Sony Creative Products Inc. confirms major licensing and merchandising deal.
French children’s book series and animation, Gaspard et Lisa is to collaborate with Hello Kitty in the Asian market.
The deal was struck by Sony Creative Products – which manages the worldwide licensing for Gaspard et Lisa – with Sanrio.
The creators of Gaspard et Lisa – Anne Gutman and Georg Hallensblen – and Sanrio’s Hello Kitty designer, Yuko Yamaguchi, between them created seven oil paintings showing a visit by Hello Kitty to Gaspard and Lisa’s home town of Paris on a private jet.
During the visit the two Parisiens show Hello Kitty around the city of Paris and the three friends enjoy spending time together – all of which is captured in the oil paintings.
Following the creation of these paintings, this year will see an expansion of the collaboration into licensing – including the launch of merchandising from Sanrio featuring designs created from the oil paintings.
The launch will start in Japan, with Hong Kong, Indonesia, Singapore, Taiwan, Thailand and other territories to follow.
Takeshi Nakamura, global business group licensing manager at Sony Creative Products, said: “This collaboration between Hello Kitty – one of the most successful character-based properties in history – and Gaspard et Lisa, an enormously popular property with a strong market in Japan, is both innovative and extraordinary.
“The charming friendship shown in these inspired paintings will not only capture the imagination of fans of both properties but will also drive a strong merchandising campaign.”
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