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Brands Have Mascot Fever
Courtesy of Liberty Mutual, Crocs, Stanley Black & Decker, Infosys, & NYC Department of Environmental Protection // Illustration by Kate Walker
A new crop of brand mascots is showing up in ads, hoping to create an emotional connection with customers.
Why It Hits: Turns out, having a mascot is one of the best ways to build a relationship with customers, since it gives brands more control over their image than celebrities and can be more organically integrated into marketing. But brands need to be in it for the long haul, according to Vanessa Chin, SVP of marketing at ad-analytics firm System1. They need to use a mascot consistently for three years to see the most upside.
Behind The Creature: Maybe the best new metric for success is having a mascot that’s huggable.
Crocs rolled out a crocodile named Niles, a “sort of emotional support animal embodying the casual vibe associated with its slip-on shoes,” per CMO Carly Gomez.
Liberty Mutual, which already has the famous LiMu Emu, added a “big-eyed yellow ball of fuzz” named Liberty Biberty to its roster.
IT services firm Infosys introduced a partly AI-generated yeti named Leon that guides the company’s execs through the outdoors.
And even Apple got into the game with “Little Finder Guy”… at least, that’s what Apple fans are calling him.
Stanley Black & Decker debuted Stan — a “no-nonsense” talking toolbox (not very huggable).
Final Pitch: Mascots that truly take off in culture have the ability to give brands a boost any time they trot them out. Take General Mills’ Pillsbury Doughboy. When the company brought back the ticklish little baker last fall, cookie sales jumped 12.6% between September and December. That’s a lot of dough.
Why does that strategy work? Because, as Infosys CMO Sumit Virmani told WSJ, “Emotions play a disproportionate role in driving decision-making. A mere inanimate logo, font, or typeface goes only so far.”
Next Campaign: The new era of mascots is bound to lead to a lot of interesting mascot collabs.
Today’s email was written by David Vendrell.
Edited by Nick Comney. Polled and Copy-edited by Kait Cunniff.
Published by Darline Salazar.