Shark mascot at tradeshow booth disaster
Posted on 01. Nov, 2008 by PJS in Tradeshow tips and tiffs, War Stories
I’m not going to get into the whole creative concept behind one of our marketing initiatives. What I am going to tell you is we purchased a professional shark costume to use at a tradeshow. This is some years back, the cost was approximately $1400 and it was awesome. If you wore this costume to the beach you would scare the hell out of beach goers. Small schools of fish would disperse in your presence. You could literally swim, mate and live with other sharks with this costume on…but try getting someone to wear it for 4 days at a tradeshow.
Now the shark concept worked great. We drew in a ton of prospects. Essentially we created a fun booth environment to draw prospects in and lower their guard. Our challenge was the mascot suit. Now for all practical purposes, we are going to name the shark mascot suit JAWS. We went to our talent agency to gather some hostesses to help work the booth and creative concept and someone who could put on JAWS. JAWS’ head was enormous. It was approximately 2 ft by 2ft and weighed about 8 pounds when dry and 15 lbs when soaking wet from sweat.
The talent agency could not find an “official” mascot professional so we went with some poor, unsuspecting guy who wanted to make a few bucks. He had no idea what JAWS had in store for him.
If you have ever worn a mascot outfit, they are hot as hell. Envision being in Panama in the middle of summer or vacationing on Sun. Note: If you want to lose weight, become a mascot. So we get this “unofficial” mascot guy and he’s all fired up to wear JAWS. He’s thinking this will be a lot of fun.
One of the requirements of the mascot, beyond working the booth, was to walk around the grounds of the show, while there was slow time. Now as per show rules he could not go around the show floor and promote but the show had no control over the outside of the hotel.
So we sent JAWS out on the grounds. Within a ½ hour JAWS came back exhausted. We were in Orlando in late June. OK… bad idea. We want to promote but we don’t want to kill anyone. So we limit JAWS to the booth. Even so the mascot guy had to take breaks every ½ hour. Now this guy was not lazy, it’s just that he literally was dying in the suit. You could be in a freezer and still be roasting in JAWS.
We went with plan B, thinking we could convince others to wear the suit. My old friend “SWEAT” was a problem. JAWS was soaked in sweat now, so no one else wanted to put on this suit… and I don’t blame them. You can’t push this issue, as it’s really a health/sanitary issue. So plan B was out the window.
Conclusion: JAWS DID make it 4 days and we paid him a bonus (all expense paid trip to the bar). BUT, we did not get our maximum ROI on the concept. With the continual and necessary breaks, JAWS was only seen maybe 30 % of the show. Note: We still made a big bang at the show and drew in 30 % more attendees then our original “attendee” target.
Solution: If you plan on using a mascot, ensure you get a professional. Additionally, you can actually get MacGyver with it and rig up a fan on the head of the mascot, to cool things off a bit. If your budget allows, get two suites and two persons to avoid lost time in breaks. Additionally adjust your mascot strategy. Have mascot appear at booth at designated times, instead of using him as a main attraction throughout the whole show.
-
Mascot Matt: Yes, there is a way to make this work. There are ...
-
Adam Bonner: I’d like to say this is a unique scenario but it i...
-
Karen: Good to see sales people put in their place... wai...
-
Jake: This is a really funny video. Passed along to all...
-
Andy: They should have 10 things never to say before an ...
15 Comments
Mqueen
11. Mar, 2008
I love this shark suit. cute, cute, cute. Guess it was not so cute with all of the sweat.
Hill
11. Mar, 2008
Sharks and shows, sound interesting. You should include pic of the guy wearing the outfit, punding gator aid.
Exhibit Seller
12. Mar, 2008
I wonder how the mascots at Disney get by. They’re out all day!
Dave T
12. Mar, 2008
One other idea would be to use a “cooling vest,” similar to those worn by NASCAR drivers. I believe basic ones can be had for only a few hundred dollars, and would likely pay for themselves at your first show. The costume makers may also have ideas if you ask.
PJS
12. Mar, 2008
Either Disney mascots are brought up in the Amazon Basin or they are using the cooling vests Dave spoke of
Larry
16. Mar, 2008
Down here on the Chesapeake Bay, our local marching band’s mascot is a “blue crab”. In the summer time, they line the suit with ice packs before each parade.
PJS
17. Mar, 2008
Getting some good solutions on the mascot issue. I may have to take the suit out again for another show.
AK
11. Aug, 2008
Do they have a cooling machine inside tha blue suit?
love this outfit
PJS
12. Aug, 2008
No cooling system…just a lot of sweat a tears during shows
Jeff
12. Aug, 2008
Next time get a camelback like the bicyclists use. That way he can have a regular stream of water while he is sweating.
PJS
12. Aug, 2008
Putting shark in giant water tank next time to keep cool
Shark
13. Aug, 2008
Hello all,
I am the poor sucker that wore the suit. It was a good idea at the time but I didn’t think it would be that hot. This comming from a guy that lives in Miami year round.
The all expense paid trip to the bar, in the end, wasn’t really worth the misery. But it sure beats costume option B, The shark head and a grey colored unitard!!!
Dan
13. Aug, 2008
The fish speaks out! Great story
Adam Bonner
05. Jan, 2010
I’d like to say this is a unique scenario but it isn’t. We get calls at our office all the time with stories like this one. Our company is the mascot talent agency the writer claims does not exist. We send professional mascots out all the time. Many of the seasonal Disney employees are in our data base.
All to often I find my self talking clients off a ledge. They have unreal expectations for their mascots. They some how forget it a person in a costume and have no concept of the mechanics of making that happen. Generally even the most experienced mascots need to take cool down breaks. Generally when your at a baseball game watching the first several pitches being thrown the mascot is surprisingly absent. You don’t notice it because the game has started. But as the starting pitcher is striking out the first 3 batters the mascot is perched in a back room with the head off, in front of a fan, clutching a bottle of water waiting for the bottom of the inning. Corporate mascots operate the same way. The only problem is breaks become more obvious. So like the writer suggests 2 identical costumes of the same character and 2 performers are the best way to ensure continuous coverage you can even consider having up to 4 in a hot environment each person does 15 minutes while the others rest. That, my friends, is the way the theme parts in Florida do it. Not only do they have to worry about killing someone, they have unions and workman’s comp premiums to look out for. Any heat related illness of any employee in costume sets off a firestorm of audits and legal reviews. So they want to make it as easy on the person inside as possible.
Any fan anywhere is a good idea to help the performer extend their time. Ice vests are only effective in certain applications. There are more effective devices out there. The costume design and construction also matters. If you are placing a mascot in Florida; the worst costume you can have is one with thick materials, fur, a muscle suit, and a coat or shirt over the character. You will notice many of the theme park characters are made with a thin spandex like material. If anyone reading this article is struggling with this give me a call or drop me an email. I’ve been a corporate mascot for 15 years I can tell you what has worked and what hasn’t.
Adam Bonner
COO The Mascot Organization LLC
1-877-9-MASCOT
Mascot Matt
11. Feb, 2010
Yes, there is a way to make this work. There are professional mascot actors out there (and I am one). A few google searches should have found one of us and Sharkey would not have created such a heated debate, but alas, debate is good since it makes people think!
Guys, why not call ME the next time you want your shark to swim the deep waters of a corporate tradeshow? I’ll show you how it’s done and yes, I can (and have) MacGyvered fans into many, many heads & indeed it does help!
Leave a reply