custom mascots

Getting Selfies with Mascots

June 1, 2018Leave a Comment

We all take selfies

We take selfie w/ friends and selfies with family. We take selfies with iconic places like the Statue of Liberty and the Eiffel Tower.

…and we take selfies with branded, custom mascots.

We take selfies with people, places & things that we like. Our selfies become part of the family & friends memory. They get momentum in the the social media universe.

When we take selfies with mascots, that’s a pretty compelling form of marketing. The mascot becomes part of the the lore people share with family and friends.

Taking selfie with mascots is, indeed, a thing. It’s one of the many reasons mascots are such fabulous marketing ambassadors.

Selfies with mascots is a unique coming together of customer & brand. The mascots have become part of the family. One of the friends.

Send us your selfies w/ a mascot!

©Jennifer Smith/AvantGarb Inc. 2018

Bringing BetXi Bear to Life – The Alpha Xi Delta mascot

August 20, 20192 Comments

Bringing BetXi Bear to Life – The Alpha Xi Delta mascot

According the Alpha Xi Delta, AvantGarb is the”Glam Squad” for BetXi Bear. Her belt matches her shoes. of course! – and her shoes are yellow, patent-leather BetXi is ready for any occasion.

Lauren Fisher, wrote an article about making BetXi Bear, Bringing BetXi to Life – in Quill, the sorority’s quarterly publication.

Details, details, details

Getting the details right is what AvantGarb does best.

Making BetXi’s dress

We matched the fabric to theAlpha Xi Delta’s colors.

There is no fabric that is durable enough and has polka dots big enough for a socially active mascot like BetXi.

The artisans at AvantGarb cut out polka dots and stitched them onto blue fabric. We added light blue trim to the bottom of the dress and made that giant bow!

BetXi’s first appearance was at the Autism Speaks Walk in Indianapolis. BetXi travels from campus to campus promoting Alpha Xi Delta and their good works.

BetXi is classy, stylish and she has a big, big heart.

Betxi Bear clear — Alpha Xi Delta’s BetXi Bear

Small Business makes Big Mascots – UPS blog

April 12, 20121 Comment

We ship big mascots and we use UPS a lot. We use UPS so much, as a matter of fact AvantGarb made it into the UPS blog – Small Business makes Big Mascots. With big, custom mascots, good, reliable shipping is crucial. The mascot has to be at the game or at the product promotion or at the play-offs or cheering the runners at a marathon. We play a very tight game with logistics.

I have faith in our shipping sources. So, when UPS called, I answered. I am, after all, a wee bit of a shipping nerd or possibly a shipping obsessive.

Being featured in the UPS blog is an example of the power of accidental marketing. This is how it happened.

I tweeted @UPS to complain about a minor billing issue – the UPS people took the complaint seriously & they made my billing smoother – 1 bill a month rather than many. I tweeted something nice about shipping & UPS’s PR people gave us a call.

UPS is a classy company. Not only do they get mascots where they need to be when they need to be there, they respond calmly and efficiently to a complaint.

Turns out we’re mascot mavens & shipping savants here at AvantGarb.

JJ Jumper - NCAA Official mascot — JJ Jumper

Custom Mascots, Original Characters

July 16, 20172 Comments

AvantGarb designs & creates custom mascots. They are mascots that represent a team, school, event, product —even an idea. Each character is an original.

We’re a dynamic company of artists, designers and craft people. Our raison d’etre, our training and our experience is in custom creations.

There are companies that make many, many, many copies of the same mascot, and they do a good, efficient job. That’s not us.

We do, however make a few duplicates of the same mascot because…

Mascots have a very, very, very, busy social calendar.
The same mascot must be on the east & west coast at the same time.
A mascot is making several appearances with multiple performers
Each region needs it’s own mascot for all of the appearances and fabulous events that mascots get to go to —-this gets back to the busy social calendar

Sometimes we make 3 more or less duplicate mascots like the racing beer cans for Griffins Hockey

https://youtu.be/GC5ZcdJlCng

Sometimes 5 that do a lot of traveling TiVoWashSqNYC

—and occasionally 10 because there are many, many schools in the NCAA

J.J. Jumper – the official mascot of the NCAA @ mascot training

Our Mascot Mission is to be the physical marketing component for your marketing strategy. We strive to deliver countless hi-fives, hugs, laughs and “ooohs!” We resolve to be energetic, rambunctious and effervescent!