Brand Mascots: The Caskets of Brand Values?

Brand Mascots: The Caskets of Brand Values?

“A well-crafted mascot can give your business a tangible and recognizable personality, increasing exposure, memorability and loyalty…if they (mascots) capture the hearts of the public, can become an iconic part of your company heritage.”

– The Energy Cell

Have mascots ever attracted your attention? Do they not resonate with you? Have they influenced your buying decisions? While critics argue that mascots are simple mnemonical exercises, a few marketing gurus bat for their consumer connect power. Over the years, Maharaja, Air India’smascot, effectively communicated to its passengers that they could look forward to a royal treatment onboard. For around 50 years, Amul and its brand, Amul Butter, have enjoyed significant brand recall on account of its mascot a polka dot-dressed girl. The mascot’s popularity emanated from its humorous oneliner takes on current issues that caught the attention of the citizens of the country. Since the creation of its mascot, Gattu, in 1954, Asian Paints was inextricably linked with it. Gattu, a boy in shorts, that had endowed upon the brand a down-to-earth image was however phased out in 2002 as the company wanted for itself a more premium image. During early 1980s, a devil was introduced as a mascot for the Onida brand of television, along with the tagline ‘neighbour’s envy, owner’s pride’. According to observers, the mascot and the tagline were an important reason for the rise in sales that ensued as they effectively communicated the message that owning an Onida television would be envied by one’s neighbors. However, in 2009 the mascot and the tagline were phased out as they were no longer in sync with the changing times................

Meandering Through Mascots

Mascots are creatures or figures that pitch brands to the target audience. At a fundamental level, mascots help a company’s target customers to better identify, remember and comprehend it and its products. According to some observers, mascots aid in imparting a certain human appeal to companies which creates an emotional connect between them and their consumers. They aid smooth interactions and hence transactions between companies and consumers by instilling confidence in the consumers that they, and hence their owners, are too sweet and innocent to be mistrusted.............

Air India’s ‘Maharaja’ Touch

Created in 1946, Air India’s mascot, the bowing Maharaja, sported handlebar moustache and wore a striped turban, red tunic and pointed shoes (Exhibit II). The person behind the Maharaja becoming the mascot of Air India was the late Bobby Kooka (Kooka), the Commercial Director of Air India or Air India International as the company was then known in 1946. The person who had created the Maharaja was the ad agency J Walter Thompson’s artist by name Umesh Rao..............

The Freshness of the Amul Girl

When Dr. Verghese Kurien wanted the advertising agency, DaCunha Communications, to create a mascot which everyone could relate to on account of its simplicity and was easy to remember, Sylvester daCunha (daCunha), the ad-agency’s founder-Chairman and the cartoonist Eustace Fernandes (Fernandes) set out to create a mascot that every Indian housewife would like. In1966, the Amul girl was created and also made its debut– daCunha and Fernandes believed that the girl would be a perfect contrast to the sophisticated Polson Lady which represented the then market leader, Polson’s butter........................

Delivering on the Mandate of Creating a Mass Appeal and then Retiring

Since its debut in 1954, the Asian Paints’s mascot, Gattu, played an important role in garnering considerable consumer attention for the company. The mascot was created by the famous cartoonist, RK Laxman. The boy in shorts with a mischievous smile, unkempt hair and a paint brush in hand (with paint dripping from it) helped build a mass-market appeal for the brand. The company, by using the mascot, wanted to increase its market share and strengthen its distribution network.............

End to Onida’s Popular Mascot: The Devil is in the Details

In the early 1980’s Mirc Electronics Ltd.’s Onida brand of television had a down-market image. The television products made by its competitors such as BPL and Videocon had a superior brand image to those of Onida. Between 1984 and 1985, the company came out with a cute-looking devil, sporting horns and long nails, as its mascot, accompanied by the tagline ‘Neighbour’s envy, owner’s pride’ (Exhibit VI). The mascot and the tagline were created by the advertising agency,..........

Vodafone India’s Zoozoo’s: A Method to the Madness?

Initially, launched to coincide with the IPL265 edition in 2009, the Zoozoos or the eggshell-shaped characters that featured in Vodafone India’s66 television commercials highlighting the company’s value-added services quickly became popular with the Indian public (Exhibit VII) . The characters were given shape by the then Executive Creative Director (South Asia) of the advertising agency, Ogilvy and Mather, Rajiv Rao. Experts were amused by the fact that the characters of the Zoozoos are enacted by thin women actors, wearing white costumes and belonging to local Mumbai theatres.................

McDonald’s Clown Means Serious Business

Since his debut in 1963, McDonald’s mascot in the jumpsuit, the smiling clown, Ronald McDonald (Ronald), was a key factor that attracted kids to the McDonald’s restaurants. He was also used to entertain children at birthday parties held in the company’s restaurants.............

Kellogg’s Frosted Flakes’ Tiger Actually Agile

Tony the Tiger (Tony) was introduced as the mascot for Kellogg’s frosted flakes brand, Frosties, in 1952. Tony was initially among the four animated critters designed to promote the product but soon overshadowed Katy the Kangaroo, Newt the Gnu and Elmo the Elephant to morph into the single mascot for the cereal.............

Can Mascots Reap Benefits Forever?

Experts wondered whether companies such as Asian Paints and Mirc Electronics were hasty in phasing out their mascots. They applauded companies such as McDonald’s and Kellogg Company that nurtured their mascots to the extent that these mascots contributed to their companies’ business for over half a century? Could Asian Paints and Mirc Electronics have emulated McDonald’s and Kellogg Company and adopted their mascots to the changing times?...........

Assignment Questions

I. What is the importance, if any, of mascots in Brand Building, Marketing and Consumer Connect? What purposes do mascots serve in a company’s DNA? Do mascots actually help in brand positioning? And, what should companies do to effectively use mascots on social media such as Facebook and Twitter?

II. In light of the brands discussed in the case study, why is it that only a few brands build and nurture their mascots? What kind of companies/companies from industries should build their brands around mascots? Also, how can companies sustain their mascots? Furthermore, should mascots be structured around a parent brand or should they be nurtured for sub-brands?

III. ............

Exhibits

Exhibit I: The Fourth Estate Singing Paeans for Child Mascots

Exhibit II: Air India's Maharaja

Exhibit III: Air India’s Inflight Magazine Featuring the Maharaja

Exhibit IV: Some of the Ads Featuring the Amul Girl

Exhibit V: Asian Paints's Mascot/Logos Over a Period of Time

Exhibit VI: Onida's Devil

Exhibit VII: Vodafone Ads Featuring Zoozoos

Exhibit VIII: McDonald's Ronald McDonald

Exhibit IX: Tony the Tiger

Brand Mascots: The Caskets of Brand Values?

Prerequisite Conceptual Understanding

This case study presupposes an understanding of the concept of brand positioning. This would enable an effective discussion leading to practical solutions. The participants were asked to read the following chapter from 14th edition of Marketing Management textbook to help them better connect the concepts:

• • Philip Kotler, et al., “Chapter 9: “Crafting the Brand Positioning”, Marketing Management, 14^th Edition, Pearson Education, Inc., 2013 – To understand the concepts of points-of-parity and points-of-difference and emotional branding
• • Jennifer L. Aaker, “Dimensions of Brand Personality”, Journal of Marketing Research, Volume XXXIV, August 1997, pages 347-356 – To understand how five dimensions would influence a brand personality

Synopsis

This case study enables a discussion on how mascots help in brand positioning and what goes into sustaining good mascots. Mascots such as Amul Butter, Air India and McDonald’s have succeeded in creating immediate recall for their respective brands, playing an important role in the popularity of these brands.

Mascots primarily create an emotional bonding between brands and their consumers. They also help in conveying the key attributes or the value proposition of brands. Some of the Indian brands that continue to derive considerable mileage from their mascots are Amul Butter and Air India. Amul Butter managed to maintain and increase the popularity of its mascot, the girl, by frequently coming up with ads featuring it and that put the spotlight on issues that captured the imagination of the nation. Air India’s mascot effectively conveyed the message that travellers could look forward to good hospitality on board. Some companies such as Asian Paints and Mirc Electronics, the owner of the Onida brand of television, also created mascots that made their brands immensely popular. However, these companies, over a period of time, phased out these mascots as they were of the opinion that, due to the changing times, they no longer effectively conveyed what their brands stood for. The case analyses how some of the popular Indian mascots have effectively conveyed their respective brands’ positioning. It also focuses on some global companies such as McDonald’s and Kellogg Company that have created mascots which contributed considerably to their businesses. McDonald’s also ensured that its mascot’s look was in tune with the modern times. What is it that companies such as McDonald’s and Kellogg Company have accomplished vis-a-vis their mascots which could have been emulated by companies such as Asian Paints and Mirc Electronics?

Expected Learning Outcomes

An effective classroom analysis and discussion of this case study should result in the following learning outcomes:

• • What is the strategic importance of mascots? How do they, if at all, aid in building a brand through effective brand positioning?
• • The industries/companies from industries and product categories where mascots can be used
• • The factors that should be considered before deciding to adopt mascots as a part of brand architecture

Positioning/Case Setting

This case study can be used in either of the following courses/modules:

• • Introductory Marketing Management Course – Brand Positioning Module (as outlined under PCU) – To understand how mascots can be used as one of the brand architecture components to position the brand
• • Brand Management Course

Assignment Questions

• I. What is the importance, if any, of mascots in Brand Building, Marketing and Consumer Connect? What purposes do mascots serve in a company’s DNA? Do mascots actually help in brand positioning? And, what should companies do to effectively use mascots on social media such as Facebook and Twitter?
• II. In light of the brands discussed in the case study, why is it that only a few brands build and nurture their mascots? What kind of companies/companies from industries should build their brands around mascots? Also, how can companies sustain their mascots? Furthermore, should mascots be structured around a parent brand or should they be nurtured for sub-brands?
• III. ........................

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Exhibits

Exhibit (TN)-I: Board Plan

Exhibit (TN)-II: Case Discussion Summary

Exhibit (TN)-III: MASCOTS

Exhibit (TN)-IV: Mascots’ Resonance