products first in Japan, its home country. The
Japanese have a taste for American culture
and images and there is a vast market in
Japan for “cute” products, like Hello Kitty.
Malatesta made the following comments
at the Sony Plaza announcement: “The mas-
sively popular Suzy’s Zoo line has over 200
whimsical characters and accounts for over
$100 million in annual sales in the U.S.A. in
categories ranging from apparel to toys to
greeting cards. It is an ever-green, marvelous-
ly entertaining brand with millions of loyal
fans. The Sony Plaza distribution arrange-
ment signifies the initial success of our cam-
paign to aggressively position this world-
class property in the global marketplace. This
is the first of what we believe will be many
retails sales deals throughout the world.”^2
Would the Japanese take to Suzy’s charac-
ters and products? The Suzy’s products were
introduced into Plaza stores at the beginning
of June 2006. Sony Plaza offered 50 new
products in its chain of over 100 retail stores.
Within two weeks, Sony Plaza announced
that it was doubling its sales projections for
the Suzy line. No one knows how long the
success will last, but Hello Kitty has been an
icon of Japanese merchandising for over 30
years.
THE FUTURE
The company philosophy remains, as always,
to “give them what they want at a reasonable
price,” says Spafford. This philosophy has
given Suzy’s Zoo a great reputation in the
card industry. Spafford envisions constant
growth. Her goal is to keep turning out cards
and products people can relate to.
Suzy’s Zoo will never become a giant in
the greeting card industry. “We can’t compete
with Hallmark or American Greeting Cards,
nor do we want to.” Changes in the structure
of the industry have turned in favor of Big
Box retailers like Wal-Mart and away from
independent stores. Greeting cards, however,
will continue to make up a significant per-
centage of the product line.
But the recent licensing tidal wave that
Suzy’s has experienced has made the compa-
ny a worldwide phenomenon. More success
has followed. Spafford has turned some of
the characters from Suzy’s Zoo into story-
book characters. In fact, Suzy has a publish-
ing contract with Scholastic Inc. (the same
company that publishes Harry Potter) and
has produced over a dozen titles. These chil-
dren’s books give Spafford the opportunity
to develop her characters within a fictional
world where they have names, personalities,
and even their own dwelling places, thus
allowing endless possibilities for stories.
Spafford originally envisioned a series of chil-
dren’s classics similar to Winnie the Pooh, and
she has published a series of nine board
books for toddlers, and four easy readers for
primary-grade youngsters. Some of her earli-
est books are now out of print, but she con-
tinues to experiment with new titles, includ-
ing My Little Book of Prayersillustrated with6. Suzy’s Zoo
After books, Spafford wants to try ani-
mation. The plans in this area are still vague,
but Spafford hopes to create video either for
television broadcast, such as a Saturday
morning children’s cartoon show, or a DVD
for direct sales to video stores. Her ambition
is to attract the attention of the Disney
Company for a possible joint project. If ani-
mation becomes a reality, then, of course, this
would necessitate the addition of other artists
to create this specialized form of drawing.
She is also unsure whether the company will
create a book and video division or whether
the characters will be licensed to an outside
video production company.
While the company has continued to pro-
duce a steady stream of new stickers, scrap-
booking supplies, photo albums, brag books,
and other paper goods, along with its core
greeting cards, to date Suzy’s Zoo has had
only limited involvement with the digital-
card market, and with the high-tech gadget
kind of greeting cards favored by its large
competitors.
In addition to these product development
ideas, nurturing and growing the greeting
card business and responding to changes in490 ENTREPRENEURSHIP CASE