The Hindu Business Line : Are mascots disappearing?

The Energizer bunny still refuses to stop. It goes on and on and on. The MGM lion still roars, albeit in a truncated way. Ronald still occupies precious space under the golden arches in McDonald outlets. Col. Sanders still peddles Kentucky fried chicken, the Merril Lynch bull still symbolises the stock market scene, and I could go on about the Kool-Aid Man, Chester Cheetah and Mr. Peanut. Even the Eveready cat still exists, though like all good cats it never did too much work, and continues to offer its stylised feline grace to the popular battery, making the close observer see it and beg the question, ever ready for what?

The concept behind mascots is very clear. Marketers create something memorable, see that it is in tune with the architecture and values of the brand, give it a prominent place in all communication, and then they have the satisfaction of having played corporate God. They have breathed life into something inanimate and it acquires powers of its own. It can be put to work in many creative ways and brand recall increases with the increased usage of the mascot. A very positive cycle is put into motion and everybody wins.

Smokey the bear was able to communicate the need and the ways to prevent forest fires in a way that caught the imagination of the public. The Jolly Green Giant (Green Giant is a company which markets vegetables) and his resounding laughter carved out a special niche in the hearts of the audience.

Many years have passed and brands have evolved in ways that were probably not envisaged in the past. Disney, the classic candidate to be entered in any "built to last" case study, is not just a cartoon company. It even makes spooky movies with Manoj Night Shyamalan. Yet the outline of the large ears of the best-loved rodent in the world brings back a flood of positive memories and images for the brand. It's something you grew up with. And it's something very reassuring.

What about the Indian scenario?

My early memories of mascots are of the Murphy baby with the limpid eyes and the dimpled cheek. Then there was HMV and the all-time classic image of man's best friend looking into a giant megaphone that curved out of a record player. Then Murphy the brand died and the memory of the little cherub has died with it. HMV is now Saregama and the dog would look a little out of place with a name like that.

Yet Air India and the Maharaja still rule the skies, at least in the mascot department. The Maharaja has done great things for the brand. He has graced several memorable campaigns in the days of Bobby Kooka and HTA. Then the Government decided it could run an airline. And did that, and a little more. It ran the airline to the ground. And with ageing aircraft aged staff, shrinking routes and a rather poor performance record, even the Maharaja could not lift the sagging image of the airline. Of course, many intelligent people thought that the fault lay in the mascot rather than the way the airline was being run. Landor, the tony international consultant, was pulled in and it banished the Maharaja into oblivion or wherever all the other Maharajas have gone. But before the Air India Maharaja could get into Parliament (because that's where all the other Maharajas have gone) someone realised the folly and brought him back into service.

Onida had a wonderful Devil who sneered his way into everyone's life. When the client was convinced he needed a new agency, he was also convinced that the Devil had no more place in the communication strategy. This would rank as the greatest disservice an agency did to a client. And a prime example of change for the sake of change. Many years and sluggish sales later, the client decided he needed yet another change of agency. And guess what the third agency recommended? The return of the Devil. Better late than never!

The paint industry seems to be bidding goodbye to mascots en masse. First it was Asian Paints which retired Gattu, the mischevious little mascot created by R. K. Laxman. There again the client opted to hire a Singapore-based wing of its Indian agency to create a new corporate identity. The result was the demise of Gattu who had played a remarkable role in building the equity of the company's communication efforts. Now, Goodlass Nerolac has contributed to the disappearing tiger population of the country and retired Goody the lovable tiger who was its trusted mascot for many years.

So who do we have left? Thank God the Amul moppets are still around, spreading their own brand of joy, along with the butter they have come to symbolise! And one hopes that with Air India ready to take to the skies with a brand new fleet, Alia, which has been commissioned as its brand consultant, will not take another pot shot at the darling Maharaja.

I marvel at how Indian companies have been trying to be seen as `contemporary' and `global' and have been retiring their mascots. Yet international companies don't seem to see that as a problem at all. Well, if one had to see the brighter side of things, who knows, one could have some new agency which will bring back Gattu as well. I'll cheer to that!

(Ramesh Narayan is a communications consultant.)

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