Mattel snagged the rights to Hello Kitty by flying a team to Tokyo and pitching
the brand’s 91-year-old ‘patriarch’ Toy titan Mattel snagged the license to make Hello Kitty products by flying a team to Tokyo and pitching the 91-year-old boss of Sanrio, the brand’s parent company.
“Hello Kitty was not available, it was not being pitched or presented for people to bid on,”
Mattel CEO Ynon Kreiz said at a conference this week.
“We went to Tokyo, multiple meetings with the patriarch owner of Sanrio,” he added, “pitched and won those rights.”
Mattel’s proactive approach also helped it win the rights to BTS, a South Korean boy band.
“It’s not meant to be a toy, but we turned it into a toy line through creativity and innovation and going after it and winning it aggressively,” Kreiz said.
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