One of the most popular brands with both children and
adults for toys and accessories is Hello Kitty. Hello Kitty is a Japanese brand
that first emerged in 1976 and has gained popularity to become something of a
cult icon throughout the world. Originally aimed at young girls, the brand has
now spread to become popular with adults as well, and you can find not only
toys and games but also a wide variety of other products featuring the Hello
Kitty Design.
Hello Kitty’s success is largely down to the character
herself, one which has been given extensive background detail, which has been
followed up on with TV series that appeal to a wide range of ages thanks to its
cute imagery and lighthearted storylines. Hello Kitty is designed to be a
happy, fun character which gives people a boost, and the imagery has been
adopted as a kind of cheerful addition to many homes and offices. The image has
also been adopted by various unexpected social subcultures, with bags and
keychains in particular being very popular with the goth and alternative tenn
cultures, adding a cute and lighthearted element to quite a dark look. This
unexpected turn has made Hello Kitty more of a mascot for young men and women
around the world, which may account for her huge popularity.
The company that make Hello Kitty, Sanrio, have an
annual turnover of around $1billion each year, making it one of the more
profitable brands across the globe. The company tries to branch out and expand
the Hello Kitty line all the time so there are always new products cropping up
which can capture people’s imaginations. As the world moves further towards the
digital and futuristic, Hello Kitty laptops and video games have started to
emerge, making the brand even more popular with adults and bringing her trademark
cute, smiling image into offices and adults lives. Sanrio has tried to make
Hello Kitty a collectable brand. Collectables are a great way of a company
making more revenue from their products as people love to have something that
other people do not have, and the value of such items increases as their
availability goes down.
To make the rarity of products drive up their selling
power, Sanrio takes 600 Hello Kitty products off the market each month and
replaces them with another 600. At the same time, the products are still in the
low-moderate price range to make them affordable for younger children and
ensure they will always be able to afford the things they want. If the prices
go up too high when they are first released, younger collectors cannot afford
them and move onto something else. However, as the products are taken off of
the market the price raises dramatically, meaning collectors know that they
will get a return on anything they have bought, and this makes them even more
popular.
