ORIGINALLY LAUNCHED IN 1987, Sanrio's design character Keroppi has a strong 80s retro appeal with young adults who grew up with him. Keroppi is one of Sanrio's most popular characters and has a particularly strong appeal to women 18-34.

© 1987, Sanrio Co., Ltd.

The name Keroppi is derived from the Japanese kero - onomatopoetic for a frog's croaking sound - while his family name Hasunoe means "on top of the lily pad". Keroppi lives with his brother, Koroppi, sister Pikki and parents in a big house on the edge of Donut Pond, the largest and bluest pond around. Keroppi is a very active and fun-loving frog. His bubbly personality and extreme optimism makes him popular around Donut Pond. Keroppi's main talents are swimming and singing.

Surveys among Sanrio store customers have shown that Keroppi is one of the most popular characters among women 18-34, followed by teens 15-17. Merchandising has been in place on European markets since the early 90s.

The Sanrio artists have mastered the fine art of creating pure imagery with instant recognizability and "personality". While their character icons do not need surrounding storylines to make a genuine impression, there is a "soap opera" quality to several of Sanrio's properties, with a number of subsidiary personalities revolving around the brand character. The Sanrio style was deliberately developed to differ from bold American cartoons with aggressive colors and sharp lines - more subtle, with rounder features, more pastel colors and a kind of coziness. The characters' limbs are shorter, the view is often full frontal and the pose iconic and static. As design icons, Sanrio's kawaii properties represent an aestethic quality that embodies values like care, innocence and gentle silliness and seems to respond to basic and universal human needs, for children and adults alike.