ew brand mascots enjoy as much worldwide popularity as Fido Dido, the spokes-character of PepsiCo's youth-centric, flavoured brand, 7UP. The cartoon character was created by Joanna Ferrone and her friend Sue Rose. Born as a doodle on a cocktail-napkin with just 15 lines, Fido today has moved on to T-shirts, and more.

Ferrone was recently in India to work with 7UP on a three-dimensional Fido, and to explore merchandising licensing possibilities. Jump Games, a games division of the Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group, has launched a Fido Dido mobile game. Delhi-based apparel company, Perfect Apparels, too plans to come out with T-shirts, jeans and Bermuda shorts featuring Fido. As Fido moves beyond the 7UP turf, Dhaleta Surender Kumar caught up with Ferrone, who is the president-founder of Fido Dido Inc and also heads the creative development team at Cartoon Network.... more