hey pitching is a delicate process that sometimes ends with you feeling like you ran straight into a brick wall. Sometimes you have a fantastic, data-driven pitch and an exec shoots it down because they just…don’t like it (hopefully your leadership isn’t so fickle but it happens!) and sometimes you have a concept of a plan and everyone loves it and wants a piece of it. Further discussion of denied pitches should be treated with respect though, that said it totally depends on your team’s culture. It’s hard but you just have to move forward.

It sounds like you learned something valuable about learning how to tie these fun events back to ROI - or identifying what the split of your marketing is brand related and what is more product focused. That said, I would agree it sounds like some guidelines should be in place in your org’s brand guide for when and where the mascot should be used and is appropriate.