Zoich

Zoich (Cyrillic: Зойч, pronounced [zojtɕ]) was a proposed mascot for the XXII Winter Olympics, which took first place in the official online poll to select a mascot for the 2014 Sochi games. Despite being a popular Internet character, the committee chose not to introduce it to the final round of the voting. Upon introduction and until the end of the online voting, it was the most popular mascot from those submitted. It also took only about 40 minutes for Zoich to take the top spot.

Zoich is also a spectacular example of guerilla marketing on a global level. In fact, the background story is so astonishing and far-fetched, that even most Russian journalists could not believe it when it was finally revealed around first half of June 2011. Only the statement from the president of Sochi 2014 Olympic and Paralympic Organizing Committee finally convinced journalists that the conspiracy story was in fact legitimate.

The rights to the Zoich mascot are owned by the Russian Olympic Committee.

September 1, 2010: The Organizing Committee of the 2014 Sochi Winter Olympic and Paralymplic Games in conjunction with the newspaper Izvestia announces a competition to select the mascots for the 2014 games open to anyone wishing to enter. The competition receives 24,048 entries from across Russia and Russians abroad.

September 10, 2010: Moscow artist and designer Yegor Zhgun enters an original sketch of an imaginary frog, naming it "Zoich".

According to its author, the idea of Zoich was indeed influenced by Hypnotoad from Futurama.

Zoich is a fuzzy blue frog. The Olympic Rings rotate in its eyes, taking the role of pupils: black, yellow, and blue in the right eye and red and green in the left. In its mouth, the frog holds a ski pole and a Russian Imperial Crown sits atop its head. The mascot takes its name from the year "2014" as it is represented on the Olympiad’s logo: The numbers 2, 0, and 1 as they are represented look like the Latin Z, O, and I. The number 4 looks like the Russian letter Ч, which is like the English "ch". Many Russian-speaking people read "2014" as "Zoich" upon presentation of Sochi-2014 logo. Zhgun's description of his mascot: "The Olympic Rings in his eyes spell the progress of Olympic ideals; the tsars’ crown on his head recalls authority and faith."

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