Creating your mascot character is an exciting process, but selecting a mascot design company can be a daunting task.
If you are looking to design your first ever mascot, you’ll want to make sure that you choose a highly skilled and experienced mascot design company for the job. This will help to ensure the quality, longevity and comfort of your mascot costume, which will improve your return on investment.
That’s why it’s important to look for a mascot design company that will build a custom mascot costume that perfectly represents your mascot character’s personality, values, and backstory - working collaboratively with you at each step of the journey, from concept to creation.
You want to look for a company which is able to offer its own creative ideas that enhance your existing design, yet at the same time one that is cost-effective and will support your mascot costume long after it has been built.
To help you find the right mascot design company, BAM Mascots has listed four key considerations you should pay attention to:
#1 -Do they build custom-made mascot costumes?
Mascot marketing strategies are all about making your brand recognizable and helping your organization to stand out from the crowd. Yet some mascot companies are offering off-the-shelf mascot costumes that aren’t custom-made - this defeats the purpose of your mascot marketing strategy.
To have a truly impactful mascot marketing program, make sure you work with a mascot design company that will design a mascot that is completely unique to your brand. This will ensure your organization is unique and your mascot delights its audience. It will also ensure that your organization will own the rights to your character and, depending on the company, will make the character art available to you once the mascot costume is built.
#2 - Do they create comfortable and mobile mascot costumes?
Designing a mascot costume is fun, and it’s often the aesthetics of your mascot character that you are paying attention to during this process. You have to remember, however, that you are going to be employing a mascot performer to spend long periods of time in that costume, and it has to be comfortable for them.
When looking for a mascot design company, ask them what they do to ensure their costumes are both comfortable and mobile. Mobility factors should be discussed during the design stage, to ensure your costume strikes the right balance between appearance and mobility.
#3 - Will they collaborate with you to design your mascot?
Mascot design is a collaborative process. You will likely have an idea of what you want your mascot costume to look like, but your mascot design company should be willing to work with you to suggest creative ideas that will enhance your design even further - they are after all highly-skilled and experienced when it comes to building effective mascot costumes.
Choose a company who is happy to meet you where you are in the design process. If you already have a great design or a partial design, the company who creates your costume should be willing and able to work with your design. For those without a design idea, the company should be able to work with you at every stage of the design process, from helping you plan the initial concept all the way to the actual build of the costume. This will ensure the mascot costume that is shipped to you will be even better than you expected.
#4 - Will they help educate you on proper care and maintenance of your costume?
A mascot costume is a big investment for your organization, and to make that investment go a long way you need to properly store, clean and maintain your mascot costume. While a mascot design company can’t do this for you, the very best designers will be willing to take the time to educate you on some ways you can properly take care of your costume.
This should include tips on how to clean each specific part of your mascot costume, how to store your mascot costume while it’s not in use, how to repair any damaged parts on your costume and any other advice that you’re looking for.
The best mascot costume design companies will work with you to ensure you have a seamless experience that lasts years.
Once you choose a highly-skilled designer you will reap the rewards!
Once you have chosen a designer and your mascot costume has been created, the benefits of mascot marketing will be huge for your company. You’ll be able to use your mascot in your marketing strategy to increase brand recognition, improve audience engagement, build a superior brand story and increase your social media presence.
Your mascot will become the face of your organization. Driving better audience relationships, creating new revenue streams and ensuring your brand becomes more memorable.
Want to learn more about mascot costume design, and how BAM Mascots can help? Contact us today. With more than 25 years’ experience in mascot design and manufacturing, our team of mascot design experts would love to answer any questions that you may have.