Archive for the 'Inspiration' Category

The topic of Hello Kitty keeps coming up in my conversations. First, I had to pick up my friend’s credit card that she left at a bar – it was a Hello Kitty/Visa credit card. (Hello Kitty can apparently pick up bar tabs these days?) Second, Martina, our amazing Social Media Manager and I started talking about the immense universe surrounding the brand at the Lacoste L!VE event for the Legends sneaker collection. Hello Kitty’s brand identity in regard to simplicity and elucidation has become something familiar to all – the image has been mass produced on over 10,000 products in North America alone. The Hello Kitty brand, created by Yoku Shimizu for the Japanese firm Sanrio in 1974, was a central topic for me in graduate school after reading a fantastic book titled Buying In by Rob Walker. Walker describes how Shimizu was tasked with creating 6 potential designs to go on a vinyl purse – and the Hello Kitty image was the most popular. Brand strategists around the world agree that the fascination around the image is because there is no expression on Hello Kitty’s face. Shimizu never created a mouth – which allows consumers the opportunity to feel any emotion with Hello Kitty – whether it be happy, sad, surprised, or somewhere in between. While Mickey Mouse and other famous characters gained their personality through comic strips and films, Hello Kitty was never apart of that – again allowing consumers to relate to the figure in anyway they wish. As Walker writes in his book, “not only can logos have meaning, and not only can that meaning be manufactured – it can be manufactured by consumers. Ultimately, a cultural symbol that catches on is almost never simply imposed, but rather is created and then tacticly agreed upon by those who choose to accept it’s meaning, wherever that meaning may have originiation. That’s why Hello Kitty is: a cultural symbol. And a successful brand.” The ability to allow the consumer to enter into their own imagined community gives consumers the complete power to buy into today's brand-centered society. If you're interested in reading more about the Desire Code, the purple cow theory, "murketing," and learn more about the insight into brands like Red Bull, Converse, or PBR, I highly reccomend putting this on your holiday gift list. Do you think Hello Kitty is an over-done image that's mass produced or a brilliant brand that should be discussed more? I think we should discuss.