The use of mascots and characters in advertising has ALWAYS worked on me – with memories of Snap, Crackle and Pop at the bottom of my childhood Rice Krispies bowl, nodding and bopping along with Flat Eric a few years after that, and the Jolly Green Giant influencing my side dishes even now. As a child, those characters brought me closer to the brands they represented, and they still do.
Whether it’s launching a new product, bringing a service to life, or taking a brand to a new creative level, you’ll need an idea that has distinction, one with impact, recognition, and long-lasting memorability. Something that lodges stubbornly in your audience’s brain and stays there forever and ever.
Often, the breadth of audience can present a challenge – what works for one may not sit right for another, and so simplicity and ease of understanding are essential. A simple idea helps fluidity and flexibility across all demographics.
This can all be leveraged by a fluid device: a consistent, recognisable presence that is utilised at every touchpoint. From online bots to full campaign rollout this element is repeated and tailored to every brand communication. It’s something the audience immediately recognises and identifies with.
Over the years, there have been many great examples of famous fluent devices that have proven incredibly successful – from CompareTheMarket’s Meerkats to the Duracell Bunny – both still going (and going..and going) strong. They have given their respective brands a consistent through-line for all their campaigns that resonates with their audiences and communicates the essence of the brand itself.
Fluent devices offer solutions for many advertising campaigns. They create an identity your audience can relate to. The resulting, emotion-led advertising is proven to be more effective too, especially for longer-term campaigns. But this tactic isn’t used half as much as it should be.
Thanks to extensive research from System1, using the IPA Effectiveness case study database, we know it works. From their research, campaigns that use fluent devices are 37% more likely to increase market share, 30% more likely to increase profit and 27% more likely to increase customer gains. Even though mascots and characters are some of the least used brand assets in advertising today – they can actually be 12x more likely to drive high attention. Surely that can’t be ignored.
In our digitally dominant world, fluent devices make digital assets more effective. System1 found that fluent device campaigns increase digital ad viewability and dwell time by as much as 50%, whilst also increasing brand recall by 25%. Research aside, a fluent device allows us to directly address challenges – in whatever shape or form they come. It allows the breadth of a brand’s offering to be represented by a cohesive brand voice and personality, making it easily understood across all audiences.
So, let’s give our audience what they deserve (and want!) – distinctive, memorable, and engaging brand characters that they can empathise with. Bringing to life what this looks like, feels like, sounds like… what it represents… that’s where the real fun starts, and something that the team at Ardmore have recently developed for one of our newest Clients – Go Succeed.
