There are some brand characters who may be worth an Oscar but, no matter how hard they try, they are fighting huge odds - there product is impossible to characterise. Who now remembers the Cement Fairy ? And so tastefully painted too. Disney meets Al Capone. An advert for Portland Cement. Parent bodies produce touchingly bland images so no one manufacturer can be offended. Isn't Cement a Good Thing ? "ONCE UPON A TIME most of the little particles of Portland Cement when mixed with water flocked together in groups. When they flocked this way, the water could not touch some of them at all, and many others got only partly wet..." undated c1944 and perhaps with a hint of irony...
 

01 An exercise in bravura - how do you personalise SALT - so basic - so DULL ! Well you invent Sterling Salt. Still DULL. In an unfortunate precedent he appears to be pouring his own product down the plug hole. I never found him again - perhaps he went the same way as the salt. June 1946 7.5 x 8cms. and attached to an advert headed, "Peas' First Words are....Pass the salt."
 
02. Mr.Frib appears in this database on two counts - a most unfortunate product and, on the second count, an utterly unmemorable charcterisation, almost to the point of Surreal splendour. Such flair needed to ripple those asbestos trousers, and then a firm (too firm) outline to the whole suit. And is that a 'Varsity scarf ? He is the short lived brand character of Celotex F.R.I.Board. "I'm not only ready to protect your building against fuel wastage and heat loss, but I am fire resistant as well." boasts Mr.Frib. Too many believed him. 15 x 17cms.
 
03. An ingenious representative for the British Scrap Iron industry. Under the circumstances I suppose you can't expect much better :"Speed the Steel Scrap Drive by the British Iron and Steel Federation. "
This is an ideal case for analysis. What exactly does this brand character intend to achieve ? Why is a Brand Character needed ? How adaptable would he or she be ?