When I started at Ocean Park in 2000, one of the initial questions I asked was why the park did not have a mascot. The park did not have a recognizable character to represent it in the local or global market. Mickey Mouse has been a successful ambassador of Disneyland since the park began and I believe that a mascot could certainly help Ocean Park. I posed this question to staff as well as guests and received a variety of answers.
One staff mentioned that the park’s mascot was a seahorse because it was part of the logo at the time, and there was a sea horse carved into the mountain behind the park. The irony is that the park did not have a seahorse in its animal collection and there was no reference to it anywhere in the park. The seahorse unfortunately is also a small creature, hardly seen nor recognized, and while it may be “cute”, it was not considered warm and welcoming.
If Mickey meant so much to Disneyland and has led Disneyland to such success, Ocean Park was surely missing something by not having a mascot. A highly recognized mascot could support sales, marketing, and public relations opportunities for Ocean Park.
Ocean Park has so many animals under its excellent care and one of these animals could be the park’s mascot and ambassador. Perhaps we could even develop an entire family of mascots to create the fun and excitement of the park. Globally, there is overwhelming loyalty to Mickey Mouse, perhaps Ocean Park could develop this type of loyalty with its mascot. The Ocean Park mascot could be everything to the park that Mickey was to Disneyland. It was a good lesson to learn from the competition.
This was a challenge that our team accepted with great enthusiasm. With eager optimism, we auditioned several animals in the Park and unanimously settled on the sealion. The sea lion has all the attributes and features that represent Ocean Park. The sea lion is always smiling, waving, playful, full of energy, and constantly exemplifies FUN. He stood for everything about Ocean Park.
With the help of a graphic design consultant, a new mascot, “Whiskers”, was born. Not only would he be the mascot, but he would also become an integral component of a new logo. Ocean Park was evolving, growing, maturing, and together with Whiskers this new logo would exemplify FUN and EXCITEMENT at the Park.
Stay tuned for more about Whiskers.
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