• Wall Street Journal , Tuesday, March 27, 2012 10:30 AM

Marketers are putting characters on social media. StubHub's animatronic talking tree with tickets as leaves is one. In commercials, the tree, known as the "Ticket Oak," lives in a suburban backyard and doles out tickets to neighbors.

Hormel Foods Corp. has a cartoon knight named Sir Can A-Lot on Facebook. Diageo launched an ad campaign for its Captain Morgan rum last May that starred a live-action captain character. It is the first time the character has appeared in TV ads.

Ad executives say consumers on Facebook are more likely to bond with a character than the traditional company page on the social-media website. "Consumers are less likely to have a conversation with a logo or a PR guy on social media," said Jeff Charney, chief marketing officer for auto insurer Progressive Corp., whose Flo now has 3.5 million fans on Facebook.

Read the whole story at Wall Street Journal »