I don't know which creative genius first thought of using a character to embody a brand. Whoever it was, they kickstarted a creative process that has arguably created some of the most iconic imagery of the 20th century. Welcome to the world of the brand icon.
It was the advent of radio and television that gave birth to what we understand as the modern brand icon. Before then they were just characters on posters and packaging but when early radio gave us the Ovalteenies and then television introduced us to Snap, Crackle and Pop the game changed forever. Britain loved these guys. They had personalities, engaged with the consumer and, most importantly, entertained. It was manna from heaven for ad men and before you could say "Madison Avenue" the Jolly Green Giant, the Milky Bar Kid and the PG Tips chimps had taken up residency on our screens. They haven't moved out yet.
It's an indicator of just how powerful brand icons are that we can all probably easily name 10 (try getting much of Britain to name 10 artists and you may be there for a while) and can map various stages of our lives against the "in" brand icon (my childhood was bookended by the Honey Monster). A successful brand icon will do more than just advertise or promote a brand, it will become part of the national landscape.
So just what is it that makes a successful brand icon? Well, an outsize character and a connection to the brand or product are essential, Cap'n Birds Eye and the Michelin Man being two great examples. The next thing you need is the love of the public, and this is far and away the most important attribute a brand icon can have. If the public don't like your character then its days are numbered. Who knows what subtle differences separate Ronald McDonald from Burger King's "King", but one is going strong after 51 years while the other lasted just eight. No prizes for guessing which one went to meet the big flame grill in the sky.
Create a successful brand icon and it'll be going for years (often outliving their creators), but the big question is how do you keep it relevant to the present generation? After all, what worked in the 80s isn't necessarily relevant today. Brand icons require constant evolution that needs to be handled with extreme care.
We've been heavily involved in this exact same process with one of our clients, Scottish Widows. Our head of strategy equated it to the hunt for a new James Bond and he wasn't wrong. As with many a brand's reboot the trick was to update the icon while maintaining the brand's core identity.
So what about 2014? Has new technology and the way we now communicate digitally killed off the brand icons? Not a bit of it. The internet era, rather than dating them, has instead given brand icons a whole new lease of life. Facebook pages and tweets are simply new forms of media to be utilised. And TV? Well, apart from the fact that they are still all over our screens, brand icons have simply gone back to their roots and taken up sponsorship deals – the Meerkats and Corrie for example – or moved into idents like the 118 guys.
Like them or loathe them I have a feeling brand icons will be around for quite a while yet.
James Ramsden is executive creative director at Rufus Leonard.
To get weekly news analysis, job alerts and event notifications direct to your inbox, sign up free for Media Network membership.
All Guardian Media Network content is editorially independent except for pieces labelled 'Advertisement feature'. Find out more here.
