Sanrio CEO Tomokuni Tsuji, grandson of founder Shintaro Tsuji, shares what gives Hello Kitty her 'meow factor.'
Making friends has never been a problem for Hello Kitty, for whom 2024 marks half a century as one of the world’s most recognizable cultural icons. Countless millions have grown up surrounded by Hello Kitty stickers, socks, and pillowcases, while celebrity fans include pop royalty Mariah Carey and Lady Gaga; Katie Perry even sports ain 2013.
Sanrio—today worth $4.6 billion —was founded in 1960 originally as Yamanashi Silk Company. Two years later, Shintaro Tsuji diversified into selling rubber sandals and quickly noticed how a simple flower adornment made one product much more desirable than another. Sanrio expanded into a range of stationery and consumer trinkets that epitomized Japan’s budding, or “cute” subculture. “There's nothing very special about the products,” confesses Tsuji.
“That kind of ambiguity is really enhanced by the wink,” says Christine Yano, an anthropology professor at the University of Hawaii at Manoa and author of. “You can have humor, you can have irony, you can have sexual innuendo. It's a very clever and effective marketing strategy.”
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