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Hello Kitty is a major fashion statement for the
young, and a phenomenal branding success for Japanese licensor Sanrio |
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Some of the biggest brand names in
the world are positioning themselves in Hong Kong for new licensing
opportunities in the Chinese mainland, confident the SAR offers protection
for their investment.
Licensing agents Asia Licensing
Partners and Japan-based licensor Sanrio agree that Hong Kong's licensing
industry is going from strength to strength.
For Japan-based licensor Sanrio,
creators of Hello Kitty, Hong Kong is the springboard to an as yet largely
untapped potential.
Since the brand was born 25 years
ago, Hello Kitty has become the biggest fashion statement for teenagers and
pre-teens in Asia, with sales running into billions of dollars every year.
Eighty five per cent of Hello Kitty sales are in Japan, the rest largely in
the US, Hong Kong and Taiwan.
The company now has its sights set
on the Chinese mainland. General manager Hiro Nishino says there are two
main reasons why a growing number of international brands have set up in
Hong Kong to expand their licensing activities in the region.
"Firstly, Hong Kong is the gateway
to China where there is plenty of business opportunity and potential," he
said. "Secondly, the consumption power in Hong Kong is still considerably
big when compared to other south-east Asian countries."
Secure base
for IP
Mr Nishino added that
international firms have confidence in Hong Kong as a secure base for their
valuable Intellectual Property (IP). In addition to the protection offered
by Hong Kong's sound IP laws, he said that the SAR government and its
Customs and Excise department "are very supportive to the IP owner".
""Exposure to the China market is
one of our main objectives now. That's why events such as the Hong Kong
Licensing Show and Conference are so important to us. The show will draw
many quality licensees, and we hope it can help us explore many other
regional opportunities."
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Jay Smith, president of Asian Licensing Partners,
says Hong Kong is the best place to be located for expanding licensing
networks |
Jay Smith, president of Asian
Licensing Partners representing brands including Reebok, Singer, Everlast,
and Esquire, agrees Hong Kong is the licensing hub of the region.
"Hong Kong was the best place to
locate our headquarters because of the amount of consumer products trade
that is either based here or facilitated through here. Of course, there are
also 1.3 billion consumers right next door to us (in the Chinese mainland),
and every brand in the world wants access to that market," Mr Smith said.
"But China is not the only
important market for us in the region. Hong Kong is centrally located
geographically and it's relatively easy to travel to the huge markets of
Japan and Korea, to our South Asia office in Singapore, and to our West Asia
office in Delhi." He added that Hong Kong is more experienced in licensing
than most of the rest of Asia due to its 30-year experience in toy licensing
and production.
He continued: "Hong Kong offers
capital and sophisticated management ideas, two things that are very
necessary for brand licensing to work. Hong Kong companies are very open to
the concept of licensing and they understand the value of brands. I believe
they also understand that the traditional business model is shifting
somewhat - rather than Hong Kong being a place that mainly facilitates
export of products to the rest of the world, it is now also becoming a place
that facilitates products, and brands, being brought to Asia from the rest
of the world."
Mr Smith added that in the past few years, toy and character licensing has
accounted for 80 - 85 pr cent of the licensing activity in Asia, while in
the US last year it only represented 44 per cent. "The fields that our
company works in - sports, fashion, and corporate brands - last year
accounted for 46.1 pr cent of licensing activity in the US - so there are
huge areas of licensing that are not being taken advantage of in Asia at the
moment." |
