New mascot to join Rocky will debut at 2011 Music Fest
Rocky may embody boundless school spirit, be friendly to a fault, and capture the imagination of thousands of excited Rockets fans with his mischievous antics and showy stunts, but even he can’t be two places at once.
To help Rocky reach a wider and more diverse audience, he will soon be joined by a friend to help promote a sense of unity and spirit in the UT community.
The new female mascot will be introduced to the University on Aug. 31 at the 2011 Music Fest prep rally.
“We are expanding the mascot program and formalizing it as an outreach of our External Affairs branding,” said Lawrence J. Burns, vice president for external affairs and interim vice president for equity and diversity.
“Mascots across the country for athletics teams are increasingly not only representing those teams, but also are going to elementary and middle schools, as well as malls and things of that nature. A second mascot allows you to achieve this broader reach for UT more easily without having one mascot appear in two different places simultaneously.”
UT community members and Rockets fans have the honor of naming the new mascot and can do so at http://www.utoledo.edu/mascot. Rank your favorites among the six proposed names listed on the website or suggest a new one. Voting will take place through July 31 and the name with the highest number of “Love” votes will be the new mascot’s name, which will be unveiled along with the mascot at Music Fest.
Rocky and his partner in midnight blue and gold will sometimes appear at the same events and have the opportunity to interact with each other. At other times, they will split up to attend different promotional opportunities and increase UT’s exposure.
The new mascot was designed by the Olympus Group with input from the UT Marketing Office and Division of External Affairs.
Press Release Contact Name: Meghan Cunningham
Press Release Contact Email: [email protected]
Organization Name: University of Toledo