Taiwanese airline EVA’s Hello Kitty jet.

Western and Asian attitudes to cuteness tend to be different. Cute in the west tends to be restricted to children, informal and private environments. Asia has a much more expansive use of cuteness - perfectly ok for office workers’ desks to be knee-deep in soft toys and cute ornaments, perfectly ok for your car to be a mobile toy museum, absolutely fine for a grown woman to have a matching set of non-ironic Hello Kitty luggage. If anything, cute can be upmarket - Japanese Sanrio mechandise is sold at a premium and is virtually a designer brand in China. Most western brands overlook the power of cuteness but they are missing out - Coca-cola’s Qoo drink brand rocked the Asian market thanks to its Japanese designed character.

Qoo

EVA’s Hello Kitty jet was launched in 2005 and is still going strong, complete with its own website (here). Overlooking the appeal of cute means you miss out on taping into one of Asia’s big loves.