Social Media, Starring Your Brand Mascot!

by on September 26, 2012 at 10:00 am in Blog, Content

By: Mallorie Rosenbluth

We’ve said it before, and many brands have proved it, that telling stories via social media is one of the keys to increasing engagement and building loyalty (and thus, driving purchase intent, over time). But what happens when you’re stumped about the stories to tell? We know content is king, especially in social, so adding your brand’s story to your content mix is a winning combination. If you’re not sure where to start, think about personification. Is there some piece of your brand that can take on a personality of its own? Even if you don’t have an official mascot, you can still give your brand a personality, a name and a face in social media. Here are three brands that have done this:

1) Mr. Clean – formally known only as the follicle-challenged face behind one of the world’s most popular line of cleaning products now has an honest-to-goodness personality. Mr. Clean got a makeover of sorts with a new voice being broadcast on Facebook. Whether he’s talking about one of his new products, or groaning about the end of summer (hey, his head probably gets really cold in the winter), Mr. Clean has gone from a static image on products to a character with interests that include horseshoe tossing and comedic improv. Proctor and Gamble has taken this already iconic character and brought it to life via social media. And with almost half a million “likes,” I’d say the approach is working.

2) Orangina – the 75 year old carbonated orange beverage with the bulb-shaped bottle is trying to attract a new audience. Their plan? Give their bottle a name, a story, and a voice in social media. Enter Bulby, a smartphone toting, music playing, museum visiting beverage that’s a bit hip and a bit hipster. Through a custom Facebook application, users can learn about Bulby’s story and win free gifts. The last piece of the puzzle is a pretty cool interactive site that lets you scroll interactively through the life and adventures of Bulby and the Orangina brand.

3) M&M s– for years, M&Ms have made the melt-in-your-mouth chocolate candies come to life in advertising. What started as a traditional Red and peanut Yellow has evolved over the years to a go-go boot wearing Green and a cameos from other colors. Now, M&Ms is making a big move with Ms. Brown the original chocolate M&Ms, and she’s making a splash in social media. Ms. Brown has taken over the most active voice of the Facebook content and the official Twitter account, plus her image graces the background of the M&Ms YouTube channel. Ms. Brown hosts live chats, hangs out with Ms. Green and is full of sass (check out the fan-gated message on Facebook). M&Ms has given Ms. Brown a true personality and perpetuates it across social media. Sweet!

Do you have a favorite brand mascot in social media? Let us know in the comments!

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  • http://twitter.com/prccAlisa Mengshi Chen

    Enlightening post! When it comes to building a brand, the best organizations are those that tie the product to a unique representative. In other words, they create “personality”, which could be reflected in all communications materials the organization produces. It’s always so important to make a point of difference, attracting like-minded customers and creating a cultural buzz around one’s brand with that personality.

    For me, McDonald’s mascot can be another typical case study. Ronald McDonald is a clown character used as the primary mascot of the McDonald’s all-American restaurant chain in 2003. Various forms of the name “Ronald McDonald” have been changed since then but McDonald’s never stopped giving trainings to performers to portray Ronald using identical mannerisms and costume, with the aim to contribute to the illusion that they are one character. With that personality, MacDonald’s not only provides good food and fast service, but also develops the family associations. That means kids can have fun via excitement of birthday parties, enjoy the relationship with Ronald McDonald and other characters and the feeling of special family times. As for adults, they are also able to enjoy the warmth via link to family events and experiences. The emotional advertising may be the most important reason why McDonald’s is so successful in building its brand.

  • David Thompson

    The challenge for companies that have iconic brand mascots from yesteryear is bringing them into the age of new technology without tarnishing the impression that has been successful over so many years. Pillsbury has done a good job of not getting enamored with 3D animation and making Pop-n Fresh break dance like the Aflac Duck. He giggles when he’s poked in the tummy – that’s pretty much it. His number one job is to simply be likable and Pillsbury is smart not to slice the brand pie into smaller, less effective pieces, by having the Doughboy do more.

    The Planter’s Peanut is trying to grow a personality, but his behavior is all over the place, so we don’t know really what to think about him. Someone needs to start with a tight personality profile, give him a consistent back story, and hit reset.

    The Michelin man was brought out of retirement and jumped head first into the 3D animation world. No voice – kind of weird. He works hard at telling tire quality/safety stories, but he doesn’t seem to come off as the guy with the uber magnetic personality – someone you could relate to, and want to hang around with.

    The World’s Most Interesting Man, for Dos Equis, is THAT guy, and they nailed it; but that is easier to do when starting with a clean slate. Michelin’s slate was occupied by an amorphous character dressed in yesteryear garb (do they still wrap tires in white paper?), so they had a more challenging task.

    Perhaps Michelin should have used their mascot to simply get attention, be likable, entertaining, and build relationships; then, after people are drawn into his world, us the opportunity to educate on benefits.

    One way to make a brand mascot more endearing and engaging is to give them a challenge, or personality flaw, that we can all relate to. Consider how Sonny the Cuckoo Bird goes cuckoo for CoaCoa Puffs. Simple, funny, memorable.

    The Aflac Duck was a huge success when his primary role was getting frustrated at getting people to recognize the company name. AFLAC! I’m not wild about his break dancing episodes because he is wandering away from the frustration that makes him empathetic, but Aflac does do a good job of retaining the entertainment value while educating the audience about more specific aspects of their offering.

    Geico clearly understands the value of being entertaining, but they break a lot of rules regarding consistency along the way. They keep changing their mascots/spokespersons, and trying new gags. Some work better than others. The Gecko is consistent. The Caveman was great, but I haven’t seen him lately. The stack of dollar bills was not good. I personally don’t care for the two guys playing guitars on the small stage following the explanation of a tortured metaphor. One of the critical elements of successful branding is consistency, and what Geico lacks in consistency, they make up for in entertainment value… and a huge budget.

    Read more about brand mascot management at Toons4biz.com