TALK/
Ken Belson:
HELLO KITTY – HOW A TWO-DIMENSIONAL CAT BECAME JAPAN’S ANSWER TO MICKEY MOUSE
Ken Belson (USA, New York Times) is the co-author of “Hello Kitty: The Remarkable Story of Sanrio and the Billion Dollar Feline Phenomenon”, the only book in English ever to be published about Japan’s most famous cat. In his talk at the Pictoplasma Conference 2009 he explains how Sanrio, the company behind Hello Kitty, turned a cute cartoon cat into a multi-billion dollar global commodity, plastered on over 22,000 different products and sold in more than 40 countries.
Recorded at the Pictoplasma Conference 2009
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Since its inception in 1999, Pictoplasma serves as a unique forum for a growing international scene of artists, theorists and creatives, redefining the boundaries of contemporary character representation. The main focus of the project remains firmly on the emphatic quality of images to create a direct emotional bond with the viewer, communicate globally and push anthropomorphic appeal to new limits. THE CHARACTER FILES gather thoughts, texts, essays, interviews and case studies of Pictoplasma’s ongoing research – in no particular order – while it closely accompanies the scene as it moves towards a completely new understanding of character…
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