Mascot Advertising

If you are somehow related to Marketing you know what I am really talking about here. For those who don’t, I will introduce you the concept shortly. Have you ever seen some fictional characters with any brands? I am sure you must have? Think more and you will get more than one brands who have associated some characters with their brands. In my mind, I have 7-up’s Fido dido, Ding Dong’s Cat, Vodafone’s Puppy, Energizer’s Bunny, Safeguard’s Commander Safeguard, Kellogg’s Tiger and Nintendo’s Super Mario. Well, there are many I can name it but we have to talk about many other things besides just naming the mascots. First of all, why companies invest in making such mascots? If you are thinking all these mascots are developed just to target the children, you are definitely wrong because there is more than that. When you are managing a brand, you have to build stories around your brand and there are many ways. You can endorse a Hi-fi celebrity, you can do some Pr activity or you can create a mascot. Mascot is just a fictional character, representing the brand persona which teaches the consumers about what the product is and why consumers should buy it. It has some characteristics of the target market of course. Mascot is not just creating a creative character but also defining some characteristics which are related to the brand somehow. What's more, mascot advertising is a cost-effective way to help consumers remember your brand. A company could pay Shahrukh Khan or David Beckham millions of dollars to represent it, but if you don't have the budget then it obviously can't. Mascot enhances the possibility of brand recall and people or your target market can have a strong association with your mascot. In the long run, a mascot can help in creating strong brand equity which is a strong asset for any company. Mascots are very common in sports and if you haven’t noticed so far check out the different logos of different leagues, sports teams or even Tournaments who brand themselves. For example check out Olympics for which Mascots are used every time. Do you remember the Cricket World Cup 1996 in which a red ball was used as a character? However in my opinion the best mascot is the Michelin Man used by the Michelin Tires used since 1905 and it has the strongest recall I think till now.

Checklist before Creating a Mascot

1. Strong Association with brand

2. Must represent the brand Persona

3. Must be creative enough and well executed

4. Should have a professional name

5. Should provide fictitious credentials for the character

But before you create a mascot for your brand, you have to keep this in mind that you need to build stories around your mascot and your brand because that is what branding is all about. It has the ability that people should talk about your brand.

Creative BUT not Practical!!!!

This is a must read article for all of you. I believe there are two kinds of people in this world; one of them have really crazy ideas and they have the passion to do it. Others belong to the critics category, who are there just to criticize those people. Here, I am not talking about those people who criticize the ideas just for the sake of criticism but those who are experienced, practical and have the ability to think on long term basis.

But, I am here to support those crazy people in this world and this article is dedicated to those people who have the most craziest ideas but due to some SO CALLED CRTICS, they are unable to continue with what they are thinking.  I will start with quoting some examples from the real world. Blast from the Past, look at Wright Brothers, who used to repair bicycles. People used to laugh at them when they shared their idea that they are going to make something so that a human can fly. Look at different businesses that have opened new horizons for new businesses.  I will come to the idiotic ideas later but now I want to talk about those ideas right now which people used to think would be feasible enough to make profits but they turned out to be cash cow ventures for them. You know how facebook started, the concept behind facebook? If you belong to some western country and you are a student then you must know. But if you don’t then facebook was a message board in American universities which is used to socialize with new friends and find the old one. Mark Zuckerberg , the man behind facebook took the same idea and used it as for online social networking. Look at Digg.com, the most simplest and most innovative idea just to share news, websites and links but the person has become millionaire. Now coming to some idiotic ideas which have made the persons millionaire. Every year, millions of children around the world send letters to Santa and hope for a response. Byron Reese, the man behind this idea realized the potential in this market. He launched "Santa Mail," a service that allows kids to send letters to the North Pole. Parents enclose a small fee of just $9.95, and children receive a personalized letter back from the Santa himself. By now, Santa Mail had responded to nearly 300,000 children.

Why we cannot think on simple lines when we talk about creativity? Remember one thing Creativity lies in Simplicity more often and one don’t has to build Robots and Machines and go into some technical stuff in order to be creative. So its better to start working on it now. But remember few things before you think of an idea

1.      Even you have the most craziest idea, it should satisfy some of the need of human beings

2.      If you think there is no need for such idea you are thinking, Can you create a need for such things?

3.      Think about how you can earn money from your idea

Now you might be thinking that I am talking about those TYPICAL things which can make even the most craziest and innovative ideas unrealistic and unpractical. Well that is not the case because if you have a passion for something and you really want to do it, Just do it and yes that’s what Nike says all the time. But keep that in mind that one day or another you have to follow these  if you really want to earn money and make your idea consistently working.

Things you should know before availing discounts on coupons codes

There are certain things which you should know when you are purchasing something online and going to avail some kind of discounts through coupons. 

Search for discount codes

There are different kinds of discounts offered while you are purchasing something from an online retailer. Search for a particular discount code. They come in different types like some are in percentages while some are in dollars discounts. There are some companies which waive off the shipping charges as discounts. But you need to keep this in mind that you should not settle to the first coupon code in your search results. One should keep on searching on page 2 and even 3 of the search results because there are sites which could offer even bigger and better discounts but due to weak search engine optimization they are displayed on the second or third page of the search result

Subscribe newsletters for free coupons

Why search for coupons for your favorite brands in these websites? Some websites offers you newsletters in which they send you free coupons directly into your email so you don’t have to search for coupons from different websites to avail discounts. As you have seen that by consuming some time and effort, you can save a lot of money and this can add handsome savings.

Look for Promo Code

When shopping online have you have seen something like promo code or promotional code while filling out the form? If yes, then remember, this field can be used to gain some extra discounts even more than you get from the online coupons. So, whenever you are shopping online, have a look for the coupon code box while checking out. The name can be different for different websites but normally this field comes with this word of promo code, promotional code or something like that. 

Check the expiry of codes

Promotional codes always come with an validity or expiry date and it happens sometimes that they expire before the date mentioned. One of the reason might be the popularity of the promotional code and then the manufacturer or retailer has to cancel the code before the expiry date. Contrary to the situation, some of the codes work even after their expiry date passes away. The consumer has to make sure that they get the same amount of discount which is mentioned or promised by the company. Because there is a possibility that the retailer has ignored the promo code and he may charge you the full price of the item you purchase. 

Things to remember

• Some of the promo codes are case sensitive and while filling the form you have to make sure that you enter the right letter. For example if the code is 25OFF , the system might not accept if you write 25off

• There is a greater possibility that you can use the discount one time per customer

• As mentioned, coupons come with expiry date so you should check the date as well