E-Book, Englisch, 320 Seiten
Brown / Ponsonby-McCabe Brand Mascots
Erscheinungsjahr 2014
ISBN: 978-1-134-05390-2
Verlag: CRC Press
Format: EPUB
Kopierschutz: Adobe DRM (»Systemvoraussetzungen)
And Other Marketing Animals
E-Book, Englisch, 320 Seiten
ISBN: 978-1-134-05390-2
Verlag: CRC Press
Format: EPUB
Kopierschutz: Adobe DRM (»Systemvoraussetzungen)
Tony the Tiger. The Pillsbury Doughboy. The Michelin Man. The Playboy bunny. The list of brand mascots, spokes-characters, totems and logos goes on and on and on.
Mascots are one of the most widespread modes of marketing communication and one of the longest established. Yet, despite their ubiquity and utility, brand mascots seem to be held in comparatively low esteem by the corporate cognoscenti. This collection, the first of its kind, raises brand mascots’ standing, both in an academic sense and from a managerial perspective.
Featuring case studies and empirical analyses from around the world – here Hello Kitty, there Aleksandr Orlov, beyond that Angry Birds – the book presents the latest thinking on beast-based brands, broadly defined. Entirely qualitative in content, it represents a readable, reliable resource for marketing academics, marketing managers, marketing students and the consumer research community. It should also prove of interest to scholars in adjacent fields, such as cultural studies, media studies, organisation studies, anthropology, sociology, ethology and zoology.
Autoren/Hrsg.
Fachgebiete
Weitere Infos & Material
1. Introduction - Mascot Mania: Monkeys, Meerkats, Martians and More (Stephen Brown) Part I: Man 2. Objectification and Anthropomorphism of the Self: Self as Brand, Self as Avatar (Russell Belk) 3. ‘What are You Looking at, Ya Hockey Puck?!’: Anthropomorphising Brand Relationships in the Toy Story Trilogy (Clinton D. Lanier, Jr., Aubrey R. Fowler III and C. Scott Rader) 4. Cross Domain Perceptual Realities and Mickey Mouse (Mark Avis) 5. Morris the Cat, or the Wolf-man on the Upper West Side: Animal Metaphors and Me (Morris B. Holbrook) Part II: Beast 6.Feline Fetish and Marketplace Animism (Yuko Minowa) 7. Boudoirs, Cowdillacs and Rotolactors: A Salutary Tale of Elsie the Brand Mascot (Lorna Stevens, Pauline Maclaran and Matthew Kearney) 8. Peppa Piggy in the Middle of Marketers and Mashup Makers: A Netnography of Absurd Animation on YouTube (Catherine Wilkinson and Anthony Patterson) 9. Anthropomorphic Brand Presenters: The Appeal of Frank the Sheep (Alan Pomering and Maria Frostling-Henningsson) Part III: Wild 10. Spokes-Characters: Assurance, Insurance and Advice for Marketers (Barbara J. Phillips) 11. Schmoozy Fox: Standing Out from the Pack (Olga Slavkina and Adriana Campelo) 12. Only you can Prevent Brand Burnout: Cultural Branding and the Case of Smokey Bear (Diane M. Martin, Connie Bullis, Jack Tillotson and John W. Schouten) 13. Shooting the Elephant: Mascots and Me (Modesty Forbids) Part IV: Cazy 14. Anthropogenic Anthropopathous Anthropomorphic USPTO Trademarks: The Plant People Phenomenon Model of Anthropomorphism (Beth Duffy) 15. He Who Must Not be Named: An Exploratory Study of Demonic Narratives in Contemporary Brands (Robin Croft) 16. The Smiling Faces of Capital and the Three Vortices of Hell (James Freund) 17. Coats of Arms: The Role of Animal Emblems in Contemporary Luxury and Fashion Industry (Marie-Cécile Cervellon) 18. Conclusion - The Cosmic Serpent Surrounds Us: Future Directions in Mascot Marketing (Sharon Ponsonby-McCabe)
Chapter 1: Mascot Mania: Monkeys, Meerkats, Martians and More
Stephen Brown
Mascots are marvellous. They pervade the psyche of consumer society. Their names trip off the tongue: Tony the Tiger, Charlie the Tuna, Churchill the Bulldog, Bertie Bassett, Betty Crocker, Toucan Sam, the Tetley Tea Folk, the unforgettable Chiquita Banana. Using the PG Tips chimps, Aleksandr Orlov and Smash Martians as mini case studies, this introductory chapter considers the nature and purpose of brand mascots. It ponders mascot terminologies, ruminates on mascot taxonomies and considers the influence of technological change on mascots’ health, welfare and development.
Chapter 2: Objectification and Anthropomorphism of the Self: Self as Brand, Self as Avatar
Russell Belk
Two ways of regarding self in a digital world are as branded object and anthropomorphized subject. The Internet allows us to manage our online "brand" identities through our social media portfolio. At the same time, we anthropomorphize self when we create, use, and embrace avatars in online games and virtual worlds. We create our avatars and our avatars create us. Like the commodification of relations in self-branding, avatar selves often reduce human relations to prejudicial stereotypes from the real world. I analyze both of these processes.
Chapter 3: ‘What Are You Looking at, Ya Hockey Puck?!’: Anthropomorphizing Brand Relationships in the Toy Story Trilogy
Clinton D. Lanier, Jr., Aubrey R. Fowler III and C. Scott Rader
Most of the research on anthropomorphism views this process as a means by which humans make the world more like themselves. It is possible, though, that it serves another important purpose. This chapter maintains that anthropomorphism allows humans to make themselves more like the world. Through a detailed analysis of the hugely popular Toy Story movies, we explore how anthropomorphism allows humans to examine the relationships among the objects of consumer culture, primarily brands and consumer products, and how these extra-human relationships deeply influence the symbolism, meaning, and agency of these objects. In the process, these anthropomorphized relationships also affect both how we understand ourselves and our human activities.
Chapter 4: Cross Domain Perceptual Realities and Mickey Mouse
Mark Avis
The purpose of this chapter is to examine the underlying psychological mechanisms for human engagement with brand mascots and characters such as Mickey Mouse. The idea of cross domain perceptual realities (CDPRs) is introduced, whereby it is argued that a range of psychological phenomena share a commonality in that they involve thinking of entity x in terms of entity y. The chapter reviews the literature discussing CDPRs, and proposes that the theories of cognitive fluidity and conceptual blending offer an explanation of CDPRs. It concludes that the most plausible explanation for characters like Mickey Mouse is as a "spandrel", meaning that engagement with these characters is the result of other evolved capabilities.
Chapter 5: Morris the Cat or the Wolf-man on the Upper West Side: Animal Metaphors and Me
Morris B. Holbrook
Contributors to Brand Mascots have dealt with the ways in which spokesanimals and mascots create symbolic meanings. Such enquiries tend to focus on how human qualities are attributed to various members of the animal kingdom. However, it also makes sense to explore ways in which animal characteristics are attributed to humans. This latter preoccupation has informed much of my own work, often through the use of animal metaphors – either to describe my own characteristics or to articulate my views concerning the perspectives adopted by others. In the present essay, I revisit some of these examples of metaphoric animals in my writing on marketing in general and in my own efforts at self-branding in particular.
Chapter 6: Feline Fetish and Marketplace Animism
Yuko Minowa
The way nonhuman is anthropomorphised partly reflects culture. This chapter discusses cultural dimension of anthropomorphism in Japan and the factors that affect consumption and marketing of anthropomorphised fictitious characters. It does so through a case study of animism, anthropomorphism and the cult feline phenomenon Hello Kitty. The results indicate that anthropomorphised characters appear in animistic agencies that provide healing and empowerment effects, and that there are certain similarities of the cult feline phenomenon to new spirituality movements. Based on the findings, propositions for anima-based character differentiation are suggested for an alternative brand mascot management.
Chapter 7: Boudoirs, Cowdillacs and Rotolactors: A Salutory Tale of Elsie the Brand Mascot
Lorna Stevens, Pauline Maclaran and Matthew Kearney
Seventy-five years ago, a spokescow for Borden dairy products made her sparkling marketing debut. Elsie’s smiling features appeared on billboards, bottle tops, print ads, magazine covers and many more besides. Before long, she became the biggest bovine on the radio, a barnyard star whose personal appearances attracted legions of full-fat fans and cud-chewing consumers. Although Elsie is much loved to this day, her sellebrity came at a cost. Cows are contested creatures, symbols of humanity’s increasing disconnect from nature, as well as metaphorical representations of feminine "inferiority", the udder Other. This chapter comprises an eco-feminist deconstruction of the Elsie saga, which uncovers the monstrosities behind the spokescreature’s beaming smile.
Chapter 8: Peppa Piggy in the Middle of Marketers and Mashup Makers: A Netnography of Absurd Animation on YouTube
Catherine Wilkinson and Anthony Patterson
Cartoons for kids are confections of colour, candy floss and talking animals. And although they often have an undercurrent of humorous violence they are, for the most part, saccharin and cute, comforting and familiar. Lately, however, mash-up makers on YouTube have reimagined the protagonists in these cartoons in scenarios that are less than desirable. This chapter considers the plight of one such popular children’s cartoon character, Peppa Pig. We speculate on two questions (1) what motivates those who create these mash-ups? (2) and how damaging to the original brand are the production of these often scandalous, salacious and frequently silly mash-ups?
Chapter 9: Anthropomorphic Brand Presenters: The Appeal of Frank the Sheep
Alan Pomering and Maria Frostling-Henningsson
The purpose of this chapter is to shed light on the appeal of anthropomorphism to marketers. We do this via the analysis of a single critical case study. Namely, Swedish telecommunications company, Tele2’s use of an anthropomorphised brand presenter, a black sheep called Frank. Frank achieves the communication effects of brand awareness and image as a brand presenter through symbolic meaning transfer of the culturally-construed black sheep archetype, but also as a result of humour and classical drama in the advertising style.
Chapter 10: Spokes-Characters: Assurance, Insurance, and Advice for Marketers
Barbara J. Phillips
Marketers sometimes forget how easily and naturally consumers make things come alive through their imaginations. Making products and brands come alive can be considered part of our culture’s magic system, which relies on fairy tales, fables, and myths to elicit magical imagery and spur magical thinking. This chapter reminds us that marketing magic might be able to explain more than marketing science. The value of marketing magic is illustrated using the two most popular spokes-characters of the past thirty years: the Aflac duck and the Geico gecko.
Chapter 11: Schmoozy Fox: Standing Out from the Pack
Olga Slavkina and Adriana Campelo
This chapter refutes the erroneous notion that practitioners and academics are separated by an unbridgable gulf. It combines the auto-emic reflections of a living breathing mascot, the CEO of Schmoozy Fox, a funky branding consultancy based in Belgium, and the auto-etic insights of a Brazilian academic, who interprets her co-author’s achievements from a scholarly perspective while putting her own spin on the Schmoozy Fox phenomenon. Lessons for anthropomorphic marketing management are identified and a model of brand mascot development is presented.
Chapter 12: Only You can Prevent Brand Burnout: Cultural Branding and the Case of Smokey Bear
Diane M. Martin, Connie Bullis, Jack Tillotson and John W. Schouten
According to The 101 Most Influential People Who Never Lived, Smokey Bear is more famous than Uncle Sam, better known than Batman and Barbie both, and almost as iconic as the incomparable Mickey Mouse. This chapter analyses the success of Smokey Bear, arguably the most significant and successful anthropomorphic character in US advertising history. Our thesis: Smokey Bear’s success lies in his resilience as a cultural icon with the ability to repeatedly reinvent himself as American culture changed around him. Furthermore, his anthropomorphism contributed significantly to that cultural resilience.
Chapter 13: Shooting the Elephant:Mascots and Me
Modesty Forbids
Almost everyone has encountered brand mascots in some shape or form. These encounters can be physical (as at Disney theme parks, where Mickey and Minnie strut their stuff), or representational (in the form of packaging and advertising and Facebook profiles and so forth). Very few of us, however, have created a mascot. This chapter tells the story of one such mascot maker, who turned her lifelong elephant obsession into a successful marketing career. After trying and failing to become an eminent zoologist, Modesty Forbids tried her hand at selling soap powder in Tanzania, where she created a brand mascot that stomped on the competition. She also learned valuable life lessons along the way.
Chapter 14: Anthropogenic Anthropopathous Anthropomorphic USPTO Trademarks: The Plant People Phenomenon Model of Anthropomorphism
Beth Duffy
Within the realm of 5,956,583 registered trademarks of the United States Patent and Trademark Office, dwell 38,333 anthropomorphic logos including 2,190 fruits, vegetables, flowers, trees, and other botané with humanlike silhouettes, faces, limbs, costumes, expressive activities and emotional personalities. Phenomenological analysis of USPTO trademarks reveals Plant People’s physical and symbolic composition, conventions, traits, themes and effectiveness. This chapter posits a Plant People Phenomenon Model of Anthropomorphism and notes significant managerial and theoretical implications including trademarks as heuristic anchor and social-political mass medium.
Chapter 15: He Who Must Not be Named: An Exploratory Study of Demonic Narratives in Contemporary Brands
Robin Croft
In this chapter I examine the paradoxical way in which some corporate brands have inadvertently been associated with Satanism, making strenuous efforts to distance themselves from the rumours, while others deliberately position their offerings with diabolical associations. While it is clear from the oral tradition that much of the Satanic narrative corpus is shared by evangelical Christians, the core themes and motifs are widely distributed, across cultures, centuries and national boundaries. Modern-day consumers are able to make sense of diabolical narratives, even without any scriptural underpinnings, as much of the satanic myth is still being played out in popular culture.
Chapter 16: The Smiling Faces of Capital and the 3 Vortices of Hell
James Freund
This chapter introduces the concept of ‘exvertising’ to describe how smiling faces of brand mascots turn our attention away from aspects of their motives, methods, and effects that corporations wish to conceal. Unorthodox in form, the chapter describes 3 interlinked vortices – the cultural vortex (or branding mill) inhabited by brand mascots; the financial vortex of ever-increasing capital and debt that acts as a dysfunctional global operating system; and the consequent thermal vortex of climate change and environmental destruction. Through a case study of the Coca-Cola Company’s Arctic HomeTM mission, brand mascots are conceptualised as managed distractions – sheep’s clothing worn by financial wolves.
Chapter 17: Coats of Arms: The Role of Animal Emblems in Contemporary Luxury and Fashion Industry
Marie-Cécile Cervellon
In this chapter, the use of semiotics unravels the meaning encoded by luxury and fashion brands displaying an animal in their logo. The starting point of the analysis is Pastoureau’s research on heraldic emblems in European middle ages. Several animal emblems in the luxury and fashion industry refer to the heraldic tradition, indexing nobility. Other animal emblems are based on their symbolic meaning, for instance power, strength and fear. In-depth interviews are conducted with two groups of customers, a group of luxury clients and clients of counterfeits, in order to understand the process of meaning transfer from the brand logo to the client.
Chapter 18: The Cosmic Serpent Surrounds Us: Future Directions in Mascot Marketing
Sharon Ponsonby-McCabe
In keeping with convention, this concluding chapter reflectively consolidates the previous work presented in the volume and typically considers future directions for Mascot Marketing research. However, through a Cosmic Serpent conceit and reflexive commentary, it promotes the idea that our destiny is possibly more predictable than we might think.
