It was 1974, when the Japanese independent company Sanrio created Hello Kitty. An iconic character who, even 50 years later, has conquered the world with his cuteness. The appearance of the character itself was designed by artist Juko imizuov, who was inspired by the Japanese tradition of kawaii, or cuteness.
It is also surprising that the only person in the Sanrio company who did not extend his pension for Hello Kitty was the original designer. Despite the breakthrough rush, this impersonation character left the company in 1976, not even receiving an adequate financial reward for the rush of her design. Today, the seventy-seven-year-old designer is a freelancer.
When Hello Kitty first entered the scene, the so-called bi-culture grew, which allowed girls and boys to embrace the concept of cuteness and make it part of their aesthetic and emotional repertoire, Christine Yanov, author of the Hello Kitty book told CNBC in the past.
The first Hello Kitty item was two sponges that came to the public in 1975. The character became an instant hit and the smiling baby captured the hearts of not only many children, but also adults. Next to pokmon, it became the second longest-running media franchise.
No one has managed to replicate the global fascination with a set of characters as Sanrio has, concluded Marty Brochstein of the International Association of Licensing Dealers. Hello Kitty is completely frozen.
belsk nekoka
Hello Kitty was slightly created without faces so as not to express unambiguous emotions. In this way, people can project their moods and feelings into the character, which creates a stronger bond with the brand. The absence also caused critical complaints about the submissiveness of women. Critics argued that the design of the figurine, which is missing, could evoke an effort to suppress women.
But there are also wild deposits. According to one legend, Hello Kitty was actually created by an anka, whose daughter became ill with stomach cancer. The mother agreed with the bull that in return for saving her daughter, she would create a character that would be adored by children all over the world.
In the 90s, Hello Kitty also appeared in rebel movements. For example, in America, the character was associated with the feminist punk movement Riot Girrrl, its female members ironically wore clips or handbags with Hello Kitty symbols to twist outdated ideas about women.
In recent times, such controversial views have appeared regarding the characters themselves. While the whole world has the Hello Kitty character fixed as a coke, in 2014 the Sanrio company strictly objected to this view. I was corrected, and a very irritating one, said Christine Yanov, referring to Sanrio, in an interview. Hello Kitty is not a coke. He is a cartoon character. She’s a little girl, she’s a friend, but she’s not a bitch.
Not only cute, but also profitable
Since Hello Kitty appeared on the coin in 1975, the portfolio of products offered with the iconic image of the red bear has changed little. We are just looking for a product category that is untouched by the Hello Kitty design.
The character appears not only on baby diapers and bathroom products, but also on perches, signs, car tires and engine lubricants, cars themselves and vibrators. True geeks can even taste Hello Kitty dumplings in Hong Kong or take a Hello Kitty plane to Taiwan. It seems that there is nothing that Sanrio does not license.
Hello Kitty can be found on many different types of products. Christine Yanov has said in the past that she should appeal to children, but also to fifteen-year-olds and maybe even fifty-year-olds. Licensing contracts and dealing with various types of marginal markets, this is marketing genius.
According to CNN, in 2015, analysts estimated that Hello Kitty accounted for roughly 75 percent of parent company Sanrio’s annual operating profit of $142 million. Exactly, according to analysts, it accounted for half of the company’s income, which is approximately 600 million dollars.
Despite Hello Kitty’s enduring popularity, however, Sanrio’s reputation has come under pressure during the pandemic. since the beginning of the pandemic in 2019, certain profit has fallen by 95 percent to 191 million Japanese yen, roughly 28.6 million crowns, mainly due to a decrease in sales of goods and the closure of free parks. The ratio of worldwide license fees to revenues fell by eleven percent in 2019 compared to the previous year. The information was reported by CNN.
In 2022, the Sanrio company began to return to its pre-pandemic values and achieved a certain profit of 8.16 billion Japanese yen, which corresponds to approximately 1.25 billion crowns. The increase in the number of pigs has caused foreign tourists to lose travel and shopping opportunities, which were limited during the pandemic.
Igrek and Hello Kitty
The popular character Hello Kitty has traveled all over the world, so it is not surprising that in the Czech Republic she created an iconic duo with the Czech character Igrka. In 2012, the Efko-karton company from Novho Vesel in Russia obtained a license for the Hello Kitty logo from the Japanese multinational company Sanrio for the Czech and Slovak markets.
Igrek was two years old, a boy’s toy. Although there was a character of a nurse, a doctor, there were still very few items aimed at girls, said the owner of the company Efko-karton Miroslav Kotk.
Hello Kitty game
I saw the change of company as a mistake. The first proposal from the office was that when we know how to produce Igrka, it shouldn’t be a problem to produce figurines with this license. But it didn’t seem too bad to me, even from the point of view of the necessity of a relatively large investment in new multi-disc forms, Miroslav Kotk recalled.
But then I made fun of Igrko and the Hello Kitty license from another point of view. Igrek himself always firmly represents a character with whom children identify and, through them, immerse themselves in the world and environment they play on. And why couldn’t the character Igrka be her own girl who loves everything with the eye-catching Hello Kitty, has her dream bedroom and lives in it the way she dreams?
A new model of cooperation and a combined interesting industrial and commercial concept finally bore fruit. The unusual combination of Igrka and Hello Kitty received a positive response, which was also reflected in sales.
