Bringing a Brand to Life: Mascots on Social Media
Brands are constantly strategizing on new ways to engage with their audiences through a variety of platforms. And with the growth of social media, brands has limitless creative opportunities to connect with consumers. A common trend seen across brands are anthropomorphizing their brand to create relatable and engaging content.
A brand that has excelled at animating the brand is Duolingo. Duolingo is a popular language-learning platform with more than 500 million users. Recently the chaotic and menacing Duolingo Owl has been seen all over Tik Tok making relatable content that personifies the mascot as a charter, not just a brand.
On DuoLingo’s TikTok, you can find the green owl posting about things everyday people would do like; engaging with dance and filter trends, complaining about their boss and of course fantasizing about Dua Lipa. With this unique and personable strategy Duolingo has acquired 3.4 million followers on Tik Tok and received over 65 million likes since February 2022.
The social media manager of Duolingo has created a hilariously entertaining personality for the brand that has connected with an enormous audience on social media, that now Duolingo is not just a brand, but a social media icon. The relatability of the charter has expanded Duolingos demographics and altered the way consumers view the brand.
Following the success of Duolingo, brands have hope on the trend. In particular, we have seen sports mascots become increasingly more involved with social media. We see charters like, Gritty, Benny the Bull, and Viktor the Viking engaging in trends and with other accounts to build a personality around the brand and each have seen incredible success through this strategy.
This year brands have hoped on the trend of being relatable. In a period of time where consumers are more and more distant from companies, now more than ever it is important for brands to connect and engage with consumers on a personal and relatable level.
