Short Essay2_QIAN Zirui (1155217225)

Why is Chiikawa so favored for co-branding by many brands?

    Chiikawa was originally a small comic serialized by Japanese artist Nagano on social platforms, and later developed into a complete IP including comics, animation and peripheral products. Chiikawa is an emoji pack loved by young people. The Japanese abbreviation means small and cute. The main characters include Gee, Hatch (also known as Little Eight), and Usagi, who are also known as “new top notch creatures.”

    With its unique story and cute image, Chiikawa has quickly gained popularity among young consumers. Not only does it provide them with emotional comfort, but it has also become a way for them to express themselves and find empathy. Therefore, from the perspective of brand image, Chiikawa has already created a unique brand image with its story and characters, not only the appearance of the cute characters, but also the personality and emotion of the characters, which makes chiikawa occupy a unique position in the hearts of consumers.

    So unsurprisingly, major famous brands have begun to take Chiikawa as a co-branding target, which greatly increases the commercial value of Chiikawa and also brings very good commercial revenue to the co-brand. Currently, Chiikawa has been co-branded with more than 40 brands, ranging from Coca-Cola and Uniqlo to other manga cameos, covering a wide range of brands that cover people's every aspect of daily life. Chiikawa's co-branding has mainly focused on fast-moving consumer products such as daily necessities and food. These co-branding campaigns not only directly and quickly lead to increased sales, but also rapidly expand the consumer base and brand influence of both parties.

    Chiikawa's first co-branding campaign in mainland China was with MINISO, and as the first co-branding in mainland China, it is a case worth analyzing in terms of marketing strategy. Firstly, choosing a brand like MINISO utilizes its rich and diverse product line, allowing for the launch of co-branded products that cover a wide range of product categories such as plush dolls, daily necessities, and bags. Second is the advantageous price positioning. ChiIkawa has a certain premium due to import tariffs and channels such as substitute purchasing. And its co-branded products with MINISO maintain the consistent affordable and high-quality features, which greatly enhances the consumer's willingness to buy. Finally, in addition to the online social platform preheating, MINISO also held pop-up stores in well-known shopping districts to fully display the theme products, creating a hot atmosphere for the co-branding.

    Although the co-branding campaign gained a very high level of attention, its co-branding effects were not always positive. MINISO's debut as Chiikawa's first domestic peripheral did succeed in capturing the market's lead, generating record high sales. However, during the warm-up phase, MINISO sparked consumer dissatisfaction by referring to the Chiikawa character in an offensive manner. In its official promotional video, MINISO referred to Gee as a “mentally disabled crying mouse”, which aroused the disgust of many fans. MINISO quickly apologized for the inappropriate title of Chiikawa's character and defined this incident as an “internal mistake”. However, this incident still had a certain negative impact on MINISO's brand reputation.

    To conclude, Chiikawa is an IP that has attracted a large number of fans through its characters and stories, and is highly compatible with the emotional needs of consumers. When Chiikawa is co-branded with other brands, it takes on the important function of establishing an emotional connection with consumers, and shows very good results, so it is favored by many brands. In addition, the image of Chiikawa can give co-branded products large space for creative expression to meet the changing needs of the audience, which can be seen as a powerful commercial value. In the process of co-branding, it is important for brands to pay attention to how to better integrate their products with the anime characters, rather than just changing the packaging, so that consumers will pay for their own emotional fulfillment.