February 11, 2008
Lyon College News Bureau

Hello Kitty is an unlikely success story. Launched 30 years ago with no fanfare, the cartoon cat has almost no story or media exposure. Yet with almost no advertising, the two-dimensional cat now churns out half a billion dollars in revenue and is sold in more than 40 countries. 

Ken Belson, co-author of “Hello Kitty: The Remarkable Story of Sanrio and the Billion Dollar Feline Phenomenon,” will explain how Hello Kitty grew into one of the most recognizable characters in the world in a lecture at 7 p.m. Thursday, March 6, at Sanders Lecture Hall in the Derby Center on the Lyon College campus.

Belson covers the business and transportation industry for the New York Times. He earned a master’s degree with honors from the Graduate School of Journalism at Columbia University. He also holds a bachelor’s in history from Reed College.

The event is sponsored by the Japan Lecture Series and made possible by a grant from the Freeman Foundation. For more information, contact Mieko U. Peek at mpeek@lyon.edu

Ken Belson and Hello Kitty