Meet Mello, 2007 Cricket World Cup’s Mascot

 
(Top) Event Symbol; (Below) Event Mascot ‘Mello’
Image Source: Wikipedia

A mascot is usually a person or an animal who is kept as the symbol of a competition (e.g.: sports event) to bring good luck. Remember Asiad Appu? The mascot for the 1982 Asian Games, Appu was a kid elephant. I still remember seeing Appu on many T-Shirts, covers, bags and caps in the ’80s.

Coming to the 2007 Cricket World Cup , in mid 2006, the International Cricket Council (ICC) released the mascot named ‘Mello’ for the 2007 Cricket World Cup to be held in the West Indies. The mascot, the first with a social conscience, resembles an orange raccoon-like creature wearing a blue short-sleeved shirt over a white vest, a golden pendant, khaki trousers and blue canvas shoes. Mello is shown standing with cross legs and tossing a white ball in the air, while leaning on a cricket bat. Mello pins a red ribbon on the left side of his shirt showing his support for the ICC/UNAIDS initiative, aimed at creating awareness of HIV/AIDS challenges among people.

Mello has sparkling eyes, relaxing smile and pleasing personality, representing a youthful, friendly and fun loving character with a positive attitude and a zest for life. Mello is in his teens – cheeky and curious and aware of social and health challenges around us. The world cup mascot was chosen after an extensive worldwide research and development sessions.

Event Symbol
The event identity was developed by the ICC retained design agency Minale Bryce Design Strategy in consultation with a Caribbean Consortium of agencies called Howzat.

MBDS have overseen the development of all ICC Marks including the ICC CWC 2003 and ICC Champions Trophy logos.

In creating a logo for the event it was essential to develop a symbol that would immediately say ‘ICC Cricket World Cup West Indies 2007’.

The requirement was to create a symbol that would encompass aspects of Cricket, the Caribbean and the essence of its people, conveying this multiple message, quickly, simply and memorably.

It was agreed through extensive research and development that the logo needed to:

Reflect the aspects of Caribbean life, resonate with an international audience and encapsulate the spirit of Cricket.

Research, focus groups and interviews were undertaken in several countries in order to define the type of images that would attract a host of worldwide cricket lovers. A wealth of experience amongst this creative time worked to combine, condense and demonstrate all of the information gathered into a single image in order to produce this logo.

It is a logo that expresses the joy and exuberance of cricketers and cricket fans worldwide, in a Caribbean setting. The vibrant red figure central to the logo captures the exuberant energy of dance and celebration. The colour red represents the passion that the fans both in the West Indies and around the world have for the game of cricket.

The spirit of cricket and life in the Caribbean are shown through the close association of the core Cricket symbols of bat, ball and stumps, all presented in a palette of vibrant colours and shapes of symbols from the Caribbean.

The positioning of the bat and ball are figurative elements of the palm tree forming the trunk and fruit. The vibrant green of the crown of the palm tree, and the azure blue which stands for the surrounding sky and seas are the backdrop in which this prestigious tournament will take place.

Event Mascot
In the search for a character to become the Event Mascot many options were explored, from animals to inanimate objects. The highly experienced design consultants sought to create a character that did not have an association with just one or two of the Host Venues. It was also important to consider how the mascot would look in various environments for example running out onto a Cricket Field to help rally the crowd. The chosen Mascot needed to have personality and real character.

The extensive research and development sessions generated a common theme across the region…a zest for life, a life philosophy and the warmth of the people. It became clear that the Mascot was all about an attitude – a feeling, and looking at the role it would play, in embodying a lifestyle rather than a particular country or single culture.

Through word play and further research a name was selected. Once a name was chosen the Mascot concept grew from there, neither an object, animal nor person but instead a youthful, friendly, contemporary character with bright eyes, a big smile and an abundance of personality.

The result is Mello: He’s in his teens—cheeky and curious and socially aware like so many young people today. Mello is available in three poses — greeting, bowling and batting. Because Mello is conscious of the growing HIV problem around the world he wears a red ribbon to show his support for the ICC/UNAIDS initiative.

Hello Mello!