Ollie
"Addressing the elephant in the room"
brand mascot design
brand mascot design
The elephant in the room!
The Brief:
Design a brand mascot for a national will writing company. We were approached by Rebekah of The Will Writing Partnership. She has an idea for a brand mascot but didn't know how to bring it to life. She knew she wanted an elephant as the "elephant in the room" is something that is often associated with the difficult subject of death and wills. The idea was to create a brand mascot that would become relatable to the clients, and who could be used across all of their communications both on and offline. It also had to be something the company could use on its merchandise too. After having a chat with Rebekah, it was clear that she had a lot of great ideas for Ollie (she already had a name in mind too!) as well as a list of initial situations Ollie was to be involved in. So we got started on some preliminary sketches to rough out the starts of life for Ollie. The idea was that he was to be a long term mascot, and so we had to come up with a backstory for him, as well as show him in many of life's big ups and downs. So from the basic sketches, we managed to create a full story for Ollie, and create a series of events that will befall his life over the next few years.
Colour Scheme:
The colour palette for Ollie was based around the company logo which was already established, and so we used warm greys to work in harmony with the lavenders and lilacs of the logo. All of the various images of Ollie use this same palette. This ensures consistency that is in keeping with the overall building of the brand.
a whole lotta Ollie
We created a lot of different drawings for Ollie, in a wide range of situations and poses. But this project is an ongoing one, so there is still much more to come from Ollie. After the first launch of Ollie, the Company noticed an uptake by a third in its clients, proof that the emotional and relatable aspect of him as a brand mascot was working. Watch this space for much more Ollie coming soon.
An elephant of substance
To ensure Ollie was relatable to the clients of the company, he had to experience the same trials and situations they would experience. With this in mind, we created a whole family structure for him, parents, children and a wife. All of the various drawings enable a fully fleshed-out character, that has real emotion and that the viewing audience can empathise with. This is important as it's this emotive aspect of the character design, that is key to its success as a brand mascot.
Further
design elements
