Otto the Orange is the current mascot of Syracuse University and was first introduced in the year 1980. As part of the university's tradition, Otto is only played by a group of 10-12 student-athletes and their identities are hidden until their graduation. This group of students is also responsible for running the social media accounts and creating content that features Otto the Orange, mainly featuring promotions for campus activities and upcoming sporting events.
While mainly run by Syracuse students, the coach of the Otto the Orange program is Julie Walas, the current Director of Recruitment and Student Engagement for the S.I. Newhouse School of Communications. Additionally, there are social and athletic representation committees for the program that many of the student-athletes are members of. Otto the Orange is in attendance at almost every major Syracuse University sporting event, with multiple students present to take turns playing the character.
The overall mission of the program is to spread orange joy to the university community & greater university population through in person fan engagement, appearance requests and social media interactions.
Social Media Plan
For Otto the Orange
Our team designed an integrated social media plan for the mascot of Syracuse University, Otto the Orange.
In this social media plan, we include audience personas, social media audit, our strategies and tactics, and interesting and specific social media mock-ups for different social media platforms.
