creating Smokey the Bear [for preventing forest fires]. Theuse of mascots have been wide spread across categories such as QSR [Quick ServiceRestaurants], consumer products such as cleaners, batteries, etc.

We have seen mascots used to signify the company name [Disney – Mickey Mouse;McDonald’s – Ronald McDonald] as well as for individual brand names such as Mr Muscleand Duracell/Energizer batteries.

There are three fundamental differences in the way mascots are used. One is where thecompany name or the brand name itself turns into a mascot, Aunt Jemima’s Cake Mix,Captain Morgan Rum, etc. The other case is where the brand name is distinct from that ofthe name of the mascot – Kellogg’s Frosted Flakes and Tony the Tiger. The third case iswhere the mascot gets the name from the brand name, like the Pillsbury Doughboy or ourown Amul Girl and the Air India Maharaja.

The reason behind the use of mascots in each of these cases would be somewhat different.In the first case, it is to make the brand name come alive and not be just a brand name onthe pack. In the other two cases, the use of mascot is to make the brand appear morefriendly and relatable to the consumer.

2. Mascots have been a part of brand building for a few brands (Amul, Asian Paints, AirIndia, Onida in case of Indian brands, and Walt Disney, McDonald’s, etc., in case ofglobal brands). Why is it that only a few brands build and nurture their mascots?

Brand building is an expensive proposition in our hypercompetitive world. Consumer’sattention span is getting lesser than what it was a decade ago. FCB’s research showedthat a consumer moves his/her attention in just about 6.5 seconds after s/he notices the

THERE ARE THREE FUNDAMENTALDIFFERENCES IN THE WAY MASCOTS

ARE USED.“““““

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Brand Mascots: The Caskets of Brand Values? Interview with MG Parameswaran

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ad, on TV or a website. So, you have 6.5 seconds to grab their attention. If you do, you canhave them for the next 60 or 180 seconds. So in that time would you talk about your brandor about a mascot, that is the challenge.

Brands that have well-established brand mascots are today milking them for what theyare worth. Others investing their time and effort to build their brand recall. In India, wehave had a mixed bag of results. Amul girl and Air India maharaja are still alive. But Gattuthe kid of Asian Paints, Goody the Nerolac tiger and the Onida devil have disappeared, inthe face of the 6.5 second challenge.

ONE IS WHERE THE COMPANY NAMEOR THE BRAND NAME ITSELF TURNS

INTO A MASCOT.“““““

”””””Globally too companies have had to abandon mascots; the biggest being the Burger Kingwhich abandoned the “King” after using him for a decade. But Ronald McDonald lives on.

Interestingly, 7Up which used the stick cartoon character Fido Dido has not been usingFido in all its communication. The usage of Fido Dido has not been anywhere near asconsistent as say Mr Muscle or Ronald McDonald.

3. In Interbrand’s Global 100 brands, while a few companies have mascots for the parentbrand (Walt Disney, KFC, McDonald’s, Nintendo and Duracell), other companies seemto have mascots for their sub-brands (Nestle, Kellogg’s, etc.). What should be theideal way for nurturing mascots – should the mascots be structured around a parentbrand or should they be nurtured for sub-brands?

There can be no hard and fast rule around the use of mascots. The QSRs and brands likeDisney are really service brands and they are able to leverage their brand mascots well. Alarge reason could be the fact that they have a lot of ‘Owned’ media to use. So McDonald’srestaurants have a Ronald McDonald sitting outside to charm the kids. KFC has a pictureof Col. Sanders. Walt Disney has Mickey in its theme parks.

Large multi-brand companies would rather have mascots for their individual brands; wehave seen Energizer using the bunny only for their batteries and not for the other brands orproducts the company owns. In India too Amul uses its little girl primarily for its butteradvertising.

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Interview with MG Parameswaran Brand Mascots: The Caskets of Brand Values?

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4. What kind of companies/companies from industries should build their brands aroundmascots?

Mascots give brands a human face, a personality that consumers can relate to. However,it is an expensive proposition, if all the media you have for the brand is fully paid media.Ideally, if the brand name lends itself for a mascot it is a no brainer. So brands like MrMuscle, or Mr. Clean or Aunt Jemima are tailor-made for creating a mascot and buildingthe consumer connect. In the other cases like Pillsbury doughboy or the Michelin Man, it isexpensive today to build a mascot from scratch. For cases like Kellogg’s Tony the Tiger, thechallenge is even more since the mascot does not carry the brand name.

When companies own a lot of media such as a service brand like a QSR or Entertainmentbrand, there is ample free media for playing with mascots. For other companies one needsto think through the long term implication of spending money on building a mascot.

5. What should companies consider before considering or adopting a mascot?

I think the first question to answer is the role of the mascot in the overall brand buildingplans. Is the cost worth it? The next question to address is the short term vs long termimplications of having a mascot. Is the mascot going to serve a long term agenda or ashort term requirement? The other questions would be largely relating to the way themascot will be used in paid, owned and shared media.

6. If there is start-up company which is about to introduce its brand in the market, doyou feel that a mascot should be introduced in advertisements and other promotionsin the initial stage itself, or, is it advisable to first let the product gain some traction inthe market before a mascot is introduced for it?

A new company should look at using a mascot in its early stages only if the brand lendsitself to the creation of a mascot. For example, Sanjeev Kapoor brand of ready to eat foodsshould have a mascot who will be Sanjeev Kapoor in some form, like Aunt Jemima. However,if there is no name linkage, a new brand needs to think many times before creating amascot.

THE OTHER CASE IS WHERE THEBRAND NAME IS DISTINCT FROM THAT

OF THE NAME OF THE MASCOT.“““““

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Brand Mascots: The Caskets of Brand Values? Interview with MG Parameswaran

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One case which stands out in recent times is the Android man. Google’s Android is presentedonly as a robotic figure, much like the R2D2 of Star Wars fame. But the Android characterhas no name. It is Android, a robot looking figure. Is it their logo only? Or is it a mascot?

7. What should companies do to make effective use of mascots on social media such asFacebook and Twitter?

Social media has given a huge thrust to mascots because now even brands that do not‘own’ much media can create their own space on the world wide web and on social media

THE THIRD CASE IS WHERE THEMASCOT GETS THE NAME FROM THE

BRAND NAME.“““““

”””””platforms. Internationally, brands like Captain Morgan have capitalized on the social mediacraze. In India brands like Amul have started using social media platforms to expand thereach of their Butter Topicals.

In the light of the growth of social media, brands could consider using their mascots astheir brand’s face on various platforms. In a sense the use of a mascot will be seen byconsumers to be a lot less commercial. To that extent the mascot related messages maybe shared a lot more easily than an overt message from the brand. Imagine Air Indiawishing you a Happy New Year vs the Air India Maharaja wishing you a Royal New Year!Which would you share?

8. Recently, McDonald’s competitor, Taco Bell, came out with an ad wherein it depictedseveral men with the same name as the McDonald’s mascot, the clown RonaldMcDonald, loving its new breakfast. Can companies do anything to prevent theirmascots from being capitalized upon by their competitors?

The use of real life Ronald McDonald by Taco Bell is a nice twist in the tale. And I thinkMcDonald has acknowledged it as ‘flattery’. When your mascot becomes well-recognizedthere is always a chance that a competitor will take shots at you by using your mascot. Theother big example is the use of a cooler bunny by Energizer to take on the ordinary pinkbunny by Duracell.

We do live in a competitive world and so having a mascot can also have its down sides,especially if you have very agile competitors.