the power of mascot
#mascot
By ki korsik
Exploring different ways to attract new audience and develop your own sports brand I’ve realized that having a mascot is one of the most underestimated tools to reach your marketing goals.
In this article, I will give some examples of how having mascot can positively set you apart from your competitors.
A mascot will be the face of your sport club
“A Mascot will be the “Face” of our sport organisation? We thought it`s our athletes” – this is how a representative of any sports team might react to a
headline and would be right, but in my opinion only partially. You need to realize that mascot is something else. It is something that people will have a direct contact with, so to speak, a link between you and your fans. You always want to be presented in the best possible way and you don`t want to ruin the first impression, do you?
Mascot can perfectly play the role of a middleman between you and the fans. Before you let the mascot work, I would wecommend you think carefully about all the details that your mascot will have. The closer you can display your principles and character, the deeper the connection between the club and the fans will be.
A good example is a Swoop, a mascot of Philadelphia Eagles. He is an eagle
wearing a sport jersey of a local NFL Football team. With his „Strong and true“ heart he describes perfectly the values of his sport organisation.
Fun is just next to him
A mascot is not only a powerful marketing tool that represents your brand,
your ideas as a sport organisation but also its just perfect for entertaining the crowd at all stages of match day.
Where Entertainment is located there is also a chance for engagement. Use it! Everything that the mascot does should attract attention of the entire stadium.
Even small things such as taking photos with fans or playing with kids should let the public a positive experience which will help to build your brand.
As an example, could be taken any mascot from the United States. It’s not only about professional teams there. Every College, every school has its own mascot. So, mascot is not only entertainment, there mascot can rather be perceived as the identity of the team.
“Click” and Post
We now live in the 21 st century where people post all their pictures on (social media) instargram, facebook or twitter. Your goal is to appear on as many photos with fans as possible! That’s why your mascot should be the most instagramable thing in the stadium!!!
Friends of fans will see these photos on social media. This is a potentially huge platform for attracting new audiences. Just get this free advertise!
Because of his image and appearance, Gritti is one of the most controversial and popular mascots in the world. This is why fans are happy to take photos with him and share them on social networks.
Be Off the Field, be everywhere!
Do not limit yourself to just a sports field. Send a mascot to various social
events!! This is not just an ad for your team, but much more. Participation in
various events will give you an enormous competitive advantage over others. Potentially a new audience, curious looks, photos, social media posts, and here we are again on the Internet! Perfect! Be always one step ahead. Be everywhere.
One of the good examples can be a promotion in the “Youth Sport Trust” Club mascots from around the country showed off their super moves for thousands of children at more than 70 schools.
