Malls & retail

The most requested format is Transformers: the robot sits folded, stands up at the announced time, runs four or five minutes and then stays for photographs. The photo is half the value, because people post it with the centre's location attached. LED Robots and Mirror Men work the same way, with the advantage that they walk and can cover several floors in a day.

December is a different job. From the first of the month to Christmas the programme is planned in days rather than hours, and the winter characters work short rotations on the entrance flow — Toy Soldiers, Candy Guards on stilts, the gingerbread men, the elves. That season has a catalogue of its own, with running orders and rotation options. Send us your opening plan and your peak hours and we will build the programme around them.