A book by: Warren Dotz and Masud Husain

I am currently researching on why a brand (and/or a product? – can it be both – my collegue is asking me that question, so I am thinking about that distinction) should have a character designed for them. When is it relevant? What considerations comes before going into the design fase?

In that regard Meet mr. Product is an overview of a long list of examples of characters in american advertising the last 100 years (but centered around the marketing boom in the 1960’s – called the golden age of ad-characters) and they are grouped in categories: food, drinks, kid’s stuff, dining, technology, home, automotive + personal & leisure.

So the book gives an overview of characters that stayed with us (and the ones that was forgotten or abandoned) – and the reason for them to be able to stand the test of time is interesting.

Give a product a face, arms, and legs, and suddenly it becomes more appealing and emotionally accessible – more human. p. 14

At the same time I am also looking at how characters are designed?

And sometimes (but seldom) it can seem a bit without cohence:

Like for example John Deere and the reason for their deer logo: ‘obviously, is a simple play on the inventor’s name’ – so yes that is one approach: I am called Deere lets put a deer in our logo allthough our products have very little to do with deer.