AD Club Brings in a Couple of Characters

Ron Scharbo, president of Scharbo & Company Branding Consultancy, and Tom Sapp, designer for Real Characters Inc., spoke to the AD Club Tuesday. While they may not be household names around the campus, almost everyone can recognize their character, Hairy Dawg.

The talk was geared to advertising and graphic design students. This made the speech seem more like a lecture, but Scharbo and Sapp were teaching the students all about the pros of using a character to brand a service or product. First, Scharbo pointed to different characters such as Chester Cheeto, Denny’s Big Boy, and Smokey the Bear. After each character was pointed at the audience called each one out by name. This was just to illustrate Sapp’s point. All of these characters, said Sapp, have personality and are relatable to anyone who knows of them. This is what differentiates characters from mascots. A mascot is just a costume, but once the mascot is given personality it becomes a character.

Sapp imparted a few bits of advice to the silent crowd of 40 throughout the speech. “Be able to think” Sapp said firmly, knowing how to use computers is good but original thoughts are the most important part. Following what the client wants and doing necessary homework on what you are designing makes the work easier and more successful. Sapp, who met Scharbo while working at Burton Campbell in Atlanta, reminded the future advertisers and graphic designers “Don’t be afraid of new ideas.” While always working for a client, never be afraid to express what you, as an advertiser or graphic designer, think will work. Originality and innovation are the attributes that Sapp impressed onto the crowd as some of the most important to survive in this field.

The PowerPoint presentation was peppered with memorable characters from commercial advertising; Snap, Crackle, Pop, the Aflac duck, and Hairy Dawg. Using characters like these has other benefits than just being memorable. Sapp said that ad campaigns come and go and may be forgotten but characters can be used over many different campaigns and grow more as a character and become a bigger part of the brand. Once the character has become well known, the brand can extend using the characters’ pull on their audiences. For example, Hairy Dawg was created to bring people into the football games by having a game and a performance from Hairy Dawg. Now, Hairy Dawg’s image is on shirts, footballs, and beach towels.

After the speech was over, the words of Sapp stuck out as not only advice for advertising and graphic design majors, but for anyone who wants to be successful in their field. “Don’t be afraid of new ideas.” Doing something new may not always work out, but to quote the adage, “nothing ventured, nothing gained.”