Those guys at Kincaid are really characters

Bill and Dough Kincaid know how to build character.

The brothers and co-founders of The Kincaid Entertainment Corp. specialize in developing corporate characters outside the boardroom. Their "clients" include the St. Louis Cardinals' "Fredbird," Anheuser-Busch's "Spuds MacKenzie" and KSHE-95 Radio's "Sweetmeat."

Spawned from the popular "Star Wars" movie, Kincaid Entertainment was founded in 1977 as a makeshift manufacturer of "Star Wars" masks by a then 20-year-old Bill and a 15-year-old Doug. As their ideas grew so did the firm, now a national character costume manufacturing company with sales of more than $750,000 last year.

"These characters have a more definite purpose other than amusement," said Doug Kincaid, chief executive officer of Kincaid. "In addition to being instant celebrities, companies use the characters to promote plant safety and as sales tools for community and employee education programs.

"It also gives them (companies) the opportunity to present a warm and friendly side to the public," he said.

Corporate interest in motivation programs has helped move mascot characters from football and baseball fields, parades and festivals to the business world, according to Doug Kincaid. In addition to Fredbird, Spuds MacKenzie and Sweetmeat, Kincaid Entertainment has designed and/or developed Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Missouri's "Caring Cub," Tipton's "Talking Price Tags" and...