Examine the brand mission and vision for each brand and explain how the brand name, logo, or slogan succeeds or fails to communicate the brand identity to consumers, competitors, and various stakeholders. What does the brand who successfully positioned itself do well? How does the brand with the weak or failed positioning strategy miss the mark?

I chose Sanrio since it’s a brand I am very familiar with and grew up with as a child. I have been (and still am!) a huge fan of Sanrio’s characters, especially Hello Kitty, Pochacco, Gudetama, and Aggretsuko. The brand’s mission and vision is to delight its customers with cuteness overload with “small gift, big smile” as their main focus and they have been very successful for many years. Sanrio’s founder, Shintaro Tsuji, founded Sanrio on August 10, 1960, as “Yamanashi Silk Company” and later renamed it “Sanrio” in 1973 (Wikimedia Foundation, 2023). Their vision is “One World, Connecting Smiles”, which is deeply rooted in the purpose of “everyone getting along together” and creating smiles (Corporate Sanrio, n.d).

The overall theme of Sanrio is visible in all of their characters and products that live out Japan’s "kawaii” culture, which means “acceptable for affection” or “possible to love” (Ashcraft, 2021). This can also be translated to mean “cute”, “adorable,” “sweet,” “precious,” “pretty,” “endearing,” “darling,” and even “little” (Ashcraft, 2021). The overall brand name, logo, and slogan work together in successfully communicating its brand identity to consumers by relating to everyday people, adding humor, and attaching emotions to make consumers like the characters because they are so adorable. Each Sanrio character has a unique character and personality that makes them interesting and stand out. Lots of stuffed animals, toys, memorabilia, clothing, stationery paper, theme parks, TV shows, movies, and collaborations with other brands help to expand their reach across all the younger and older generations. For example, Gudetama, the lazy egg was a newer character that Sanio created that became very successful due to its unique character and humor. Aggretsuko, which is the newest character became very popular due to the Netflix TV series that brought the 2D character to life. This character was not created for little children as this character is about a single, 25-year-old, accountant who likes to “rage” in karaoke bars to relieve her daily stresses of work and her adulting life. Hello Kitty, which is one of the most popular and well-known characters worldwide, has had many adaptations and styles to keep her modern and top of mind. For example, there is a Hello Kitty Cafe Truck that travels around the US selling drinks, snacks, and themed Hello Kitty merchandise for the public. Sanrio also successfully positioned itself to do well in delighting old fans by creating special conventions, museums, and events for their loyal fan base. To celebrate Hello Kitty’s 40th Anniversary in 2015, Sanrio collaborated with the Japanese American National Museum in Los Angeles for a special exhibition. Sanrio also gives away a lot of their merchandise and also creates new ones for celebrities such as Lady Gaga, Mariah Carey, Katy Perry, and Avril Lavigne (Roesler, 2014). Back in 2009, Sanrio worked with Lady Gaga in a photo shoot “in which she wore an eye-popping gown made entirely of Hello Kitty plush toys”. Sanrio’s senior director of brand management and marketing, David Marchi said in a statement, “If Lady Gaga wants a pair of Hello Kitty shoes, we will make sure she gets them, but we won’t cut a check for her to wear them” (Li, 2014). This demonstrates how Sanrio has learned how to attract new fans by using celebrities, just like how social media influencers online are promoting different brands’ products and services to their audience.

Past Exhibition ***“Hello! Exploring the Supercute World of Hello Kitty”*** at the Japanese American National Museum in Los Angeles.

Using the brand you selected as an example, identify one or two strategies that may be applied when developing a brand name for an organization and explain how these naming strategies may help to effectively position a brand.

One strategy that may be applied when developing a brand name for an organization is to choose a name that is meaningful to you as a person, founder, and as a human being. Choosing a name is difficult if there isn’t much meaning to it because it doesn’t connect to a bigger story. For Sanrio, the word derives from the Spanish word “San Rio” which means “Saint River”. The “San” means “Saint” and “Rio” means “River”, so it’s translated into “Saint River.” Knowing this, Sanrio’s desire and philosophy is to “build a peaceful culture on the riverbanks, where it’s said that humans first began to make homes for themselves” (Corporate Sanrio, n.d). By doing this, fostering relationships and friendships with high respect and consideration for others became the values of the company as Sanrio believes that by doing this, it creates a peaceful environment for the world. I think Sanrio did a great job doing this because they have created a culture that lasted for over 60 years! Sanrio’s name is simple and unique for them and makes sense. According to Danny Altman, the Founder and Creative Director of A Hundred Monkeys, “The right name captures the imagination and connects with the people you want to reach” (Wheeler, 2017). Another naming strategy other than creating a meaningful name, is to create a name that’s positive with no negative connotations attached to it. Also, thinking of a simple tagline or phrase is very helpful in connecting your brand name to your tagline. These strategies can help to effectively position a brand by propelling them into the future and provide many new opportunities to grow as time, technology, and communities grow and adapt.

References

Ashcraft, B. (2021, September 9). The meaning of Kawaii. Kotaku. https://kotaku.com/the-meaning-of-kawaii-1847641571

Corporate Sanrio. (n.d.). Message from the founder: Sanrio. About Sanrio Message from the Founder. https://corporate.sanrio.co.jp/en/about_sanrio/founder/#:~:text=So%2C%20the%20name%20Sanrio%20literally,to%20make%20homes%20for%20themselves.

Li, S. (2014, October 25). Sanrio looks to give Hello Kitty, at 40, new life. https://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-hello-kitty-20141025-story.html#page=1

Roesler, P. (2014, October 27). 4 marketing lessons gleaned from Hello Kitty’s 40th Anniversary. New branding strategy shows 40-year-old Hello Kitty has plenty of lives left. https://www.inc.com/peter-roesler/4-marketing-lessons-gleaned-from-hello-kitty-s-40th-anniversary.html

Wikimedia Foundation. (2023, June 25). Sanrio. Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sanrio#:~:text=Shintaro%20Tsuji%20founded%20Sanrio%20on,using%20%C2%A51%2C000%2C000%20in%20capital

Wheeler, A. (2017). Designing Brand Identity: An Essential Guide for the Whole Branding Team (5th ed.). Wiley Professional Development (P&T). https://mbsdirect.vitalsource.com/books/9781119375418

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