A Chinese rabbit called Tuzki is winning the hearts of young adults across Asia and reaping riches in merchandise deals for his owners.
Cartoon character Tuzki (pronoun?ced Tuts-ki), is exceptional, and not just because of his groovy dance moves. It is rare for a Chinese brand to prosper in the international market. Even more unusually, this success has been achieved without any active promotion.
Tuzki was designed by Momo Wang, a Beijing artist, in 2006, with China’s millennials — now in their 20s and 30s — in mind. The rabbit has become the default emoticon on WeChat, the messaging platform operated by Tencent, China’s social network and gaming powerhouse. The brand has piggybacked on WeChat’s success, migrating to other countries as WeChat users in China communicate with contacts overseas.