Kakao turns chat emoticons into Korea's top character brand and a 1,000-person queue

In November 2012, KakaoTalk launched Kakao Friends as a set of chat emoticons. Designer Hozo (Kwon Soon-ho) built them around the idea that mascots were too polished: Muzi, the brand's yellow 'bunny', is actually a pickled radish wearing a bunny costume, and every character carries a hidden backstory that users discovered and shared.

The stickers became part of daily conversation for a messenger used by 84% of South Korea's population, so Kakao turned affection into a business: the line was spun off as a subsidiary in June 2015, product types grew past 1,500, and on July 2, 2016 the first flagship store opened in Gangnam with a giant Ryan, a 100-seat Ryan cafe and merchandise from pens to slippers — more than 1,000 people lined up in heavy rain on opening day.

The characters then spread beyond the store: licensed to banks for cards, to Coca-Cola and Baskin Robbins for themed products, to Samsung and LG for phones and gadgets. Audited results showed 2016 revenue of 70.5 billion won, roughly seven times the prior year, with a 33.7% operating margin — and a Korean government survey named Kakao Friends the country's most popular character of 2016.