Mascot Musings Archive

Mascots, the Coronavirus & the Stock Market

March 20, 2020Leave a Comment

Although It’s Bad, The Sun Will Shine Again

Nobody’s buying anything.

Nobody’s going anywhere.

Every place is closed – schools, restaurants, churches, the gym, hair salons.

San Francisco is in lock-down, NYC is worse.

Broadway is closed.

The stock market is headed to the basement.

The coronavirus is on the loose.

Although it’s bad right now, the sun will shine again.

Your Mascot Is Your Most Valuable Asset

Wally Wabash – Wabash College – a strong mascot!

Your mascot cuts through the anxiety and keeps the conversation active between you and your target audience. – probably through social media. In these high anxiety times, your mascot may be your most valuable asset.

Yes, we need to speak frankly about the danger we are facing, we need to be prepared.

We also need to express the love we have for each other and the companies and organizations that lift us up and make our lives better.

That’s the Mascot’s Job

The mascot is the bridge that unites you with the fans, students & customers.

The mascot advocates for the fans and is the most ardent and loyal fan of the team, the school, the organization and the product.

Yes, it feels like everything is closed, but we need to keep joy alive —and that is the mascot’s job.

When schools open, the mascot will greet the students back to the campus. After living through the coronavirus and the stock market crash, students and parents will need to be reassured that the school is liquid enough to provide a great education and a rich campus experience. The mascot needs to look good.

When times are good, the mascot can look a little raggedy because the world looks pretty good.

When times are tough, the mascot is a super-hero, and superheroes look good and put on a brave front.

Making mascots is important work. We don’t take it on lightly. They bring joy to the world.

We’re strong mascot makers. We’re up to the job

Let’s connect and discuss big things!

Say Hello

©Jennifer Smith 2020

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.

Mascot Makers, Designers, Experts & Know-It-Alls

March 6, 2019Leave a Comment

From Idea to Mascot & BEYOND!!!

We’re with you from from concept to design to finished mascot. We can also guide you with your mascot strategic plan, mascot training and mascot safety.

There’s a whole world of mascot trainers, advisors, designers and performers who are also part of our world. We consult with them on a variety of projects almost daily.

We’re mascot know-it-alls

Need a custom mascot? Get in touch.

Adorable Crew

We’re a pretty adorable crew. The gaggle of mascot makers at AvantGarb are loaded with talent. That’s Annie at the top of the page. She’s sitting on her favorite high-heeled shoe chair to attach a wheel to a truck mascot. She’s one of the Magnificent Mascot Mavens.

Queen of Fuzz

I head the crew of mascot experts. On my biz cards I’m the Queen of Fuzz. I started Avant Garb in my Berkeley, CA garage in 1986.

Mascots were just inching their way into the culture when Avant Garb started making them. They were so new, I had to invent ways to make them. We’re still inventing.

Master of Mascotology

Annie is the studio manager, and she’s in charge of shoes and accessories. In Mascotland, tails are accessories. She’s also my daughter. She has been hanging around mascots since she was a toddler.

We awarded her a special, Mascot of Mascotology degree

Puppets, Video & the Over-head Projector

Mike’s background is puppets, video & the over-head projector – yes, really! In his hands, the over-head projector is an art form & it’s hilarious! Turns out those are great skills to have in the mascot studio

Fuzz Whiz

Tonie was on the Phantom of the Opera Costume Road Crew for a year. She also grew up in costume shops. Her mother was a designer. She knows how to put all the foam, fuzz & fabric together.

Lucky us! Tonie also works backstage on many of the big shows that come through town so we sometimes get great stories of stars backstage.

Robotics, Sound and Lights

David is our lights, robotics & sound guy. If the mascot needs some sort of battery & sequential lights or some moving part that needs to be manipulated remotely, David knows how to do it. He is, indeed, a wizard!

Let’s connect and discuss big things!

Say Hello

©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

Racing Presidents – Not Just for the Ballpark

July 14, 2016Leave a Comment

Racing Presidents

Racing Presidents aren’t just for the ballpark. A racing president is a way to celebrate new leadership, bring characters in history to life in a BIG BIG way and strengthen a sponsorship message.

The planners of festivities welcoming Dr. Angel Cabrerra as president of George Mason University, asked AvantGarb to create a big-headed racing president in Cabrerra’s likeness.

Here’s the video

Have some BIG FUN!

Mascot Muscles

December 10, 2015Leave a Comment

Pumped up mascots!

First Sir CC, the mascot for the Cleveland Cavaliers, got the really fabulous muscles. Then he got the really cool tattoo.

Making Mascot Muscles is an art. It takes astounding pattern drafting skills, super-hero sewing skills, a bunch of the right kind of foam – foam that can be washed in a washing machine and keep it’s shape.

At AvantGarb, we lo-o-o-o-ve making muscles and we love modeling our work, too

Here’s a huge muscle mascot arm & Wally Wabash, the mascot we made the arms for!

…and then there is Viktor the Viking for Niles Schools, a very handsome mascot.

….and an awfully strong bear named Brutus, for Bellevue University – his eyes light up.

Check out the video! https://youtu.be/k10a7hhScXY

…and here’s a strong dog, LEO the Lab for Law Enforcement Against Drugs in NJ.

Do you need a big, strong mascot, a mascot with muscles? for your school? organization? team? event? product? video game? We know how to make mascots with muscles!

Thinking about getting a mascot?

It’s a Frog! It’s a Mascot! It’s Hank the Frog!

August 31, 2021Leave a Comment

The mascot adventure usually begins with and email. Hancock Health had a sweet drawing of an orange frog and they wanted a Hank the Frog mascot.

Here at Avant Garb Mascots, we got busy designing the mascot.

We picked out some nice, soft, durable fabrics for Hank. We started making patterns for Hank’s frog’s body, sculpting the head and forming the feet.

…and, after attending to all of the details —-and its all details, Hancock Health has a mascot for events, health initiatives and sponsorship opportunities —and mascot they can be proud of that represents care, integrity and—well— fun!

©jennifer Smith/AvantGarb Inc 2021

Mascots Are Brand Diplomats!

November 30, 2020Leave a Comment

They are BIG and somewhat unmanageable.

They are MASCOTS, and mascots are diplomats for your brand.

Think of mascots as enthusiastic community liaisons who represent your brand in very public places.

Lives change in the presence of a mascot:

Victor E Bull the mascot for U. Buffalo

Say you’re looking at a couple of schools. Both are terrific schools. At one school, the mascot shows up to greet the potential students. You take a selfie with the mascot and go to the bookstore to pick up a plush of the mascot. You’re already invested in the school culture.
Or you’re at a sporting event and turn to the person next to you and say “Holy cow! I love that mascot!” and that comment leads to a new romance or a lifelong friendship.

Both scenarios are monster events. Something BIG happened because a mascot was present.

BIG, Somewhat Unmanageable & Fun

You’ve probably seen the Geico Gecko. The mascot is a Brand Awareness Monster for GEICO. The Geico Gecko has brought big, somewhat unmanageable attention to their brand and it’s been really fun and exciting to witness the personality of the brand through the Gecko.

Many have switched to the brand because they like the mascot.

We all know, Disney uses mascots brilliantly. Who doesn’t recognize Mickey, Minnie, Pluto and Donald. They have lead million to Disney parks, theater, movies and products.

Mascots are powerful. They represent the brand’s true desire interact with their community.

Mascots are Enthusiastic, Community Liasons

Community is formed around mascots. That’s good for the brand, the team, the school and the world.

Thinking about getting a Brand Awareness Mascot?

We’ve been making mascots since before they were a “thing”. We will work with you on design and bring the mascot to life in our mascot studio ,

Let’s connect and discuss big things!

Say Hello

Tweets by avantgarb

Food & Beverage Mascots Are Ardent & Memorable Sponsor Representatives

November 18, 2020Leave a Comment

The FDA Nutrition Label Mascots

*When the FDA added more information to their Nutrition Label, they let us know about it with food package mascot costumes*

Usually, food, product & beverage clients want the name of the product BIG, FRONT and CENTER. However, if you’re making a food product mascot for an FDA ( Food & Drug Administration) and they want to get the word out about the expanded information on the nutrition label, the nutrition label is BIG, FRONT & CENTER.

Front of FDA Food Package Mascots – well, Really the back – the Nutrition Labels are in the front. In the Mascot Studio

We’ve made a bunch of Beverage, Pop-top Can Mascots

Beverage Cans Mascots show up in all sorts of venues. They often serve as sponsor representatives.

The Beverage Can Mascots race on the ice at hockey games and run around bases ball games. They go to the rodeo and show up at store promotions. The name and the product are primary. They are hugely effective marketing tools all sorts of events, both live and online

Pepsi Cans at the Rodeo – Western Wyoming Beverage

*Budweiser Beer Can Mascots in the mascot studio – finished and ready to ship!*

…and the Cocktail Cans

A few years ago we got a call to make some Cocktail Cans for Coppercraft Distillery. Some of the cans hang out with the Detriot Lions.

*Cocktail Can Mascot for Coppercraft Distillery enjoying cocktail hour*

Familiar products in mascot form, with arms and legs are endearing – they make us friends with the product. Mascots are the warm-fuzzies of marketing —they bring all of us together.

xo the mascot know-it-alls

Let’s connect and discuss big things!

Say Hello

The Soybean Mascots

November 11, 2020Leave a Comment

Nobody thinks about soybean videos – we do! – Click below the pics.

We’ve made a few Soybean mascots. The very 1st was Bennie the Bean for Indiana Soybean growers. Bennie has shown up at the Indiana State Fair, as well as Indiana Soybean events for over 20 years. He’s even made a few music video!

*Bennie The Bean – Indiana Soybean Council*

A few years after we made Bennie, we designed and made Simon the Soybean for Missouri Soybean Growers. Simon hangs out at Busch Stadium where the Cardinals play. He runs a race with corn & a pig at every home game.

Our most recent Soybean is Suzie Soybean for North Dakota Soy Bean Growers. Suzie represents Soybean Growers at events throughout North Dakota. She was even featuresd on the cover of N.D Soybean Magazine!

The mascot makers at Avant Garb know a lot about soy beans.

Let’s connect and discuss big things!

Say Hello

What comes next/ Mascots in a Post Pandemic World

July 22, 2020Leave a Comment

Even during the quarantines and the pandemic, the mascots reach out to us with —well—goofy joy. Like us, the mascots have adjusted. They totally get social media. They groove with ZOOM. They easily interact with fans, students and customers no matter what the circumstances.

They are with us in on our screens as we work from home and tiptoe into the office.

When we all come out of our homes to explore the ever-changing new normal, the mascots will be there to greet us.

Stay in touch with each other, wear a mask and connect with your favorite mascots.

xo Queen of Fuzz and the Mascot Makers

Grateful for technology allowing our department to stay just as productive these days…
#WorkFromHome #SocialDistancing #NBATogether pic.twitter.com/GV9AtxcJP5
— Pierre The Pelican (@PierreTPelican) March 28, 2020

https://twitter.com/i/status/1243721675797073928

Let’s connect and discuss big things!

Say Hello