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...... To ensure authenticity, I eventually decided to design the Logo myself.  However, it did not occur to me that I would take more than 3000 sketches (creating over 400 different Logos but dropping them each time) over 10 years to arrive with a Logo that I could eventually agree with. While agonizing, this period allowed me time for philosophical introspection, which led me to launch this site with a much more meaningful mission, and that is: Uniting football fans, to accelerate contributions to humanitarian aid.

 

Thank you for dropping by to read the story behind PaulTheOctopus.com. 

My name is TzeKoh, and this journey started over 12 years prior to the time of this writing (March 2023). On the evening of 07-07-2010 while watching the FIFA Football World Cup, I came across an octopus named “Paul The Octopus”. This octopus became a global sensation as it had the ability to accurately predict the winner of the World Cup matches. I thought the octopus was interesting as it heightened the suspense of the football fans.  It had also generated a great sense of humour in the football community. Punters who bet against the octopous lost millions.  Those that went with the octopus predictions got lucky. Its persona was that of a prophet of football matches.  It became an instant WorldCup Icon of its own right and is forever associated with football.

Out of curiosity, I checked whether the domain name ‘PaulTheOctopus.com’ had been registered. To my astonishment, it was not. As a domain-collecting hobbyist, I proceeded to register it.  The date and time of registration was 07-07-2010 at 11:30:28 pm.  I thought nothing of it initially.  However, within 10 minutes of my registration, I was approached by someone in North America who wanted to buy the domain name, but I did not take up the offer.  What happened in the following weeks caught me off-guard. More strangers would reach out to me, wanting to buy the domain name.  I was tempted to sell it but eventually decided against this. I believed that the domain name could be used for better and more meaningful causes and hence I told myself then that I should take some time to figure it out.

Some time later, I decided to write to the aquarium that kept the octopus and  enquire if they were interested to explore ideas together using the domain name.  They requested me to send in a proposal but I did not feel encourage as the person was not willing to link me up with a senior executive that I wished to speak with.  I subsequently decided to use the domain name to setup an e-commerce store selling football apparel. A freelancer was engaged to create a Logo of the octopus for the branding of the products. An attorney was also hired to trademark the created Logo.  The trademark was successfully filed and approved. However, as it turned out, the freelancer had copied the Logo from an artist and had done some slight modifications to it. I was devastated and equally disappointed, as the freelancer was a friend.  He later took the pain to explain his reason for copying and modifying someone else's Logo. The reason was that it was difficult to design a Logo of an octopus that looked simple, neat, and sharp, which were the criteria that I had given him.

To ensure authenticity, I eventually decided to design the Logo myself.  However, it did not occur to me that I would take more than 3000 sketches (creating over 400 different Logos but dropping them each time) over 10 years to arrive with a Logo that I could eventually agree with. While agonizing, this period allowed me time for philosophical introspection, which led me to launch this site with a much more meaningful mission, and that is: