One of the founding principles of Branding Beard is finding actionable inspiration everywhere. Often times, I try to find inspiration in unexpected places, like a college football team.

But today, we are going to look at professional designs and how a simple logo or character can lay the groundwork for your entire marketing and advertising campaigns. Characters and mascot can set your brand apart and set the tone for the voice and messaging for your marketing campaigns and overall success of your business.

Cool Bear by KaDJU

That is one hip bear! The first thing I notice is the background color, as it’s a play on the natural habitat of where a bear might live (in the woods), but softer and more modern. The use of color helps tell the story.

The smiley face ears are a cute, subtle element that just adds to the playful spin on this ferocious beast. There’s no sharp teeth and the bear’s expression is calm and cool; but it’s still a bear. The artist didn’t take away the “roar”, but chose to show the more friendly side. This is a great design detail.

Cool Bear would give the marketer a great springboard to develop the brands voice. Fun, hip, playful messaging and delivery could easily be mixed with a very serious message. The juxtaposition of the relentless wild animal and the playful design gives the marketer an amazing platform to build an awesome brand.

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Mammoths by thomashatfield

The Mammoth is alive and well! This gritty, vintage mammoth is simple and fierce. The muted color of the mammoth set on top of a bright, bold orange helps the subtle mammoth pop. This beast can’t be contained within the circle, with the tusk breaking out and leaking the orange outside of the boundary. The gritty style of the background and the shape of the tusks and the eye show this brand is ready to take what is theirs and is not afraid of a fight.

This mascot is ripe for a bold brand and a very direct voice. This is a perfect mascot for an up-and-coming brand that wants to set itself apart from their competition and portray a tough, aggressive brand.

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Bird Loop by raisebrand

Look close and you’ll see it! Bird Loop is an abstract logo that offers the marketer a much more _______ branding opportunity. When you see the bird, it’s hard to see anything else. But like any well done abstract work, there’s so many deep layers that can be peeled back.

This type of mascot is perfect for a creative agency or a company with many layers, products, or services. It gives the brand depth and allows the voice to evolve with different parts of the company. But it all fits back together, seamlessly. No matter if you break it apart, put back together, it’s still the Bird Loop.

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