Hello Kitty

I often travel to Japan, and it's amazing to see how many things are branded with a "Hello Kitty" graphic. I was curious about the history of this little kitty, so I did a bit of research. Apparently, the kitty graphic was designed in 1974 by Shimizu Yuko for a company called Sanrio. They were amazed to find that virtually everything that they attached the kitty to sold very quickly, initially including things like purses, wallets, dolls and stationary. They decided to license the graphic to companies wishing to benefit from the same effect, and helped Sanrio to generate about $1 billion in 2002! Today, around 50,000 products carry the kitty graphic. I've become interested enough in the kitty phenomenon to order a book on its history. Anyone interested in branding should definitely study the history of this successful icon.