tomtoronto.ca

This post might not be exactly PR related, but I think it’s close. Mascots are PR representatives too, right? They interact with the public, promote the company, build relationships, close enough. I bring this up for a thinly veiled segue to write about the new Vancouver 2010 mascots. There’s been mixed reviews, but I quite like them. They’re cute, easy to market, they contain elements of Canadian cultural heritage (barely,) and they’re born ready for merchandising. In fact, I swear there are already stuffed toys available at Pacific Mall.

So meet the three mascots, Sumi, Quatchi and Miga. There’s also a quick questionnaire to find out which mascot you’re most like. Apparently I’m most like Quatchi, which suits me just fine. Miga looks like a bootleg Bad Badtz Maru, and I don’t know what the hell is going on with Sumi.

If the VANOC are smart, they should get some social media going on their site invloving their mascots. There’s still plenty of time until 2010, which could really get a community going. Not too much social media freedom though, this one is for the kids. I would suggest something similar to what Coca Cola did with Coke Music, but instead of making fresh beats while being buried in Coke ads, the users could compete in olympic themed games. Throw a leaderboard in there, add some facebook groups (or even develop it as a facebook app,) and you’ve got a nice little community quickly falling in love with the mascots and getting psyched for the 2010 Olympics.

I would also like to point out a potential political disaster in the making. The main theme for 2010 seems to be environmentalism, and Canada’s connection with nature. This is a great message to promote, but our government has failed to meet Kyoto demands, and Harper is already taking criticism for his lack of environmental initiatives. I hope we make some serious improvements in environmental policy before the Olympics come to Vancouver, or Miga won’t be the only one with red cheeks.