Sanrio is parting with its “Hello Sanrio” strategy for broadening awareness and licensing of its characters as it seeks to attract millennials to brands beyond Hello Kitty, COO Craig Takiguchi tells us.

The new approach focuses on short-form video, digital gaming, social media and other interactive technology and live events.

“Looking back what we used was the equity of Hello Kitty to introduce the other characters. The thinking was right, but the execution was probably not the right way to go about it,” says Takiguchi. “We are pulling back right now and we need to find ways to bring together this new [consumer] generation, captivate them and use that as way to grow the licensing. It is not licensing first. Licensing is the aftermarket of how the brand is doing. We went so deep before into the licensing business that when it came time to define the brand it was the tail wagging the dog.”

As part of the new effort, Sanrio is readying a food truck, something it has done in past, but this time attaching a trailer to display merchandise featuring Hello Kitty and other characters such as Gudetama, Chococat, Keroppi and Aggretsuko, the latter having debuted at Comic-Con last July and been featured in a Netflix series that started April 25.

The merchandise trailer will contain apparel and home goods, in making stops at retailers, malls and other locations. Goods will feature licensed products as well as those developed both by Sanrio and retailers as part of a DTR. The program will start by this fall, but pick up speed with a national tour in 2019 to mark the 45th anniversary of Hello Kitty, says Takiguchi. Sanrio also recently opened a Gudetama pop-up shop in Los Angeles and plans to expand it to San Francisco later this year.

Contact:

Sanrio, Craig Takiguchi, Chief Operating Officer, 310-896-3262, ctakiguchi@sanio.com