Middle-class consumers willing to pay more for licensed merchandise
An exhibition themed “Art Miffy: Miffy at the Museum” is held at the Guangdong Times Museum in Guangzhou, capital of Guangdong province, in April 2016. (PHOTO PROVIDED TO CHINA DAILY)
Editor's note: In a world facing increasing challenges on a number of fronts, such as isolationism and protectionism, different nations and cultures now have a stronger need and desire to get to know one another. In this series, China and the World: Learning and Understanding, we look at efforts being made globally to broaden mutual communication and understanding. This is the sixth in the series.
After hearing that a magnitude 7 earthquake had hit the southern Japanese island of Kyushu on April 16, 2016, Tang Qiulin, a college student from Chongqing, immediately logged into her Twitter account and posted this question, "Are you safe, Kumamon?"
Eric Tang, a student from Hong Kong, also tweeted a few minutes later, "Are Kumamon and his friends safe?"
Emotions mean sales, and the more the characters can depict life or relate to human feelings, the more people will be willing to consume
Tang Junshu, lecturer at Communication University of China
Lee Mingjang, from Thailand, posted, "Pray for Kumamoto and Kumamon," a sentiment that was repeated thousands of times that day.
The quake, one of the severest to hit Japan, killed at least 50 people and injured more than 3,000. It toppled office buildings and damaged tens of thousands of homes.
In the wake of the disaster, while many Japanese residents posted information on social media about the safety of their friends and relatives, many netizens overseas, such as Tang, were posting messages asking whether Kumamon was safe.
Kumamon, a bear cartoon character about 1.5 meters tall, with glossy black fur, round red cheeks and wide, staring eyes, is registered as a civil servant in Kumamoto, a city on Kyushu in southwestern Japan with a population of 700,000.
In Japan, Kumamon is an abbreviation for "the people of Kumamoto" in the local dialect. Created in 2010 as the city's official mascot to boost local tourism, the character soon shot to fame.
Miffy attracts a crowd at a theme park in Shenzhen, Guangdong. (PHOTO PROVIDED TO CHINA DAILY)
Kumamon carries out numerous activities under the title of "sales manager" for Kumamoto prefecture. The character plays an active role in various areas, such as appearing in tourist campaigns run by the local government and in TV comedy shows with the prefecture's governor. Images of Kumamon can also be seen on cookies, bags of rice, hotel bed linen and even on a plane operated by the budget carrier Solaseed Air.
Asked why she cared sufficiently for Kumamon to be concerned for his safety after the earthquake, Tang Qiulin said the character has a "cute and naughty" personality.
She was not alone. After the quake, Kumamon's Twitter feed, which has 808,000 followers, was flooded with thousands of comments asking about his safety, with some fans saying they hadn't even visited Japan.
Simon Lee, a senior lecturer at the School of Accountancy at the Chinese University of Hong Kong's Business School, said: "Generally, a mascot does not have any stories, but the government of Kumamoto prefecture has successfully built Kumamon's cute and naughty personality through marketing activities. This low-cost but effective way of attracting a mass audience to follow the character's stories has gradually increased Kumamon's exposure."
In China, Kumamon also has a huge fan base. Online memes, or biaoqingbao, featuring cute images of the bear have spread on social media to the extent that it is hoped that the millennial generation will flock to meet with the character in real-life settings.
In the Xintiandi district of Shanghai, the Kuma Cafe attracts hordes of the bear's selfie-taking fans. The cafe, which opened in January 2017, was an instant hit with young people, with long lines waiting for two hours each day for a table.
According to the Kumamoto prefecture office in Shanghai, sales of Kumamon items last year in the domestic and overseas markets reached a record high of 150.5 billion yen (US$1.38 billion at today's rates). They had set a record for seven consecutive years, with the cumulative sales volume exceeding 660 billion yen.
An event is held in Beijing in March to change the official Chinese name of Kumamon. (PHOTO PROVIDED TO CHINA DAILY)
Fujimoto Nobuhiro, Kumamoto prefecture's representative in Shanghai, said: "Kumamon is very popular in China. In fact, we changed his official Chinese name in March just because we wanted to satisfy the Chinese fans."
The former name, a combination of the written characters meaning "cool and cute", is pronounced ku ma meng in Mandarin as a transliteration of Kumamon. In March, this was replaced by the new name Xiong Ben Xiong. This had long been the unofficial and more commonly known name for the mascot used in China since its debut.
Theme store opens
An Quan, a staff member at IMMG-Beijing Co, a Japanese company that handles licensing for Kumamon on the Chinese mainland, said: "China is a market that our company attaches great importance to. Since Kumamoto prefecture lifted the ban on the use of Kumamon's image by overseas companies last year, IMMG-Beijing has licensed more than 200 applications, as many companies want Kumamon to appear on their products or marketing campaigns."
Kumamon's success in the business world also shows that Chinese consumers are willing to pay more for pop culture characters if such business is handled well.
According to a report by iResearch, consumers among the country's emerging middle class are increasingly prepared to pay more for licensed merchandise involving their favorite film and TV characters, as opposed to counterfeit items.
In February, the first shop in China themed on the iconic Belgian cartoon character Tintin opened in Shanghai after Spring Festival.
News of Tintin's arrival in the city went viral on social media and fans from across the country flocked to the store.
Philippe Wang, a representative in China for Moulinsart, the company set up to protect and promote the work of Herge, the character's creator, said, "Tintin fans bought up all the limited-edition suitcases of Tintin in Shanghai with his dog Snowy printed on them."
The Line Friends store in the Taikoo Li business district of Chengdu, Sichuan province. (PHOTO PROVIDED TO CHINA DAILY)
In 1934, Belgian cartoonist Georges Remi, known by his pen name Herge and as "the father of Tintin", met in Brussels, the Belgian capital, with Zhang Chongren, a student from Shanghai studying architecture, to create the story The Blue Lotus, which is set in the Chinese city.
The Blue Lotus is the shop's main theme. Products on sale range from a customized paper lamp at the door to a shelf displaying all the characters from the Tintin series.
Wang said an extensive range of official merchandise and art books are available at the store, and several of these are limited editions. Prices are similar to those in Europe, ranging from 200 yuan to 280 yuan (US$29 to US$40) for adult-sized T-shirts, and figurines costing from 100 to more than 1,000 yuan.
"Many of the country's Tintin fans are interested in limited-edition models rather than mass-produced key rings and trinkets, hoping to own unique Tintin products," Wang said.
"In the 1980s, most Chinese did not have the chance to travel overseas, so Tintin opened a window for us into the rest of the world."
However, Tintin books were not officially published on the mainland until 2001. Chinese readers were already familiar with his adventures by then thanks to pirated copies which helped build a fan base before the books became widely available.
The first generation of Chinese Tintin readers, many of them now in their 40s and 50s, can afford to buy licensed books and related products from the series. Many of them buy the full set of The Adventures of Tintin comic books for their children. Although Tintin was created 90 years ago, sales of the books remain highly popular among children.
China’s first official Tintin shop was opened in Shanghai in February. (PHOTO PROVIDED TO CHINA DAILY)
According to iResearch, last year there were nearly 350 million ACGN (anime, comics, games and novels) users in China, with more than 200 million ages 8 to 50.
Creativity lies at the core of the animation and cartoon sector, but more than 70 percent of the industry's profits are generated by the development of related products based on intellectual property. Sales of toys and peripheral products, as well as the construction and operation of theme parks, are the sector's main source of revenue.
Zhang Ning, 29, is a loyal fan of Miffy, a small female rabbit in a series of picture books drawn and written by Dutch artist Dick Bruna.
Zhang said she has spent nearly 10,000 yuan on Miffy products since junior high school. After she gave birth to a daughter two years ago, she has found more children's items, such clothing, footwear and crockery that feature Miffy designs, rather than those aimed at adults.
"My first Miffy product was a ballpoint pen. At the time, I was in junior high school, and I found mathematics tortuous. When I was doing my homework, I saw this cute and quiet rabbit on my pen and immediately felt calm. Since then, I won't buy stationery without a Miffy design," Zhang said.
Frank A.J. Padberg, business development manager at Mercis, the Dutch publisher and rights holder for Miffy, said the cartoon figure has many adult fans in Asia, but in the Netherlands, its home country, Miffy is largely viewed as a children's character.
"In every household with young children you will probably find some Miffy products. The character is recognized as something typically Dutch and has been an icon for the past three generations," Padberg said.
Since 1955, when the first Miffy book was published, total sales of books featuring the character have reached more than 85 million, and have been published in over 50 languages.
Products are displayed at the Tintin shop in Shanghai. (PHOTO PROVIDED TO CHINA DAILY)
Imaginations widened
Television series starring Miffy have been broadcast worldwide for years, and it is easy to find stores selling children's products such as clothing, blankets, napkins and crockery that bear images of the character.
Zhang said she thinks animation and cartoon characters are the most important way in which children can understand the world and form their own values. She wants her daughter to watch cartoons that can educate and inspire, and thinks that Miffy has both these attributes.
"Although many people think that cartoons and animations are solely for children, as an adult, I read comic books and watch cartoons myself. Sometimes I buy toys for myself based on cartoon figures, not only as a hobby but also as an escape from my busy life," Zhang said.
In China, revenue from products related to cartoons and animation reached 76.4 billion yuan in 2017, almost twice that of the market for books, movies and TV series. In Japan, revenue from the former was eight to 10 times that of latter.
Tang Junshu, a lecturer from the School of Animation and Digital Arts at Communication University of China, said anime and cartoons have captured and widened imaginations globally, especially among young people.
"Not only do certain anime franchises perfectly capture the modern-day concerns of Chinese audiences, they also provide the perfect medium for viewers to escape their worries.
"More important, animation and cartoon products are also important conveyors of values and soft power. From Tintin to Kumamon or Miffy, these characters represent the unique culture of the creator's own country, promoting cultural values and at the same time bringing huge economic benefits to their home nations when people buy these products," Tang Junshu added.
A Miffy-themed subway carriage in Shenzhen. (PHOTO PROVIDED TO CHINA DAILY)
More animation and cartoon production companies worldwide are eyeing the surging market in China. Sometimes, even if a character does not come from a cartoon movie or comic book, as long as it is cute enough, it can still capture the hearts of the country's consumers.
Line Friends, a global brand featuring characters based on stickers from the messaging app Line, was launched in 2011 by a subsidiary of South Korean internet search company Naver Corp.
The Line app triggered a trend where people used sticker characters to express their feelings while chatting online. Although Line is not the main messaging app in China, Line Friends characters such as Brown the Bear and Cony the Rabbit have millions of fans in the country.
Line Friends has more than 10 stores in China, which are visited by thousands of customers every day. They buy mobile phone cases, backpacks and stationery, or have coffee in the stores' cafes and take selfies with the characters.
Tang Junshu, the Communication University of China lecturer, said: "Most of the popular virtual cartoon characters have displayed anthropomorphic personality traits. (Anthropomorphism is the attribution of human traits, emotions, or intentions to nonhuman entities).
"What separates the Line Friends characters from ordinary emoticons is the strong emotional bond that has developed between them and their users."
The lecturer added, "Emotions mean sales, and the more the characters can depict life or relate to human feelings, the more people will be willing to consume."
