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The first country Tuzki colonised outside China was South Korea. In 2012 Kakao Talk, the messaging app used by more than 90 per cent of smartphone owners in South Korea, adopted Tuzki as a paid-for emoticon, turning him into a household name. TurnOut Ventures struck licensing deals there, swiftly followed by deals in Japan, Thailand, Hong Kong and Taiwan.
As Tuzki’s virtual territory grows, TurnOut is receiving licensing requests from further afield. Last year it negotiated a deal with a bag company in Spain, but for the most part TurnOut does not yet have the capacity to handle contracts outside Asia.
“Our infrastructure hasn’t kept pace with the growth of the brand,” says Mr Siu, “but we’re tracking Tuzki’s progress though his Facebook page with a view to monetising his popularity. He has a lot of fans in the US and Latin America, especially in Mexico, Peru and Brazil where the Asian diaspora are relatively wealthy and perceived as trend setters”. In Europe, he adds, there is growing interest in Spain and Italy. “Italy’s not a typical Chinese diaspora market, but there’s a lot of interest in Asian design there.”
A recent deal with Facebook, which offers Tuzki stickers on its messaging service, is expected to expand the rabbit’s pawprint further.
Mr Siu believes that the enthusiasm for Tuzki reflects wider cultural shifts. “Tuzki shows us that millennials in China have more in common with their overseas counterparts than we might assume,” he says. “Young people of different nationalities share certain values, and cultural boundaries are becoming messy.”