Korean mobile lifestyle platform Kakao eyes expansion for its character brand.
Korean mobile lifestyle platform company Kakao has partnered with IMG to exclusively licence its character brand Kakao Friends in Europe.
Kakao Friends’ eight characters were born in 2012 and are derived from a series of emoticons on the Kakao Talk platform, Korea’s leading messenger platform with more than 200m users.
It has since become a household name in the territory, with the characters – Apeach, Ryan, Muzi, Con, Tube, Neo, Frodo and Jay-G – featuring in a number of high profile collaborations with brands including Louis Vuitton, Nike, Vans, MAC, Uniqlo and Cath Kidston among others.
In Korea and Japan, there are already more than 30 Kakao Friends stores and cafés with more to come in the future.
The initial core focus for Kakao Friends in Europe will be apparel and accessories, fashion accessories and homeware, with future extension into additional categories.
“IMG is delighted to bring Kakao Friends to Europe,” said Matthew Primack, svp of licensing at IMG. “Having already connected emotionally with millions of fans and aspirational brands, Kakao Friends is a leading K-POP culture export and is powerfully on trend in Europe.
“Now is the perfect time for a social and culturally rich lifestyle brand like Kakao Friends to explore new product opportunities that reflect its unique identity and booming popularity.”
Ron Cho, director of Kakao IX UK, added: “We are super excited to bring Kakao Friends to Europe with IMG. We believe our expertise in character branding in the digital age combined with IMG’s expertise in entertainment and licensing will make Kakao Friends stand out.
“Although Kakao Talk is not a dominant mobile platform in other regions, its recent launch outside of Korea and massive success in the Japanese and Chinese markets proves the charm of the Kakao Friends characters.”
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