The introduction of E-Score Character ten years ago highlighted E-Poll’s unique character tracking capabilities. The expansion of the product to include E-Score Character-Kids and E-Score Character-Tots greatly increased E-Poll’s ability to provide depth and context to consumer sentiments surrounding characters.

Over 12 million respondents have generated more than 2.7 million consumer comments on 4500+ characters fielded. With 28 character categories, E-Score Character products have measured characters as iconic as Snoopy and as obscure as Buddy Lee over the last ten years. Here are some highlights from the last decade.

• Characters in database
  • E-Score Character (13+): 2130
  • E-Score Character-Kids (6-12): 1500
  •  E-Score Character-Tots (5 and under): 910
• Number of Respondents
  • Character: 9.2 million+
  • Kids: 2.3 million+
  • Tots: 1.2 million+
• Number of Comments
  • Character: 1.85 million+
  • Kids: 580,000
  • Tots: 270,000

We are celebrating this tin anniversary with a look at some Character trends throughout the ten-year history of Character.

15 Minutes… Tracked Across a Decade

In our ten years of tracking characters, one of the most interesting of our 28 categories continues to be spokescharacters. Over the last decade Geico has been a leader in utilizing characters to convey their message in a light-hearted way. While some have been more successful than others, E-Score Character has tracked consumer sentiments surrounding Geico’s major spokescharacters.

Without a doubt, the Gecko is Geico’s most recognizable spokescharacter, with an average Awareness score of 56% throughout the last ten years, peaking in 2008 with 65% Awareness. The Gecko’s popularity continues today as he is still considered Funny (52%), Cool (28%), and Unique (24%) even after extensive continuous use.

While the Gecko is definitely the most recognizable of Geico’s spokescharacters, Caleb the camel has the highest average Appeal at 56%, with a high for all Geico characters of 61% in 2013. Although suffering from low average Awareness (17%), Caleb has made an impact on those familiar with him as almost a third of consumers Would Like to See More of Caleb, compared to 17% for the Gecko. A big part of Caleb’s Appeal was he was considered the funniest of the spokescharacters with an average Funny score of 74%.

The Funny attribute is a recurring theme for Geico spokescharacters. In fact, every character in every fielding throughout the last ten years, except the Geico Money Man, has been considered Funny by more than a third of people surveyed. To that end, all but one character has enjoyed higher positive than negative Appeal. The Geico Caveman scores a 46% negative, and only a 27% positive Appeal. This is validated in consumers’ comments describing the character as “Annoying” and “over used.” In 2012 one consumer said of the cavemen, “Ads stopped being funny long ago.”

Today, Geico’s spokescharacter tradition remains strong as the Gecko continues to work for the brand with continued high Awareness (53% today) and Appeal (43% today.)

10 Years of Transformers: There’s More Than Meets the Eye

With the release of the latest Transformers movie slated for next year, we looked at what has contributed to the success of the franchise over the last decade. E-Score Character has been tracking the Transformers franchise, and its characters since before the first movie in 2007.

Optimus Prime is the most recognizable of the Transformers. His highest Awareness came in 2011 at 37%, coinciding with the release of Transformers: Dark of the Moon. While peaking at 67% after the release of the first Transformers movie in 2007, Optimus Prime’s Appeal has remained relatively constant, evidenced by his current 65% Appeal score.

Individual Appeal of the characters, and the success of the franchise overall has lead over a third of consumers to state they Would Like to See More of the Transformers two biggest stars Optimus (38%) and Bumblebee (36%). Over 47% of consumers indicated they were Very Interested in a Movie for Bumblebee. Fans will get their wish soon enough as Bumblebee is slated to get his own spinoff movie in 2018.

The extendability of individual Transformers characters is high for more than just spinoff movies, especially amongst children. According to E-Score Character Kids, highs for Optimus Prime’s extendability into video games and toys came in 2007 with 81% and 70% of kids interested, respectively, following the release of the first film. His extendability is still high today among kids as 69% say they want to see him in a video game, and 63% for toys and action figures.

Takeaway

Ten years of research and data on over 4500 characters across 28 categories is a milestone worth celebrating. Whether you’re looking to quantify years of spokescharacter tracking, or understand the sentiments of consumers surrounding characters in their own words, E-Score Character has you covered.

Resources

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