Crocs is the latest to join the parade of new mascots with Niles, a 1.8-meter crocodile
After hatching from an egg in a social media video, Crocs’ new mascot, Niles, will soon appear in mockumentary-style content as an endearingly clumsy addition to the footwear company’s offices.
The character, Crocs’ first full-fledged advertising mascot, is a kind of emotional support animal that embodies the laid-back vibe associated with the brand’s shoes, according to Chief Marketing Officer Carly Gomez.
ΣΧΕΤΙΚΑ ΑΡΘΡΑ
“He’s the embodiment of everything the brand stands for,” Gomez told the Wall Street Journal.
Executives hope that Niles, the brainchild of Crocs Inc.’s Chief Brand Officer, Terence Riley, will boost sales and the brand’s cultural reputation. The company plans to extend his silent, child-friendly optimism to international markets such as India and China, Gomez said.
Niles is an extension of Crocs’ marketing strategy, not a replacement for its collaborations with celebrities and creators.
@crocs everyone, welcome our newest employee @Niles ♬ original sound – Crocs
But he’s also just one of a new wave of non-human brand mascots. In recent months, the insurance company Liberty Mutual introduced Liberty Biberty for the first time, a yellow plush ball with big eyes. Stanley Black & Decker introduced Stan, a “real” talking toolbox. The IT company Infosys introduced Leon, a practical yeti. And Apple transformed the two-color Finder logo into a character that fans have dubbed “Little Finder Guy.”
The trend doesn’t stop at consumer goods. “Drippy,” a walking water droplet, is the new face of the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation’s efforts to highlight the importance of clean drinking water.
The evolution of mascots, from the Michelin Man to Niles
Ever since the Michelin Man made his commercial debut in 1898, character mascots have become so familiar that the advertising industry has created its own “Walk of Fame” to honor them.
Mascots can create invaluable emotional connections for consumers, Joseph Turo, a distinguished professor of media and marketing at the Annenberg School for Communication at the University of Pennsylvania.
“When you’re walking down the aisles and you see a product and think fondly of a cute character… it sticks with you,” said Turo, who still remembers watching the Colgate toothpaste commercials featuring Mighty Mouse as a child.
Research shows that mascots can be more effective over time than celebrities, who often distract from the very products they’re promoting, according to Vanessa Chin, senior vice president of marketing at System1, a company that predicts ad performance.
However, some marketing professionals have moved away from mascots in favor of actors, musicians, and other human stars who can stand out more quickly, she said. “You really have to give a mascot more than three years of consistent use to see the kind of results you want to see,” said Chin.
On the other hand, long-standing mascots seem to retain their value even after a period of dormancy. General Mills’ decision to bring the Pillsbury Doughboy back into the spotlight last fall was followed by a 3.3% increase in units sold during the critical baking season from September through December, including a 12.6% increase in cookie sales, according to a spokesperson.
Mascots haven’t disappeared—they’re multiplying
Liberty Mutual’s LiMu Emu has appeared in traditional TV commercials more than 300,000 times from January 2024 through June of this year, making it the brand’s most visible character on TV, according to data from the ad-tracking firm iSpot.
Quirky characters are particularly important for companies in industries such as insurance that don’t sell any tangible products, Jenna Lebel, CMO for Liberty Mutual’s U.S. retail markets, told the WSJ.
The company developed its newest mascot based on the phrase “Liberty Biberty,” from a Liberty Mutual ad featuring a hapless actor who mispronounced his lines—a phrase that took on a life of its own, especially among fans of the WNBA’s New York Liberty women’s basketball team.
“Brands can spend years and millions of dollars trying to build this kind of cultural equity from scratch, and we already have it,” said Lebel.
Liberty Mutual collaborated with the Creature Shop of the late Jim Henson, creator of the Muppets, reviewing six characters and over 160 advertising concepts before narrowing down the final selection, she said.
Infosys created its own yeti—partly generated by artificial intelligence—to give AI consulting services a more friendly face, according to Sumit Virmani, executive vice president and chief marketing officer. The ads feature Leon guiding executives through mountains and rivers, which also serve as metaphors for the risks posed by AI.
The Unpredictable Human Representatives
Brands must develop distinct personalities to reach consumers suffering from information overload, said Virmani. “Emotions play a disproportionately large role in decision-making. A simple, soulless logo, font, or typeface is only effective up to a point,” he said.
While media fragmentation makes it harder to create modern mascots than it was in the era of television, it offers CMOs a critical advantage, said Turo, a professor at the University of Pennsylvania.
“Think of the number of advertisers who have partnered with professional athletes or actors and then faced a predictable disaster,” said Turow. Mascots, on the other hand, “become a way to try to control that reputation.”
Source: in.gr
