Brief:
- Energizer is offering digital stickers featuring the Bunny mascot that people can add to their chats on Apple's iMessage, according to a company press release. The battery brand has a free pack of 13 stickers, six animated and seven static, to express a range of ideas including popular catchphrases and the brand's "Still Going!" slogan.
- Lori Shambro, vice president of global marketing at Energizer, said the iMessage stickers showcase the bunny's edgy, disruptive personality while engaging fans. Ad agency Camp + King created the Energizer Bunny stickers.
- The sticker pack is available for download from Apple's App Store, while the animated stickers also can be downloaded from Giphy, the search engine and database of GIFs.
Insight:
The Energizer Bunny doesn't just keep going; he's adapting to today's marketing world. While the 29-year-old Energizer Bunny saw 95% recognition by U.S. consumers back in a 2008 Cartoon Q study, the new sticker pack aims to help modernize the iconic rabbit to reach a wider and younger audience — one that typically prefers using chat apps over phone calls to talk to friends and family.
According to Adweek, the battery maker and its agency Camp + King released a Snapchat lens in 2016 and gave the bunny an animated makeover to make the mascot more expressive.
The shifting focus to mobile advertising platforms comes as consumers experiment with how they hold typical conversations. Texting now goes beyond typing words to include emojis, stickers and GIFs. There were 13% more posts containing emojis in March 2018 than there were a year earlier, social intelligence firm Talkwalker reported. That use of emojis will likely only continue to increase in marketing communications, a Wisconsin School of Business study found in February. That means brands like Energizer will likely want to adapt its strategy toward mobile in order to be part of social conversations and remain a relevant, household brand name.
Since its appearance in 1989, the Energizer Bunny has helped to boost recognition for the brand in a disposable battery market once dominated by Duracell. The bunny has become a cultural icon with a spoof on "Saturday Night Live," a float in the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade and a tie-in with candy brand Peeps. It was even inducted into the Madison Avenue Walk of Fame last year, highlighting the marketing power of iconic brand mascots.
