custom mascot

9 Reasons to Get a Custom Mascot Costume

February 12, 20203 Comments

Why get a big bundle of fuzz and foam with a big head?

1. Mascots are media magnets. No matter how good-looking and socially savvy your marketing people are, they will not get the attention a mascot gets by just showing up.

2. You posted a photo of your kid (or your mom, grandma, boyfriend, uncle) dancing with a mascot. You’re probably going to buy the product, go to the game, consider the college, attend the event.

3. You have an amazing, custom-made mascot. Your competition has a brochure. ‘Nuff said.

4. A mascot is a diplomat, your representative at events that matter in the community like parades, charitable runs, festival. You can probably name a dozen event where a mascot’s presence would enhance your brand.

5. When a mascot shows up, everyone knows they’re gonna have fun.

6. …and there’s mascot merchandising. Get bobbleheads, plushes, hoodies, caps.Marketing and the revenue pool is much bigger than just the mascot. When people wear your image – or sleep with your mascot —I mean the snuggly, plush toy of your mascot!!!! —-you have made a lasting bond.

7. Mascots are the true, real life, totally interactive social media.

8. Mascots are Brand Awareness Monsters.

9. Mascots promote goodwill for your brand because they bring people together in a community around the mascot. It’s a kind of accidental Flash Mob community. Mascots are the true warm fuzzies of marketing.

Join the fun! Let’s talk about your mascot.

Three Questions you need to answer about your Mascot Brand!

February 5, 2019Leave a Comment

David Raymond, aka the Mascot Doctor, was the original Phillie Phanatic performer. He is the founder of modern mascotting. He is the guy who walked the walk and perfected the wiggle.

Dave is our guest blogger for “A Mascot Makers’s Musings”. I always pay attention to what he has to say.

The Mascot Doctor is in the house and has three very important questions you need to answer to see if your mascot brand is in tip top shape. Just consider it a free check up with no needles, no pain and never any rubber gloves!

What would Disney do?

Maybe a better question…if you had Mickey Mouse as your mascot brand how would you be using him tomorrow? You would make sure your mascot brand was leveraged on every single communication or marketing asset you controlled. You would have dedicated mascot brand pages on your website. Your mascot brand would lead all of your communications and would be the face of your community outreach. Your stadium would contain mascot themed areas in concessions, merchandise, signage and facilities. Just think of all the places those “mickey ears” would be powerful!

Do you only have a “kid in a suit”?

Remember your mascot brand is not just a “kid in a suit”. It should be a living, breathing brand extension for your organization. When your fans come in contact with your brand it is all about memorable fun. What better asset do you have than your mascot brand? What other marketing initiative do your fans flock to, hug, take pictures with and share on all their social media channels? What other marketing asset creates emotional and memorable connections with your partners and fans? Answer to all those questions is “none” so treat it as you would any other powerful asset.

Do you care?

If you don’t care about your mascot brand then why should your fans, partners or staff care? Make sure your character costume is professionally cleaned regularly so it looks good and more importantly, smells good! Create permanent storage and costume care space for your mascot brand. Your performer should be trained and talented. Invest in training for your performer and make them accountable for developing a fun and interesting personality for your mascot. If you act like you care about your mascot brand then they will care as well!

Mascot Intervention

What if your mascot program could produce $30,000 to $40,000 of new revenue each year? Would you be willing to invest just a fraction of that in time and cost to find out how? Dr. Dave Raymond and his team of mascot health care professionals have the knowledge and tools to whip your mascot program into shape now! Just click on the Mascot Doctor and request a FREE consultation today! We promise it won’t hurt a bit !!!

A Guide to Getting a Custom Mascot – Mascots 101

August 14, 20182 Comments

It’s far from a common purchase. It’s so uncommon, people don’t have the language for ordering a custom mascot costume. If you’re thinking about a mascot, but don’t know where to start, AvantGarb’s Mascots 101 is for you. Think of it as your mascot guide.

It has answers to many questions like:

Getting a mascot design. We will make a dynamic, compelling design.Our mascot designs are made to fit a performer. The designs also have graphic integrity for print, signage, clothing, on the web, etc.
Understanding mascot costs for a custom mascot.
How to order a custom mascot.

There is also a quick explanation of something we call, mascotology, mascot marketing strategy and the importance of craftsmanship.
You may have ordered custom mascots before, but feel like you could use a little refresher course because:

You got a mascot several years ago but can’t quite remember how you did it.
You want a new mascot that looks like the old mascot – only better looking!
You want to add to your current mascot population.

Check out Mascots 101.

©Jennifer Smith 2018

With Mascots it’s ROI and ROL (Return on Loyalty)

February 10, 2018Leave a Comment

We are all looking for the Return on Investment (ROI). There are ways to measure ROI, Mascot are rarely understood as a factor in ROI. The mascot falls into that great unknown category called, “other”.

Think about a mascot as ROL – Return on Loyalty

Rather than having museum guards shoo children out of the Children’s Museum at closing time, the children joyfully skip out of the museum.

At 4:45, every afternoon, starting from the top floor of the museum, Rex leads a parade of children with flags and noise-makers down a circular ramp and out the front door of the museum.

There are many children who beg to go to the museum just for the Rex Parade. There have been numerous memberships purchased because of that 15 minutes at the end of the day.

It’s loyalty to the mascot that keeps the children coming back for the parade. ROL=ROI

A bank has it’s mascot at a community baseball game. The place is filled with families. The parents take a photo of their children hugging the mascot. Where will that family go when they are looking for a mortgage?

We were told the mascot we made for a bank made double their money back within the first 45 minutes it was introduced. ROI=ROL

A company wants to connect with their community. They have a mascot. The mascot heads out to festivals, games, fairs and holiday events. The mascot mimes, wiggles and high fives through the crowd. The mascot symbolizes goodwill toward the community. With a mascot present, the company or organization becomes part of the life of the community. ROL

Babies are given stuffed animals of the mascot from the parent’s alma mater. ROL + ROI

ROL – the mascot Returns on Loyalty over and over again

A grocery store has a very visible mascot. it is at stores and at every community event. the mascot is around so-o-o-o much, the families and children love seeing the mascot and mascot performer is terrific – of course they buy their groceries from the store that has the mascot.

Get a custom mascot and punch up your ROL!

Let’s connect!!!

©Jennifer Smith 2017

The Best Mascot Company

August 8, 2017Leave a Comment

Are we the best mascot company?

We’re awfully good at what we do. We have to be. We’re not a mascot factory. We are a mascot studio. What we do is custom, custom, custom, custom. We make sure all of the unique parts of your mascot come together. If the tail has a bit of a curve, we give it the curve.

If you want a pancreas , a muscle and a couple of cholesterols, we design them, dye the fabric and bring them to life!

When Heinz needs a mascot (Sergeant Squeeze) in camo & mascot sized, desert storm boots, we’re there!

If you’re Oyster Recovery, we’ll make you a cute, endearing, dare I say, “stylish” Oyster.

When the Cav’s mascots want tattoos, we make it happen.

Need some big, big muscles?

And if you are Kona the Penguin and you have a favorite print on your Hawaiian shirt, we will have that print made, as well as make the lei and some really swell flip-flops.

Each mascot is an original designed, sculpted, stitched and engineered in our studio. All the fabrics, furs, and foams are hand selected for each mascot. Often the fabrics, and sometimes even the furs, are custom dyed to match corporate colors.

A Mascots is the real live, Relationship Building, Marketing Magnet & Brand Awareness Monster. It had better look good.

Is AvantGarb the Best? We think so.

Let’s connect and discuss big things!

Say Hello

Mascots that make a difference

March 15, 2017Leave a Comment

When a mascot goes everywhere, the company has much more than a mascot. They have a mascot program. Then they have a mascot strategic marketing campaign. They have a mascot that makes a difference.

When you have a mascot you love, one that you are proud of, you will find you also have a mascot that can go anywhere. It is your community, goodwill representative .

I just met with a big, big company. They have a mascot that is showing it’s age. They use the mascot a few times a year. It’s a sweet mascot. They have taken good care of their mascot. In the past, it served them well.

However, right now, they like their mascot, but they don’t love their mascot. The mascot stays in the closet.

The company raises bunches of money for the local children’s hospital. They are involved in many different ways in local and worldwide communities. Schools, backpack programs, food banks are just a tiny sampling of their charitable interests – all places where a mascot’s presence highlights the good works of the do-good organizations. The mascot acts as an inspiring example of corporate responsibility and integrity.

Our goal, at AvantGarb, is to make mascots that companies, teams and schools love. When a mascot is loved, when the group the mascot represents is proud of the mascot, they send the mascot everywhere.

When a mascot goes everywhere, the company has much more than a mascot. They have a mascot program. Then they have a mascot strategic marketing campaign. They have a mascot that makes a difference.