A football fan poses with the Russia 2018 World Cup mascot Zabivaka. AFP PHOTO
Kenyan brands can increase consumer interest and sales by
differentiating their products in the market using brand mascots,
research shows.
Brand mascots are the face of a
product, they are also the first interaction that consumers have with a
product on the shelf. In this, Captain Morgan, a brand of rum produced
by alcohol company Diageo (locally by Kenya Breweries Limited), relies
on its pirate mascot to drive its marketing strategy and build identity
in all its international markets.
Its launch in the
Kenyan market last December was attended by Captain Morgan, the Global
Ambassador, who has been the face of the drink for 20 years and based in
the US.
The pirate mascot visited Kenya for a whole
week; he made media appearances and partied in several nightclubs
including Club Legend in Ongata Rongai; training salespeople on how to
position the brand for consumers and increase identity. This has been
the core marketing strategy of the brand.
“Captain Morgan is all about fun; encouraging consumers to
interact with friends and the brand. We literally bring the brand to
life in that consumers get to meet Captain Morgan.
“The
availability of the products and their accessibility in the Kenyan
market has further increased the popularity of the brand in the market
since its launch seven months ago,” said Nik Keane, Global Brand
Director, Captain Morgan.
The rum’s brand mascot is
however not limited to club appearances in its global marketing strategy
in order to interact with consumers. In the US, the pirate attends
music festivals and in 2004, even ran for president.
With
the slogan, “Americans for a Better Party,” the brand’s mascot engaged
in a three-day campaign that involved interacting with consumers aged 21
years and above. This resulted in a 13.7 per cent increase in its sale
volumes that year in the US.
“Our work is to make him
more successful and famous as an international icon of fun. We are very
consistent and demanding in holding the same international standards in
terms of our marketing: What does the Captain look like, what he wears,
all this is consistent globally,” said Mr Keane
This
marketing strategy, according to research, helps the target market to
identify, remember, understand and enhance consumers’ positive attitudes
towards a brand, hence when faced with similar options at the point of
sale they will choose the product with a memorable mascot.
“In
a 2016 study conducted in Thailand on the impact of brand mascots on
consumers’ purchasing behaviour, published in the International Journal
of Economics and Management Engineering, it found that brand mascots
lead consumers to identify with the product.
They
influence them to become loyal customers and share the identity with the
brand. The researchers surveyed 400 participants in Bangkok
metropolitan using questionnaires. They were asked to fill in their
demographic data and reply to a set of two questions about brand mascots
and how they influence their purchase behaviours.
In
the first measure the participants noted their consumers’
decision-making on buying a product after they were reminded by the
images of brand mascots, and in the second one they were to indicated
their intention to buy a product after they were reminded by images of
brand mascots.
“What we found in the first measure is
that participants could be motivated by brand mascots to make purchase
decisions, while in the second one we noted that the mascot has a great
influence on buying behaviour.
“The goal of a brand
mascot is to strengthen the identity of the product as it might not have
much difference to its competitors. Using brand mascots can make the
product outstanding from other similar products,” reported the
researchers.
- African Laughter
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