Celebrating Our Eight-Legged Friend with a Name: The Story Behind Hammer Marketing’s Office Mascot

Picture this: the Hammer Marketing office, all decked out in classy, but boring, grayish white walls. There’s some flair with whiteboards, smart boards, dart boards, shiny awards, and pictures of the team and clients (remember those pre-Covid days?). Not bad, but far from “us” – until the day our managing director decided it was time to make the place feel more like home; and he didn’t mean tossing in some throw pillows.

After some brainstorming sessions (we even formed a committee!), Kyle Huntzinger got cracking on a mascot design for our bull pen, the area our desks call home. Some weeks later, our octopus mascot was introduced in its eight-armed glory. It has been a silent motivator, observing and encouraging us, and metaphorically high fiving us through every task and milestone.

When Covid hit and we all retreated to our home offices, our friend kept us company as the virtual background for our WebEx, Zoom, and Teams backgrounds. As we started trickling back into the office, our tentacled friend welcomed us back like we’d never left. In good times and in some challenging ones, it has always been there, our nameless octo-buddy.

But, it’s time we changed that, don’t you think? We’ve got a list of potential names, but we need your help. So, take a vote, and let’s give our eight-armed friend the name it deserves!