What is Company Mascot Branding?
A well-designed mascot can easily become one of your best sales and marketing tools.
According to CrazyEgg, a software company that helps small businesses increase conversions:
“What was once a tradition for sport competitions, a mascot can strengthen the sense of attachment or belonging to a product or service. They can also elicit an emotional response from the viewer, which in turn fosters positive feelings. A mascot is one avenue for getting your message imprinted into customer’s minds.”
Some of the popular company mascots that come to mind are Michelin man, Kool aid mascot, pillsbury doughboy, KFC colonel Sanders character and other brand mascots. Creating a mascot with facial expressions will create an emotional connection with your brand and the target audience would remember the brand on a personal level.
Here are some popular and well loved mascots and the fun ways their companies use them on their websites and in social media to create strong brand affinity.
Freddy at MailChimp
MailChimp customers (and prospective customers) are first greeted by Freddy on the homepage where Freddy’s eye direction is used as a directional cue to get new visitors to sign up.
Fans of Freddy (and there are a lot) can also learn more about him on the About page or through MailChimp’s Our Mascots History page.
Naturally Freddy makes frequent appearances on the MailChimp Facebook page:
In their videos:
And at local events – where he is a highly sought after “swag” item:
Roger at SEOMoz
Freddy is a really popular monkey. In fact his popularity may only be rivaled by the love SEO managers have for Roger at SEOmoz!
Roger is used on the SEOmoz homepage just like Freddy is used on the MailChimp homepage. Roger is a little less prominent than Freddy, but his eye gaze is also used as directional cue (he’s looking up at the call to action button for starting a free trial).
Roger is great at working the social media crowd and makes frequent appearances on Facebook and Twitter:
SEOmoz customers and followers always have fun pointing out when Roger has changes his wardrobe – like when he got dressed up for Halloween!
Roger is a fun mascot and SEOmoz uses him as one of their many sales and marketing weapons!
Hipmunk Chipmunk
The chimpbunk for Hipmunk is another popular guy. He greets visitors when they arrive on the main website:
And just like Roger at SEOmoz, he can often be found changing his outfits on Facebook:
The Hipmunk chipmunk works hard for his company and his customers really love him.
Snoo at Reddit
Snoo the alien at Reddit has been around for a while and he’s perhaps one of the most well-known mascots.
He greets you on the homepage of Reddit and sticks around while you hang out on the site:
He can also be found hanging out on Facebook (mascots love to be on Facebook) where his mug is used as the profile picture:
And he’s kind of a big deal on Twitter, too:
Redditers love Snoo and the many antics he gets up to. He’s a memorable part of their marketing campaigns and a community favorite.
Your Mascot
A mascot for your business could be just what you need to help develop deeper brand loyalty with your customers and could play an important part in your branding. I would recommend reading through our newbie’s guide to branding.
Check out our custom mascot design examples or select one of our affordable mascot design packages today and take your brand identity to the next level! Your customers will love you (more) for it.
