Yale-NUS and Hakuhodo Singapore team up to create the college kingfisher mascot

When Singapore’s first liberal arts college called for a communications agency to create a mascot that embodied its College’s virtues, it turned to Hakuhodo Singapore.

With an aim to redefine liberal arts and science education for a complex, interconnected world, Yale-NUS College had run an intensive multi-agency pitch, Hakuhodo Singapore impressed with its vibrant mascot design, a well-thought through rationale and attention to detail.

The Yale-NUS College Mascot – ‘Halcyon’ –  emerged as a representation of the blue-eared kingfisher species found in rarity in Singapore. The orange-and-blue mascot, colours of Yale-NUS, found ready acceptance as it also encapsulates the core identity of a young academic institution in quick and confident ascension, ready to take on the world.

Tanner Nagib, Regional Client Service Director & Digital Director at Hakuhodo Singapore said, “As an integrated advertising and communications agency, it is our responsibility to go beyond what the brief entails. What started out as a mascot design brief quickly turned into an opportunity for Hakuhodo to develop materials that reflect the College’s ethos and identity that infuse elements of youthfulness, creativity, curiosity and an adventurous spirit.”

The Yale-NUS mascot – together with the corporate identity guide – will be launched and thereafter used in milestone Yale-NUS College events. Hakuhodo Singapore is honoured to have played its part in creating an icon for the College – and adding a feather in its own cap.