Define : Mascot

For one of my live briefs, I've been asked by the client to design them a mascot for their website (as well as 2 additional character designs.) For now I'm going to concentrate on the mascot as that is the clients main priority.

According to good old Google, a mascot is:

• A person or animal that is adopted by a team or other group as a symbolic figure.

OR

• The term mascot – defined as a term for any person, animal, or object thought to bring luck – colloquially (informally) includes anything used to represent a group with a common public identity, such as a school, professional sports team, society, military unit, or brand name.

Examples in a web presence:
The twitter bird :

The Twitter birdie, supposedly, represents anticipation, fun and the tiny size of tweets. Apparently, birdie was bought for just $6, $29 less than Nike paid Carolyn Davidson for the Swoosh logo. I'm not sure if that's a bargain or a rip off.

And their Fail Whale:


DeviantArt: Fella. (Which I can't stand the sight of and I'm not sure why.)
Ask.Com Jeeves:

Only available on the UK version. Full body, full coloured character. (Something akin to what my client wants but I'm still weighing out the options.