Animals in advertising don’t you luv’em?!

Let’s face it – we all love Aleksandr Orlov – the simple-minded Meerkat who’s heading for an Oscar for his tireless work for Compare the Market. He has nearly 800,000 Facebook ‘likes’, and 20,000 followers on Twitter!

And Churchill the dog. What wouldn’t you give to have him espousing your product too!

Andrex. Dulux. Even Vodafone is getting on the bandwagon with a bee (hard one to follow, that).

So what is it about our animal friends? Why do they draw people’s attention in the first place? And why do we love them?

Actors will say never to work with children and animals – sound advice for the live stage, no doubt, but wasted on the small screen. These ‘animals’ are a complete fabrication, which clever script writers and art directors have endowed with the most attractive of cute characteristics.

So they appeal to us in a way that ‘real’ animals or people never can. They don’t carry the baggage of a complex personality. They don’t ever upset us. They only ever please, in an ironic, post modern way.

So we, the marketers, can create a cocoon of comfort and humour around our products which avoid all the detail and the difficult bits. The offering is attractive, memorable and accessible to everyone. They can be made to say, act and do exactly what we want them to.

It’s no wonder we love them!

Get one for your product too – you’re unlikely to regret it.