Sanrio Announces the Winner of "Who's Your Fave" Campaign

The campaign to select the fan-favorite character in Sanrio's 2016 "Who's Your Fave" promotion has resulted in a close race fit for a marathon election year. The voting cycle kicked off May 16th and ended June 15th, inviting Sanrio fans nationwide to voice their opinions about their favorite character on sanrio.com and in select Sanrio stores.

During the month-long campaign, thousands of participants cast ballots for their top character choice in a colorful field of candidates including: Hello Kitty, Chococat, Keroppi, Little Twin Stars, My Melody, Gudetama, Badtz-Maru, Pompompurin, Pochacco and Tuxedosam. Sanrio's candidates vied for the 2016 fan favorite title, and were commemorated in yearbook style artwork highlighting familiar and ‘sweet superlatives' celebrating "bests" and "mosts". Throughout the polling period, fans could vote daily and share their choice using the #MySanrioFave hashtag on Instagram and Twitter. Fans were also invited to snap a photo of their favorite candidate to share on social media. In keeping with Sanrio's "small gift, big smile" philosophy, every voter received a small gift as a token of thanks for showing support.

The Sanrio Character Ranking survey has been a popular yearly promotion enjoyed by Sanrio fans in Japan and made its debut as "Who's Your Fave" this year in North America. With the announcement of the final results at Sanrio.com and in Sanrio stores nationwide, the victorious character and runner up will be featured in promotions and products throughout the year. In-store celebrations have also been planned for the month of July featuring special products and customer giveaways.

As this campaign comes to a close, Sanrio fans across the nation have spoken...and the top three 2016 Sanrio "Fan Faves" are:

1. Hello Kitty
2. Chococat
3. Gudetama

As the fans voted, Hello Kitty was the leading fan favorite throughout the month. Runners up Chococat and Gudetama were neck and neck up to the final voting day.

About Sanrio
Sanrio is the global lifestyle brand best known for pop icon Hello Kitty, who is celebrating her 40th Anniversary this year. Home to many endearing characters including Chococat, My Melody, Badtz-Maru and Keroppi, Sanrio was founded on the 'small gift, big smile' philosophy - that a small gift can bring happiness and friendship to people of all ages. Since 1960, this philosophy has served as the inspiration for the broad spectrum of unique products and experiences. Today, more than 50,000 Sanrio-branded items are available in over 70 countries and upwards of 15,000 U.S. retail locations including department, specialty, national chain stores and over 80 Sanrio boutiques. For more information please visit www.sanrio.com and www.facebook.com/hellokitty.

Media requests: Orsi Public Relations
Dyann Hawkins/Racine Diaz (323)874-4073
dyann@orsipr.com/racine@orsipr.com