The BAM Mascot Family Blog

Sharing Your Mascot To Spread The Word

[fa icon="calendar"] Sep 21, 2016 10:04:40 AM / by Angie Maxine

FLIP the Mascot of Gymnastics OntarioDoes your mascot have a purpose beyond entertaining your fans and supporters? For many organizations a mascot plays an important role in connecting with children and parents to communicate a helpful message.

Not-for-profit community organizations concern with safety, healthcare, education, and fitness, often have specific awareness goals to achieve with their marketing programs. A mascot can help reach these goals by communicating key points with their backstory, through actions or skits during an appearance at an event.

 

FLIP the Mascot of Gymnastics Ontario at local events

 

Increase the Reach of Your Mascot

If your organization operates in a specific region, and one mascot performer is available to cover all your events and programs, then you might not be thinking about increasing the reach of your message using your mascot. After all, your performer may not be available to travel for appearances in a nearby city. Are you missing marketing opportunities because of this limitation?

How could you increase the exposure of your mascot over a larger area and leverage a much bigger marketing opportunity for your organization?

Gymnastics OntarioSocial media is one way of reaching out to a group of people, virtually unrestricted by geography. However, if you want your mascot to physically appear at many more community events, clubs, meetings, parades, and gatherings, consider the strategy used by Gymnastics Ontario. They make their mascot costume available to interested groups to borrow, free of charge!

Gymnastics Ontario is the sport's governing body in Ontario. They are an umbrella organization for member gymnastic clubs, developing training programs, running Flip Ontario Custom Mascotcompetitions, and promoting fitness.

BAM Mascots worked with Gymnastics Ontario to create their mascot, Flip.  Flip was named by an 11 year old member of Gemini Gymnastics in the organization's mascot naming contest. Flip's backstory makes it clear that Gymnastics Ontario wants to get the message out that children should try the sport even if they are shy or feel unsure of themselves.

"Flip recently came to our planet from a galaxy far away. Alone and unused to our atmosphere, Flip found himself a bit wobbly and very lonely. Looking to improve his balance here on earth, he decided to sign up for a gymnastics class. Not only did Flip learn some cool new skills, he also made new friends in the process. Naturally shy, Flip found himself coming out of his shell and gains confidence with each day in the gym. Now Flip is buoyant in more ways than one and thinks gymnastics is out of this world!" : source Gymnastics Ontario

Since launching their mascot program, Flip has appeared at sports events on behalf of Gymnastics Ontario.

Share Your Mascot Costume!

Gymnastics Ontario encourages clubs and other groups to book Flip (borrow the mascot costume), as an exciting way 'to show rather than tell' children and parents about the numerous benefits of the activity and sport.

Their website contains an FAQ to help explain the process with questions such as:

Why Book Flip?
What Type of Events Would Flip Like to Attend?
How Much Does Flip Cost to Rent? (free)
Who Can Play Flip?
How Do I Book Flip?

Gymnastics Ontario provides the costume, the Flip Handbook, and a storage container. Implementing a security deposit that can be used if a costume is significantly damaged can protect you from additional costs and lower the risk.

For some organizations, sharing their mascot costume with other member or associated organizations, could be an effective strategy to reach their goals by spreading the word and leveraging their mascot program.

If you are interested in more tips about Mascot Marketing read these other BAM Family blog posts:
Mascot Marketing (all)
Creating a Great Backstory for your Mascot
You Can Learn From This Brand Monkey

Would you like to find out more about getting a custom designed mascot costume for your organization? Fill out the get a quote form and we'll start the conversation with you - describe the process and give you pricing.

Make A Custom Character Mascot

 

The BAM Mascots team blends creativity with manufacturing excellence to create an innovative, high-quality mascot for your schoolteam or organization.  With more than 25 years experience in mascot design and manufacturing, and hundreds of mascots in our portfolio, the BAM team has the knowledge and skills to bring your dream mascot to life.  Contact us today at 1-877-858-4226 to get started!

Topics: Sports Mascots, Mascot Marketing

Written by Angie Maxine

Angie is a co-owner and partner of BAM Mascots, a leading Canadian maker of custom designed mascots.

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