If you’ve been reading along in our mascot series, you will have already learned how your business can greatly benefit from having a company mascot, as well as the various ways you can use your mascot to increase brand awareness and boost your sales.

In Part 3 of this series, we’ll be looking at how you can create a memorable company mascot with a unique, on-brand persona to ensure ultimate success. We’ll delve into the research process you need to follow to determine who your mascot should be, as well as the various questions you must ask yourself to ensure you stay on-track.

If the process seems daunting, don’t fret. We’re giving you the exact roadmap you need to follow to make sure your company’s decision to create a mascot is the best one you’ve made yet.

Let’s get started!

1. Choose your type of mascot

The first step to creating a memorable mascot is to determine which type of mascot would make the most sense to your brand: a human, animal, or object character?

We’ll be delving into each of these from a design perspective in the next blog post in this series, but for now, let’s give you a rundown on each type so you have a better understanding of them.

Human Mascots

These are the most popular types of mascot and they can be based on a real person or made-up character.

Famous examples of mascots based on real people include:

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While mascots which are fictitious human characters include:

So, how do you determine if you should use a human mascot featuring a real or fictitious person? Ask yourself:

1.     Are you your business? For example, are you looking to create a mascot to represent you as a freelance writer, graphic designer, public speaker, or other solo venture?

2.     Is your business named after or inspired by a real person? For example, Captain Morgan, did not in fact create the now-famous brand of rum, but the real producers wanted to use his name and image as their brand.

3.     Was your business founded by someone else in the past but continues to this day? For example, Colonel Sanders founded KFC and despite no longer being alive, continues to serve as the company’s much-loved mascot.

If you answer ‘yes’ to any of these questions, then your brand isn’t just able to use a real person as their mascot, but may benefit from it immensely.

If you answered ‘no’ to the questions above, then a human mascot which is a fictitious character would suit your brand better.

Fictitious human mascot characters are perfect for:

• Highlighting a powerful feature of your product, especially when created as a superhero character. For example, if your company specializes in dental hygiene, it makes sense to have a superhero mascot who fights plaque and bad breath (tights, cape, and all!)
• Representing your brand’s target audience to resonate with them on a deeper level. For example, if you’re an eCommerce store selling fashionable women's clothing, your mascot might be a well-dressed female oozing in sophistication – the sort of character your target audience might like to see themselves as.

Animal mascots

The second-largest category of mascots are animal characters, as they are both versatile and fun. It’s also fairly easy to attribute your brand, product, or service to an animal, as we perceive certain animals as having particular qualities.

A dog, for example, is seen as loyal, energetic, and playful. If these are traits you wish to be likened to your business, then a mascot featuring this animal could be effective.

Examples of brands using animal mascots include:

Often, a brand might even choose an animal mascot that has a direct link with their business. For example, it isn’t uncommon for a dairy company to be represented by a cow mascot.

Ask yourself the following questions to brainstorm ideas for potential animals which may represent your business:

• What three words sum-up our products or services the most?
• What virtues do we want people to associate our business with?
• Who is our target audience and in what way(s) is our product or service aiming to help them?
• Is there already a particular animal associated with our products, services, or industry?
• Does our brand name remind people of a particular animal? Good examples are Compare the Market’s meerkat mascot and Geico’s gecko mascot.

Object mascots

Finally, a type of mascot you might consider for your business is an object-based mascot. Famous examples include:

Object mascots will have a direct link to the business and what they do, whether the mascot is simply a humanized version of the product (i.e. the M&M’s Spokescandies or Kool-Aid Man) or an object which can be associated with the product or service (i.e. Pillsbury Doughboy or Microsoft’s Clippy).

If you’re looking to develop an object mascot for your business, there are some simple questions you can ask yourself to help you generate ideas:

• Do you provide a service that can be associated with a specific object?
• Do you sell a product that’s easy to visualize and recognize?
  

2. Develop your mascot’s personality

Now that you know what type of mascot your business will have, it’s a lot easier to develop a personality for your character. This is because, as we explored in the previous section, certain humans, animals, or objects may already have personality traits assigned to them.

Think of your mascot as a walking and talking spokesperson for your brand, rather than a simple design that lacks life. As you learned in the previous blog post in this series, there are many ways for your mascot to interact with your audience, so you want to make them as memorable, engaging, and entertaining as possible.

Before we delve into what personality traits your own mascot will have, let’s look at some examples of famous brand mascots, along with their personas, to give you some ideas:

• Wendy, from Wendy’s: sassy, sarcastic, and daring
• The Energizer Bunny: energetic, active, and “never runs out of battery”
• Ronald McDonald: joyful, caring, and fun
• KFC’s Colonel Sanders: Cheerful, wise, like a father (or grandfather) figure
• Mr. Clean: domestic, hard-working, and reliable
• Kellogg’s Tony the Tiger: friendly, lovable, talented, passionate about helping children

Now, how can you determine the best persona for your own brand mascot? Firstly, you’ll need to decide if your mascot will perform the role of a teacher or student.

In other words:

• Will your mascot teach people about your brand, industry, products, and/or services?
• Or will your mascot be rather unknowledgeable about these topics and learn about them along with your audience?

Once you’ve decided what role your mascot will play, think about this in the context of what your brand represents and the words you want consumers to use in relation to your company.

Now, here comes the fun part! Think about your mascot as a walking, talking, living representative of your brand and write down words that come to mind when you think of them. Pay particular attention to the personality traits, behavior, and quirks you wish for them to have.

• Here are some ideas to get you started:Sweet
• Funny
• Sarcastic
• Sassy
• Caring
• Gentle
• Loving
• Hard working
• Excitable
• Energetic
• Bubbly
• Motherly or Fatherly
• Dopey
• Smart
• Wise

Once you’ve created your own list of desired personality traits, behavior, and quirks, ask yourself the following questions to build your mascot’s character profile even more:

Here are some additional questions to help you flesh-out a personality for your mascot:

• Are they male, female, or ‘genderless’?
• What is their age?
• What are their interests or hobbies?
• What are their quirks?
• What personality traits do they share with your target audience?
• Do they have family or friends? If so, what are they like?
• What are they most passionate about?
• What do they dislike the most?

If you’re considering acquiring a mascot to represent your company, we can help you out. Simply get in touch with our graphic design team to discuss your mascot ideas or any questions you’ve had along the way

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