Rainbow Productions, bespoke costume character mascots, has won three awards at the Merton Best Business Awards 2022, an event organised by the Merton Chamber of Commerce to recognise business excellence among the 700 members of the largest area base Chamber of Commerce in London.
The event attracted entries from a wide range of businesses – including construction, wellbeing, art, teaching, food retail, surveying, fitness and much, much more.
Rainbow was nominated for two awards: Best Creative Business and Best Independent Business. On the evening itself, Wednesday 28 September 2022, at the prestigious All England Lawn Tennis Club Rainbow Productions was declared the winner of both categories.
But that’s not all.
As the evening drew to a close there was one more award: The 2022 Merton Best Business Award. This was particularly special this year as it recognised those businesses in the London Borough of Merton that have not only survived the slowdown caused by the pandemic but have shown resilience, excellence, innovation and best practice while demonstrating the highest-quality service.
This too was won by Rainbow, which is now, officially and proudly, the 2022 Merton Best Business.
During the pandemic Rainbow took the opportunity to reorganize its strategies and invest in new technology, coming back with a bang in 2021, when it produced over 750 costumes shipping to over 16 countries – or, as the Chamber of Commerce itself put it: “Rainbow Productions is putting Merton on the map!”
Simon Foulkes, Managing Director, Rainbow Productions, says: “What a night! And, after a truly challenging period, what a year! I am proud on behalf of everyone connected in any way with Rainbow that we have won these three awards – and particularly the 2022 Merton Best Business Award. This is a team award and a tribute richly deserved by an extraordinary and talented group of people who kept on going through the hardest of times to make us even more of a force in the costumer character business. My sincerest thanks – and congratulations – to you all!”
It’s a fitting acknowledgment of the achievements of a company that has been part of the fabric of the London Borough of Merton for over 30 years, from its early days as a small events company with ambitions of establishing costume characters as part of the marketing mix to its present renown as the world leader in manufacturing bespoke costume character mascots – as well as the UK’s official supplier of some of the world’s favourite licensed children’s characters for personal appearances.
In fact today the company is the exclusive agent managing the personal appearances of over 140 licenced characters in the UK, including Peppa Pig, Paddington and The Wombles. It is an approved mascot manufacturer for some of the world’s highest-profile film, production and licensing studios including NBC Universal, Warner Brothers, BBC, Paramount and Disney. It is also the sole mascot supplier to world-famous attractions and spectacular events like the Queen’s Jubilee Pageant Parade, the Olympic Games Opening and Closing Ceremonies, the Oxford Street Christmas Light Switch-on and Glastonbury Festival. It also supplies mascots for many national and international product launches.
Rainbow’s mascots can be spotted in theme parks, shopping malls, schools and charity events all over the world. And of course on football pitches: the company has made mascots for 85 of England’s 92 professional football clubs.
The company also helps clients to develop personalities and signature movements for their mascots, making sure clients’ brand values are precisely translated into performance by some of the best trained entertainers in the unique medium of costume character portrayal.
