The Hand Warmer That Became a Mascot
How SIRIM’s idea for a cute, huggable staff gift
became a branded character loved enough to reorder for board members, VIPs and
clients alike.
Story
SIRIM — Malaysia’s national standards and quality certification body — came to Famsy with a clear product vision: they wanted a hand warmer as a staff gift. Something practical for Malaysia’s notoriously cold air-conditioned offices. But they also had a feeling beyond the function — they wanted it to be cute, huggable, and something people would genuinely cherish. The character design, however, was open. SIRIM had the brief; Famsy had the creative capability to bring it to life.
Challenge
The functional requirements were specific: a hand warmer that staff would actually reach for during long hours in a cold office. The creative requirements were intentionally open: design a character that felt warm, playful, and unmistakably SIRIM — for a government certification body that had never invested in character branding before.
Those two requirements had to meet in a single product. There was no existing mascot to reference. Famsy needed to design a character that could represent a serious, trusted institution while still being the kind of thing you want to hug at your desk.
Famsy Solution
Famsy started by taking SIRIM’s brief seriously — the hand warmer function came first. Working within their product specifications, Famsy’s design team used AI-assisted design to conceptualise SIRIMeee: a cheerful, round character dressed in navy workwear and a yellow construction hard hat, with SIRIM’s own quality assurance tagline “Ada SIRIM, Baru Beli” printed right on the hat. The character hit the brief precisely — cute, huggable, and a genuine expression of who SIRIM is.
The plushie was engineered with a hidden hand-warming pocket so staff could slip their hands inside during cold office days. It came in a transparent PVC tote bag with navy handles, so SIRIMeee was visible through the packaging — a smiling face visible from across the room before anyone even opened it. Every detail, from the character’s expression to the packaging material, was designed by Famsy to match SIRIM’s brief.
Wow factor
SIRIM’s staff loved SIRIMeee. The character sat on desks, was photographed and shared, and became a talking point across the organisation. A practical gift had become something people were genuinely proud to display.
The response was strong enough that SIRIM came back for more. What started as a staff appreciation gift was reordered for a wider audience — this time for board members, VIPs and clients. A gift that proved its value internally had earned the right to represent SIRIM externally, at the highest levels of the organisation.
SIRIM came with a product preference and a feeling. Famsy turned it into a character — and a character that SIRIM now uses across multiple gifting occasions.
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