Pictured: Hello Kitty patch promoted as "Officially Licensed" by an Etsy vendor
Clearly my Hello Kitty knowledge needs to be beefed up, because while it appears to be true that licensed Hello Kitty content is now on sale in Second Life, reader "Galatea" points out the ubiquity of licensed Hello Kitty products:
[Responding to another reader saying, "I am not seeing such a big company like that coming into Second Life for a couple of cents on each item"]:
Yes, but that's putting the relationship backwards. It probably would never occur to Sanrio to "come into SL", but Sanrio itself doesn't make much stuff -- it is, on the other hand, the world's 12th largest licensor. [And among the top ten a few years ago. - WJA]
So rather an Sanrio coming into SL, what's more likely is an SL creator reaching out to Sanrio to obtain a non-exclusive license, something Sanrio loves to give out, even to "micro" markets (they're happy to license to small Etsy creators, too, for example).
That last point is definitely true, as there is lots of Hello Kitty content on sale from Etsy vendors that's also promoted as "officially licensed", as here, and here, and here. So barring more clarity from Sanrio or the SL brand using Hello Kitty, Astralia, what Galatea says seems the most likely relationship we're dealing with here.
However, even if that's the case, it's still news that Sanrio approved the license for Hello Kitty-branded Second Life content:
It's doubtful that would have happened a decade ago, when Second Life was considered poison for big brands, or for that matter, while Sanrio was focused on launching a Hello Kitty virtual world of its own.
Speaking of Sanrio licensing, that's something other content creators can consider:
The company has a whole web page with info on licensing the Sanrio brand for vendors around the world. And with Astralia haven't set a precedent for Second Life as a market, I imagine Sanrio will be open to other virtual world licensing deals too.
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