Baidu’s Facemoji Keyboard Brings Sanrio Anime Characters to Life via Augmented Reality
SAN FRANCISCO–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Sanrio, the global lifestyle brand best known for pop culture icon Hello
Kitty, and Baidu, Inc. (Nasdaq: BIDU), the leading Chinese-language
internet search provider, have partnered to bring the immensely popular
Aggretsuko™ and Gudetama™ characters to millions of users via augmented
reality on Baidu’s Facemoji Keyboard app. This marks the first
partnership between Sanrio and Baidu, and signifies a joint effort to
bring Sanrio’s beloved characters to fans in the United States in a fun,
engaging way.
“The entire world has treasured memories of Sanrio’s characters, so we
wanted to bring these memories to life for our U.S. users in a new and
modern way,” said Mr. Jiang Feng, director of Baidu’s global business
unit. “With Baidu’s AR technology, users can record videos, take selfies
and connect with one another, while taking the form of everyone’s
favorite red panda and lazy egg.”
Facemoji Keyboard has established a reputation for providing exceptional
user experiences, vast customization offerings and a selection of
features leveraging Baidu’s robust AI technology. The new additions from
Sanrio join an existing family of AR Emoji, as well as a growing library
of stickers, GIFs and custom keyboard designs. Now, millions of users of
Baidu’s Facemoji Keyboard app can enjoy AR Emoji that capture the spirit
of Sanrio’s characters by leveraging AI technologies.
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Aggretsuko – This cute red panda is an office associate working
at a highly respected trading company, and star of Netflix’s animated
series Aggretsuko, who is frustrated by unsympathetic bosses on
a daily basis. When a user opens their mouth wide, they can transform
from agreeable, mild-mannered Retsuko into her fierce, thrash-metal
karaoke singing alter ego, Aggretsuko. This AR Emoji is perfect for
showing friends just how frustrating that to-do list really is. -
Gudetama – Some say this egg is lazy, others argue it is simply
practicing self-care; even more identify with its struggle to tackle
the day ahead. Whatever the draw, Gudetama’s adorable apathy is
contagious, and users can finally express themselves with this
uncannily accurate AR character.
Facemoji Keyboard users can access the Aggretsuko AR Emoji free for the
first three months, then for $3.99 per download. The Gudetama AR Emoji
will also be available for purchase at $3.99.
The latest version of Facemoji Keyboard for Android is available via the Google
Play Store. Follow Facemoji Keyboard on Instagram at www.instagram.com/FacemojiKeyboard,
or on Facebook at www.facebook.com/FacemojiKeyboard.
About Facemoji Keyboard
Facemoji Keyboard is an emoji-centric keyboard app featuring Baidu’s
speech recognition technology. It includes an emoji prediction feature,
a wide variety of stickers and customizable keyboards, and the ability
to turn people’s faces into animated emoji GIFs. Facemoji Keyboard’s
goal is to help people around the world express themselves in new ways
with fun, creative emoji.
About Baidu
Baidu, Inc. is the leading Chinese language internet search provider.
Baidu aims to make a complex world simpler through technology. Baidu’s
ADSs trade on the NASDAQ Global Select Market under the symbol “BIDU.”
Currently, 10 ADSs represent one Class A ordinary share.
About Sanrio®
Sanrio is the global lifestyle brand best known for pop icon Hello
Kitty®, and home to many other beloved character brands including Chococat™,
My Melody™, Badtz-Maru™, Keroppi™, Gudetama™
and Aggretsuko™. 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 to offer quality products, services and activities
that inspire unique consumer experiences across the world. Today, Sanrio’s
legendary breadth of products is available in over 130 countries and
in retail locations, including department, specialty, national chain
retailers and Sanrio boutique stores. To learn more about Sanrio, please
visit www.sanrio.com
and follow on Facebook,
Instagram
and Twitter.
Contacts
The Hoffman Agency
Shannon Nelson
408-286-2611
snelson@hoffman.com