Experience design agency, BRC Imagination Arts, has teamed up with iconic Jim Henson’s Creature Shop™ to create a mobile mascot for Expo 2015 in Milan.
The first-of-its-kind travelling mascot is based on a litter of cute canines from the film, “The Golden Ear”, part of a story-driven media and asset package created especially for the Expo by BRC Imagination Arts. Its purpose is to spread the message, “Growing Europe’s Future Together for a Better World”, among Expo visitors and around the streets of Milan.
“From our earliest conversations, the European Union wanted a deeply engaging, emotionally evocative, transmedia experience that could touch the greatest number of people possible, ” explains Christian Lachel, Executive Creative Director and Vice President of BRC Imagination Arts. “By partnering with Jim Henson’s Creature Shop to create this traveling mascot, we transcend the Expo’s physical boundaries and make people part of the story in ways that have never been done before.”
BRC Imagination Arts has been creating award-winning World Expo experiences for over thirty years. The puppy characters will feature in a range of merchandise as well as digital games and social media.
Peter Brooke, Creative Supervisor of Jim Henson’s Creature Shop describes the mascot experience as a perfect fit for Jim Henson’s Creature Shop’s brand because it offers “the stellar integration fans have come to expect.”
“This mascot experience is very interactive, ” he says. “We created animatronic versions of the puppies, and a custom bicycle with integrated controls that animate them in their engagement with guests. We are inspired by innovative ways to bring characters to life and this project takes the story beyond the screen and makes it completely immersive, so everyone who encounters it shapes the story in their own way.”
