Ichikawa Soichiro of Futaba Ltd. from Japan said the Asian licensing market is teeming with potential. The company will proactively develop the international market and plans to return to the Hong Kong International Licensing Show in 2017.

Through the cooperation with Chung Hwa Book Co, a promotion themed with the well-loved animated character “Tapu Tapu the Panda” was organised at one of Chung Hwa’s branches.

Many Japanese anime characters are very popular. A new animated character, “Tapu Tapu the Panda”, has successfully extended its product category through character licensing and expanded to overseas markets through the Hong Kong International Licensing Show.

The character is well-accepted with its positive energy

Ichikawa Soichiro said their greeting cards come with encouraging words to bring forward positive messages. “Children and foreigners, in particular, react passionately to the appearance of the character at different events.” Taking this cue, the company promoted “Tapu Tapu the Panda” products at international exhibitions.

Ichikawa Shoichiro believed that Hong Kong, being the centre of Asia, would be a great place to start their global market expansion, as Asians are familiar with the 12 Chinese signs of the zodiac. “We learned about the Hong Kong Trade Development Council’s (HKTDC) Hong Kong International Licensing Show through a friend’s referral. The HKTDC’s business partner, Character Brand Licensing Association (CBLA), organised the Japan Pavilion and we gladly participated in this exhibition.”

He said the CBLA was a great help in administrative matters. “I believe we would have had a lot more to work on if we joined the fair on our own.” He especially mentioned that the company benefited significantly from the business activities that the HKTDC arranged for the exhibitors during the show.

Diverse licensed character products

Futaba received great response from the buyers when it first participated in the exhibition in 2015. Since then, they have licensed different business partners to produce various products, including clocks, apparels, accessories and masks. They also cooperated with ASUS for their mobile phone brands to use the character for the screen wallpaper. In addition, Futaba teamed up with Hong Kong game design company, Fingerprint Studio, and licensed “Tapu Tapu the Panda” for the educational mobile game "Triangle 180".

In January 2016, the company participated in the fair again. They cooperated with Chung Hwa Book Co and organised a “Tapu Tapu the Panda” themed promotion in their Tseung Kwan O and Tsuen Wan branches and opened a pop-up store.

Ichikawa Shoichiro agreed that the Asian market, especially the Chinese mainland, is very attractive to the company. “We are just getting started in Asia and we do not have much market experience yet. But we believe that there are huge business opportunities.” He stressed that the company will proactively develop the international market in the future and they plan to participate in the Hong Kong International Licensing Show again in 2017.