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Enhancing The Matchday Experience


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As part of our plans to improve the matchday experience the Supporters Advisory Committee are exploring a number of ideas we'd like to share with the support. There a number of exciting initiatives being considered at present, all of which you should notice soon enough and hopefully enhance your visit to Fir Park.

 

The plan is to use this thread to initially convey our ideas, garner interest from you and also ask that you give examples of any alternatives we aren't aware of with respect to the matchday mascot(s).

 

It has been proposed that perhaps Claret and Amber have seen better days and we should potentially look at a more stoic and inspirational mascot to "shock and awe" the home and away support visiting Fir Park.

 

While we are conscious that the target demographic of the mascot is the children below 10, it has been suggested that possibly going for something echoing the area's industrial past while being slightly confrontational opposed to passive is what we should aim for. Using the suit with the mask up would potentially take the edge off this.

 

The idea on the table at present is something along the lines of an Iron Man outfit, obviously altered enough to keep Marvel Comics off our back. There is scope to make this out of moulded plastic/fiberglass or rigid foam – thoughts? We'd also like to incorporate a small tablet PC in the chest for graphics/animations/commercial messages etc.

 

http://www.twitvid.com/MVCOJ

 

We have also considered that when not in use this could be displayed on a manikin in the POD.

 

There is still potential for Claret and Amber to be used in some capacity or just retired. Would be an interesting eBay auction if it did.

 

Based on what we learn, we shall start a separate poll thread to get a definitive answer of which direction you would like to see the club go. As we said we are open to any comments and suggestions on design, materials and implementation.

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is this a piss take? really?it'd cost a fuck load to make a suit out of anything like what your suggesting. I'm a product design student though, so if you want I'll make this for you. Although may this scary new mascot not turn away visiting fans, I can imagine some dick dressed up in a suit might intimidate them too much, stick with the bears and lay aff the crystal meth.

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For me if we are looking at the mascots it would be more a case of how can find ways to get them to interact with their target audience rather than finding a replacement for them.

 

I only ever notice them going around the perimeter of the pitch or or dancing on it. Why not get them to go into the stands to meet the weans there for example?

 

Do something in one of the unused boxes early on a Saturday pre-match doing painting or drawings or some such creative/artistic shit like that and have them loitering in the background then you are doing your community bit. Hopefully the weans and parents will then kick about in the Cooper enjoying the pre-match build up (and spending dough) when said fun session has finished before going to the game itself.

 

But aye, nothing wrong the mascots as they are I think. They do the job.

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Keep the Bears.

 

Surely there could be room for another more 'edgy' mascott along side them.

 

Perhaps Claret and amber could focus more toward the cooper, being the family stand. And perhaps the new one could focus more on the PD and East, and obviously winding up the South stand too.

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Before I make my point, let me point out that I have a lot of respect for the SAC due to the great deal of help they gave us in the lead up to our Cup Final display but come on, are we really on the correct lines? Yes we want to improve the overall matchday but we also want to bring more punters through the door. Will replacing the current mascots with an IronMan like figure make any difference to attendances or the match day experience for that matter? I'd say the answer is no.

 

What I have noticed this season more than ever is the young Well fans watching people singing, bouncing and playing the drum, infact most of them seem to watch the guys singing more than they watch the players on the park. With that in mind I will give you an example of what we seen in Norway which I think could be implemented at Fir Park. Over in Norway its a completely different kettle of fish and whilst I understand certain things will never be the same due to cultural differences, I honestly believe we should adopt some of the same aproaches. You have men, women and children of all ages standing together and enjoying themselves, something which I believe is very different to over here where most people go out of habit. At Valarenga in Oslo they have a section of the stadium for kids aged around 8-14ish who are grouped together and make up the "mini-club" where a few older guys from the proper singing section take games in turn to get the youngsters in full voice, complete with waving flags, drums etc. The kids love it and it encourages them to attend from a young age then when old enough they can move to the proper singing section with friends who they have bonded with throughout the years. The kids at Valarenga seemed to be loving their matchday experience and it was very pleasing to see.

 

My highlight though was from the Cup Final between Aalesund and Brann where instead of 1 mascot they had 11 from each side. It wasnt like your stereotypical mascot experience though where the kid runs out with the team, what they done was have 11 cones like you would use for a dribbling excercise at football training lined up in a 4-4-2 position and 1 by 1 each kids name was read out through the tannoy and they ran out to an excellent reception for the crowd. For me you could see the pride in the kids faces and I could imagine it would be a lifelong memory. Now, you may argue what is different from this and the current mascot set up but I think it may bring a few more faces through the door. When I was a mascot many moons ago my mum and aunt who never go to the football came along. Imagine you had 11 mascots all bringing an extra body at least, it all adds up!

 

Now moving on to what we have place at the moment, no disrespect to the Cash Convertors Challenge or the Cheerleaders but how about setting up 4 mini parks and having children having mini games, yes we have had it before but not consistently. Its all about making people happy and giving them a day to remember.

 

 

Just suggestions though.

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Just so I'm clear... you want a mascot that will 'shock and awe' under 10's and be confrontational yet stoic while acknowledging a post-industrial throwback history while performing the function of a walking advertising whore....

 

and I piss gold while my shites sing la bamba -

 

keep the bears, maybe update their outfits, give them some sort of narrative that kids can connect with, have them visit some hospitals and fire their mugs on some bedspreads.

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Just so I'm clear... you want a mascot that will 'shock and awe' under 10's and be confrontational yet stoic while acknowledging a post-industrial throwback history while performing the function of a walking advertising whore....

 

Yes! And whats more shocking, awe-inspiring and stoically confrontational than an Ironman/Tellytubby rip off?

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If this is serious maybe the club could run a competition for kids to design a new mascot or something rather than just jumping in with a fairly mental and out of touch superhero idea.

 

I suggest a pantomime cow and we'll get michael Higdon to run about attempting to hit the back end of the mascot with an inflatable banjo, i've carried out extensive research reading this board and listening to some fellow 'well fans at games and i think this could be a popular idea!!!

 

Once Higdon moves on there will be a natural replacment too so this could work for generations to come!

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