Branding Builds Character

by Sheree Clark

Spuds MacKenzie, Mr. Whipple, Joe Isuzu, the California Raisins … the list of images, people or creatures that have been used successfully in advertising is a long one. We love them (or love to hate them), we mimic them, but most of all, we believe them—or we wouldn’t buy their wares. Certain characters—the ones we remember from childhood—have a way of defining the era we grew up in, just as our remembrance of them reveals our age. While Baby Boomers will likely recall the Ajax White Knight, Speedy Alka-Seltzer and Mr. ZIP, their offspring grew up with ties to Frank Bartles and Ed Jaymes, McGruff the Crime Dog and Vince and Larry (the crash-test dummies).

Lots of emotions and memories are wrapped up around a large pool of product-hawking personas. But there is an elite tier of personage—the platinum members of the brand character crowd—that have outlived, outranked and outsold even the luggage-mauling American Tourister gorilla. These are the notable mascots, characters and icons that have, in some way, become the brand itself. Their personalities are memorable, effective and timeless, and numbering in their ranks are the likes of Aunt Jemima, the Pillsbury Doughboy, Elsie the Cow, the Morton Salt Girl and others.

WHAT MAKES THEM WORK?
While characters whose vocations revolve around pushing cigarettes or liquor are different animals from those endorsing breakfast cereal, some common denominators exist among the longest-lived brand personas. Although your next project may not be for a major player like the examples cited here, just thinking about your own experiences with brand mascots puts you in a better position to make good recommendations. So, let’s take a trip down Memory Lane and review what exact factors have made certain brand personalities last so long.

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