It’s all very well having ‘mascots’ to represent your brand, but like the Michelin man and Ronald McDonald, it can quickly become tired and/or irrelevant, especially when they are nothing more than an image rather than a representation of what a brand stands for.
I don’t think it’s a coincidence that many brands are re-doing their logos.
Apart from the fact they all seem to have ‘happy faces’ [because a packet of KRAFT plastic cheese with a manic smile on it is bound to make a financially challenged community feel better about themselves] you can tell they believe this is a cheap and viable alternative to mainstream advertising – not because they can justify it as ‘new news’, but because they think their customers are so bloody obsessed with them, that any change in look will induce the same level of excitement and pandamonium as a 5 year old kid on Christmas eve.
Iconography is incredibly important, but if you [1] don’t give it specific meaning [preferably backed up through the actions of your company] and [2] have an entire category that has copied your look and service to the nth degree without you progressing to any meaningful level, it’s about as useful as asking Steven Segal for acting tips.