Whether it’s the quirky gecko from GEICO, the talking M&Ms, or Duolingo’s sassy owl, a well-designed brand character for your videos can become more than just a mascot it can become the face, voice, and emotional anchor of your brand.
Why You Need a Brand Character for Your Videos
Before diving into the how, let’s talk about the why.
A branded character helps:
- Humanize your business: Characters speak to the heart before the head. They add warmth, relatability, and emotion to your brand story.
- Improve recall: Characters increase brand memorability. Audiences are more likely to remember your brand if it’s associated with a character they like.
- Build consistency across content: Characters act as a visual and tonal anchor. Whether you’re publishing explainer videos, tutorials, or ads, your character brings coherence.
- Drive engagement: Characters can evolve, appear in storylines, and create anticipation—just like TV shows or movies.
- Boost shareability: People love sharing animated or character-based videos, especially if the character is funny, cute, or unique.
If you’re serious about standing out in your video marketing, a brand character isn’t just a nice-to-have—it’s a game-changer.
Step 1: Define Your Brand’s Personality
Your character needs to feel like your brand. That starts with clearly defining your brand’s personality.
Ask yourself:
- Is your brand playful or professional?
- Are you youthful and bold, or mature and sophisticated?
- Are you friendly and approachable or authoritative and expert-driven?
Create a list of adjectives that describe your brand’s tone. Examples:
- Fun, witty, bold
- Calm, trustworthy, professional
- Energetic, curious, smart
This tone will inform everything about your character from the way they look and sound to how they behave in different scenarios.
Pro Tip:
Don’t just design a character that looks good. Design one that feels right for your audience. The personality of your character is what creates the emotional bridge.
Step 2: Know Your Audience Inside Out
Your audience should see themselves or who they aspire to be in your character. Understanding your viewer’s preferences, demographics, and pain points is essential.
Consider:
- Age range: Younger audiences might prefer quirky or exaggerated characters, while B2B audiences may prefer a more refined, avatar-style character.
- Culture: Make sure the character feels relatable and culturally sensitive.
- Interests: What hobbies, trends, or topics do they follow?
Also think about the emotional role your character should play:
- A helper: Guides viewers through processes (e.g., a tutorial character)
- A friend: Shares jokes, insights, or relatable moments
- An expert: Explains complex topics in simple ways
A deep understanding of your audience will guide both the design and function of the character.
Step 3: Choose a Character Type That Fits
There are many ways to bring your character to life, and the choice depends on your brand tone, content style, and resources. Here are some common types:
1. Cartoon Mascots
Colorful, bold, and expressive. Great for brands targeting younger or playful audiences. Think Tony the Tiger or the Duolingo owl.
2. Stylized Avatars
Semi-realistic human-like figures that reflect your brand’s audience or team. Perfect for SaaS, education, or healthcare brands aiming for relatability.
3. Animals or Creatures
Quirky and universal. Animal characters are often used when brands want to tap into humor or light-hearted content (like GEICO’s gecko).
4. Animated Objects
Bring your product to life! This works well for tech, food, or eCommerce brands where the product is central. For example, an animated credit card or smartphone.
5. 2D or 3D Characters
- 2D: More budget-friendly, flat animations, great for explainer videos.
- 3D: More immersive and dynamic, often used in high-end promotional content or gaming-style marketing.
Choose a type that aligns with your goals and budget, but also with how your brand communicates visually and tonally.
Step 4: Design Your Character with Purpose
Now comes the fun part bringing your brand character for your videos to life visually.
Key Elements to Consider:
1. Shape Language
- Round shapes: Friendly, soft, welcoming
- Angular shapes: Bold, aggressive, dynamic
- Neutral shapes: Balanced, calm, professional
2. Color Palette
Use your brand’s existing colors or expand the palette for contrast while maintaining consistency. Colors evoke emotion:
- Blue: Trust, calm
- Red: Energy, passion
- Yellow: Optimism, creativity
3. Facial Expressions
Design a range of emotions happy, confused, excited, frustrated. Your character should be expressive, even in minimalist styles.
4. Accessories & Props
Add tools or accessories related to your industry laptop, headset, books, product icons. These add storytelling depth.
5. Consistency Across Media
Design your character with adaptability in mind: make sure it can be used in different formats (video, stills, GIFs, AR filters, etc.)
Step 5: Write the Character Backstory
A good character has a story even if your audience never hears it. This internal backstory informs how your character acts, speaks, and evolves.
Consider:
- Where is your character from?
- What motivates them?
- Do they have a catchphrase or signature move?
- What are their quirks?
Even a one-paragraph backstory can help voice actors, animators, and writers stay consistent in tone and behavior.
Step 6: Animate and Test
Once you’ve nailed the design and personality, move to production.
Choose an Animation Style:
- Full-frame animation: Ideal for stories or explainer content
- Loop animations or GIFs: Great for short-form social posts
- Interactive animation: Useful for gamified platforms or apps
Don’t Skip Testing
Before launching your character publicly, test it with a sample audience. Gather feedback:
- Do people find the character appealing?
- Does the tone match your brand?
- Is the character memorable?
Refine based on insights before scaling it across all video content.
Step 7: Integrate Across Your Video Content
Once built, your character should become a consistent presence across video types.
Where to Use Your Brand Character:
- Explainer Videos: Guide users through services or products.
- Onboarding Content: Welcome new customers with a friendly walkthrough.
- Social Media Shorts: Share funny or insightful clips.
- Email Videos: Use bite-sized animations in email to boost open rates.
- Ads: Your character can drive product promotions in a fun, non-salesy way.
- Internal Training: Use characters for staff training to make sessions more engaging.
You can even evolve the character over time introduce friends, build a world, or feature seasonal costume changes.
Examples of Iconic Branded Characters
Need inspiration? Here are characters that have made a mark:
- Duolingo’s Owl: A cheeky yet effective character that drives daily engagement.
- Mailchimp’s Freddie: Whimsical and approachable, representing creativity and fun.
- Progressive’s Flo: Though live-action, she behaves like a brand character in personality and function.
- Salesforce’s Astro: A space explorer used across educational content, product demos, and more.
These characters didn’t just appear in one video they became brand ambassadors across content strategies.
Common Mistakes to Avoid
Creating a character is exciting, but it’s easy to fall into traps. Avoid these:
- Too Generic: Your character shouldn’t look like every other stock avatar.
- Mismatch in Tone: A goofy cartoon character might not suit a serious fintech platform.
- Inconsistent Use: If your character only shows up once or twice, it loses recognition value.
- Poor Animation Quality: Bad execution can hurt your credibility more than no character at all.
Final Thoughts
Building a brand character for your videos isn’t just about design it’s about storytelling, strategy, and emotional resonance. When done right, a character can become the voice of your brand, the face people recognize, and the personality your audience falls in love with.
Whether you’re an entrepreneur looking to stand out on social media or a corporate marketer planning an animated explainer series, now is the perfect time to give your brand a voice with character.
Start with your audience. Shape a personality. Design with purpose. Animate with care. And most importantly, let your character grow alongside your brand.
