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Hello Kitty: The Remarkable Story of Sanrio and the Billion Dollar Feline Phenomenon Editorial Review: Now in paperback, the inside story of the cartoon kitty that became a multibillion-dollar global enterprise The only business book to offer an in-depth exploration of the Hello Kitty phenomenon, Hello Kitty tells the amazing story of how the Japanese company Sanrio bucked the odds and transformed a bulbous, all-but-featureless cartoon critter into a multibillion-dollar global business powerhouse. Readers will learn how and why the Hello Kitty brand clicked with children and adults, across cultures, and how it continues to successfully compete, internationally, with Disney and Warner Brothers. This book is packed with valuable lessons about the awesome power of branding, marketing, and licensing to capture the hearts and minds of consumers.
Ken Belson (Tokyo, Japan) covers Japanese business, economics, and government policy for the New York Times. His work has also appeared in BusinessWeek, Fortune, Bloomberg News, the International Herald Tribune, and Barron's, among others. Brian Bremner (Tokyo, Japan) currently serves as Asia Economics Editor for BusinessWeek and writes a weekly column called "Eye on Japan" for BusinessWeek Online.
Customer Reviews: The Story of Hello Kitty If you are a Hello Kitty fan you might want to know more about how it all got started. Sometimes repetitious, but still fun to read if you are a Hello Kitty fan, this book provides tons of information about Sanrio and Hello Kitty and her makers. It is an interesting story. Did you know Bill Gates tried to buy the copywrite to Hello Kitty? A fun read. Good for summer relaxing or rainy days in a blanket. It will make you love Kitty White even more (if that is possible!)!
Not in depth enough and no really unifying thread I think the authors were writing this to be used as a textbook for a business class. There was no message beyond Hello Kitty is sucessful. Yeah, I figured that out from the title. Additionally, many details were repeated in multiple chapters. Overall there was no unifying thread from the authors. They didn't tell us their interpretation of why Hello Kitty was successful or how it came to be in their opinion. It was interesting but not earth shattering.
Great concept - poorly written. I am a huge fan of the Sanrio company and everything it creates and I received this book for Christmas. The writing style is typical of a high school student's book report. The same facts are repeated over and over, making half the book seem like filler. The same numbers and figures and statements are constantly repeated. In short, the book could have been about 30 pages long without the filler.
It backtracks a lot also. It feels like every chapter is written by a new writer who was told to research Hello Kitty (like I said, it repeats). I wish it would have had a more linear style, from beginning to end.
The facts are very interesting though, and learning about the creator was also a nice treat.
comprehensive... almost This book was recommended by a friend who has extensive experience in the consumer goods industry. It was an interesting read, as I'm a fan of Hello Kitty as well as a business school graduate. The authors do a good job of explaining a lot of the background regarding how Sanrio got to where it is today.
One of the things I hoped this book would answer is the question of why Sanrio would distribute its products through a mass retailer like Target. It never even came close to this issue; I'm still curious to know Sanrio's strategy with Target.
I agree with Tristan Beaulieu that the later chapters begin to repeat content from earlier chapters. I'm not sure if this is because it was written by two authors and simply wasn't integrated well enough. Also, some of the earlier chapters refer to vignettes coming later in the book, but it turns out to be a letdown when most of the story has already been revealed by its earlier reference.
HELLO KITTY It?s so easy to trivialize the significance of Hello Kitty?s simple iconic image. But here the authors have skillfully drafted a book that deconstructs the appeal of this cross-cultural phenomenon and the behind-the-scenes machinations of its hugely successful marketing and merchandising.
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