TAIPEI CITY – You can see them on the basketball field, in the cheerleading competition and even on team TPE’s uniform. BARRON, DOUMA, SYKA, LUKA, RIKY and PARUTY, they are the mascots of the Chinese Taipei University Sport Federation (CTUSF). These six mascots each represent an endemic animal of Chinese Taipei. They are not only a set of cartoon characters, but also a symbol to unite university sports in TPE.
CTUSF started to develop its mascots in 2012. They cooperate with the visual design company Plugin B&V to adopt the corporate identity system (CIS) into almost every marketing products and publications of CTUSF. Besides having the mascot costume, you can all see these cute faces on the TPE pin, the CTUSF calendar, and CTUSF’s monthly newsletter. Originally, there were only 5 mascots. But as time past by, CTUSF realised that the popularity of these mascots have increased, and they decided to create the sixth mascot- PARUTY.
It is very rare for a university sports federation to create its own mascot, because in most countries, it is usually universities themselves who create their own mascot. However, the scenario is different in Chinese Taipei. Schools seldom develop their own mascot. “For CTUSF, our main target is the university student. However, we have noticed that university student’s interest level towards university sports is not high compared to other level of sports. And we have been thinking for ways to grasp their attention, to make them more involved in university sports.” Dr. TSENG said. “Our colleagues from the marketing section and I did a lot of research, and we found out that university students actually like cute cartoon characters. So we came up with the idea to create a group of mascot to represent our federation.”
The outcome of the mascot design turns out to be quite successful. With a distinct federation image, people can relate university sports with these mascots easily. Besides, student-athletes and spectators from different ages often swarm to sports games to take pictures and to get stickers and postcards of the mascots. Another clear example is the uniform of Team TPE at the 2013 Kazan Universiade. With the image of Captain Barron on it, team TPE’s uniform was a popular exchange item in the Universiade Athletes’ Village. Dr. TSENG points out: “These mascots have helped us to rebrand the image of university sports in TPE, and brings vitality into this field.”
(Source: CUTSF)