Of fandom, kawaii, and marketing: Hello Kitty turns 50

It’s hard to tell at first glance, but Hello Kitty is…well, she’s a lot of things. A mouthless blob. Not a cat, nor Japanese—she’s a girl from the leafy London suburbs, a perpetual third grader, five apples tall, three apples heavy, and recently celebrated her 50th birthday. She loves to bake cookies, and devour her mama's apple pie, and despite her mouthless state, often repeats her saccharine catchphrase from the heart: “You can never have too many friends!”

She’s an icon. The CEO of cuteness. An $80 billion franchise. And the breadth and longevity of her success makes her one of history’s greatest marketing phenomena.

The kawaii cash flow

Yousuke Ozawa, creative director at UltraSuperNew Tokyo, points out: "It took 50 years for Hello Kitty to become not just rule as an international success but also a global cultural icon. Despite trends dipping at times, she has stayed true to her original image. Asian brands need to learn this from Hello Kitty—to maintain a steady brand identity, even during challenging times. The success wasn’t accidental; it’s the result of a deep understanding of kawaii (cute) and the ability to leverage it before it even entered the global lexicon.”

To the naked eye, she looks simple, like a child’s drawing: a white, round face with a red bow. But she’s anything but simple. She's a meticulously crafted phenomenon, a branding masterclass that's captivated the world for half a century. “This success wasn’t accidental; it’s the result of a deep understanding of kawaii [cute] and the ability to leverage it before it even entered the global lexicon,” as Yousuke Ozawa, creative director at UltraSuperNew Tokyo, points out.

Kawaii's cross-cultural power transcends language and cultural barriers. It's far more nuanced than the Western understanding of "cute," says Ozawa, conveying a lovable essence and a poignant reminder of lost human connection. While literally translated as "cute," kawaii's meaning in Japanese culture is richer. It's a feeling, an emotion. Research in the Universal Access journal even reveals that kawaii isn't simply traditional cuteness; certain high-pitched sounds also evoke it. Ugly and strange can be kawaii too. It conveys a sense of calm, healing, familiarity, and friendliness.

50 years of the same face

Hello Kitty’s simple and perhaps timeless design taps into the kawaii psyche. Her abstract face, minimal features and expressionless look allow her to be interpreted in different ways—she’s sad when you’re sad, happy when you’re happy, she looks silly when you feel silly. Design wise, she has a very understated, chameleon-like serenity. She is utterly non-judgemental. For the first time, in 1996, the character winked; and the look gained massive traction in 2000s.   

For fifty years, her facial features have largely remained unchanged. But as Sanrio illustrator Yuko Yamaguchi, who oversaw her design for 45 years, told Time, the lack of a mouth is intentional “so that people who look at her can project their own feelings onto her face.”

Yuko Yamaguchi is Hello Kitty’s third official designer at Sanrio and has steered the character’s visual identity for almost 45 years. Pictured at a 2009 Tokyo event. Photo: AFP/Getty Images

“And that, more than anything is the reason for its success. The basic design without any facial expression and a gigantic bow makes her adaptable and broadens her appeal. It’s a well-crafted product strategy,” says Angela Sy, CEO and co-founder of Shanghai-based independent design and branding agency, The 25s.  

But her longevity is more than clever design.

Sy adds, "To sustain fandom for 50 years is not easy. I think there are two things that fuel this level of obsession—the fascination with retro and modernising a classic, and the indulging in cute toys and collectibles trends."

Hello Kitty perfectly embodies this. Her enduring appeal taps into a sense of shared history and intergenerational connection. "There’s the sense of curiosity and kitschy appeal to Hello Kitty," Sy says. "Your mom and auntie certainly had some merch from their younger days, and now you have it too, [and by extension, this makes you] timeless and an old soul.”

Unlike Mickey and Snoopy, who debuted on screen, Hello Kitty’s raison d’être was always merchandise. Parent company Sanrio didn’t create a character and then figure out how to sell it. In 1974, illustrator Yuko Shimizu's drawing became the blueprint for a marketing machine, adorning everything from children's lunchboxes to stationery. From coin purses and socks to laptops, toys, games, and animations, Hello Kitty’s image became—and remains—ubiquitous.

As Ozawa observes, “For a very long time, Hello Kitty wasn’t selling products; she was selling an emotion, a feeling of comfort and nostalgia. And over the years, the consistency in her image turned into nostalgia and even a renewed sense of appeal.”

Retro revival

Nostalgia surely paved the way for success. Hello Kitty has been parent company Sanrio’s most popular design. It has been ranked the second-highest grossing media franchise in the world behind Pokémon, and ahead of the likes of Mickey Mouse and Star Wars. But its popularity has seen many peaks and troughs.

Sanrio’s fortunes were challenged in early 2000s and then in 2010s, with fears of Hello Kitty’s cultural relevance fading, but a renewed focus on nostalgia, especially in Japan and China, where Sy says, “modernising classics is a cultural force”, spiked a resurgence. Hello Kitty boasts a Beijing restaurant, a Zhejiang theme park, and a soon-to-open Hainan hotel in 2025.

Sy notes: "Chinese consumers have this urge to bringing back what was cool before. Retro is a big part of what fuelled the whole 国潮 trend years ago, apart from just nationalism."

Much of the commercial success is due to licensing. Licensing is a major factor in her commercial success. Books, video games, and animated series like Hello Kitty and Friends have added layers to her character. Sanrio has widely leveraged her adaptability and made way for unrestricted use of her image for licensing fees. Anything goes—from Sanrio-sanctioned cafes, theme parks, fine wines, to 50-cent stickers to expensive Swarovski purses, AR apps showing her dancing in front of the Eiffel Tower. According to a report in Asahi.com, unsanctioned appearances pop up on guns and vibrators, too.

An EVA plane with Hello Kitty and Sanrio characters flew from Beijing on Feb 20, 2024. Photo: Getty Images

Beyond the bow: Sanrio’s evolving business model

But today Sanrio is also no longer just about cute characters. Even though Hello Kitty is ranked as the second-highest grossing media franchise in the world behind Pokémon and ahead of Mickey Mouse and Star Wars, she’s been taking a backseat. Until a decade ago, she accounted for 99% of Sanrio’s massive American business; and in 2024, it’s 60% and just 30% worldwide.

In an interview with Time, Sanrio does not view this as a drop in Hello Kitty’s brand revenue but the growth of the brand’s newer characters.

If Hello Kitty is a happy-go-lucky submission to globalisation, Sanrio’s newer characters are far more nuanced in emotion.

Gudetama, the lazy egg yolk with a butt crack endures life, largely unmoved, lying on a plate. Effort is anathema for its blob -ike personality; its cold, deadpan one-liners reflect the harsh realities of modern existence. Aggretsuko, the introverted white-collar red panda with anger issues and pent-up stress enjoys a different marketing tack. It has a popular Netflix show that has been airing for five seasons. Gudetama, meanwhile, inspires merch and pop-up cafes worldwide, where fans can literally consume Gudetama-printed eggs. And on Sanrio.com, frustrated office workers can purchase Aggretsuko-themed office supplies to brighten their cubicles. Meanwhile, A Hello Kitty movie with Warner Bros is in the making.  

Yet, even as Sanrio’s business model changes, Yamaguchi, its illustrator and visual identity guardian believes Hello Kitty will endure the test of time and celebrate her 100^th birthday. A daunting challenge for a studio-born character to continue being a girl’s best friend in the age of AI. But as Kitty herself would say: “You can never have too many friends!”