At Disneyland, the average queue time to meet a Disney princess is 45 minutes! This wait is simply for a minute-long conversation and a photo opportunity! This shows that the public, especially families, are willing to wait for that little bit of magic, and this can be utilised to promote your business.

Character Costume Staff

Character costumes or mascots are one of the most effective marketing strategies! They raise brand awareness and evoke a positive emotional response with your target audience. Since childhood, we have learned to remember and associate characters with brands. For example, the PGTips monkey, and the Pom Bear on Pom Bear crisps, and we continue to do so as adults.

One of my earliest memories is queuing for a photo on holiday with the mascot of the holiday company when I was around 4. These photos survive in family albums and in frames on fireplaces for years afterwards. They therefore act as a constant reminder of your product or service. In more recent years these photos may be posted on social media, further promoting your business to more potential customers.

Aside from the photo opportunities that character costumes create, characters simply attract attention more easily than standard brand ambassadors. This make the public more likely to notice your event and interact with it- increasing your conversion rates.

Costumes can be hired or created through various companies online.

Things To Remember When Using Character Costumes

There are a couple of things you must ensure you consider before using a character costume or mascot in your marketing activity:

Make sure you have a chaperone/minder to accompany your character throughout the event. Often costumes have restricted vision, larger-than-life feet, and are quite heavy. Therefore having a chaperone available to support your character’s safety is a must! Chaperones are also useful to control any potential crowds around the character or take photos of the public with the character.

Or you could consider hiring a specific member of staff to take photos at your event. Then you could institute a policy that the public can access their professional photo in exchange for signing up to your mailing list. This will further raise brand awareness and interaction.

It is also important to hire staff of the right height and size. Character costumes are often very specific sizes.

Moreover, many companies like to use popular and well-known characters for their campaigns. For example, book character costumes like Harry Potter, Disney-owned princesses, or Star Wars characters. These conglomerates however are not afraid to lawfully enforce their copyrights. Therefore check beforehand if you require a license.

Push Promotions Character Costume Experience

Here at Push Promotions, we work with a number of brands supplying mascot and chaperone staff for their promotional events. For example:

Duracell

We have worked with Duracell and their bunny mascot for several years at various events across the UK. These events include festivals, sporting events, exhibitions, and in-store promotional events.

A member of our staff wore the famous Duracell bunny costume at each event, who was used to attract more people to the event space. Other staff members encouraged the public to capture the moment with ‘bunny selfies’ and share them on social media.

As the photos show, ‘Bunny’, alongside their chaperone, always fully immersed themselves in the events of the day, creating positive brand association.

Simply Health

Push Promotions supplied experienced promotional staff to work as the Simply Health mascot and accompanying chaperones at The Great Run events.

Our staff were fully briefed prior to the events and so were able to successfully promote Simply Health health insurance and answer any general questions. Our mascot staff were selected for their experience and ability to take on the mascot’s mannerisms.

Soaking in the atmosphere of the day, our staff promoted Simply Health insurance to thousands of members of the public. Many of whom were the marathon runners themselves- a perfect target audience for such a company.

Sony Pictures

Since 2016 Push Promotions have worked with the world-famous Sony Pictures’ to supply staff for a number of their launch events. These events have taken place nationwide in various locations including shopping centres and exhibitions.

We have successfully supplied enthusiastic staff to create a buzz around the then-new Sony Pictures film! These include promotional staff, event managers, costume character staff, chaperones, and leafleting staff. These events are always so much fun to work at! Our staff truly embrace the fun and celebratory atmosphere.

Here at Push Promotions, we have a large network of staff available. So when working with character costumes, we make sure to choose members of staff who can truly bring the character to life. This helps to make it a truly immersive and memorable experience for the public. 

To read more about the promotional campaigns that Push Promotions have staffed, click here.

Using Character Costumes On Social Media

Furthermore, mascots can be also used very effectively in your social media marketing campaigns. Duolingo for example currently has 2.8 million followers on Tik Tok, and regularly gets more than 5 million views on their videos. All of which feature their own owl mascot carrying out the latest social media trends.

How Can Push Promotions Support Your Promotional Event Or Campaign?

Push Promotions have a network of experienced staff who have supported promotional events using character costumes for several years. Moreover, we have lots of staff with performing arts experience, which makes them perfect for character costume campaigns.

We supply our staff nationwide to events at exhibitions, trade fairs, shopping centres, train stations, high streets and more. As well as character costume staff, we can also provide staff such as promotional models, retail staff, hosts and hostesses, and product demonstrators. 

We handpick our staff based on your requirements and ensure that they are fully briefed prior to your event. We also aim to be available 24/7 backup service. This means we can supply additional staff on the day if anyone rings in sick or it is busier than expected. Moreover, all of our costume character staff and chaperones undertake a rigorous interview to ensure that they meet the high expectations expected.They are also fully briefed prior to each event so they can hit the ground running on the day.