- In order to stand out, today's brand mascots use sex appeal to stay engaging and memorable.
- A recent survey from marketing company Crestline found the sexiest brand mascots of all time. The winner was Old Spice's The Man Your Man Could Smell Like.
- According to Allen Adamson, professor of marketing at NYU, creating a sexier Mr. Clean makes him more human, more relatable, and therefore, more marketable.
- Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.
Today's mascots need to do a lot for their brands - and experts say nothing helps them stay engaging and memorable more than sex appeal.
A recent survey from marketing company Crestline asked Americans what they thought was the sexiest brand mascots of all time. The survey was conducted online, with over 1,600 participants who were asked to rate mascots on a scale of 1 to 10 for attractiveness. Some of the top mascots included the Brawny Man, Erin from Esurance, and Old Spice's The Man Your Man Could Smell Like.
"Cute doesn't cut it," Allen Adamson, professor of marketing at NYU, told Business Insider. "The challenge is when you create an icon that you burn into someone's head, whether it's the Laughing Cow or the Trix Rabbit, then the trick is, how do you have it do more?"
Mascots had their heyday back in the 1960s, says Adamson. Back then, brand mascots were just a way to remember a brand. But Americans have changed since then, so mascots and jingles are no longer enough to get their attention.
According to Adamson, modern-day brands "have to work harder than just saying, 'Hey, remember me?' but 'Hey, I've got something to tell you, and you should listen.'" One way to get consumers' attention, he says, is through sex appeal.
Apart from memorability, today's mascots need to be relatable, says Adamson. "Once you make them more human, they become more engaging, and having some sex appeal becomes an important part of making something more engaging," he said.
Here are the 10 brand mascots that online users have labeled the "sexiest":
