The comeback of mascots
Mascots in branding today offer unique storytelling opportunities, adding personality and emotion to brand narratives. They bring together companies and consumers, infusing brands with warmth and making them relatable and memorable.
What is a mascot?
A brand mascot is a character that reinforces and embodies a brand’s narrative. This character, whether a person, animal, or object, is a living representation of the brand’s story.
Mascots today
Today, mascots are no longer just for industries targeting children or families. They are proving valuable for brands across sectors, offering a consistent visual asset that can create dynamic social media engagement.
Think about Dice’s new rebrand, that came with The Fan, a sticks for legs figure born out of the Dice diamond logo. Audiences can relate to a character much quicker than anything else. In turn, a character can easily bring a lot of emotion and excitement to life, as we’ve seen from Dice’s Weirdly Easy ads.
A well-integrated mascot becomes a dynamic part of a brand’s visual identity, acting as a means to express rather than a slab-on icon. This approach elevates the mascot from a static symbol to a versatile narrative tool.
Keeping mascots relevant
Research from creative agency Moving Picture Company, found out that mascots can increase profits and emotional connection to customers by up to 41%. However, a problem a lot of brands face, is keeping their mascots relevant.
JKR rebranded Mr. P, the Pringles famous mascot to offer him the chance to be more expressive. Showing a series of faces and emotions, the newer, more minimal Mr. P is more relevant to today’s audience.
Nostalgia and kawaii
The thing is, mascots are having a come back, alongside two major trends: nostalgia and kawaii.
Nostalgia in design can be evoked b incorporating visual elements that communicate a sense of the past, helping designers forge an emotional bond with their audience.
The word kawaii is a Japanese concept that translates closest to the word “cute” in English. It’s often embodied by cute characters and vibrant colours. Kawaii is more of a feeling than an adjective, a word that defies complete definition but has seen multiple applications.
These two trends combined turned the mascot into a tool for the contemporary designer. Today, we are facing a lot of brands that are embracing this curve and lead with their mascots, to help create a physical face for their customers.
Making it cute, not cheesy
When dealing with characters, it’s easy to tip the scales and turn something cute into something cheesy. Designing a memorable mascot is not easy. Look back at those you remember fondly and try to ask yourself why you fell in love with them in the first place.
The other side of the coin
There has been backlash at times and cases where mascots have been ridiculed or used to highlight a company’s false claims. But that’s a turn against the company, rather than the mascot. This happens when the mascot’s personality and the company’s actions are misaligned.
The use of mascots today is as popular as ever. When done right, it can inject meaning, playfulness and craft a lasting impression for the brand. Part of the mascots’ charm is the variety they come in, from animals to characters and objects, mascots can be anything and get designed in any style.
Successful mascots are characters that bring a smile to our faces. They stand for something. They have a personality of their own. And they are unapologetically themselves, without trying too hard.
If you are not too tired of mascots…
🎉 Mascot: Mascots in Contemporary Design is a greta book that offers various successful and contemporary brand mascot examples.
👀 I loved this Creating a brand mascot with AI and the examples shown.
🙈 And if you are really into the mood for a bit of fun, take this quiz to see how many mascots you can identify!
