How my practical links....

what I'm doing in my practical that proves my essay ....

going with familiar (too abstract doesn't work)

anthropomorphising the fruit - creating a personality - name ...

cartoon mascots are more recognised than human ones....

using cute more - the kindeschema - big eyes

re branding a brand campaign using the mascots - proving they're relevant - appealing to children

how it can persuade children to eat healthier - research on them choosing packaging with cartoons on

following case study of Kevin the carrot - simplistic yet so popular 

more relevant as can be incorporated into social media now - new platform that can be more personal and already makes brands more personal 

need to mention how children are the most impressionable - which is why they're saturated in the confenciotnary market - but mention how as the target market is adults now too - if done well then aimed at all 

relevant as able to persuade and to grab attention - which can help with an issue or campaign 

make like a sleeve for the fruit - diff type of stickers 

do like a tote bag with characters as encouraging to re use ho

experimentation with the packaging etc 

Phone Call with Toasties

My client relationship with Toasties was made in September when The owner Coral saw my Etsy page and like my way of illustration. From there she contacted me and we started to talk about creating a new menu for the cafe. With back and forth communication Coral asked me wether she could phone me so she could clarify the timeline and what was wanted from this brief. 

The main point that was clarified with this phone call was that the project should be started in January to be finished by the 1st of feb for when the new menu is released. Coral stated that she will send the new details of the menu in the new year - with the new additions of salt and pepper items for example. She asked questions like wether I wanted a deposit and to clarify payment and I just stated that I would like the payment in full, so communicating this point was vital for the later stages. I also clarified that I will send over an invoice next year in due course before starting of the project. With talking about her love for my style of illustrations she also asked me to wether I do logos and wether I'm interested in doing some for her other companies.

Research - brand personalities

THE EFFECT OF BRAND PERSONALITY ON BRAND RELATIONSHIP, ATTITUDE AND PURCHASE INTENTION WITH A FOCUS ON BRAND COMMUNITY
- academy of marketing studies journal

Humanizing a brand allows the brand to play a more central role in customers’
lives and allows them to project their selves to create the desirable relationships they seek (Aaker 1997; Wallendorf and Arnould 1988). Moreover, people feel comfort when they sense that the brand “fits” with their self-concept (Aaker 1999; Swaminathan, Page, and Gu ̈rhan-Canli 2007). In order to identify the potential of brand personality, it is meaningful to understand how the underlying mechanisms influence the consumer-brand relationship and the brand attitude as well as which brand personality traits affect consumers more positively. Therefore, in this study, we investigate the influences of brand personality traits on consumer-brand relationships and brand attitudes.

On the other hand, a brand personality can be formulated by direct and indirect brand contact experienced by the consumer who encounters the brands (Plummer 1985; Shank and Langmeyer 1994). Thus, a brand personality can be created from both product- related factors (such as packaging, price and physical attributes) and factors not related to the product (such as the consumer’s experience, symbols, marketing activities, and word of mouth) (McCracken 1989; Batra, Lehmann and Singh 1993; Aaker 1997).

The definition of brand personality definition also contains demographic feature such as age, gender, and class as well as the personality features of a human (Levy 1959). Like personality characteristics, these demographic characteristics are deduced directly from the employees, the brand’s user image and indirectly from other brand associations. After understanding the necessity for further empirical study, Aaker (1997) created a measurement scale for five types of brand personality traits.

Aaker (1997) conducted research to demonstrate that brands can be differentially associated with personality traits in consumers’ minds. In this research, brand personality was identified using five dimensions of brand personality; 1) sincerity, 2) excitement, 3) competence, 4) sophistication and 5) ruggedness. Sincerity is represented by the attributes of down-to-earth, real, and honest; excitement contains the attributes of daring, exciting, imaginative and contemporary; competence is typified by the attributes of intelligent, reliable, secure and confident; sophistication is typified by the attributes of glamorous, upper class, good looking and charming; and ruggedness is represented by the attributes of tough, outdoorsy, masculine and western. Brand personality can be associated with personality traits through learning and experience, and this association allows the consumer to express themselves or symbolize their benefits through brand consumption (Aaker 1997). These five brand personality dimensions appear to explain the way American consumers perceive brands.

The consumer may perceive a brand personality differently depending on their culture. Here, we use brand personality dimensions as perceived by Koreans. Yang and Cho (2002) developed new scales of brand personality that were appropriate for Korea. The new scales of brand personality were composed of 38 questions, resulting in five factors of brand personality. These brand personality dimensions are 1) sincerity, 2) excitement, 3) sophistication, 4) ruggedness, and 5) cute. The new dimension of brand personality that is different from those of Aaker (1997) is ‘cute’, which is represented by attributes such as primness, prettiness, cuteness and coyness. In this research, we use the scales of brand personality by Yang and Cho (2002) in the Korean brand situation.

Essay Draft Feedback

• in intro - why answering the question 
• don't need to reference the dictionary - just re word 
• Write more about brand personalities ... 
• combine the Guthrie 1993 quotes - ibid?? if just them two quotes
• the Kelloggs social media mention - need a contemporary or newer example etc and explain
• reference always after the quote not before 
• Say Crayola afterwards ....
• Bernardini - say suggested instead - sub culture is growing - evidence could support it 
• say who they are etc at beginning  - then reference 
• need more of my own writing 
• MIFFY
• more examples - history
• been around - globalisation - way things have changed ...
• history of brand mascots - how relevant they were  A CHAPTER 
• how it has changed - how it was - CASE STUDIES - 50/60'S
• Japanese adapted elements of western culture - like miffy
• how the Japanese use it in a different way - used everywhere in Japan
• saturated - street in Tokyo as a reference pic - talk about it
• their approach is different 
• make sure when I say saturated it isn't refering to water 
• semiotics is good

Research - cute aesthetics and the empathic effect of kawaii in Japanese commercials

Yuru-kyara and mascot characters: cute aesthetics and the empathic effect of kawaii in Japanese commercials
Faculty of Humanities - University of Copenhagen MA Cognition and Communication
Simone Wong Yum Mei
Cognition and Audio-visual Communication

Cute studies in western academia have emerged in more recent years as a response to the blooming its popularity in digital media. Scholars have described cuteness as a growing rise of public presence that is becoming a ‘dominant aesthetic of the digital culture and consumer culture of the current century’ (Dale, 2012). With its rising popularity in new media and internet culture, there has been an emerging interest exploring cute media in recent years within fields of cultural studies, evolutionary economics, media anthropology and film studies (Lobato and Meese, 2014).

Decaur (2012) discussed the idea that kawaii culture ‘idolises childishness because childhood is viewed as a time of freedom, and this individual freedom is seen as unattainable for adults in Japanese society.

Animation and illustration aesthetics of Japan, compared to Western style animation films, comics and cartoon, has had a longer and much richer history of in cooperating cuteness to their work. The development of manga (visual comic arts) has an historical effect on cute aesthetics in Japan. Manga could be dated back to early Edo period (1603-1867) where mass production of illustrated books and prints were developed with woodblock techniques; commercial success eventually led to ubiquity of manga in Sho-wa period (1926-1989) and until now as part of everyday life for Japanese people. Cheok (2012) described the effect of cuteness depicted in manga on the

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Japanese generation as ‘...conveying human emotions in their basic form, swooning to visible excitement, unabashed embarrassment to hopping madness. Personal characteristics that are cute, which the generations associate themselves with, developing their individual selves to potray some, if not all, of these cute qualities in varying degree of appropriateness...’ (Cheok, 2012). Kawaii emerged as pop culture in the 1970’s and became an integral part of Japanese culture, as Cheok described ‘Japan’s susceptibility towards childish tastes and the shelter and safety those tastes offer’.

Affective reaction towards cute stimuli. Dale (2012) proposed that the ‘aww’ factor of cute objects is to ‘participate in a performtive act that expresses affinitiy’. Joel Gn presented three intersecting domains of cuteness – affect, language and design; affect being what the object communicates, language being the ‘shared vocabulary’ of this communication, which depends on how much the object conform to a set of characteristics; in which the design of the cute object allows ‘rearrangement’ of the shared vocabulary, enabling the ‘production of new iterations of cuteness’. An effective depiction of cuteness hereby require conformity of certain rules or requirements for it to be perceived as cute, but may also benefit from new ways to experience the cute affect; this may encourages designers to expand such aesthetic (Dale, 2012).
Cute aesthetics – Colour and shape. Ohkura (2011) proposed that existence of ‘kawaii characters’ with their highly sensitive techniques contributed to the large export surpluses of Japanese games, cartoons and animations (Ohkura referred to the term ‘digital content’). Defining kawaii as ‘an emotional value of Japanese origin’, and conveying ‘positive meanings such as cute, lovable and small’, Ohkura conducted a systematic analysis of kawaii artificial products to clarify the method to construct kawaii products and explore attributes such as shapes, colours, textures and materials. In general, when asked to pick the most kawaii combination of colour and shape, rounded shapes and warmer colours were preferred by Japanese participants Ohkura (2008). Curved shapes like spheres are generally evaluated in experients to be cuter than straight-lined shapes. In addition, they found brightness and saturation of a colour to be effective in inducing feelings of kawaii.
Effects and functions of cute aesthetics in media. Nittono (2016) discussed the positive effects of viewing kawaii. Studies that look at how infant faces capture attention at early visual processing (Brosch et al., 2007, as cited in Nittono, 2016); on the other hand, viewing duration of cute pictures have been found to be longer than less cute ones; this finding is consistent across studies and extend beyond human babies stimulus and also on other cute objects. Viewing pictures of human and animal infants have been found to elicit positive feelings and increase facial muscle activity in relation to smiling (Nittono and Tanaka, 2010, as cited in Nittono, 2016). Nittono et al. (2012) showed that looking at pictures of baby animals can increase carefulness and

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narrow focus of attention; as cuteness is associated with pro-social approach motivations, this can also affect task performance subsequently (Nittono, 2016).
Cheok (2010) discussed the functions of kawaii and cute aesthetics in interactive media. For example, virtual characters often moves with a friendly demeanour and are presented with a youthful, exciting personality, which are selected elements by designers to establish a ‘micro-relationship an impart positive feelings’ to the audience. Cheok suggested that by using cute aesthetics in virtual characters, designers may motivate and inform users or viewers to act a certain way. By engaging viewers in a way that reduces negative feelings and turn unappealing information into more acceptable ones, cuteness in media ‘brings the user (or viewer) to a desired frame or mind and attitude, then delivers content that might not otherwise be received’ (Cheok, 2010). Therefore when considering the use of cute aesthetics in commercials, it is not only important to consider the narrative style in explaining the products or services advertised, but also the emotional states that may be elicited by cute aesthetics that help the audience engage easier in what ever product or services or ideas they are being introduced. In the current case, cute aesthetics used in mascot characters may not only elicit general positive emotions; due to its human-like features, viewers may be prompted with approach motivation, encouraged to interact and know more about them. This is therefore useful when used in commercials, where such positive emotions may be converted into purchasing decisions.

Portfolios

• Master doc ind
• element that is worthwhile - archiving of project 
• consider photos - taking photography serious 
• every project has to be to a high standard
• commission.studio
• if a final outcome is weak, go back, fix or extend it 
• your portfolio is only as good as your weakest project 
• give context
• be honest about level of involvement in project
• choice of type - personal branding
• less is more - images tell the story 
• include contact details - phone no, email...
• sort your master doc into categories 
• try to show something new/different in each project 
• establish a consistent tone of voice
• back up as you go
• work with photography students 
• documentation of work is even more important than the work itself 
• export at less than 4mb
• pick 4/5 projects to clients
• a week follow up
• SNASK - based in Stockholm, Sweden - internship scheme 

Which projects to get rid of

Only high standard ones 

need to focus on documentation and photography in process
re print things - higher standard or re design in a day
client briefs or intitiated, freelance - shows more drive, all rounder
mix of outcomes and sectors
only show a couple of main ones
a range of print, scanned, digital etc - playful
find a photographer with a conceptual thinking 

Sticker testing

In the process of creating the fruit sticker, the design was constantly tested due to having to be legible and working at this small scale. With the first design prototype, the size of the sticker was experimented with, by using the popular smaller conventions of a fruit sticker. It was found that the sticker suited being a bit bigger due to being able to see the mascot more clearly and effectively. It was also found that having the Morrison's logo isn't needed due to not being able to read the slogan anyway. 

Following on from the first prototype to the final sticker design, the type has been tested for legibility. It was evident that the outline type didn't work as it wasn't clear or legible with the sizing of the design. Therefore, the type was changed to be just black instead, which was a harsher contrast between the design, yet stood out more clearly, allowing the design to feature the character's names.

Research - children being impressionable

According to Food Navigator, researchers at the University of Bari Adlo Moro in Italy found that 5- and 6-year-olds choose healthy foods like kiwis, carrots and tomatoes over their usual name-brand snacks if the healthy items had a sticker featuring their favorite cartoon character. Even kids who had never tried or straight-up disliked the healthier options were still swayed by the sticker. “The findings show that characters deeply influenced children’s choices in favor of healthy food,”

Foodandwine.com

While it's common for parents to encourage their children to eat healthily, a new study has revealed that primary school-aged children will reach for healthy food on their own accord, if it comes in attractive packaging.

The children were asked to choose between three identical yoghurt, fruit and cereal snacks - but the only thing that differed was the packaging designs. The first packaging design was plain, the second displayed additional health information, and the third packaging design displayed cartoon characters and an attractive product name.

To determine the participants' motivation to choose a particular snack, the researchers used a device that measured hand grip strength. This allowed them to discover the strength with which the children squeezed their hand in order to receive their desired muesli snack.

It was found that the participants' motivation was greatest for the snack with the cartoon character packaging design. The plain packaging and the packaging detailing health information were less favoured by the children.

NetDoctor.co.uk

Younger children are especially vulnerable to the marketing of unhealthy food and beverage products that use brand mascots or media characters because they have di culty distinguishing between advertising messages and factual information.17 Children develop emotional bonds with brand mascots and media characters as if they were their personal friends. ese relationships are based on the attractiveness of the brand mascots and media characters, and they can in uence children’s food choices and diet.

Childrenworldwidearetargetedbycompaniesthatuse mascots and media characters to promote branded food and beverage products to maximize sales and market share25 even though many of these products are high in added sugars, salt, and fat that contribute to poor diet quality and unhealthy weight gain.24

Mascotsandmediacharactersaretheintellectualpropertyof companies and are used in commercial licensing, franchising, and merchandising activities to build customer brand loyalty (e.g., brand awareness, trust, association, and preference) to purchase products.9,11-15,26 Figure 1 shows examples of selected brand mascots and media characters used to market food and beverage products to children.

• 
  
• Media characters can be used to promote healthy products, but they appear to be more powerful when used to market unhealthy foods and beverages.
• A systematic review23 of 11 experimental scienti c studies that examined the in uence of media characters on children’s diet- related cognitive, behavioral, and health outcomes found that:

Media characters can be used as a promising strategy to increase children’s preference, choice, and intake of fruits and vegetables compared to not using characters for branding.
Even an unfamiliar cartoon character may increase children’s appetite and preference for healthy foods compared to not using a cartoon character at all.

Familiar media characters are a more powerful in uence on children’s food preferences, choices, and intake for cookies, candy, or chocolate compared to their use to promote fruits or vegetables.

Healthyeatingresearch.org

Fruit stickers research

Research - Thinking, fast and slow

Thinking, Fast and Slow

by 

Daniel Kahneman

2011

Penguin UK

 Semiotics can help:

• Improve brand messaging;
• Communicate desired meanings;
• Influence consumers’ subconscious decision-making.

This post walks you through the basics of semiotics, its relevance to marketing, and how to apply it to your brand and messaging—with tons of examples throughout.

Semiotics is the study of signs and symbols. It explains meaning through our social and cultural background, revealing how we interpret messages instinctively.

Our subconscious interpretations rely on emotions, not information. Psychologist Daniel Kahneman calls it the preponderance of System 1 (emotional) over System 2 (rational) in the human brain:

Your purchases furthermore, are driven by subconscious perceptions and emotions. Semiotics, the interpretation of signs and symbols, helps decipher those subconscious elements.

Our subconscious interpretations rely on emotions, not information. Psychologist Daniel Kahneman calls it the preponderance of System 1 (emotional) over System 2 (rational) in the human brain:

Although we might think it’s System 2 that helps us make rational decisions, it’s not so. Emotional System 1 calls the shots here: it’s the source of our beliefs, and it deliberates all rational choices of System 2.

Your feelings and impressions are influenced by the world around you [. . .] and especially by all the non-verbal symbols your brain interprets, packages and creates meaning from.

Photography Meeting

Today I attended the photography meet up to potentially be able to gain a client and more contacts with the chance to network. I spoke to many photographers and appreciated there work, however the branding which they required didn't match up with my skill sets and style of design so therefore no potential briefs were made from this meet up, however it was good to meet people from different courses in the uni with a chance to perhaps work with them if a suitable brief arrises. I did meet one girl named Fiona Garret that works with sustainable materials and theme, to which she was thinking of branding herself with the use of nature illustrations so therefore we exchanged social links so perhaps this could be an opportunity later on.

Morrisons campaign - seen in store

When visiting my local Morrisons, the campaign material was seen to highlight how it's still relevant and important to Morrison's. However, it was also evident how the campaign does need a re brand, with the display not being engaging, which you wouldn't necessarily notice when shopping. Also, with their being no fruit in the basket, it is important to re brand to re highlight how the campaign is of an important issue, which may cause staff to focus on this again. 

Morrisons plastic free bid

• Morrison's becomes the FIRST British supermarket to offer plastic-free fruit and veg in a bid to cut down on waste.
• Morrisons is to become the first British supermarket to roll-out plastic free fruit and veg areas in many of its stores.
• Customers will be able to choose from up to 127 varieties of fruit and veg - and buy them loose or put them in recyclable paper bags.
• This is the latest announcement from Morrison's – which made changes that will remove 9,000 tonnes of unnecessary or problematic plastic each year. 
• This figure includes 174m plastic produce bags removed from fruit and veg aisles, and 600 tonnes of unrecyclable polystyrene removed from branded food and drink products. 
• A further 1,300 tonnes of plastic will be removed as a result of the launch of paper carrier bags, this month.

Morrisons free fruit campaign

Morrisons free fruit campaign

• Morrisons is launching a new scheme which will see free fruit given away for free to children in stores
• The Free Fruit for Kids scheme will offer young people one of their five a day and encourage healthier snacking as well as prevent unsold fruit being thrown away.
• The supermarket is the first to offer this in every store and expects to give away 40,000 pieces of fruit which will be made available every day.
•  Clare Linstead, fruit buyer at Morrisons said: "Sometimes our stores are left with unsold fruit and customers would prefer us to find a use for it. 
• "So we’re putting out fruit - that’s at risk of not being sold - for children to help themselves. 
• "It’s healthy for them, reduces food waste in our stores and will help make shopping easier for parents." 
• Children will be able to help themselves to the fruit which will be located on wooden stands at the front of Morrisons greengrocery area, at the entrance to each store.
• It is hoped that the scheme will encourage children to taste and enjoy different types fruit with 39 varieties set to be available including apples, pears, oranges and bananas.

Hawraf design studio - google drive comments

1. masters service agreement

a lot of agreements that I wouldn't have even thought about such as consequential damages 

2. Every project ever charged

the big amounts - not undermining yourself, the way they have categorised the different jobs

from the original pricing - changes as in reality its dependant 

the reality - different length 

at the end - money starts getting good but they want to go elsewhere 

3. Lost business 

a good insight into why someone didn't choose you for a project and how you can turn a negative into a positive

can use to incorporate 

press tips

press release - making it as easy to write something good about you

short cut for writers

Discovery questionnaire 

builds a relationship - effective as informal

 saves wasting time with someone who doesn't have the budget/power etc as finding out who they are 

value judgement of wether they are time wasters or not

asking all questions about the client - setting up a sense of interest and care for the client - feel valued

can used when collaborating - ask right questions to get to the right solution

culture - negotiables

can refer to a document that everyone agrees on - minimises clashes

opportunity/reflection journal

how they've reflected on their masters on how to build a business

should critically reflect like this on blogger  - works for me or doesn't 

master deck

add little and often - the process of a project - with notes

clarity the deck - gone for a none aesthetic approach 

having one main master and then editing based on client 

auto draw 

rules

like a manifesto but more easily understandable language

a reminder - personal motivation

shared values....

designing collaboration.com

Reflections

running a design studio is bloody hard and a lot of components that go into it

discovery questionnaire ....

Coco pops monkey - ken kagami inspired

With the feedback for the practical stating how I should consider what makes a successful mascot, I decided to deconstruct an existing mascot, with choosing the CocoPops monkey. This process allowed me to experiment and be playful with the visuals. It highlighted how by changing some elements the mascot would become less recognisable and if some were kept it would still make the mascot distinguishable. This method wasn't progressed due to not knowing what to do with it or how this evidently relates to my essay in a sense. The process was good as it made me question and experiment, however I felt lost with the process and where it would lead me.

Pratical notes

in your essay mention what makes good character design and then do that in the essay - mentioning branding
experimental with the characters
give a business that doesn't have one a mascot
confectionary market is a good one - already
don't bring one back was theres already too much in there
do it for a fruit one - making it more appealing to children - something healthy - an example in essay
like green giant who appeal to both
do it for a brand that will appeal healthy food
look at the animation process - Pixar and how they do character design - put it on my blog with images etc for research????

pre packaged fruit or something healthy .... that is games at adults but to aim to children???

your aim is to convey why they're good - why they're relevant and useful nowadays - the markets of children and kidults

research - relationship maintenance on social media

Relationship Maintenance on Social Media: An Examination of Personified Brand Characters’ Twitter Accounts
Dodoo & Wu, 2015

It is believed that the interactive nature of social media makes them even better than websites and blogs to promote straightforward dialogues between brands and consumers.

As a consequence of the rapid rise of social media, marketers consider how brand pages or even Twitter accounts can be leveraged to generate consumer engagement as well as enhance consumer-brand relationships (De Vries & Carlson, 2014).

Brand personification as a social media marketing strategy has grown in popularity (Kent (2014). 

Research has revealed that fictional brand characters generate more social media buzz than celebrities. For instance, Tony the Tiger, a brand mascot for Frosted Flakes since the 1950s gets more brand mentions than celebrities such as Ashton Kutcher, Justin Timberlake, Alicia Keys and Sophia Vergara all together (Glenn, 2013). Furthermore, research indicates that brand mascots inspire consumers to engage in conversation and distribute content (Kent, 2014). The increasing transfer of brand characters onto social media and the evolution of brands’ social media marketing strategies beg the question of how brand personified characters on social media are used to manage consumer-brand relationship.

One of the main theories that relationship marketing is rooted in is the Social Exchange Theory (Clark, 1984; Clark & Mills, 1979, 1993). According to this theory, there are two basic types of relationships: exchange and communal relationship. The former emphasizes the consideration of costs and benefits (Clark & Mills, 1979). The calculation of self-interest is the main motivation to build and keep this type of relationship (Hess, Story, & Danes, 2011). Once the expected interests cannot be provided, such a relationship will terminate. The latter resembles one’s personal relationships with his/her close friends or family members (Hess et al., 2011). These relationships are ordinarily meaningful and long lasting (Duck, 1991). Conventional transactional marketing concentrates on exchange relationships, while relationship marketing calls for more emphasis on communal relationships between brands and consumers.
Given the purpose of this study, the relevance of viewing how brands use personified brand Twitter accounts manage relationship with their consumers under the umbrella of relationship marketing is evident. Brands desire to maintain an enduring consumer brand relationship, which requires a consideration of relationship maintenance strategies.

Additionally, social media have transformed the communication, collaboration and connectivity opportunities for individuals (Labreque, 2014).

The social media environment, furthermore, facilitates a constant two-way communication between brands and consumers, which is an important element in the maintenance and enhancement of relationships (Clark& Melancon, 2013).

In sum, the role of social media in consumer-brand relationship is predominantly evident in terms of encouraging consumers to engage with brands. On the one hand, consumers become active rather than passive participants in a mutually beneficial relationship. On the other hand, brands may take advantage of the potential of social media in their retention of existing consumers by preserving ongoing relationships with them (Malthouse et al., 2013). To further cement the rationale in the discourse of the role of social media in consumer-brand relationship, Labrecque (2014) proposed the use of parasocial interaction (PSI) theory as a perspective for the construction of effective social media strategies. The change in consumer-brand relationship stemming from the interactive nature of social media platforms is also reflected in the prospect that consumers become active contributors to the construction of brand stories (Gensler, Völckner, Thompkins, & Wiertz, 2013). It’s therefore important to add to the paucity of literature that exists by investigating the role of social media in consumer-brand relationship.

As social media have altered brands’ communication and marketing strategies, some brands have taken to having their brand characters or mascots feature on their social media pages such as Twitter and Facebook (Karlis, 2014). Twitter accounts exist for a number of brand characters that have been successfully received by consumers. Consumers have strong associations with brands characters, mascots as well as spokespersons which suggest that such brand personification should not be ignored on social channels (van Geldern, 2012). For example, Geico’s brand character, the Gecko has a verified Twitter account. The Geico Gecko’s twitter account presents various contents to its followers, ranging from its “personal opinions” to information about its daily activities.

The results reveal that the strategy of positivity is dominantly adopted by most personified brand Twitter accounts analyzed in this study. This implies that those brand characters make really strong attempts to maintain consumer-brand relationship by making messages pleasant. The provision of links, images and videos with text tweets increases the richness of information, making it more possible for consumers to feel pleasure in the conversations. The use of exclamation marks and positive emoticons presents the passion of the brand characters, indicating that they enjoy the conversations and expect consumers to have the same experiences. Such a result is parallel with the findings of previous research on corporate blogs (Cho & Huh, 2010).

For example, a large number of M&M’s tweets are about their upcoming new product-the Crispy M&M’s. The socio-emotional is the second most-adopted message type. Since consumers tend to have personal relationships with personified brand characters (Kim et al., 2014), it is reasonable for these Twitter accounts to use socio-emotional messages in the conversations to show their support for consumers. In fact, it is believed that in order to better manage consumer-brand relationship, social-emotional tweets need to be used more often. If so, consumers will be more engaged in the conservations with the characters and trust their relationships with the brands. 

pratical ideas

deconstruct a mascot - testing the point which we don't recognise the mascot no more - ken kagami style

re introducing the Cadbury land mascots - using the theories of cute and kawaii influence - to appeal to children - adding to the branding of Cadbury's now

The imitations of brands for supermarket own - do a imitation of one and replace the real one with it??? something interesting in that

seeing mascots in real life - pictures

Due to the nature of the project being around the topic of branding mascots, I looked around my everyday shop to spot these branding mascots to gather the visuals, the product and how common they are. With seeing the Kevin the Campaign in store it was clear that this was a mascot that can be transferrable Into all aspects in store, showing how popular the mascot was in previous years.