Rationale

The FIFA corporate brand is symbolized by their promise “For the Game. For the World” and their mission is to “Develop the game, touch the world, build a better future”. By following the brands mission and promises, a mascot was to be created for the promotion of the next upcoming FIFA World Cup 2018 held all over Russia. The bear is known as a widespread symbol of Russia and was chosen as an initial concept for the creation of a mascot. The aim for the look of the bear, was to look friendly and approachable, fun and sporty.

The mascot was taken in an anthropomorphic approached. To give the bear a unique and fun look, a grass like haircut was given to the mascot. The mascot is to be designed to attract the attention of young teens and children. A slim/fit body was given to the character to create a sporty look. To emphasize the sporty/cultural side of the mascot, the bear wears a white t-shirt with the writing “Russia 2018’’ to promote the event, Blue shorts and a red wristband. The colors white, blue and red are used to represent Russian. The size ratio of the head, body and legs are very similar size, as this makes it less realistic. The poses used for the bear are based on movements with a football. 

Finals colored in

Final Sketches

Final sketch poses used for final A2 poster

Mascots Inspiration

Inspiration - Non sporty looking

Topic picked

For the initial idea and creation of my mascot. I decided to pick the national animal of Russia. The Russian bear.

 

http://russia-ic.com/culture_art/traditions/1074/#.VG1qFYuUcRo

The site below contains information on The bear in Russian culture.

The Russian bear is known as a widespread symbol of Russia. There's three cities with an image of the bear in their emblem.

According to the site ''the Bear is more likely a kind neighbor, or a guard, never a tyrant.''

In my opinion the bear represents strength, brotherhood, power and guard. Which sort of represent what Russia is. 

Character brand research

- FIFA as a brand.

http://www.fifa.com/aboutfifa/organisation/marketing/brand/

Taken from the site above, FIFA states that:

''The FIFA corporate brand is epitomised by our promise “For the Game. For the World” and our mission “Develop the game, touch the world, build a better future”.

All of the programmes and activities that FIFA engages in fall under one of the three components of the mission, whether it is through organising referee coaching courses to “develop the game”, “touching the world” by staging the world’s biggest single-sport event the FIFA World Cup™ or helping to “build a better future” with one of many social development initiatives.''

- Brand Values.

http://www.fifa.com/aboutfifa/organisation/mission.html

FIFA's claim is ''For the game. For the world''

Their mission is to:

Develop football everywhere and for everyone, Organizing inspiring tournaments and to care about society and the environment.

- Introducing Character as a brand.

Exploring options for Brand Mascot:

I have chosen to do an unofficial mascot for the FIFA World Cup 2018 held in Russia. As the Nation has not yet created a character. I researched previous World Cup mascots and most of hosting country used animals/people as representation of their country.

 

Some used to promote awareness towards an animal in the hosting nation. For example the mascot used for the Brazil 2014 World Cup was based on a nearly extinct Brazilian Three-banded Armadillo. The mascot was used to promote the tournament and also raise awareness towards the armadillo.