SEOUL: President and Chief Executive Officer of Sanrio Co, the Japanese company behind the Hello Kitty franchise announced today (Nov 28) a strategic move to enhance cooperation with KPop artistes.
According to Yonhap news agency, Tomokuni Tsuji was quoted as saying so during his keynote speech at the Content IP Market 2023 in Seoul hosted by South Korea's Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism.
The Japanese company has already closely worked with KPop stars to create content and related goods, including boy group NCT and the 11-member act JO1, which was formed with "Produce 101 Japan" winners.
"After we shared the process of idols creating characters by themselves on YouTube, we could see people becoming fans of the characters their idols created," he said.
He lauded these collaborations as "very successful" examples of content creation within the entertainment industry.
"The entertainment business that we are pursuing cannot be achieved alone. In that sense, the Sanrio-South Korea cooperation is very crucial," added Tsuji, who assumed the role of CEO in 2020 as the grandson of Sanrio's founder Shintaro Tsuji.
The CEO also highlighted the enduring success of Sanrio, attributing it to the continuous creation of a diverse array of characters – a staggering total of around 450 since the company's inception in 1960.
The Content IP Market 2023, a comprehensive content IP business event, is set to run until Thursday (November 30) at the COEX convention hall. --BERNAMA