How Puget Sound gets around
What the client faced:
When done right, mascots give a personality to a brand that draws people in and create an affinity with customers. After Sound Transit approached us with the inkling of an idea to create a mascot for its ORCA payment card, we leapt at the opportunity.
What We Did:
Our initial step was to research how brands around the world had approached the use of mascots. A key learning was that transit organizations are frequent users of mascots but we found the majority of them were odd, awkward, or even creepy. Our design team recognized the opportunity to do something completely different. Drawing inspiration Puget Sound’s friendly, welcoming nature, we recommended a different approach. The team leaned into new pop culture icons like Grogu from The Mandalorian and Baby Groot from Guardians of the Galaxy. After several rounds of sketches, an adorable orca mascot came to life.
Meet Boop
The ORCA team instantly fell in love with the character. However, before introducing it to the world, the mascot needed a name. We held a naming contest with four potential options. “Boop” was the runaway winner — inspired by the sound the payment machines make when a successful
transaction is registered.
More Awesomeness:
