Business Daily meets: Hello Kitty
Business Daily
BBC
4.4 • 796 Ratings
🗓️ 1 November 2024
⏱️ 17 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
On the character's 50th birthday, we hear from the boss of the Japanese company which created her.
Sanrio CEO Tomokuni Tsuji took over from his grandfather who founded the company in Japan.
The company struggled to be profitable for years - we find out how under the leadership of Tomokuni Tsuji, the brand has grown to a trillion yen company, and speak about some of the challenges around counterfeits.
Produced and presented by Mariko Oi
(Image: A woman poses with Hello Kitty plushies at the exhibition CUTE in London, United Kingdom on January 24, 2024. Credit: Getty Images)
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Hello, I'm Marie Ko-Ooi. |
| 0:03.0 | Welcome to Business Daily Meets from the BBC World Service. |
| 0:06.9 | This is where we speak to interesting people from the world of business from around the globe. |
| 0:11.9 | Today, it's the story of one of Japan's most loved creation. |
| 0:17.0 | Hello Kitty is Helen Kitty, and she can be whoever you want her to be. |
| 0:21.6 | She can be your sister, your mother, it can be another you. |
| 0:28.1 | Yes, Hello Kitty, the global pop culture icon, an instantly recognizable toy, |
| 0:33.7 | and today celebrating her 50th birthday. |
| 0:37.2 | Sold in 130 countries, the image which looks like a cat, |
| 0:41.8 | but is actually a feline-like girl, |
| 0:44.8 | adorns, clothes, bags, pencil cases. |
| 0:48.0 | I've been speaking to Tomokunitsji, |
| 0:50.4 | the CEO of Hello Kitty's parent company San Diego, |
| 0:53.7 | a role he took over at the age of 31 from his |
| 0:56.6 | grandfather. As a grandfather in private, he's very gentle and hardly ever told me of. But when it |
| 1:06.5 | comes to how to run the company, we class several times when I was an executive and wanted to carry out |
| 1:12.9 | reforms. And reforms have very much been the focus of Tomokunitsiji's leadership, as San Diego |
| 1:19.1 | cemented its position as a trillion-yenne firm. That's Tomokunitsji coming up on today's |
| 1:24.7 | business daily meets. coming up on today's Business Daily Meets. |
| 1:34.1 | Growing up in Japan in the 80s, |
| 1:35.7 | Hello Kitty was everywhere, |
| 1:39.6 | not just in my room, but also on so many girls' possessions. |
... |
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