The link between doodling and brand innovation

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n If you’re a fan of Hugh Macleod and his blog Gaping Void, you’ll want to check out this Business Week article on the use of doodling in Corporate America. Apparently, Hugh’s “blue monster” doodle (left) has been adopted by Microsoft as its unofficial mascot:

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“Ever since MacLeod sent the cartoon to [Microsoft executive Steve] Clayton and posted it on hisnblog, gapingvoid, more than a year ago, the “bluenmonster” character has become an unofficial corporate mascot among manynMicrosoft employees, posted in cubicles, printed on business cards andnT-shirts, and added to e-mail signatures. “I’m told it always leads tonan interesting, atypical Microsoft conversation,” says MacLeod—thenresult he had hoped for.”

There are a lot of other great examples, too, of doodling being as a marketing and branding tool. The current UPS Whiteboard campaign makes extensive use of doodling, as did a past Johnnie Walker Keep Walking campaign that sketched out business plans on cocktail napkins.

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[image: The Blue Monster]

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