Initially mocked and disdained, Phryge was revered, even venerated, during the Paris 2024 Olympic and Paralympic Games. His success is unprecedented, in a country much less familiar with mascots than the United States and Asia. Mascotte+ founder and creative director Steve Knafou, 34, specializes in creating these emblems for various companies. According to him, the popularity of Phryge is not explained only by its “tenderness.”
What are the qualities of a good pet?
The most widespread idea is that a pet should generate sympathy. This is true, but it is not enough. A good pet must also, and perhaps above all, transmit the values of the communicating structure. You need to support a message. For example, a hedgehog accompanying a sponge clearly shows that it is scratching. A rabbit representing a brand of batteries symbolizes the energy they release.
Next, the pet should help memorize the brand. I like to cite a study from the University of Pittsburgh. [Pennsylvanie, Etats-Unis]which shows that 50% of people who have seen a mascot remember it three months later, while the figure drops to 5% if it is just a logo. Finally, it can become a source of income thanks to derived products.
Does this necessarily imply a smiling face?
It is not inevitable. Some work without facial expression, like the BIC man. But, in 90% of cases, companies want a smiling mascot, because that is part of the principle of mimêsis: we feel the emotion it gives off, exactly as the masks of Antiquity already did. The smile conditions positively. However, it is also problematic, because if it is overlooked, the effect is the opposite: the pet can scare the little ones. And, for my part, I prefer to convey other messages, such as speed or modernity. A company must want to tell more than just sympathy.
Can a pet take any form?
There are four types: an animal (for example, a squirrel), a human (like Mr. Propre), a humanoid (like Michelin Bibendum) and, finally, objects to which we add arms and legs. This is the case of Phryge but also of the M&M’s mascots or the McDonald’s Happy Meal. Maybe that’s why Phryge was destabilizing when it launched, because it was the first time in the Olympics that we had an object mascot and not a humanoid or an animal. In theory, the object transformed into a pet is the most regressive. It works well with children because it evokes babies. It is a logic of proportion between the head and the body: when the head measures more than a third of the body, as is the case of an object to which we glue a face in the middle and limbs around it, we take the proportions. of the baby.
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