On October 24, 2024, tens of thousands of fans stood along the streets of Lower Manhattan to celebrate their newest championship team of the birth city, the New York Liberty. They met to encourage current players, including Finals MVP Jonquel Jones, and former legends who had brought the team to the edge of a title in five previous seasons. But the biggest draw of the parade was perhaps the mascot of the team, Ellie de Olifant.
While the parade makes its way along the Canyon of Helden, Ellie went to float from Float, her feet in synchronization with the music, doing her characteristic dance movement, the Ellie Stomp. De Parade ended in the town hall for the official ceremony, and shortly after Mayor Eric Adams had given a duty speech, Ellie surprised the crowd by following the stage and cajolating the Liberty player Kennedy Burjoleren to go with her in a spontaneous dance-off. Ellie never speaks a word famous, but communicates with a lingua franca of expressive body language and gestures. Before dancing, Ellie is casual gave her couture wallet to the mayor.
Kennedy Burke I was a bit nervous, but Ellie calmed my nerves because she is so unapological. I had something like that, you know what? She’s going to have a good time. I’m going to have a good time. I’m just a little fangird because I love Ellie.
Liberty Fan Ava Brock It was hilarious that Mayor Adams held her bag.
It was the kind of crowd-pleasant moment that Ellie made a viral sensation.
Liberty Chief Brand Officer Shana Stephenson The artist is from Brooklyn. They sing, they dance, they understand what it means to make contact with an audience.
Brack She is who she is. Walking towards you, your pillow with her trunk and such. That’s what New York is. Take us or leave us. You can be who you want to be and nobody looks crazy at your crazy.
Stephenson I have seen Ellie’s impact on fans who are 70 years old and fans who are 7 years old. The LGBTQ+ community identifies with Ellie. Black women identify with Ellie. Youth identify with Ellie. The way she dresses, as she dances.
Burke She can do any dance in this world. Salsa. Hip hop. I am pretty sure that she can do some ballet. Her versatility is just outside this world.
Liberty CEO Clarist here One of Ellie’s secret hits is that she is wearing real shoes. Ellie wears sneakers, not large mascot feet. [She wears custom Nike Sabrina 2 “By Big Ellie” shoes.]
While the team closely guarded the identity of the performer in the elephant costume, there is no hidden of the impact that Ellie had since her debut when the team moved to Brooklyn’s Barclays Center in 2021: its more than 350,000 followers on Tiktok and Instagram helped the social commitment of the team last year and 24 and 24 of the team. Ellie has played a key role in the partnerships with Fenty, Essie, Away, Shake Shack and Pinterest.
Stephenson She has helped to speed up our growth and our visibility. Ellie allows us to be innovative in how we approach our partnership relationships. She opens new doors.
Clarke We have included Ellie activations in many of our partnership agreements.
Stephenson Brooklyn is our home, so [that evening] We had a party in Barclays Center with a performance by Fat Joe and Remy Ma. Lil Mama came out and surprised everyone. Ellie came on stage and did the Ellie Stomp.
Clarke Elephants are strong and resilient. Elephants are matriarchal. Elephants have remarkable memories and we did not want to forget where we came from.
#Breanna #Stewart #Sportsmascottes