Business Research Methodology Project

Subject: Business Research Methodology

Topic: Do Brand Mascots Aid Brand Recall In FMCG Sector?
Phase 3 Submission: Interviews with the Industry Experts and Analysis of
their Responses
Team Members

Roll Number

Ashwin Masurkar

130

Vishal Garg

122

N.L.Dalmia Institute of Management Studies and Research

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Background:
The purpose of the Project was to conduct a research on the Topic: Do Brand Mascots
Aid Brand Recall In FMCG Sector? from the various angles such as the Brand Recall,
Brand Building,etc. concerning the brand.
Building a strong brand is necessary in developing lasting relationships with consumers
even if it will not dramatically increase revenue. People relate to the products they buy
and the services they use, so branding is important. If a utility company can derive
ways to relate to their consumers, then it will surely improve business even if it will not
increase profits.
A brand is created by merging what the company says the brand is, what others say,
and how the company performs in the eyes of the consumer (Berry, 2000). It is
important to understand how a brand is created. Also, it is important to understand the
effects of a positive or negative brand image.
The first phase of the Project included conducting Secondary Research about the Brand
Mascots and how companies use them for building a Brand Image.
The second phase of the Project required forming of the Questionnaires for the people
from different industries and getting their views on Brand Mascots.
The third phase of the Project which this report deals with, required Collection of Data
in the form of Interviews of the professionals. The idea being to understand their
thought process, their perception and their point of view on brand mascots. And
accordingly how do companies and professionals think and work towards creating a
brand mascot for brand building. This report tries to understand and project those
same understandings of the professionals.
Objective: The objective of this Survey was to capture the point of the views of the
professionals working in FMCG companies over brand mascots aid in brand recall
with respect to the below mentioned factors:
Concept
Brand Awareness
Brand Recognition
Brand Building
Brand Loyalty
Data Collection Methodology: Personal Interviews
Sample: Professionals working in various industries
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Total Sample Size: 5

Classification and Description of the Interviewees:

1) Mr.Prakash Mehra
Designation: Assistant Brand Manager
Been with AMUL: Since 2009.
Job Profile: Creating various Brand Promotions for AMUL.
2) Mr.Kunal Manjrekar
Designation: Marketing Assistant
Been with Asian Paints since 2010.
Job Profile: He is the team lead of marketing department.
3) Mr.Yash Pathak
Designation: Advertising Sales Director
Been with Parle-G since 2007.
Job Profile: He leads advertising sales team.
4) Miss.Shreya Sarang
Designation: Assistant Creative Manager
Been AMUL since 2012.
Job Profile: Works as a creative manager for AMUL.
5) Lakshmi Jayakumar
Designation: Product Development Manager
Been with Sunfeast since 2006.
Job Profile: Works on various product development for Sunfeast Biscuits.

Data Analysis and Interpretation (Questionnaire Wise):

Question- Do you know the name of the brand mascot for Asian Paints (the boy
with the paint brush)?
Answer- Most of the people could recall the mascot but only few remembered the
actual name i.e Gattu.
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Question- What do you think about the Asian Paints move to retire the mascot?
Answer- Answers received included responses like sad, a necessary move, makes
no difference, good as mascots are outdated.

Question- How often do you read the Amul cartoons?

Answer- Not many people even notice the cartoon section.

Question- Do you feel the Amul cartoons would be the same without the Utterly
Butterly girl?
Answer- Amuls utterly-butterly girl is well known and most of the interviewees see
the mascot of equal value as the brand, so Amul wouldnt be same without the
utterly-butterly girl.

Question- How does the figure of Ronald McDonald outside a McDonalds outlet
appear to you?
Answer- Responses received included responses like- its fun, children love it,
childish.

Question- How often do you take selfies with mascots at a brand event?
Answer- Mascots like Ronald are very popular for the purpose of selfies, hence
quite often people (teenagers and even adults) click pictures with the mascots.

Question- Does the presence of a mascot influence your decision to attend a

launch or publicity event?
Answer- Mascots give life to a brand and can be fun having a living animated
character around while such an event.

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Question- At events, do you prefer to be given product info by a regular

salesperson or by someone dressed in a mascot costume?
Answer- Regular salesman are preferred.

Question- How helpful are mascots to build relationships and amplify emotional
connections?
Answer- Responses registered were mainly positive that, mascots are indeed,
helpful to build relations and amplify emotions.

Question- Can Brand mascots take the role of the spokesperson for the brand?
Answer- People find it easier to approach a sales person dresses as Mascot.

Question- What makes a mascot successful/memorable?

Answer- How well the mascot elicits the values of the company in a positive and
fun way.
Transcript of the Interview:
Interviewer: Student
Interviewee: Prakash Mehra (Assistant Brand Manager, Amul)
Interview Setting: Interview conducted at the residence of Prakash Mehra. The
interview was conducted at 2:00 PM on a Thursday afternoon (29 th January 2015).
Transcript:
Interviewer: How does a Mascot personify to you?
Interviewee: A brand mascot is almost like an identity of the brand, at times even bigger than the logo. It
is also important, to ensure the mascot keeps up the brand image. For an Indian brand, Amul is one of the
biggest examples. The cute girl from Amul is the face of the brand and they make it a point to come up with
something creative for almost all major current affairs in India.

Interviewer: Does Mascots give a unique identity to the brand?

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Interviewee: Who doesnt recognize Ronald McDonald or Pillsbury Dough Boy? Brands with mascots have
a stronger recall in consumers mind than those who dont. Just a logo and a fixed colour scheme might not
stand out like a mascot would.

Interviewer: What do you think about people relating to the Mascots?

Interviewee: At times people are able to relate to a mascot more than the brand
itself. Recently CouponzGuru launched its mascot The Guru to give weekly advice on online shopping on social
media, and surely enough people were hooked to hear more from the expert mascot.

Interviewer: How does creative mascots and branding activities encourage social
sharing and increase the possibility of campaigns going Viral?
Interviewee: We have a great example of Vodafone Zoozoos. This mascot was once very active on social
media and Vodafone used it quite wisely for marketing purposes and they also used Zoozoos to encourage
interaction at their social pages. And surely enough they got the conversations going across different forums
online.

Interviewer: Do you think mascots give an opportunity to people on social networks

to interact with the brand casually?
Interviewee: Mascots are almost always friendly looking avatars. People find brands with mascots more
approachable. People dont directly talk to brands, hence mascots make the interactions interesting and
engaging. For instance, one cant just remember Cheetos without Chester the Cheetah.

Interviewer: Mascot Creates a Top of Mind Image of a Brand, if its Designed Well Enough to Relate to
the Brand. What is your view on this statement?

Interviewee: Ill take the case of Guruji of CouponzGuru here. He is a Guru, i.e. a wise experienced man,
but with a flavor of youth, which is the target audience of Couponzguru. Thereby a Mascots identity should coexist with the Brands objective.

Interviewer: What is your overall view of Mascots over celebrities?

Interviewee: The Amul girl is a mascot that immediately comes to mind. It has
withstood the test of time, across generations. As far as a celebrity-brand
partnership is concerned, regrettably, todays celebrities tend to take-on one too many
brand associations, so it is difficult to associate them with any single brand. The two
exceptions that do come to mind are Abhishek Bachchan and idea. And Yuvraj Singh
and Birla Sun Life Insurance. The fact also remains that a celebrity can give instant
boost to a brand whereas a mascot needs time investment before it becomes a
household name.
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Interviewer: Thank you for your time Sir.

Interviewee: You are welcome.

N.L.Dalmia Institute of Management Studies and Research

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