W&M to Announce Mascot Tuesday at Kaplan

By Ben Huber, of the W&M Flat Hat Monday, April 05, 2010

The 16-month search for the College of William and Mary’s new mascot is coming to an end. The winning concept will be unveiled Tuesday at 5:30 p.m. at an event in Kaplan Arena.

“The project is completed [and] the rest is in the school’s hands,” a representative for Torch Creative, the firm hired by the College to design the mascot, said.

The finalists, chosen by popular vote, are: King William and Queen Mary, the Wren (a nod to the Wren Building and the bird), the pug and two mythical creatures, the phoenix and griffin. In unscientific polls, the Wren came out the winner although the new mascot's identity is not known.

College Athletic Director Terry Driscoll confirmed last week that the project was nearly complete, but was awaiting news on trademarking issues.

“[There have been] issues with trademarking the potential concept,” Driscoll said.

As of last week, the U.S. Patent and Trade Office did not show any approved or pending trademarks associated with the College, or any of the five potential mascots. According to the patent office, the process for approval of a trademark can take anywhere from one to several years.

This waiting period could mean that the College will not have sole intellectual property rights on any of the Torch-created designs. However, that does not mean that the College would not be able to sell apparel featuring the new mascot.

The College’s Mascot Committee held tryouts for the mascot position March 29 and 30. According to Driscoll, turnout for the auditions was better than expected.

“[The committee was] happy with the amount of interest, happy with the response, and happy with the way the auditions went,” he said.

The student selected as the new mascot will work with the College and the Raymond Entertainment Group, which specializes in creating mascot costumes and working with athletic teams to make their mascots successful. They have previously worked with the Cincinnati Reds’s mascot, Gapper.

When the athletic department commissioned the search for a mascot in January 2009 the search process, including the creation, design and ultimate decision on a new mascot, was scheduled to take 10 months. The mascot was originally scheduled to arrive in time for Homecoming 2009.