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Hello Kitty News & History: | |
Here we hope to give you a breakdown of Hello Kitty's history together with News stories about her from around the world. If you have
seen an interesting hello kitty news article, let us now.
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| Hello Kitty History: |
Hello Kitty is a global, billion-dollar enterprise, but where did it come from? Hello Kitty is the biggest selling brand of the
Sanrio Company Ltd, which was founded is 1960 by Shintaro Tsuji.
Hello Kitty is part of the Japanese pop culture of "kawaii" (cute). It all started in the early '70s. Sanrio was trying to develop its own in-house design department. The president, Shintaro Tsuji told his group to draw animals. In 1974, a young designer named Yuko Shimizu came up bad" impression. The first product produced was a small clear vinyl coin purse. The products quickly caught on and dwarfed the rest of the company’s sales with in a year or two.
Unlike most American characters, whose use and design is tightly controlled, Kitty changes constantly. Each year, the designers come up with a new theme for Kitty, plaid one year, in pink another, a princess with a tiara in other years, always giving the obsessed collectors something to want.
There are currently about 22,000 Hello Kitty products on the market. Sanrio produces and markets more than half of them, but about one-third are made under license by hundreds of other companies. Each month, Sanrio takes 600 products off the market and replaces them with another 600 items. Some are shuffled for seasonal reasons. Beach sandals in summer, down quilts in winter, back-to-school bags in autumn. But many are taken off because they don’t sell and to keep the line up fresh. |
Hello Kitty News:
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| Hello Kitty goes platinum at 30 - 03 February, 2004, |
TOKYO: Fans of Japan's ubiquitous "Hello Kitty" character can already buy anything from pop-up toasters to bicycles adorned with the winsome cat's face.
Now 30 of the wealthier admirers of the popular puss have an opportunity to get their paws on something a little more exclusive.
For just three million yen (NZ $42,180), they can buy a three cm high platinum Kitty, her dress and hair ribbon studded with 131 diamonds.
Tokyo jeweller Tanaka Kikinzoku Jewelry is offering a limited edition of 30 of the platinum figurines from Monday to celebrate this year's 30th anniversary of the country's most famous cat.
Hello Kitty, who turns over $500 million (NZ $743 million a year), is by far the most popular character invented by Sanrio Co, snapped up by followers from all age groups in Japan and 40 other countries around the world. #para Like many an ageing star, Kitty is known to have undergone at least one facelift during her career, which brought her eyes and nose closer together for a "cuter" look. |
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| http://www.stuff.co.nz/stuff/0,2106,2803716a4560,00.html |
| Japan's Hello Kitty cabs - 17 September, 2003, |
For fans of the cartoon character Hello Kitty, a Japanese taxi company is offering the purr-fect way to get around town.
Tokyo-based taxi firm Kanachu has commissioned 10 cars complete with Hello Kitty seats, blankets and umbrellas.
You can even blow your nose on a Hello Kitty tissue, and listen to Hello Kitty music through the taxi's special sound system.
Kanachu decided to add the cars to their fleet in order to target children, the firm's manager Katsuo Habu told the Associated Press news agency.
Kanachu licensed Hello Kitty from Sanrio, the character's creator.
"The Sanrio people told us they associated taxis with bearded, smoking male drivers," Mr Habu said.
"But we told them that we would have female drivers and the cars would be non-smoking."
One of the most popular features of the Hello Kitty cabs is that children are given a free Hello Kitty gift.
"We hope mothers use our service when small children cry because they have to go to hospital or kindergarten," Mr Habu said. |
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| http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/asia-pacific/3117310.stm |
| Hello Kitty Case Mod - September, 2003, |
From the Site: www.Tournament.com
A month back I came up with the idea of making a particular case mod for Felicia (my girlfriend). Anyway, the particular idea was to take the cutesy head of the rather famous Japanese character, Hello Kitty, and use it as a basis for the mod.
This mod was to be at the same time, an upgrade using bits and pieces from computers I was getting rid of (in preparation for moving in with her to our new home). I was also upgrading my main pc, so I decided to give her some of the stuff from that one...
I started with her main pc, a P4, 1.7ghz, 256mb ram, Geforce MX, 40gig disk, 40x CD-rom drive, standard small tower.
For more pictures of the mod gohere |
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| http://www.tournament.com/forums/showthread.php?s=8ba359db59fd28cc3f...... |
| Reflections on Kitty, then and meow ... - 13 July 2003 | 
Hello Kitty is turning 29 this year, and so are a lot of her fans.
Sanrio Company Ltd., the Tokyo-based firm that produces Hello Kitty, has made sure that this cat has nine lives by appealing to fans who have grown up.
"As a 5-year-old, she takes the lunch case to school. As a 25-year-old, she takes the Hello Kitty cellphone case off to work," says Bill Hensley, marketing director at Sanrio's North American office in San Francisco.
"A Hello Kitty fan generally may be attracted first as a young girl in elementary school," he adds, "but she finds something for her lifestyle as she grows."
After all, who else but an adult could afford (or would want) to buy the $129 toaster that imprints the icon on your bread, or the $129 microwave, $199 vacuum, $89 coffee maker, or $50 vibrator?
Article continues...... |
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| http://www.thestar.com/NASApp/cs/ContentServer?pagename=thest.............. |
| A Hello Kitty you can drive - 24 October 2001 |
From an early age I've strongly favored appliances that talk, teapots that walk, chairs that jitterbug and automobiles that flirt by batting the eyelashes over their headlights. I've had an unwavering commitment to topiary ever since I can remember. I've always been a staunch supporter of anything that enables the inanimate to become animate -- from Silly Symphony cartoons to Gaudi's architecture to select pharmaceuticals. It's a stand I took in my youth and I will not step away from it now.
You can imagine, then, how thrilling it was to hear that a car has been developed that wags its tail, cries and tries to relax you when you're tense. It also lights up with a warm glow when its owner approaches and glows blue (and displays teardrops) when it gets a flat tire or runs out of gas.
Article continues...... |
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| http://dir.salon.com/people/feature/2001/10/24/the_pod/index.html |
| Hello, Kitty - 9 March 2001 |
You know a collectible has arrived when one of the world's leading auction houses says it is considering organizing a sale for it. "Should there be sufficient interest, Hello Kitty is something we'd be looking at doing," says Hong Kong-based Peter Cheung of U.S. auctioneer Sotheby's. He is not a collector of the pink feline from Japan, but thousands of affluent Asians and Westerners are. There's computer programmer Linda Chan, 30, whose Hong Kong apartment is home to some 300 Kitty soft toys, dolls, lunch boxes and other Kitty-emblazoned items. Half of the prized collection is locked behind a glass cabinet. "They are very special to me," she says. "Hello Kitty looks perfect the way she is, so I don't want to ruin her. And if I ever want to sell anything, it will be in excellent condition." Not that Chan is particularly willing to part with any item: "I love Hello Kitty too much. I would only sell if it was really for a lot of money."
Article continues...... |
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| http://www.asiaweek.com/asiaweek/magazine/nations/0,8782,100995,00.html |
| The Cuter Computer - 25 January, 2000 |
The cat's got your mouse. And your monitor. And your CPU.
The Millennium Hello Kitty Multi-Media Personal Computer is expected to reach online consumers throughout Asia, Europe, and the United States by the end of the year.
"We're not in the business of selling computers," said Giovanni Tomaselli, founder and director of World Wide Licenses (WWL), the European company behind retailer CharacterPC.com. "We're selling the total computer experience. We're playing on the emotions of the consumer who loves Hello Kitty."
After 25 years of Hello Kitty and two decades of personal computers, WWL and Sanrio feel the market is ripe for a fusion of the two.
The company has been licensing character-embossed watches, mousepads, and computer accessories since 1994. It only recently put together the whole computer.
"The worldwide strategy for Hello Kitty is as a lifestyle accessory," said Bill Hensley, marketing manager for Sanrio in South San Francisco. "The girls that grew up with Hello Kitty are finding their lifestyle needs are changing, and Hello Kitty remains a part of that."
Article continues...... |
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| http://www.wired.com/news/culture/0,1284,33580,00.html |
| Hello Kitty Toy riot in Singapore burger joint - 14 January, 2000 |
McDonald's has beefed up security at its Singapore outlets after seven people were injured as crowds jostled to get their hands on Hello Kitty promotional dolls.
The seven were injured on Thursday after frantic fans shattered a plate-glass door at one of the fast-food giant's 113 restaurants in the city-state.
Three customers were taken to hospital and later discharged.
It is the second such incident since the promotion was launched on New Year's Day, when a doctor and a lorry driver had a fist fight over the dolls.
The popularity of the dolls - based on Japanese cartoon characters and dressed in wedding outfits - has made it difficult for producers to meet the demand.
McDonald's said it would limit the number of hamburgers that could be bought by each customer to try to prevent further incidents.
The police helped direct the flow of people at the more crowded restaurants.
"We would like to appeal to all customers to keep calm and follow the directions of our staff on the scene," McDonald's director of marketing Fanny Lai said.
The round-faced feline was created 25 years ago by Japan's Sanrio Co, and has since enjoyed widespread popularity across Asia and the United States. |
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| http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/asia-pacific/603932.stm |
| Cute Inc - December 1999 |
This article may not be purely about Hello Kitty, but it is a good primer into the world of cute.
Over the last year and a half, the Japanese carrier All Nippon Airways spent upwards of a million dollars in licensing fees and paint to decorate the exterior of three Boeing 747s with colorful, 20-foot-high Pocket Monsters from Pokémon, the Nintendo Game Boy phenomenon-slash-hit cartoon-slash-just released Warner Bros. movie-slash-merchandising blitz. The assumption is that Japanese men and women will line up for the opportunity to ride a jet whose fuselage, headrests, and beverage cups are decorated with the adorable yellow whatever-he-is, Pikachu.
To anyone who knows Japan, the assumption seems apt. There, the pull of the cute is a powerful and omnipresent force. The Japanese are born into cute and raised with cute. They grow up to save money with cute (Miffy the bunny on Asahi Bank ATM cards), to pray with cute (Hello Kitty charm bags at Shinto shrines), to have sex with cute (prophylactics decorated with Monkichi the monkey, a condom stretched over his body, entreating, "Would you protect me?").
Article continues...... |
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| http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/7.12/cute.html?pg=1&topic=&topic_set= |
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