Project Checklist:

* Sizing versatility: How many people/performers does it need to fit? Doublecasting? Does it need to be sized for multiple performers?
* Does your performer have help getting dressed/undressed? We can build to suit a variety of situations.
* Does your performer's face show or not? There are choices you should consider, depending on your particular product or purpose.
* Component parts: A good idea for maintenance, cleaning and any needed repair.
* Movement: Are you hiring an acrobat or athlete? The costume must permit movement and visibility.
* Oversized heads may need to be built on helmets with chin straps if your performer is acrobatic.
    The head stays on plus protects your performer, and is a handy structure on which to build.
* Visibility: How well does your performer need to see?
       Acrobats and athletes need more peripheral vision than other performers.
* Hot weather? Give your performer frequent breaks every twenty minutes or so, plus Kold Kollar and Vests.
      We sell these with a minimum mark up. They're also available from a variety of outside vendors.
* Cleaning: Washability, drycleanable and spot-cleaning. What's your access to facilities and predicted frequency?

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Why we're the design business who should build your mascot:

* We give a damn. Beauty and functionality is our goal. Or reputation relies on it.
* We get excited about custom design projects and unusual challenges. You can buy a generic mascot costume anywhere.
       We're not much into generic or mass-produced products here.
       We'd rather work in partnership with you and your ideas, logos, graphics and performance ideas.
* We use only quality materials and we do quality work.
       This means we use only closed-cell foam in your mascot. Never upholstery foam, which breaks down
       from sweat, moisture and wear, and is not dry-cleanable.
       Our color-matching service is outstanding. This replicates your company branding and colors with consistency.
       We check all fabrics for color-fastness and washability, and try to use them throughout.
       We create specific care and cleaning instruction sheets for each component in your new costume.

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Mascot Concepts, Processes, Problems:

Below:
A series of sketches from a mascot project proposal. Includes ideas for components and specific prototype shapes for a new custom mascot.

We create drawings like these for all clients as a visual tool to show how your new costume is constructed, how it's worn and how it opens/closes.

Client:
Sam's Club, South Jordan, Utah.

Their concept:
The store planned to play the well-known "Chicken Dance" song twice a day over the PA system when the deli's rotisserie chickens were ready. The deli is located in the rear of the store, tucked in the back and pretty far away from the checkout lines. At the front of the store twice a day, near the checkout lines, their employee(s) would perform, dancing next to an easel holding a sign telling customers that "rotisserie chickens are hot and ready to take home."

What killed the Sam's Club chicken mascot project:
We thought it might be interesting to tell you how this story unfolded. It's instructional.

The Sam's Club District Managers loved their product manager's idea for the dancing chickens. But they (the big bosses) vetoed her idea for custom costumes. Instead, they bought a half dozen ready-made chicken costumes from another vendor.

Some months later, Jen made a friendly follow-up call to check in with the product manager, and learned that the Sam's Clubs in that district had abandoned their "dancing chicken" project altogether.

The ready-made chicken costumes they'd bought were too hot (fake fur) and they didn't stretch enough to accomodate multiple sizes. They were also getting smelly and worn, since no one on the Sam's Club staff was put directly in charge of overseeing any drycleaning or spot treatments.

What really killed their project was employee reluctance. Employees didn't want to do it anymore. This story could be seen as an object-lesson in how far a company should go in demoralizing its employees. By some accounts, Sam's Club employees are demoralized enough already. The company is a division of Wal-Mart.

It would be interesting to see how a business with a better employee relations reputation, such as Costco, might work with a similar mascot idea. We suspect it would work for them, given the proper context. At any rate, not all our project proposals get contracts, though even as you can see, the components and mocked-up shapes for thisr chicken mascot are pretty sophisticated. Not bad for a chicken.

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Below: Slides from a public presentation, Jen's: "Mascots: Costumes and Commerce Beyond the Theater" 2004, at ACTF.