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Tag: Line Friends

  • LINE FRIENDS Partners with UK IP ‘Ketnipz’ to Accelerate Global IP Expansion

    LINE FRIENDS Partners with UK IP ‘Ketnipz’ to Accelerate Global IP Expansion

    Global character brand LINE FRIENDS partners with social media sensation Ketnipz to expand its footprint in North America and Asia

    • LINE FRIENDS (corporately known as IPX) has officially partnered with Ketnipz, the popular character-driven brand with over 10 million fans across social media platforms.

    • This highly-anticipated collaboration aims to grow the Ketnipz IP on a global scale, leveraging LINE FRIENDS’ storytelling expertise, global infrastructure and creative vision.

    • The partnership will focus on expanding Ketnipz’s presence in key markets such as North America and Asia through licensing opportunities, brand collaborations and original content development.

    With a strong fanbase in Europe and the U.S., Ketnipz brings a unique cultural resonance that, combined with LINE FRIENDS’ global reach, is expected to strengthen both brands’ influence in the international IP landscape.

    LINE FRIENDS (corporately known as IPX) is proud to announce its partnership with Ketnipz, the UK-born character IP that has captured the hearts of over 10 million fans worldwide, through its unique illustrations, relatable story-telling and always-uplifting messages. The partnership grants rights for Ketnipz in South Korea and China, with plans to scale IP activities across various countries and regions, including North America.

    Ketnipz, created by Welsh artist Harry Hambley in 2016, has gained viral popularity primarily in Europe and North America through its genuine, relatable content, with themes of self-love and positivity. The brand began with just one character “Bean” but has since expanded its universe with additional characters such as ‘Nana Bean’, ‘Catto’ and ‘Doggo’. Ketnipz holds a strong online presence through social media platforms, including Instagram, TikTok and YouTube, with over 10 million global fans following. The brand has extended its IP global footprint through collaborations with major global companies like McDonald’s, Instagram, Casetify and Samsung.

    LINE FRIENDS, with over a decade of expertise developing its globally loved original character IPs like LINE FRIENDS and BT21, is well positioned to partner with Ketnipz and expected to bring the unique identity of Ketnipz through Gen Z trends worldwide. The partnership will expand its business not only in Asia but in Europe and North America.

    LINE FRIENDS plans to leverage its IP business capabilities to expand Ketnipz’s presence across Asia while solidifying its leadership in the global IP market. By utilizing its broad network of LINE FRIENDS flagship stores, partnerships with major global brands and diverse business models including licensing, collaborations and content development, LINE FRIENDS will be expanding Ketnipz’s business in Asia and North America.

    LINE FRIENDS has previously led the successful expansion of South Korean IPs such as JOGUMAN, DINOTAENG and MONAMHEE, offering unique IP experiences to fans beyond the home country. The company expects partnering with Ketnipz will further strengthen its presence in the Western market.

    LINE FRIENDS representative stated, “Ketnipz IP has delivered joy and connection with their audience through its heartwarming messages and storytelling. As a leader in global IP business, we believe the company can bring great success with Ketnipz in Asia as well as global markets. Building on our successful global expansion with South Korean IPs, we expect to lead the UK-based IP Ketnipz into the Asian market and will continue to discover character IPs to bring new IP experiences for global fans.”

  • LINE FRIENDS releases the first official episode ofthe BT21 UNIVERSE series

    LINE FRIENDS releases the first official episode ofthe BT21 UNIVERSE series

    LINE FRIENDS, one of the world’s fastest growing global character brands, released the first official episode of ‘BT21 UNIVERSE’ through its official social media channels on April 4. The video immediately went viral among millennials from all around the world, recording over 1 million views less than a day and ranking #3 most watched video at YouTube.

    The ‘BT21 UNIVERSE’ consists of 9 episodes and features BTS members gathered around, using their imaginations to discuss the new characters and stories of BT21 – a new character IP created in close collaboration between LINE FRIENDS and BTS. The teaser videos released on March 27 and 29 prior to the first episode already drew massive attention, reaching almost 2 million views in total in which fans expressed high levels of affection and expectation towards the globally loved BT21. Not only that, on April 1, a few rough sketches which drop a hint about the ‘BT21 UNIVERSE’ were revealed at the official Twitter BT21 account in celebration of the April Fools’ Day and the content were rapidly shared and spread, reaching over 6,000 comments within an hour.

    In the recently released first episode, BTS members disclosed the first topic, ‘friends and family of BT21’ and BTS members expressed enthusiasm when RM suggested taking the time to create the future of BT21. Then, they unfolded new stories of RJ, KOYA and SHOOKY – the characters which BTS took part in the entire process of creation. Jin disclosed RJ’s family background and the name of parents in a witty way, RM shared a story of how KOYA became a friend with a ‘leaf’ and Suga told the past story of SHOKY’s family and friends before SHOOKY met TATA.

    The millennials from all over the world have expressed great interest in the first episode of the BT21 UNIVERSE that unveiled exciting stories about the past of BT21 characters, featuring the fun and creative processes of BTS members. They commented, “The BT21 UNIVERSE is amazing. I can’t stop watching amusing stories of BT21 presented by BTS”, “The BT21 UNIVERSE sparks curiosity just like Marvel Cinematic Universe. I look forward to seeing how the BT21 UNIVERSE will unfold the stories behind BT21 characters.” Not only that, the BT21 UNIVERSE has prompted a lot of interpretations and guesses of the yet-to-be released characters and stories online.

    In the ‘BT21 UNIVERSE’ series, LINE FRIENDS will share the behind-the-scene clips of BTS members discussing the past, future, family, rivals and friends of the BT21 characters through the official social media channels every week until May. Following the <Family and Friends of BT21 1> that was released on April 4, Jungkook, V, J-Hope and Jimin will introduce the past stories of COOKY, TATA, MANG and CHIMMY in the next week’s episode.

    “LINE FRIENDS launched BT21 in 2017 through a year-long collaboration with global artist BTS and it garnered unprecedented wave of popularity from the millennials all around the world in such a short period of time. The release of the ‘BT21 UNIVERSE’ is particularly meaningful, because it is beyond a one-time new character development process and it unfolds the universe as the characters grow and develop, breaking from the conventional characters”, said LINE FRIENDS.

    LINE FRIENDS is planning to hold a special promotion via social media channels for customers in April, in which they can participate in creating characters. This is one of LINE FRIENDS’s continuous efforts to interact and engage with BT21 customers through wide range of activities.

    BT21 is a new IP created as the first project of ‘FRIENDS CREATORS’, which is a creative strategy to develop a new kind of character IP based on the uniqueness of global artists and creative capabilities of LINE FRIENDS. In 2017, LINE FRIENDS released a total of eight BT21 characters after a year-long collaboration with BTS and it has grown into a globally loved character, garnering remarkable achievements of more than 28 million sticker downloads and more than 3.3 billion Twitter exposures.

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  • Bite & Bite with Line Friends cafe opens

    Bite & Bite with Line Friends cafe opens

    The world’s first Bite & Bite with Line Friends cafe has opened at Hong Kong International Airport. Operated by food and beverage company SSP Hong Kong, the cafe is located on level 7 near gate 201. The cafe combines original Line Friends characters with a variety of dishes ranging from breakfasts through to snacks and dinner fare in a 60-seat dining area. The menu features both Korean and western food.

    Line, a chat program headquartered in Japan owned by South Korea’s Naver Corporation, has opened Line Friends stores in Bangkok, Hong Kong, Seoul, Shanghai, Tokyo, Taipei, New York and Los Angeles, all selling memorabilia featuring the characters of software.

    The Bite & Bite with Line Friends cafe also sells lifestyle products, souvenirs and travel items, such as neck pillows, luggage tags and travel bags.

    View gallery below for pictures (6 images) :

     

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  • Line Friends opens pop-up character store in Hollywood

    Line Friends opens pop-up character store in Hollywood

    Line Friends, the character merchandising unit of Japan-based mobile messenger Line, announced that it has opened its first pop-up store in Hollywood, Los Angeles.

    Over 1,500 people lined up outside the new Line Friends’ pop-up store in Hollywood, Los Angeles, on the morning of 27 July, waiting for the doors to open for the first time.

    The pop-up store, which will be open until late October, saw over 15,000 visitors within the first two days of its launch.

    Line Friends, a range of characters based on Naver’s messaging app, Line, has gained popularity in global markets as part of a growing trend for “K-characters.” Armed with cute animal characters with names like “Brown” and “Sally,” the brand reached the United States after its explosive success in Southeast Asia.

    Line Friends has been expanding its customer base, starting with its release of the character line “BT21” in collaboration with boy band BTS last year in an effort to draw in BTS fans from around the world.

    The brand has been more popular in foreign countries than in Korea. A Line Friends pop-up store opened in New York last August, but became a permanent location after its huge popularity.

    “Judging by the success of the Hollywood pop-up store and the popularity of the New York location, we expect that we’ll be able to expand to a full-scale intellectual property business with Line Friends in North America,” the company said.

    Line Friends operates 112 stores in Japan, the United States, China and Taiwan. Korean character and animation industries are the main pillars of the K-content industry along with mobile and PC games. The industry’s growth potential is practically unlimited as the language and cultural barriers are low and it is easy for brands to collaborate with other businesses for things like household items, games and film.

    According to this year’s content industry outlook report released by the Korea Creative Content Agency in March, the character industry accounted for 9.5 percent of content exports, the second highest following the game industry. Kakao Friends is also planning to expand to Japan, the United States and Europe, starting with its recent name change to Kakao IX.

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  • DJI x LINE launches character-branded drone

    DJI x LINE launches character-branded drone

    Shenzhen-headquartered tech firm DJI has released of a Line Friends drone, its first character-branded device.

    The move is expected to be a step towards making the technology more accessible to a wider audience. The miniature camera drone depicts the popular character Brown, and is small enough to lift off from the palm, with a photo-taking capacity of 12 megapixels and 1080p stabilised video capture. The Line Friends drone has the distinctive feature of being able to be controlled with hand gestures.

    DJI’s senior communication manager Monica Suk said, “The DJI Spark earned its reputation as the smallest, yet powerful flying camera. It made flying a drone extremely easy, fun and more personalised. Similar to other things we carry in our bags, a drone is becoming a lifestyle accessory.

    “This special edition Line Friends drone will take this concept even further and make storytelling and sharing exciting, and a part of our everyday life.”

    The Line Friends drone (Brown) Spark RC Combo is selling at US$399 in North America, China, Hong Kong and Korea.

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  • BTS and Converse team up for BT21 sneakers

    BTS and Converse team up for BT21 sneakers

    American footwear brand Converse has collaborated with South Korean character brand Line Friends’ for Converse x BT21 sneaker collection.

    The Converse x BT21 sneakers will be available for purchase this Friday at Converse and Line Friends stores only in China, Hong Kong, South Korea, and Taiwan.

    The collaboration offers a limited-edition line of Chuck Taylor All Star Low Black/White, and Chuck Taylor All Star Black, both with BT21 designs on them. The sneakers will come in a BT21 design shoebox with eight customised badges, shoelaces and a BT21 labelled tote bag.

    Prices are set at US$84 for low-cut sneakers and $87 for high-cut sneakers.

    BT21 are characters created by South Korean boy-band BTS in collaboration with Line Friends. The characters have appeared on products from several brands, including Dunkin’ Donuts and Paris Baguette.

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  • Line Friends to open Pop-Up stores in Seoul City

    Line Friends to open Pop-Up stores in Seoul City

    A Line Friends pop-up will open at luxury speciality store BoonTheShop in Seoul on Saturday.

    Running until January 14, the Korean character brand’s outlet will introduce its latest merchandise, BT21. The range includes dolls, cushions, fashion items, limited-edition postcards, posters and bag charms – all based on a set of characters created by K-pop boyband BTS and the Line Friends team.

    LINE FRIENDS

    The same line will also start selling at Line Friends’ New York flagship on the same day via a “BT21 Zone”, and at other stores in Hong Kong, Japan, Taiwan and Thailand, as well as online early next year.

    BT21 was initially launched as stickers on Line App with more than 17 million downloads and 200 million Twitter exposures. The first Line Friends’ collaboration with artists, the BT21 range joins signature characters such as Brown, Choco and Cony.

    LINE FRIENDS Unveils BT21 Merchandise at Its Flagship Store in New York (PRNewsfoto/LINE FRIENDS)

    Line Friends has 91 stores in 11 international markets.

  • Line Friends says Hello to the US

    Line Friends says Hello to the US

    Line Friends will become the first Asian character brand to open a large-scale official store in the US.

    Its store in New York City’s Times Square, opening in July, also marks the one-year anniversary of Line listing on the New York Stock Exchange.

    Line Friends has opened stores in 11 other countries and regions including China, Hong Kong, Japan and Taiwan, and had a pop-up store in New York City in 2014.

    Line New York

    In New York, the store will have about 430 sqm of retail space on Broadway, and will attract attention with LED billboards.

    There are 73 official and pop-up Line Friends stores around the world, and the brand also collaborates regularly with different brands, such as pen company Lamy and Italian stationery group Moleskine.

    Line Friends grew from sticker characters for the messenger app Line, which has 220 million users globally.

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