Leon: imagined by students for students
At the end of 2019, SKEMA launched the SKEMASCOT Challenge for its entire student community. Around 40 very creative projects were submitted by students in teams or individually, and among them, the project that received a majority of votes to become the global mascot of SKEMA was “Leon, the SKAMELEON“.
The students’ votes chose it as the favourite and the jury comprising representatives of the SKEMA community (CEO, Marketing & Communications department, student members of the Federation of SKEMA Student Associations, former association leaders and members of the SKEMA Alumni network) validated this choice.
Roxane Ricros and Arthur Cavrois-Foucaut are the two winners. As M2 students, they are following the double-diploma course “Grande Ecole Programme and Business Contract Law”.
“A chameleon is an animal that changes its colour depending on its location. It represents SKEMA’s mantra because it knows how to adapt perfectly to all environments. Like SKEMA, it is ‘At home worldwide’ ” explain Roxane and Arthur.
From the project to the creation of the mascot
Once the challenge was won, the work had only just begun. The layout imagined by the students was re-worked in 3D with a graphic palette, dressed (colours, scales, texture, legs, eyes, etc.) and customised in multiple country versions with different flags. It was also designed in various formats, panels, hand-knitted plush, bags, pins and other goodies to allow variations in each country where SKEMA operates.
Leon also has a digital existence: nowadays, as social networks are prominent, the adventures of Leon the SKAMELEON can be shared via a gallery of animated GIFs, videos and an Instagram filter “SKEMA – Leon’s Mood” with the following hashtag: #LeonTheSKAMELEON.
“In the higher education sector, a mascot is of interest only if it is adopted by the entire student community. With this in mind, it was essential for it to be thought of by our students, for our students. The challenge in SKEMA’s case was that it also had to be as global in scope and use as the community it represents, while being adaptable to a local context. Except a chameleon, which animal could achieve this better?” said Damien Roux, Marketing & Communications director of SKEMA.
Discover Leon in all its forms