Tony the Tiger. The Pillsbury Doughboy. Sonny for Coco Puffs. Trix the Rabbit. I might not remember what I did for Halloween last year, but I will always remember these product characters because they are imbedded into my subconscious. Is this just a coincidence? Am I a product of too much TV watching? Perhaps. But, it turns out that these characters were specifically created to be this sticky – in a positive way. Who doesn’t like the Pillsbury Doughboy?

But like any successful ad campaign, these characters need to evolve to stay relevant to today’s audiences. Enter Character, a six person creative team located in Portland, OR that primarily works on creating and updating “critters,�? as they refer to them. Sounds like tons of fun to me.

I read all about them in an article in Fortune Small Business and found their process fascinating. They focus on the story of the critter and how its personality connects consumers to the brand. Since Character’s inception in 2002, they’ve given makeovers to Lucky the Leprechaun, the Pillsbury Doughboy, Punchy from Hawaiian Punch, and the Hamburger Helper Helping Hand; and created critters for Pepperidge Farm’s Goldfish, PepsiCo’s Mug root beer, and Quaker Milk Chillers.

Founder David Altschul (whose past success includes creating the dancing California Raisins) and his team conduct what they call Character Camps for clients. Character Camps are three day retreats that cost around $150,000. Now I’ve been on work retreats where we discuss branding, strategy, core values, etc. And while I always find them interesting, they don’t sound as much fun as a Character Camp, nor as lucrative.

“Even more impressive than Character’s client list are its results. PepsiCo saw root beer sales increase immediately after replacing its former frosty mug logo with its new character, “Dog.”

Honey Nut Cheerios’ Buzz got a revamped look, voice, and hive designed to capture his “bee-ness” (a previous problem was that he acted more like a person than an insect), and the product jumped from the No. 5 cereal sold in the U.S. to its current spot at No. 2.�?

Think about it…what could a critter do for your product?

This entry was posted on Friday, October 6th, 2006 at 4:22 pm and is filed under General, Finds, Media, Advertising.