Anyone walking around Norris University Center recently has known one simple thing: They need to look out for “The Moose.” The Moose? The Moose is part of a marketing campaign put on by Norris in an attempt to promote student usage of the center. The Daily sat down with Max Cove, the Communication junior and marketing student supervisor in Norris who thought up “The Moose,” on Tuesday – the first day of the campaign. Excerpts:
Daily: Where did you come up with the idea for “The Moose”?
Cove: We wanted to do something that would get people’s attention. I think that the whole idea of this random moose at different places around Norris would be attractive and an inspiration for other people to do some creative things, like maybe find another costume or get into some wacky thing, to catch people’s eye or make them wonder “why?”
Daily: How exactly does the contest work?
Cove: The whole idea is to submit a creative photo or design, and it has to somehow define for you why you meet at Norris. The whole theme has been “Meet Me At Norris,” so it’s kind of keeping true to that campaign. They submit it by posting it on our Facebook wall, and they have until Jan. 31. Then it will be put to the Norris staff, and from there we’ll gather together the top five choices. Then we’ll submit a poll on our Facebook page that all the student body can see, and they can vote for the top five. And that will be decided by Valentine’s Day.
Daily: Why a moose? Why not a caribou?
Cove: Funny thing you mention that. The moose costume was just one of those things that we had sitting around. We’ve actually been using it for the Winter Carnival, which is now called ChillFest, and if you look on the homepage for Norris, you’ll see the logo has the moose face in it. I don’t know the origin of the costume, or where it started, but it’s been around for a while. There’s actually really weird pictures from way back when. So this is the latest moose costume.
Daily: What’s been the reaction to “The Moose”?
Cove: Sometimes people were a little annoying. Like this one girl, all she wanted to do was put her finger up the Moose’s nose. Most people when you come around would smile. I thought it was just great because everyone is doing work, and I think it was fun to get people to play with their hair, and I generally think it was really positive. It got some really great reactions from the staff down in the food court – they all got out their cell phones and took pictures.
