Wattson & The Sparrow

Meet Wattson

Wattson Mouse Pad

Wattson appears on the bumper of every Cobb EMC company vehicle

(New for 2015) Promotional Wattson artwork

Wattson s Birthday (March 2015)

Wattson s first billboard appearance (March 2015)

Wattson having fun at the North East Cobb Community Egg Drop (April 2015)

Wattson & his linemen friends at the Big Shanty Festival (April 2015)

Wattson filming a safety video for TV23 that will reach an estimated 25,000 students per year at the Cobb County Safety Village

Wattson hanging out at the Cobb County Safety Village (June 2015)

Wattson hanging out at the Cobb County Safety Village with his other mascot friends (June 2015)

Wattson racing Cobb EMC employees at the employee fun fair (July 2015)

Wattson supporting the Kennesaw State University Owls with Cobb EMC employees (September 2015)

Wattson at the Cobb EMC Annual Meeting (September 2015)

Wattson thanking 911 call center workers during Public Safety Appreciation Week (October 2015)

Wattson getting ready for an author visit at Oak Grove Elementary for Literacy Week 2015 (October 2015)

Wattson on the front of the Literacy Week 2015 sweatshirts (October 2015)

Wattson mentions on Cobb EMC s Facebook page

Spotlight on Excellence Entry Form #538 NRECA Voting Member Classification * Category * Distribution Cooperative: more than 90,001 meters 13. Best Wild Card Entry Title * I wish to receive Judges' comments on this entry Contact's Name * Cooperative * Wattson: Cobb EMC Safety Mascot Yes Becca Duvall Cobb EMC Mailing Address PO Box 369 Marietta, Georgia 30061 United States Contact's Email * rebecca.duvall@cobbemc.com Contact's Phone Number * (678) 409-3747 Name of entrant as it should appear on the award (if given) Mark Justice

Is this the first time you've entered the Spotlight competition? Entrant's Email Names of others (freelancers or organizations) involved in the project, if applicable Yes mark.justice@cobbemc.com Mark Justice, Andrew Herdeg, Alex Hamilton Describe your/the co-op's role in the project * Mark Justice came up with the idea to have a safety ambassador mascot to represent Cobb EMC as a brand personality and engage the community in safety messaging. CEO Chip Nelson selected the red-tailed hawk for the mascot because of its prominence in his home state of Georgia. Cobb EMC employees submitted and voted on mascot names, which led to the establishment of "Wattson," a play on the electric term, "watt." The concepts behind Wattson's personality, characteristics and appearance were developed and fleshed out by Cobb EMC's education and community relations department, headed by Mark Justice. While Wattson was "born" in 2013, the Cobb EMC mascot program was expanded greatly in 2015 by Mark Justice. Mark further developed the appearance of Wattson; in March 2015, he purchased a new Wattson mascot suit tagged with Cobb EMC elements in several new locations to increase brand association with Wattson and Cobb EMC brand awareness in general. The new suit was so well loved by the Cobb EMC Marketing and Corporate Communications division that the original Wattson suit is currently being refurbished to reflect the changes and new additions. Mark Justice worked with Andrew Herdeg, Cobb EMC creative design specialist, to develop Wattson-branded marketing and promotional materials, including mousepads and flash drives to be distributed throughout the co-op and partner-in-education schools, billboard advertisements, and stickers that Wattson hands out during his appearances. In 2015, Mark Justice coordinated approximately 61 Wattson appearances at Cobb EMC, local schools and community events with an impact of nearly 43,000 people (in-person impressions). In 2015, Mark Justice branded the co-op's signature safety presentation as "Wattson's Electric Avenue." In June 2015, Mark Justice coordinated the filming of a TV23 safety video featuring Wattson that will viewed by approximately 25,000 children at the Cobb County Safety Village each year. In 2015, Mark Justice introduced Wattson's conservation-focused sidekick, the Sparrow, who is now featured on new promotional stickers. Andrew Herdeg was responsible for converting illustrations of Wattson and the Sparrow into vector images and graphics for web and promotional purposes. Describe others role in the project (Reference outside sources of material, including templates; pre-existing Web tools and apps; information from outside groups, such as Straight Talk or Touchstone Energy; stock photos and music, etc.) * Circulation or Number of People Reached * Street Characters, Inc. produced the mascot costumes based on illustrations and ideas provided by Mark Justice and Cobb EMC. Alex Hamilton, local freelance illustrator, drew the characters of Wattson and the Sparrow based on the finished Wattson mascot costume. Five trained, contracted mascot performers fill the role of Wattson as needed. ~43,000 (in-person impressions of mascot), ~200,000 (combined print and web impressions) Number of Attendees * Project s Budget * $19,727.22 Target Audience(s) * Children, co-op members, Cobb, Bartow, Cherokee, Fulton and Paulding county communities

Project's Objective * The initial purpose of the Wattson safety mascot program was to promote safety in a fun and engaging way. However, through the further development and execution of the program in 2015, Wattson has become not only a safety mascot, but a brand personality and awareness tool for Cobb EMC. Restrictions/Limitations * Quite a few limitations come with coordinating Wattson appearances. Each of the mascot performers must be trained on how to interact with kids in the costume, safety protocol, remaining on-brand while in the suit, etc. Because the mascot performer has limited vision in the costume and is not allowed to speak, at every appearance there must be a handler for Wattson to communicate with the event's hosts, help the performer in-and-out of the costume and control event crowds to maintain the highest level of safety for all in attendance. With Wattson's increased popularity throughout the community, there is a relatively significant demand for appearances which are typically early mornings, evenings and weekends. With only two Wattson suits (that must be properly cleaned and returned to Cobb EMC after each appearance), we must carefully plan and schedule mascot performers and handlers. Wattson appearances are also restricted by weather. With the nature of the Wattson suits, Wattson cannot appear at any outdoor events if it is raining. Describe why you chose this type of social media and how you used it * Provide a brief summary that states the purpose of the event, how the program was implemented, and results and how they were measured * Provide a brief summary that states the purpose, how the program was implemented, and results and how they were measured using the RACE framework. Each component has its own word limit noted below. Research * Action * Communication * Evaluation * Upload Supporting Materials File #1 cobb_emc.2015_best_wildcard.pdf 8.90 MB PDF Upload Supporting Materials File #2 Supporting Materials Link Special Instructions Created 20 Nov 2015 107.0.137.179