Kraken mascot Buoy surfaces after years of planning, fan input

The Seattle Kraken have unveiled a mascot that is sure to buoy the fans' spirits.

Buoy, a sea troll partly inspired by the famous Fremont Troll sculpture in Seattle, debuted before the Kraken played the Vancouver Canucks in a preseason game at Climate Pledge Arena on Saturday and soon will appear in spots all over town.
The character looks like a troll doll come to life. He's clearly a hockey player, with a Seattle sweater, chipped-tooth smile and flow hairstyle. Look closely, and you spot an anchor earring. A tentacle in his hair hints at an encounter with the Kraken.
"He lives under the arena," said Katie Townsend, Kraken chief marketing officer. "His favorite meal is a piece of shark with a sprig of maple leaf, and he is very much a music guy, and so I think we'll see lots of dancing, beatbox and grunge inspired by the music scene in Seattle."
The Kraken, who joined the NHL as an expansion team last season, have focused on authenticity, a sense of place and a connection to the community while building their brand. They have had a "why" for everything they've done.
The first question they asked themselves about the mascot was whether they should have one at all. The answer was yes for a simple reason.
"I will say it wasn't something that we really sought out to do right away, but with this organization, we have always listened to our fans, and our fans were truly wanting to have a mascot," said Lamont Buford, Kraken vice president of entertainment experience and production. "In listening to them, we decided to start the process to get our character."
The process took two years and involved internal research, outside help and focus groups.
The Kraken brand is dark and mysterious. By design, you never actually see the sea monster, just a tentacle here or red eye there, leaving you to wonder what exactly lurks in the deep.
The team wanted something softer that would represent the brand in a positive light, something kid-friendly that could be an ambassador at places like schools and hospitals.
"Many people would have said, 'Well, it's obvious it would just be a kraken,'" Townsend said. "We believe the Kraken lives in the theater of the mind. One of the brand values is its mystery. We don't want to be a cartoon brand and to have a cartoon kraken represent us."
So, if not a kraken, then what?
"It was like, 'OK, what do we want to have that is going to represent Seattle?'" Buford said.
Townsend said the Kraken never considered adopting Squatch, the beloved Sasquatch mascot of the Seattle SuperSonics of the NBA, though they did look at why Squatch was successful and drew inspiration from his hair.
The Sonics played under the same roof the Kraken do now before becoming the Oklahoma City Thunder in 2008. The roof was held in place while KeyArena was demolished and Climate Pledge Arena was built underneath it. The hope is that the new arena that brought the NHL will bring back the NBA too.
"We believe that the Sonics are coming back to Seattle," Townsend said. "Squatch belongs to the Sonics, and we hope that Squatch and Buoy will be friends in the future."
So, if not a kraken, if not Squatch, then what?
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After considering many options, the Kraken narrowed them to about 10 and built them out. Finally, they settled on the sea troll.
The Fremont Troll is an 18-foot sculpture made in 1990 underneath the George Washington Memorial Bridge in the Fremont neighborhood. It clutches an actual Volkswagen Beetle as if it grabbed it right off the road, which was renamed Troll Avenue under the bridge in 2005.
The idea of a troll living under a bridge comes from Scandinavian folklore, like the idea of a kraken dragging ships to the depths.
Perfect.
But what about the name?
Buoy floated to the surface, fitting the nautical theme. The fans greet goalie Philipp Grubauer with "Gruuu!" Maybe Buoy will turn boos into "Boo-wee!"
"There were so many things that we looked at, and this one just stuck," Buford said. "It was so good."
Another question was when the mascot should debut.
The Kraken introduced so much last season -- the uniforms, the coaches, the players, the arena, the practice facility -- and wanted to give everything time to breathe. Also, due to COVID-19 restrictions, the mascot would not have been able to interact with people normally.
Now that the Kraken are entering their second season and COVID-19 restrictions have been relaxed, it's time.
"Once we got to where we could start building the character, we slowed it down," Buford said. "We were like, 'This isn't something that has to go out of the gate really quickly.'
"I didn't realize our process was going to take this long, but good things come to those who wait, so we waited, and we're really believing that this is going to be a good thing for us.
"You'll see the character running around, high-fiving, giving out hugs, giving out prizes. It will be an extension of our brand, a great fan ambassador for us that will allow us to touch more people."