[url=http://www.loverugbyleague.com/news_10564-world-cup-mascots-unveiled.html"To have young fans involved in the creation of our mascot was important for us. This was to make sure that we really had something that 6-12 year old fans could really engage with.[/url

"Grubber and Steed will be a big part of RLWC2013 and will bring new young fans and families to the tournament and thereby also help with our legacy commitments..."

Designed by children, for children. Stop bloody moaning.

the original criticisms of the Olympic mascots were that they looked like a couple of penises.

the criticisms (well my criticism) of these, are that the actual drawing (not the concept) looks amateurish and unprofessional i.e. it is not very slick, and therefore unlikely to generate much awareness of the mascots (and the RLWC) outside of the RL websites.

How old are you? If you are older than 12 - with respect - it doesn't really matter what you think.

Sod me, it's the taste police.




Iam amiddleaged man and I can see that the RFL and RLWC 2013 have missed yet another opportunity to get it right.

.

Nope...I hadn't given the choice of mascot a second thought until I saw this thread......if they'd designed a decent one,I'd have applauded it...they didn't.

This isn't about the marketing of RLWC 13, it's about the mascots, that are bloody terrible in mine and many others opinions.
If you want to discuss marketing, then please let me know how many of the 590,000 tickets available this superb marketing has seen snapped up to date.....is it still the 50,000....or as some would call it, 8.5%? 50,000 tickets is 20% of the semis/opener/final.....there'salot more superb marketing needed IMO.

Indeed.




You are a middle aged man criticising a children's mascot. Your opinion on this is irrelevant.




It doesn't matter what you think.




Unless the 'many others' you speak of are less than 12 years old, your opinions are irrelevant.




There's still 50 weeks to go before it kicks off, I'm sure they have it all in hand.

As others have said the mascots (any mascot for that matter) are aimed at primary school kids to catch their interest and to add to the matchday experience for children. It doesn't matter what adults think about what they look like. If kids like them then they have worked and fulfilled their purpose.

As far as attracting publicity and spreading awareness of the RLWC goes that has little if anything to do with the mascots. All the mascots will do at events publicising the tournament is be stood at the back at media events and wave at people from within the costume. The only time they would be likely to be the focus would be if a publicity event was at a school or rugby club where the RLWC organisers were concentrating solely on publicising to children.

The vast majority of awareness will come from social media where the like of Wayne Rooney, Rio Ferdinand, Bradley Wiggins and RL players will write about the event. Lets hope they are more positive than some forum posters.

Not really aimed at me.

The fact that kids designed them (which i think is a cracking idea) doesn't mean the final design should look so amateurish. Especially having saved cash by getting kids to design it for free.
There seems to be a lot of people now who complain about the pessimism in Rugby league and strut around pretending everything is perfect, its really not, it's not totally down the pan, put its far from perfect.

Really? So all these kids are going to break open their piggy banks to buy tickets are they? The Mascots, regardless of who the "spin" says they are targeted at, are a trojan horse to the wallets of Parents....some of them middle aged no less, so the opinion of those that would bankroll the purchase of ticket, is valid.
They look amateurish.......they reflect that amaturism on our sport.....this is my opinion which in fact does matter...regardless of what the taste police would like to think

If the kid likes it, the parents will fork out for it. Their opinion of it is irrelevant.

Pokémon cartoons look rubbish and amateurish in my opinion and I'm sure some parents will agree, but the kids love them and their gear sells by the truckload...

What they could do, is produce a limited ammount of mascot merchandise and sell it at all the Rugby League grounds, if it goes well produce more. It will get the attention of the younger fans and hopefully get their interest and they are our future in Rugby League.

Just out of interest to those people criticising it, what do YOU think would have been a better design? I see lots of criticism but nothing in the way of alternative suggestions to what the mascot should have consisted of or looked like?

what recession

...seems that spoilt brats are the norm now in blighty....




..yeah, they will blindly call Bradford sponsors to finance the purchase and then blame the city for their woes




...mainly because it's cheap to buy...........AND IT'S A GLOBAL PHENOM!

Are you expecting this cuddly toy or mini rugby ball with a face on it to be gold plated or something? What a stupid argument.

An adults opinion of a children's mascot is irrelevant. That is all there is to it.

...sorry, but as a parent who was expected to purchase everything from Disney's Fantasia (on video, not the original) onwards, I do not find the quality of design of a product irrelevant at all......so no, that's not all there is to it.

The mascots on paper look cheap and tacky and I certainly wouldn't consider purchasing one for a child, regardless of it being RL related or not......

Well then you are a bad parent...


...and a stubbon miserable old bugger too.

BUSTED





TWICE

So called fans having a negative pop at their own sports, only in Rugby League !

The concept itself isn't that bad. No one seems to be bothered by the fact it's a bear and a ball, and I quite like the name Grubber and Steed. It's just the final drawing looks incredibly tacky.

I did a design A-Level about 7 years ago (bloody hell, was it that long?!), and although I can't remember much, there are some things that just spring to mind with this bear that really shouldn't be in a final design:

The ball looks 3D but the face on it is flat.
The bear's head looks like something from the 60s. The colour and the drawing look so dated.
The brown on the bear has shading, but only a tiny part of the shirt does. The shading is also in different places on the head, the arms and the ball. Where is the light supposed to be coming from?! And they haven't given it an outline, but they've give a part of its hair an outline. You either stick to it or don't, you can't just mix it up.
It looks completely flat, and their attempt to give it some perspective was to curve the lines on the shirt a bit. The lines just look wonky.
Speaking of the shirt, it's just too busy. Does it need every colour on it? Does it need every badge on it? The bear is meant to represent a player by the looks of it, yet how many RL shirts look like that? Even Harlequins didn't have that much colour. If you looks at the bottom right as well, not only is one if the panels empty, but the one below it didn't even fit and just sticks out of the shirt. That's just a shockingly amateur photoshop job there, not a professional job.

What I'd have done is have a completely different shirt. I'd have it based on the RLWC logo (which is a fantastic design and should be kept for future world cups to create brand awareness). Navy base, then the green, gold, red and blue chevron on it.

If also either make a far better effort with the shading, or just get rid completely and have it as just one plain colour so it looks simple (with black outline if they go that way).

Probably a completely different head as well.

A may conduct a social experiment on Monday and ask my Year 5 class what they think. Judging by the teddies they brought in on Friday for Children in Need, I'm not sure they'd like this current mascot much!

It's a bear?

You do know they aren't just going to have a cardboard cut out of that picture as the mascot?

Word.

Christ on a bike there's some miserable sods on here. If they're a hit with the kids then who bloody well cares?

Some fella called Mark O'Hanlon created it apparently. Some guy in Liverpool...

You do know that this is the imagery that will be used in promoting it?