18 September 2017
Popular Japanese anime characters, “Kobitos”, “Fuchiko” and “The Bear’s School” quietly became a part of Hong Kong’s daily life. Taiwanese licensee San-Byte Creative Co., Ltd. was the mastermind that brought these well-loved characters to town.
San-Byte Creative Co., Ltd. was established in 2012. Its business spans image licensing, product development and audio and video agency. The company participated in the Hong Kong International Licensing Show and the Hong Kong Gifts & Premium Fair to promote its licensed characters.
Strong development in the Hong Kong market
Ms Chu, Licensing Manager of San-Byte Creative Co., Ltd., said the company joins relevant exhibitions in Hong Kong, Taiwan, Shanghai and Japan every year. While the exhibitions in these four regions differ from one another, the Hong Kong International Licensing Show is the largest in Asia, with buyers from the Chinese mainland, Taiwan, Southeast Asia, Europe, the United States and around the world.
She said that the HKTDC’s rich experience in organising trade fairs such as the Hong Kong International Licensing Show contributed to the smooth running of everything from transportation arrangements, business matching to buyer tours. “It is very easy and comfortable to exhibit in Hong Kong.” Having met many business partners at the Licensing Show over the years and maintained good working relationships with them, the fair has become San-Byte Creative Co., Ltd.’s major exhibition venue.
San-Byte Creative Co., Ltd. specialises in representing licensed Japanese anime characters in the Chinese mainland, Hong Kong and Taiwan. Ms Chu said that the company showcases new licensed characters at the Licensing Show every year. The 2016 fair featured the anime characters from “Kobitos”, “Fuchiko”, “The Bear’s School” and "Kanahei's Small Animals".
One quarter of the company's business comes from Hong Kong, with the rest from Taiwan. However, comparing to Taiwan, Ms Chu sees Hong Kong as more international. Young people are attuned to Japanese pop culture and people in Hong Kong are more open-minded to new ideas than their peers in the Chinese mainland and Taiwan. As San-Byte Creative Co., Ltd.’s key market, Hong Kong has delivered good results for the licensed characters. The characters are favoured by different businesses for cross-promotions.
Everlasting Japanese anime trend
Taking “Kobitos” as an example, Ms Chu said: “The look of ‘Kobitos’ is unique yet fun. Europeans and Americans see him as strange and unpleasant, but people in Hong Kong are very receptive to the character. The character also cooperated with Windsor House in Causeway Bay and the Circle-K convenience stores. In 2016, it was licensed to Dim Sum Icon for opening a theme restaurant.”
“The Bear’s School" is a graphic novel character that has captured the hearts of many young Japanese moms with its cute and lovely look. In 2014, it cooperated with the Circle-K convenience stores and in 2016 with Izumi Curry Restaurant. Another popular Japanese character, “Fuchiko”, had a cross-over cooperation with the Hong Kong Jockey Club, and was chosen as the 2016 Christmas decoration theme for Shun Tak Centre.
Ms Chu mentioned that in addition to the licensing business, San-Byte Creative Co., Ltd. also promotes the commercialisation of their licensed characters through the Hong Kong International Licensing Show. She said that through the business matching service offered during the 2015 fair, she met the representatives of a Taiwanese chain stationery store and immediately started cooperation by licensing the characters to the chain for event collaterals. The two companies have since become long-term business partners. She added that San-Byte’s characters gained much attention at the 2016 fair and the “Fuchiko” character was licensed to a Hong Kong household goods manufacturer to produce product collections.
Two new popular characters to be featured
”Cute, queer, weird... many anime characters come into the market with a variety of looks, styles and personalities, but not everyone can become a great success. We have to locate the right market and introduce the suitable characters, this is a real test for us as a licensing agent,” said Ms Chu. She added that when San-Byte Creative Co., Ltd. selects licensed characters for different markets, it bases its decision on the licensed characters’ market potential, including their popularity in Japan and whether they have been successfully commercialised. They will then study the business cases in Japan and evaluate the overall value of introduction.
San-Byte Creative Co., Ltd. recently released two Japanese anime characters, "Zombie Cat" and "Puchi Rascal". Ms Chu explained that "Zombie Cat" was created by Kanahei, the artist of the “Kanahei's Small Animals” mobile game. Thanks to its special setting, the cute zombie cat with a knife scar on the face was favoured by many businesses in Taiwan after only three months of promotion.
Open the Chinese mainland market in multiple ways
The new character was debuted at the Hong Kong International Licensing Show in January 2017. Ms Chu indicated that, in addition to Hong Kong, they would like to introduce their characters to the Chinese mainland. “Young people in the mainland are open-minded to not only cute characters, but also other ideas. Adding to that, internet connectivity and frequent travels to Japan expose them to Japanese characters that are not shown on TV.”
She said that the company has just started its business on the Chinese mainland and plans to promote through the internet and cooperation with shopping malls in first-tier cities to increase exposure. She hopes to leverage the Hong Kong International Licensing Show to enrich the mainland dealers’ knowledge of Japanese characters. “Once they have learned about the characters at the fair and see them outside the venue, they will be more confident about our characters’ potential.”
The Hong Kong International Licensing Show was held at the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre from 9 to 11 January, offering a diversified licensing platform for licensors, licensing agents, manufacturers and retailers to uncover business opportunities.
