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Brand recognition- The extent to which the general public (or an organization’s argue market) is able to identify a brand by its attributes. Brand recognition is most successful when people can state a brand without being explicitly exposed to the company’s name, but rather through visual signifier like logos, slogans and colors. Objective of study There has been a tremendous increase in use of mascots recently in the advertising world. Mascots are not new they are being used since ages as they are believed to bring luck they are always associated with sports teams .
Mascots were always there from the starting what is new is the use of mascots in advertising marketing and building brand image. Mascots have proven to be a great marketing tool in last 10 years, almost each and every brand tries to make its own mascot so that it can connect to its target audience. Mascots are “the gift that keeps on giving” said Carol Phillips, president of consulting group Brand Amplitude. “They never get in trouble with the law. They don’t up their fees. You can use them for a long long time. In many cases, consumers would rather interact online with a cute or cuddly character than with a faceless corporate executive, said Mart Makes, UP- digital and social-media strategist for public-relations firm Porter Novella. ” TTS easier to have a casual conversation,” she said. Understanding the importance of mascots in advertising and there recent importance and need in the market it is important to study the importance Of mascots there history types and future . INTRODUCTION Word History The use of mascots goes back to antiquity, but they were not always called mascots.
The word ‘mascot’ suggests a connection with the occult, being derived from the French slang mascot meaning ‘witch’. How the word entered the English language is a story in itself. At the turn of the century, a French composer named Edmond Duran (1842-1901 ) wrote a series of operettas. One of the most popular was called La Mascot (1 880), a light- hearted plot about a farm girl who brought good luck to whoever employed her, provided she remained a virgin. The opera ran for over a thousand performances between 1800 and 1882.
As it gained popularity, it was translated into English and staged in England and America. The English translation was titled ‘The Mascot’ and established the concept of a mascot as a person, animal or thing bringing luck. Why mascots? A mascot serves as a real-life character that promotes a brand, product or company. It serves as an identifiable character that consumers associate with a brand. Images of the mascot trigger an association with the brand, which can encourage consumers to buy a product or service. Its purpose, like the purpose of other advertisements, is to increase sales or company visibility.
Whether advertising at a global or local level, finding the right public face is critical for a company to add value to its business. Most mascots provide a fun, light-hearted way to get an organization or company noticed in festivals, parades, sporting events, schools, store openings, civic events and even the Edie. Kids love mascots, and consumers easily remember them. Two important issues need to be considered while using a mascot. One – will the use of the mascot help accentuate the brand personality and help in sharper consumer association with brand values?
In short, will it ensure recall and differentiation? Two – how will the mascot be infused with the right spirit so that it can be used Innovative in various communication, promotions and consumer engagement efforts? In this age of expensive brand ambassadors, mascots provide a creative, sustainable, low-cost model for communicating a rand’s values and personifying the company’s desired image. The other advantage is that as mascots are created and owned by the companies, switching loyalties, which is a frequent incidence with celebrity endorsers, can be ruled out.
For example, Mari Khan starred in the first Pepsi commercial aired in India, but today he is a brand ambassador for Coke. Can you think of Agate and Goody, the Neuronal tiger, swapping places? The world over, more and more businesses are finding out what a corporate mascot can do for them – businesses as diverse as computer companies (Tux the penguin is the ace of Linux), car makers (), real estate agents, drug companies, and many more. Also, more and more sporting clubs are finding out about the entertainment and marketing value of their own mascot character.
In Australia, the Sydney rugby league competition had three mascots in 1984, now all 20 clubs have mascots. There are mascots in shopping centre, some of which have a massive following. A bird mascot, Pete the Parrot in a Sydney shopping centre (Casual Mall) has ten thousand kids in his fan club. Pete the pa rot The Toyota chicken Tux for Linux Why Has the use of “Characters” and “Mascots” in Advertising Increased? The concept of creating memorable “characters” or “mascots” in advertising and branding is extremely well-established, and seems to have gotten even more common lately.
Years ago, it was the Marlboro Man, Spuds Mackenzie, the California Raisins, Joe Camel, Charlie Tuna, Tony the Tiger, and Joe ISSUE. Today, it seems like we are inundated by the GECKO Gecko, the Cavemen, the Progressive Insurance girl (aka “70”), the Ally Bank guy, and many, many more. Now, every brand seems to want a mascot or character. Use of mascots Mascots may range from very generic symbols such as animals or historical people, to mascots that are unidentifiable anywhere else in the world. Mascots are Positive personalities The mascot may represent the company prides itself or it can be a creation all of its own.
Mascots may use actions or dances that make them unique in a physical way. Fans and customers may grow to love and expect the same qualities from the mascot. It important that the mascot be upbeat, positive, and charismatic to grab the attention of all ages and all types of people. Businesses that decide they will benefit from the use of mascots will effectively market their services and easily become a should name. A mascot can embody the mission or value statement of a company, ingraining this image on the minds of people everywhere.
Any mascot send a strong symbolic message to people who encounter them both for business and leisure. The use of mascots is not only for sports or a particular team usage, although that may be its most popular incarnation. Businesses, television stations and/or media venues, parades, and communities may alai use mascots for several reasons. They are often leveraged as useful advertising tools to help promote a company, product, or event. This helps people to associate a symbol with an item or service that is being marketed to them.
The mascot will assist in bringing the marketing campaign back to mind when the product or service will be needed by the consumer. Many tout mascots as being the best choice for placing funds for marketing. Experts say it will yield the best rate of return for the investment placed in a mascot. Use of mascots is especially useful when a company is new to the public at large. It will help to establish a name, reputation, and character synonymous with the company. We are more likely to pay attention o a brand when it has a character to follow on Twitter and ‘friend” on Backbone.
Some companies have the advantage Of having a character already built into the legacy of their brand. But only some brands are taking advantage of this. Many companies have already integrated social media into their marketing but who is doing it through their brand’s mascot? Let’s take a look at a few examples. Organizations use mascots in advertising campaigns to raise awareness of their brand. A mascot’s most prominent role might be in front of the camera, where it is an active player in television commercials . However, mascots also exist in the local community.
They attend local events, from sporting events to festivals, to interact with the community and, as a result, heighten brand awareness. Mascots might hand out samples of products or pose for pictures with children. (1 )(2) (1)- Charlie the tuna fish in an event (2)-Mackey mouse in Disney land Types When people hear the word “mascot,” they often think of a human dressed up as a furry creature, such as the popular San Diego Chicken. However, real people can be mascots as well. Subway restaurants used a real-life customer, Jarred Boggle, to head the restaurant’s advertising campaign for years. Mascots are not always of the human variety, either.
Many colleges use animal mascots to promote their brand, such as the University of Georgians bulldog GA. Often the choice of mascot reflects a desired quality; a common example of this is the “fighting spirit,” in which a competitive nature is personified by warriors or predatory animals. Mascots may also symbolize a local or regional trait, such as the Nebraska Churchgoers’ mascot, Herb Husker: a stylized version of a farmer, owing to the agricultural traditions of he area in which the university is located. In the United States, controversy surrounds some mascot choices, especially those using human likenesses.
Mascots based on Native American tribes are particularly contentious, as many argue that they constitute offensive exploitations of an oppressed culture. There are different types of mascots example High school mascot Brand associated mascots College mascots university of Georgians bulldog GA. Avoidance zoo zoo Some brands and their mascots 1- Michelin Man No longer puffy, the Michelin Man has undergone a makeover worthy of a superhero. He is now a slimmer version of himself and hurls tires from his own midsection to defeat “the evil gas pump. His Backbone page, which has over 7,000 fans, provides information on coupons and is scrounging ideas for the development of their new ads. Over on Youth, viewers can watch ads and stay up to date on new products. The Michelin Man even has a Twitter page in his own name, keeping his 1,200 followers up to date with the latest in tires. The current tagging reads, “The right tire changes everything! ” The Michelin Man aims to educate the public on how the right tire can reduce eel consumption, increase driving safety and extend tread life.
All good things, but made more appealing to the average consumer through a social media outlet. (2) Ronald McDonald lard Scott, bib Brandon, King Moody, Geoffrey Giuliani and Joe Mudguard. A nanosecond is all it takes for the image of the red-haired clown in his bright- yellow jumpsuit to make people think of the McDonald’s brand. Over the years Ron, as he IS popularly called, has acquired an iconic status and has become the public face of the burger giant whose golden arches is the most widely recognized symbol in the fast food industry.
The highly successful advertising campaign continues to draw in parents who succumb to the pleas of their young children for a Happy Meal or other treats from McDonald’s. Many of the restaurants are decorated with a life-size statue of the clown, holding out his hand to greet customers at the entrance where children queue up to shake hands with him. Sometimes the figure is sitting on a bench allowing children to sit next to him or on his lap. In television commercials, Ronald inhabits a fantasy world called McDonald’s and has adventures with his friends – Grimace, Hamburger, Birdie the Early Bird, and The Fry Kids.
Ronald McDonald (3) M & M’s Everyone love those cute little M&M’s on the commercials Each color has its own personality and therefore each can serve as an ambassador for a different campaign. Take the newest product, for example: pretzel M&M’s . The orange M&M is being used as a spokesperson for the new product, with his neurosis around finding “the pretzel within”. He and Carson Daly are featured in a series of videos on MS called Behind the Shell. All M&M’s are the same: Green M&M has her own Twitter account, as does Red M&M.
In fact, you can reinvent yourself as an M&M on he official website. Now that’s a mascot. M&M’s Backbone page, going strong with over 771 ,OHO fans, offers a place for people to share their love of the candy but also to run ad campaigns. The “Vote For Your Favorite M;M” sweepstakes offers a cash prize and encourages people to connect with the M&M mascot they love the most. (5) Subway Jarred Boggle: Shred’s story is really the story of the everyman American.
Jarred was a guy who weighed 425 pounds and who decided to embark on a weight loss plan by changing his diet to Subway sandwiches. He lost 100 pounds in 3 months and 240 pounds total, slimming him down from a big guy with big pants to a pretty average-looking guy with a confident smile and glasses. Subway hired Jarred to be a spokesman, and its first ad campaign featuring Jarred turned a lot of heads and made Jarred into an instant celebrity. Though Jarred is still closely associated with Subway, he has also become an active speaker and toured the country giving inspirational talks about weight loss.
The first Subway spot featuring Jarred and his Subway diet aired in January, 2000, and Jarred has appeared in over 50 Subway commercials since then, including an Olympics-themed commercial with Michael Phelps airing soon. Ironically enough, Jarred has apparently begun to put on weight recently, and will embark on a new weight loss campaign in 2010. (6) DOMINO The Nod In 1989, Domino’s Pizza introduced a new campaign called, “Avoid the Nod. ” This campaign featured a acclimation character in a red suit with rabbit-like ears called the “Nod”, a rather strange villain who crushed pizzas with a super-powered sort of pogo stick.
The commercials were animated by Will Vinson Studios, the same animation studio behind the California Raisins, ND though the campaign was really odd, it became enormously popular, spawning several more commercials, loads of merchandise, and two separate video games. Oddly, Domino’s tried two different times to recreate the success of the Nod with bizarre mascots. One of them was an evil criminal mastermind action figure riding a bike who seems to be forgotten by everyone but me, because I have yet to dig up any additional information on him.
The other was a stuffed monkey called “Bad Andy’, who always did things the easy way which, apparently, was not good enough for the folks at Domino’s 7) Pillsbury Doughy Pillsbury Doughy actually has a real name It’s Popping’ Fresh,. He was created by Leo Burnett in the sass, and that chubby little guy is pretty darn adorable. He’s soft, fluffy, ticklish, and has a cute little laugh. What’s more, he aligns with the Pillsbury product in a way that makes sense he’s essentially a ball of dough but he’s also a pristinely white baker, so it doesn’t weird people out that he’s messing around with their food.
The Pillsbury Doughy is non- offensive, non-obnoxious, relevant to the product, charming, and has withstood the test of time. (8) Gecko. Com – Auto insurance Gecko Cavemen: The Gecko Cavemen campaign was a really strange piece of humor that probably would have flopped had it not been for Youth and the Internet. The basic idea of the campaign was that one of Gecko’s tastiness, “So easy a caveman could do it,” was offensive to real cavemen living in today’s society. The campaign began with these witty, urbane, intelligent cavemen taking offense to Gecko’s depiction of cavemen as stupid savages.
But as the campaign went on (and it has over 20 commercials to date), it developed into something of a storyline, requiring viewers to be somewhat familiar with the concept. To make things even more confusing, BBC developed the concept into a short-lived sitcom. This was one of the most successful advertising campaign . (9)Mr.. Clean A brand of Proctor & Gamble is an household cleaner. The smiling muscular man with a ring in one ear, makes him resemble like genie spreading the magic in a whirl. 1 0)Cultivator, a global brand came with an appealing tag line ‘the coolest one’ supported with penguin mascot lost its appeal when it got sold to Whirlpool. It was the sad ending of the coolest penguin. (11)Linux Mascot – The name of the penguin mascot is “Tux the Penguin”. The story goes that father of Linux (Lines Dorval) mentioned his liking towards penguins, during the time when everyone was trying to invent a name for the operating system. Lines’ one statement stopped all speculations and the name was finalized. Interestingly in the Linux community the name of someone that uses Linux is called a Penguins. 12) Energize pink bunny mascot beating a band continuously in a commercial grabbed the interest of users In North America but could not excite the Indian market. This is one brand which has different mascots for Europe and Australia – the pink bunny has been replaced with the muscular human like eatery mascot, since these part of the globe were already running ads for the Durable pink rabbit. (13)MGM (studios) It seems, not only in these times, but earlier also, mascot has always been a symbolic figure that gives an identity to the brand.
Take the case of the roaring ‘Lion’ for American media company MGM (Metro Golden Mayer) that we have been seeing since ages. It is a well established mascot. (14)London 2012 Olympic Games Mascots Apparently they’re named Hemlock and Madeleine, and according to The Atlantic Cities, they are modeled after, “droplets of steel fallen from the stadium. The problem with these mascots aside from having confusing names and being completely unidentifiable as an object, animal, or person of any sort is that they don’t clearly identify with the city of London, or the Olympic Games in any way.