Kitty ’s success secret is, we think, because of her near-perfect embodiment of the Japanese ideal of “kawaii”. ‘Cuteness’ to us anglophones, kawaii is a cultural phenomenon that values the look of youth, happiness, … powerlessness… in Japan’s pop icons and totally, like, makes Japanese school girls flip out. There’s just something about the combination of Kitty’s round head, absence of mouth (no kitty back-talk?), little wide-spread eyes and bow that is just magical. From a marketing perspective. On everything from school supplies to toasters (love the kitty burn mark) to toilet paper (why not?), Hello Kitty’s little face on a product is the Midas paw-print of sales generators.

To celebrate Hello Kitty’s 30th anniversary, Sanrio invited artists and designers around the world to commemorate the cute cat’s ruthless domination. We are certain you’ve seen it already but we here at HQ think the Hello Kitty crop circle is simply amazing. Thought up by New York crew Surface2Air this homage was executed by Circlemakers in the English country side. It’s that same Hello Kitty magic that makes this, in our humble opinion, the most transcendent of all Cirlcemaker’s projects.

As far as brands go Hello Kitty is in a class all by herself.