Best Corporate Campaign & Best New Corporate Character | The 2026 Mascot Awards
The Corporate Mascot Awards are the Mascot Hall of Fame’s annual honors for brand characters. Two Golden Reggys recognize the companies that put a mascot at the heart of their story: Best Corporate Campaign Led by a Mascot and Best New Corporate Character.
A great brand mascot does what a logo can’t. It walks, waves, dances, tells jokes, and makes people feel something about a product they might otherwise never think twice about. These awards celebrate the characters and the creative teams that turn brands into personalities.
Best Corporate Campaign Led by a Mascot
What the Best Corporate Campaign Led by a Mascot Award Honors
Best Corporate Campaign Led by a Mascot honors an outstanding marketing, promotional, social, experiential or community campaign in which a mascot played a central role in bringing a brand’s message to life.
The winning campaign uses its mascot creatively and authentically to capture attention, communicate a message, inspire participation, strengthen brand affinity and create memorable experiences.
Eligible campaigns include advertising, social media, product launches, experiential activations, community initiatives, seasonal promotions, partnerships and integrated campaigns. The mascot must be more than a cameo. It should be essential to the idea, the execution and the audience connection.
What Judges and Fans Look For
- Creativity and originality
- Mascot integration and character execution
- Audience engagement
- Brand alignment
- Demonstrated impact during the eligible award year
Special consideration goes to campaigns that could not have achieved the same personality, emotional connection or memorability without the mascot at the center.
The question this award asks: Which brand most effectively used the power of a mascot to create an original, engaging and impactful campaign this year?
The Four Dimensions to Show
Creative Idea + Mascot Integration + Audience Engagement + Measurable Impact
Best New Corporate Character (2 Years and Under)
What the Best New Corporate Character Award Honors
Best New Corporate Character honors a mascot or character introduced by a company, brand or organization within the past two years that has already captured attention, connected with audiences and brought its brand to life.
Launching a great brand character takes more than a great-looking costume. The strongest newcomers quickly develop a recognizable personality, purpose and voice that give people a new way to connect with the brand behind them.
Who Is Eligible
Characters must have made their official public debut no more than two years before the current award year. They must represent a company, product, service, destination or other organization outside traditional sports and school mascot programs.
What Judges and Fans Look For
- Originality and design
- Personality
- Brand alignment
- Audience engagement
- Creative execution across live appearances, advertising, social media and experiential marketing
- Early impact and long-term potential
Big ad budgets and existing brand awareness don’t decide the winner. This award recognizes how effectively the new character itself has connected with audiences.
The question this award asks: Which new corporate character made the biggest impression and showed the greatest potential to become an iconic brand mascot?
The Four Dimensions to Show
Character & Design + Brand Connection + Audience Engagement + Early Impact & Potential
How to Nominate a Corporate Mascot
For either corporate award, each entrant may submit:
- One 60–90 second campaign recap or character highlight video
- 5–10 images or campaign assets
- A summary of 250 words or fewer. Campaign entries should cover the objective, the mascot’s role, the execution and the results. New character entries should cover the official debut date, purpose and personality, and how the character has been activated since launch.
- Up to three supporting links (optional): campaign content, media coverage or social posts
Where available, include measurable results such as impressions, engagement, participation, earned media, attendance or audience growth.
Open Mascot Awards Corporate Mascots Can Enter
Corporate characters can also compete in the open categories, which are eligible to all levels:
- Stunt of the Year
- Best Dance Performance
- Greatest Community Impact
- Mascot Fail of the Year
- Awwww Inspiring Moment
- Mascot First
- Most Iconic Viral Moment
- Best New Mascot Reveal
- Rising Star Award (Mascots 5 Years and Younger)
- Mascot Prop of the Year
- Mascot Video Short of the Year
Did You Know?
One of America’s most famous brand mascots was drawn by a kid. In 1916, Planters Nut and Chocolate Company ran a contest for a trademark. Antonio Gentile, a schoolboy in Suffolk, Virginia, sketched a friendly peanut with a cane. He won $5, and Mr. Peanut was born.
Planters debuted Mr. Peanut in the Saturday Evening Post on February 23, 1918, and Gentile’s original sketches are now in the Smithsonian’s collections. Not a bad return on five bucks. Gentile went on to become a physician, though he’ll forever be known as the boy who drew the world’s most dapper legume.
About the Mascot Awards
The Mascot Awards, presented by the Mascot Hall of Fame, celebrate the best moments in mascotry every year. Hall of Fame induction honors a career. The Golden Reggys honor this year’s best moments, and every mascot program can earn one.
