CJ Olive Young Launches Extensive Collaboration with Sanrio Characters

CJ Olive Young announces a large-scale collaboration campaign with the globally popular intellectual property, Sanrio Characters, following last year's success. The campaign is set to run from August 30 to September 30, and it focuses on the theme ‘OLIVE YOUNG City Log.’

To promote this initiative, Olive Young has developed visual assets that depict Sanrio characters enjoying various aspects of Korean cities and lifestyles. The campaign aims to provide both domestic and international consumers with an engaging shopping experience infused with K-local sentiments.

Targeting the core demographic of ages 15 to 29, Olive Young will showcase Sanrio character designs that incorporate popular trends, including school uniforms, pixel graphic art, and leopard patterns. The campaign also features a design of Hello Kitty in Hanbok, responding to foreign tourists’ growing interest in traditional Korean attire.

Additionally, local-themed assets based on 12 regions across Korea will be revealed. Brands representing locations such as Gangneung, Gongju, and Jeonju will showcase local specialties in their character designs, such as Jeonju Bibimbap and Gongju Chestnuts.

These developed assets will be incorporated into collaboration products and merchandise, as well as enhance the exterior design and photo zones of regional stores. This aims to transform Olive Young's stores into unique ‘tourism content’ that international visitors can enjoy during their visits.

Having expanded its collaboration scale significantly, Olive Young now includes 81 brands—a 170% increase from the previous year—with a total of 321 product types, a 50% increase. This collaboration extends beyond beauty to encompass wellness and lifestyle products.

Furthermore, the sales channels have expanded as well. Consumers can find these collaboration products not only in domestic markets but also across all regions of Olive Young's global mall. Collaboration products will also be available in the new U.S. offline store and online mall opened this year.

The increase in collaboration scale is supported by the success of last year's campaign, during which brands participating in the Sanrio Characters ‘Tanning Edition’ event saw a 60% increase in sales year-over-year. The pop-up store attracted over 33,000 visitors in three weeks, marking the highest number of visitors recorded.

Notably, 33% of Olive Young’s members aged 15 to 29 purchased collaboration products during the campaign period, highlighting strong interest from the core demographic translating into actual purchases.

Olive Young continues to foster partnership growth through this year’s collaboration campaign, covering all IP licensing costs to enable small to medium-sized K-beauty and wellness partners to focus solely on product development. With the expansion of sales channels in Olive Young’s global mall and both online and offline U.S. stores, there are expectations for increased sales and recognition among global customers for participating brands.

According to a representative from Olive Young, “Based on the verified results from last year’s Sanrio Characters collaboration, this year we planned an evolved campaign leveraging our trend analysis capabilities and design competitiveness. We aim to continuously strengthen growth models through partnerships, expanding beyond beauty into wellness and lifestyle categories.”