Alright, let’s talk about that time we decided to slap a leprechaun onto a product as a mascot. It feels like ages ago now, but I remember the whole process pretty well.
Getting the Mascot Idea
It started pretty simply. We were kicking around ideas for making the product feel a bit more friendly, more approachable. Someone, I think it was Dave from marketing, threw out the idea of using a character. We brainstormed a bunch – animals, robots, abstract shapes. Then, somehow, the leprechaun came up. Honestly, I think it was because the product had something vaguely to do with finding deals, like finding a pot of gold. A bit cliché? Yeah, probably. But the idea stuck.
Designing the Little Guy
Okay, so we agreed on a leprechaun. Easy part over. Getting the actual design done was a whole different story. We hired a freelance illustrator. The first few drafts were… not great. One looked downright scary, another looked like a garden gnome someone painted green. We spent weeks going back and forth.
- Feedback round 1: “Make him friendlier, less like he’s going to steal your wallet.”
- Feedback round 2: “The hat’s too tall. Looks silly. Can we make the buckle shinier?”
- Feedback round 3: “Okay, getting closer, but the beard looks glued on. Needs more… flow?”
It felt endless. Lots of emails, lots of slightly awkward video calls trying to describe what ‘more charming’ looks like. Eventually, we landed on a version everyone could sort of live with. He was smiling, holding a little shamrock, looked mischievous but not mean. Good enough.
Putting Him Everywhere
Next step: actually integrating this leprechaun into everything. This wasn’t just a quick copy-paste job.
Packaging: We had to redesign the box art. Figuring out where he’d fit without overshadowing the actual product name took some shuffling. We tried him big, small, in the corner, popping out from the side. Finally settled on him sitting next to the logo.
Website: Stuck him on the homepage banner. Put smaller versions on different pages, sometimes peeking out from behind a button. It felt a bit tacked on at first, but we tweaked it until it looked less random.
Marketing Stuff: He ended up on flyers, email banners, even a couple of goofy social media posts. Marketing had a field day with puns about ‘luck’ and ‘finding treasure’.
Did it Work?
So, after all that effort, did the leprechaun mascot magically boost sales? Eh, it’s hard to say definitively. The product did okay, met its targets more or less. Some customers mentioned they thought the mascot was cute in feedback forms. Others probably didn’t even notice him.
Honestly, the biggest hassle was just the internal debate and the design process. Getting that little green guy finalized took way longer than expected. But hey, he’s still there on the latest version of the packaging, so I guess he earned his keep. It was definitely a learning experience in character design and branding integration, that’s for sure. You try things, see what sticks.
