How Smokey Bear comes to life online

Contrary to the song popularized in the ’50s, the character known for letting you know that only you can prevent wildfires is “Smokey Bear,” not “Smokey the Bear.”

“There’s no ‘the,’” Michael Bellavia, CEO of marketing and communications agency HelpGood, told Marketing Brew. “That will make the Forest Service go nutty.”

For the last 15+ years, Bellavia and his team have worked with the Ad Council, the US Forest Service, and the National Association of State Foresters to correct name misperceptions and raise awareness of how to prevent wildfires as the force behind Smokey Bear’s social media accounts. Smokey can be found on Instagram, Facebook, YouTube, and X, but he is no longer on MySpace.

“I think he finally got off of it,” Bellavia said. “As most people did.”

With years of experience across social platforms, Bellavia told us about how he has brought the iconic figure to life online and worked to keep him relevant in these ever-changing digital times.

Fired up

Smokey Bear turned 80 last month, but he has remained somewhat consistent over the years. As a federally regulated character, Bellavia said there are some limits as to what Smokey can and can’t do online, especially when it comes to straying from the “Only you can prevent wildfires” message.

“It’s a very tight lane, but that’s also what’s helped him stand the test of time,” he said.

Bellavia said he often looks to other government agencies on social media for inspiration. Sometimes, he’ll pitch an idea to the Forest Service as, “If NASA can do this, can we do that?” he said.

There were previously “unwritten rules around Smokey engaging in non-forest-fire-fighting activity like lifting weights or dancing, but pushing the envelope has proved to work well for Bellavia’s team. In late 2016, they produced a “mannequin challenge” video without prior approval, which he said helped propel the social strategy forward.

“We figured that [the Forest Service] might say no, and so we produced it on the sly, ” he said. “It was [Smokey’s] highest-performing video out of any PSA that they’d ever launched, and it was skunk-worked and produced for like $1.50, so I think that they couldn’t ignore that.”

Smokey continues to participate in current viral trends. A recent video of Smokey dancing to Chappell Roan’s hit song “HOT TO GO!” has become one of his top-performing videos on social, Bellavia said, and has nearly 100,000 likes on Instagram.

In the last few years, Bellavia said he and his team have experimented with using more slang to give Smokey a “fun uncle” type vibe—but with caution. “I try to not make it like that Steve Buscemi ‘How do you do, fellow kids?’ type of thing,” he said, referencing the 30 Rock meme.

Showing up unexpectedly in the comments section when the account is tagged on social has also helped Smokey’s following grow on social, Bellavia said. “If people are walking around and see somebody left an abandoned campfire, they’ll tag him and he’ll growl at something like that,” he said.

But that’s as far as Smokey’s policing goes, according to Bellavia. “He’s not a cop,” he said. “You’re supposed to regulate and be the governor of your own actions.”

Physical brand mascots continue to grow in popularity, and Bellavia said Smokey will continue to feature in videos, as well as appear in places like state fairs, the Today show, and the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade. He’s also participated in Advertising Week’s mascot gatherings and competitions.

Bellavia said he expects to see more brands adopting mascots in the future, touting the benefits compared to using actual, human spokespeople. “It gives [brands] a little bit more power, and an easier way to convey a message,” he said.

As for the next message Bellavia hopes to convey on Smokey’s socials? Finally correcting the source of the “the” confusion.

“I’d love to see us do, at some point, a brand new song for [Smokey],” he said. “It’s been a while since the 1950s song came out.”