Lets talk about company mascots or characters. It seems it is imperative for food products, specifically snacks, to align themselves with a character of some sort. Most of us would recognize nearly all cereal brands by the character on the box: Toucan Sam, Tony Tiger, Capn' Cruch, etc. It also made its way into other snack foods: Vlasic Pickles, Planters Mr. Peanut, Cheetos Chester Cheetah and Keebler Elves. Now this obviously makes sense for cereal and snacks because of the primary demographic, kids. But could it work for say…Bank of America?

What does a mascot or character intend to do? Differentiate and associate. Same as a logo mark. The goal being to associate an image with your product. A symbol or lettermark is great, but what if it could walk, talk or wear a top hat and monocle! One practice we have in branding is to try and give each brand a personality or a voice. That way when it comes to design we can ask ourselves, "Would this particular brand say this, act like this or dress like this?"

One small industrial cleaning supplies company called New Pig Corporation is an example of how this works. Named after the idea of a "pig sty" they have built all their marketing around the name. If customers call the toll-free number (1-800-HOT-HOGS) and find themselves on hold, they'll hear "Kiss a Pig" by Ray Stevens. If they visit company headquarters at One Pork Ave., they'll notice the pig flowerpot and pig phone. If they pick up a company "pigalog," they can read columns called "Dear Flabby" or "Ask Einswein." With a logo that features a pig in a janitor's uniform that's plastered on socks, hats, T-shirts and key-chains, New Pig never forgets its name…and neither do its customers. Started in 1985 they now do sales in excess of $92 million. "Over the years, we've questioned ourselves," says New Pig PR Director Carl DeCaspers. "Were we doing too much with the pig name and theme? So we backed off. But customers begged us to bring it back. They said, ‘We love the promos. We remember the phone number.' So we try to find a balance. Without good customer service and a good product, it would be a joke. But it's a differentiator."

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