Hello Kitty is saying hello to 50 on Friday and celebrating with her global fan club. Across the world, fans of the iconic cartoon brand are commemorating the golden anniversary with special pop-ups, limited-edition editing merchandise and exhibitions as diverse and charming as the character herself. In Mexico City, runners celebrated with 5K and 10K runs or a 3K walk, all while wearing the character's iconic red bows and ears or even carrying plush toys of the little girl herself.
"And to think that it was a 24-year-old illustrator who was given a very, very high-level brief of just to make it cute," noted Sunny Bonnell, CEO of the branding agency MOTTO. "It's very telling about how it's not easy to just sort of intently build or architect something like that kind of 'magic in a bottle' into your brand." Bonnell says Hello Kitty captures something incredibly rare today: the ability to reach all audiences.
Designed by Yuko Shimizu in 1974, Hello Kitty was originally just a simple design sold on a coin purse for less than a dollar. Today, you can find Hello Kitty's sweet face and red bow on everything from Nike sneakers to luxury Balenciaga handbags, which can retail for $3,300. "People are looking for signals and brands that bring them back to a sense of that peace or that sense of love or nostalgia.
And I think she represents that, and so I think it crosses gender, age, belief systems, cultures," Bonnell said. RELATED STORY | When Sanrio gets angry: How meme culture influenc.
