Define
A single figure, drawn, silhouetted, or posed, is the whole claim. You can read it across a street.
Mechanism
Compression into a body. The figure is not decoration. It is the sentence. Distance-legibility is the test.
Verdict
We need a mark that works at poster scale, and one character can hold the promise.
Don't
The claim needs argument, numbers, or a comparison. A figure cannot do a reason-why.
Copy skeleton
[FIGURE: one pose, one prop] [CLAIM: 8 words or fewer] [MARK / URL] (No body copy required)
Gulf note
Gesture and dress codes matter on outdoor. A calligraphy-integrated figure can replace a Western mascot. Test the silhouette at street distance.
Rights-cleared examples
Drene Shampoo ad presented by "Drene Girl" Arline Dahlman, Ladies' Home Journal 1947
Good Morning - Have You Used Pears' Soap?" (Life, Aug 1 1889; cropped from ad page)
Keep That Schoolgirl Complexion" - Palmolive (Shadowland, Sept 1921)
'Royal' Coffee of all Grocers & Stores - poster
'n Kwartje voor de meid
1890sc Pears Soap Ad
Ambassadeurs: Aristide Bruant - poster
Aristide Bruant (Mirliton) - poster
Aristide Bruant dans son cabaret - poster
As antiquated as Hoop Skirts
B. T. Babbitt's Best Soap: 'Soap for all Nations'
Bar Riche, Munich - poster