CJ Olive Young brings back Sanrio collab with K-local twist

CJ Olive Young announced Monday it will launch a large-scale collaboration campaign with globally popular intellectual property Sanrio Characters for the second consecutive year, this time centered on a "K-local" concept.

Running under the theme "Olive Young City Log," the campaign runs from Sunday through Sept. 30. CJ Olive Young developed its own visual assets for the campaign, depicting Sanrio characters exploring Korean cities and lifestyles.

The campaign targets the 15-to-29 age group, weaving in a range of trend elements — school uniforms, pixel graphic art and leopard-print street fashion. A "hanbok Hello Kitty" design was also created with foreign tourists in mind.

Region-specific assets draw on 12 areas across the country: Gangneung, Gongju, Gimcheon, Daegwallyeong, Daejeon, Boseong, Busan, Seoul, Suwon, Yeonggwang, Udo and Jeonju. Each location's signature local food — Jeonju bibimbap, Gongju chestnuts and Udo peanuts, among others — was incorporated into the character designs.

The assets will appear on collaboration products and merchandise, as well as on store exteriors and photo zones at each regional location. With every store decorated differently, CJ Olive Young expects the stores themselves to become tourism destinations in their own right.

CJ Olive Young has scaled up this year's Sanrio Characters collaboration to its largest ever. The number of participating brands rose 170 percent year-on-year to 81, while the product lineup grew 50 percent to 321 items. The collaboration also expands beyond beauty into wellness and lifestyle categories.

Sales channels have been extended beyond South Korea to all regions of the CJ Olive Young Global Mall. The collaboration products will also be available at the company's US brick-and-mortar stores and online shop, both of which opened this year.

Last year's Sanrio Characters "Tanning Edition" campaign, held in July, drove a 60 percent year-on-year increase in sales among participating brands. A three-week pop-up store drew a record 33,000 visitors, and 33 percent of members in the core 15-to-29 age group purchased collaboration products.

The campaign also delivers co-growth benefits for partner companies. CJ Olive Young covers the full cost of IP licensing fees, allowing small and mid-sized K-beauty and wellness partners to focus solely on product development. With sales channels now extended to all regions of the Global Mall and US online and offline stores, the company expects the campaign to further raise its partners' global profile.

"Building on the proven results of last year's Sanrio Characters collaboration, we designed this year's campaign as an evolution — leveraging our trend analysis capabilities and design competitiveness," a CJ Olive Young official said. "We will continue to strengthen a model that grows together with more partner companies."