'Little Bus Tayo' is a representative ‘transportation’ animated series in Korea whose main character is a common city bus. It was designed by a Korean character and animation company, ICONIX, and co-developed by Seoul City and EBS into an animated series. The background of this series is ‘Seoul City’ where many different transportation characters play their roles in the city.
'Little Bus Tayo' shows the life of Tayo, who just earned the qualification to operate in the city, and his friends who help him solve issues and build true friendship. 'Little Bus Tayo' was awarded the ‘Grand Prize for Korean Contents’ for 4 consecutive years from 2012 to 2015, which is given to a work that contributed much to the growth of the local contents industry. Also, it was nominated as an honorary representative of Seoul Public Transportation and Green Umbrella Child Fund providing a positive image to the public through various meaningful activities.
Currently, the number of views on its YouTube channel is more than 1.64 million and 92% of the viewers are from other countries, which shows its potential to grow as a global character. 'Little Bus Tayo’ has been loved by many children since it was launched in 2010, and various characterized products with Tayo and his friends are very popular among children.
LICENSE: We Bare Bears
LICENSE: We Bare Bears
'We Bare Bears' is a famous animated series from the world-renowned animation channel Cartoon Network. ‘We Bare Bears’ is an animated comedy that has been broadcast since July 2015 about 3 bear brothers, Grizzly, Panda, and Icebear, living among normal people. The 3 brothers live in the suburbs and they buy food, build friendships, and try hard to become famous online like anyone else would. Moreover, they spend all day surfing online, watching clips and posting on social media about bad food like any modern person. This series is also broadcast in Korea through Cartoon Network and even before it was shown on TV, the brothers earned fame for being ‘Korean-speaking bear characters’ on social media. The image of the 3 bear brothers standing on top of each other and moving in a row has become very famous. With love from many fans, ‘We Bare Bears’ has been made into many different products all over the world.
LICENSE: Adventure Time
with Finn and Jake
LICENSE: Adventure Time
with Finn and Jake
'We Bare Bears' is a famous animated series from the world-renowned animation channel Cartoon Network. ‘We Bare Bears’ is an animated comedy that has been broadcast since July 2015 about 3 bear brothers, Grizzly, Panda, and Icebear, living among normal people. The 3 brothers live in the suburbs and they buy food, build friendships, and try hard to become famous online like anyone else would. Moreover, they spend all day surfing online, watching clips and posting on social media about bad food like any modern person. This series is also broadcast in Korea through Cartoon Network and even before it was shown on TV, the brothers earned fame for being ‘Korean-speaking bear characters’ on social media. The image of the 3 bear brothers standing on top of each other and moving in a row has become very famous. With love from many fans, ‘We Bare Bears’ has been made into many different products all over the world.
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LICENSE: BARBAPAPA
'Barbapapa' is a brand created from a children’s picture book by the French-American couple Annette Tison and Talus Taylor. Since its publishing in 1970, the book and animated series with these French characters have been loved by all European generations for more than 45 years. Unique and colorful characters, who can freely turn into airplanes, cars, boats and more, motivate children’s imagination and creativity. Barbapapa can be our friends and they also help people in need. Also, they show clever thinking in emergencies and teach kindness and a loving heart towards nature, neighbors, and family. The short 5-minute cartoons of Barbapapa have become more famous and contain the values of family, brotherly love, nature, and a harmonious society. It delivers heartwarming messages to all generations.
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LICENSE: Doraemon
LICENSE: Doraemon
Doraemon is a Japanese science fiction manga series for children written and illustrated by Fujiko F. Fujio in 1970. The series was adapted into an anime series in 1979. Since 1980 it has been produced into various movies and continually loved throughout many generations.
Doraemon is a character who was born through the combination of a cat and a roly-poly toy. He is sent back in time from the 22nd century through a time machine and his appearance stirs up excitement.
Doraemon lets Jingu No, an elementary school kid who does not do anything well, borrow ‘secret gadgets’ drawn from his 4th dimension pocket and with his help the boy achieves various dreams and wishes. Jingu’s friends from the neighborhood Iseul, TungTung, Bishil, and others learn from the tools and reflect on their lives. In the process, Jingu’s future gradually goes in a better direction.
The main stage settings are the elementary school and other areas in the neighborhood. The main characters are relatable elementary school students. The unrealistic feature of Doraemon picking gadgets from his 4th dimension pocket adds spice to the setting. It is a series loved by children and adults and is very popular in Japan. Not only that, it is also being broadcast on television in Korea and its toys and character products are also very popular.
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LICENSE: TTOMA
LICENSE: TTOMA
The original authors of bright and cheerful TTOMA from France, Thoma Vuille and Mik discovered the possibility of positive ‘communication’ through drawings when a funny cat, drawn during a drawing class, made an immigrant girl from Pakistan who could not speak French happy.
That night, they returned home and started drawing yellow cats. This is how it started in 1997 in Orleans, France and spread to Paris later on. TTOMA was the first graffiti allowed at the plaza in front of Centre Pompidou and was exhibited at Orleans Bozar Museum. It was the only one to be recognized as art and loved despite graffiti being considered as a social problem in France. The simple character TTOMA was reshaped and named by Thoma Vuille and Mik. TTOMA was born as a medium of goodness and was placed on buildings, rooftops, protestors’ flags, the subway and many other familiar places. Smiling TTOMA became a medium for people to talk and laugh together in places where individualism thrives. People started to wonder where they could find TTOMA and it brought them closer together. Now the graffiti can be found all over France, England, Spain, the Netherlands, Switzerland and other European countries.
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LICENSE: miffy
LICENSE: miffy
Miffy was created by Dutch children’s book author Dick Bruner in 1955 and is a character loved by children from 45 countries all over the world. Dick Bruner received motivation for most of his characters from the people around him. Valuable memories from his childhood, warmth from his family, and friendliness from nature and animals were the inspiration for his characters. The endings of miffy’s stories were always happy ones and the stories are simple and kind, not scary or fearful. This contains a hopeful message for children to have confidence with an ‘I can do it’attitude and shows them a warm and safe environment. All of Dick Bruner’s books are written in Dutch and were translated into various languages around the world.
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LICENSE: SMILEY
LICENSE: SMILEY
The ‘SMILEY COMPANY’ is one of the 150 biggest licensing companies in the world. The trademark is registered in over 100 countries and in more than 12 product categories and has significant exposure through licenses in sectors such as apparel, accessories, footwear, home décor, perfumery, plushes, stationary, FMCG, publishing and more. “Smiley”, the happiest brand ever, was founded by Franklin Loufrani in 1972 through a newspaper promotion designed to make people happy. Using the logo to highlight good news, it allowed readers to see the bright side of life throughout any day. In 1997, Franklin’s son Nicolas introduced the first graphic emoticons which would become the universe of Smile World and a staple of the vocabulary of the digital generation today. Smiley has always had strong links to music. The Smiley face was adopted by the 1970s Peace and Love Movement and then became the icon for the global explosion of dance music in the 1990s. Over 4 decades, Smiley has become the most recognizable icon in the world and remains so to this day. However, Smiley is more than just an icon, brand and lifestyle; it’s a spirit and a philosophy that exists to remind people of how powerful a smile is.
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LICENSE: Shinzi Katoh
LICENSE: Shinzi Katoh
Shinzi Katoh is one of the most famous designers, not only in Japan but in the world. From the 70s, Shinzi Katoh ran stores designing products for diverse fields and also worked as the senior designer of a gallery. Shinzi Katoh is famous for creative work with many different materials. In 1989, Shinzi Katoh became a freelancer designer and opened up his own company. Using wood, glass, ceramic, and fabric, he began to make new designs with his unique sense. He regularly comes up with new designs and has many fans all over the world. In 2003, he released 150 T-shirt designs and published books for children. Also, he held an exhibition for children at the Teddy Bear Exhibition Center in Yokohama. In 2005, he launched personal products such as bags, clothes, interior goods, ceramics, etc. They are still on sale in San Francisco and in the United Kingdom. He is also very famous for his unique tote bag design. Currently, Shinzi Katoh is running a fashion store located in Tokyo and numerous designers wish to work with him. He is participating in various design work all around the world and his designs are being applied to many different products.