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What is the first image that comes to your mind when you say Lycos? I bet you don’t visualize their logo type, but their mascot, the black dog that will “meet you there.” And what about Taco Bell? Honestly, what do you see? I see a funny Chihuahua saying with a determined voice ¡Yo quiero Taco Bell!

I cannot really think of another famous company (unrelated to dogs) that uses a dog as its mascot. I can, however, think of some basketball teams and some universities. And I can now think of Red Dog, not necessarily because it’s famous, but because I work for it.

And I’ve been thinking… what is so special about dogs? Why do businesses choose them as mascots? With Taco Bell this was a logical choice: they needed something funny, a hook to make their customers talk about their new line of products. But what’s the point in using a dog to represent a search engine? And what’s the point in using a dog to represent a web development company?

Let’s analyze this from a PR and branding perspective, shall we?

Depending on how you approach brand promotion, using a dog to represent you company visually might be a good choice. No, I am not talking about a stylized logo, but about the real deal. People like animals and dogs are probably the most popular choice. And when they are as cute as Yardley, the “Red Dog” dog (that sounds funny, doesn’t it?) the fact that they help to make a brand popular doesn’t come as a surprise. Now, Yardley’s name is not known in Luxembourg, but Red Dog, the company with “that white dog” is. People remember Red Dog for the white dog, which is a paradox, if you know what I mean. They probably wonder why “Red Dog” when the mascot is obviously white. I tell you why: Yardley is wearing a disguise. In reality he is absolutely red.

Yardley appeared in the picture long after the company was founded. But his arrival was the real “buzz” factor. And now he is the image of the company and he is also our source of inspiration. This might sound strange for those who think that business-to-business should be sober and grave, but I assure you: there’s nothing strange about a web development company to approach business in a playful manner. On the contrary. Yardley is the “wow” factor of our business. He’s so fun that even the most rigid businessman grows to like him in a flash.

He’s present on every page of our site, always doing something fun. Sometimes he tells you how we work and sometimes he watches over a designer to make sure that our customers get the best services possible…

Now what about you guys? What do you think about pets and their role in marketing and branding? Would you consider using your pet on your website/blog or on fliers and brochures to promote your business? Let’s write about this a bit, shall we? And I am going to challenge you a bit. I’ll start a writing project.

Answer the following questions: what you think about pets as branding tools? Do you know any famous companies that use pets? (not necessarily dogs) Would you use your own pet to promote your business?

Although everyone is welcome to join, I tag now 4 bloggers, and you’ll undestand the reasons pretty soon:
Kevin the Collie – because Kevin is one of the moneymakers of the family,
Beaman – it would be interesting to know why you like cats so much,
Justin – because he loves pets so much and he writes a pretty cool blog “all about pets,”
Sue - at least to give you a link to her amazing site, where she displays the most beautiful pet portraits I’ve ever seen.

Then you tag other 4 bloggers who like or have pets, just to see how they feel about this topic.

I think if it catches up, this group writing project is going to be fun and we’ll all learn a lot about this kind of branding.

Let’s say that the project will run for a month – till the 14th of August and then I will display here a complete list with all your entries. So don’t forget to drop me a comment with your link, to help me make the list.