UX, branding and the 19th century’s first baroo
“Dogs don’t listen to phonographs”
The iconic canine head tilt will always be with us, in one format or another, while the UX for sharing it will change as surely as the gramophone gave way to iTunes.
Here is the story of how the first baroo was created a century ago as a tribute to a four-legged friend, and how a brand identity traveled across space and time from an 1898 painting to the prosh redonkulousness of Cute Overload.
Back in the late 19th century, a painter made a portrait of his loyal little dog transfixed by a voice recording, and pitched it to an audio technology startup as a piece of brand DNA.
Like many breakthrough ideas, it was summarily rejected at the first meeting: “Dogs don’t listen to phonographs.”
But success came after time and iterations: Victor Talking Machine Company made Nipper its mascot; RCA followed, and the first baroo went on to worldwide fame in a reign that lasted decades.
“It is difficult to say how the idea came to me beyond that fact that it suddenly occurred to me that to have my dog listening to the phonograph, with an intelligent and rather puzzled expression, and call it ‘His Master’s Voice’ would make an excellent subject. We had a phonograph and I often noticed how puzzled he was to make out where the voice came from. It certainly was the happiest thought I ever had.” — Francis Barraud, Nipper’s portrait painter and friend.
Memes and brands come from anyplace, really — and sometimes, they almost don’t happen at all.
What started as a painting and became a brand is incarnated today as videos, blog posts, and page after scrolling page of images.
A century after the oldest known published baroo, the UX has changed, but the message is still the same across all media.
