Marketing and all things related

Quick, can you name the mascots for the upcoming 2006 winter games in Torino? Don’t be embarrassed, no one knows. But take a look at this image; are these mascots animal, mineral, or vegetable? Marketing Blurb guesses marshmallow, but we are wrong! Meet Neve and Gliz, a snowball and ice cube, who are “designed to personify winter sports.”

Okay, so you’re not impressed. So what should we expect from an Olympic mascot? "A good mascot has to be memorable. If it's hard to identify or isn't recognizable as something specific, it's not going to do the job it's supposed to. A mascot needs to stand for something. It needs to be more than just cute - it has to have a personality," said Don Carter, creative director at Adams & Knight Advertising in Avon.

Expect to find these puppies deeply discounted on eBay immediately following the games. For a fun history of Olympic mascots see Olympic losers: 2006 mascots, like many before, are forgettable by By Greg Morago, Hartford Courant Staff Writer.