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‘When they lose sight of their reason to be, that can be detrimental’: Fender president shares the secret to nailing a collaboration
Last month, Fender unveiled a huge collaboration with Sanrio's pop culture icon, Hello Kitty. Mumbrella's Lauren McNamara joined APAC president, Edward 'Bud' Cole, in Tokyo to chat about it.
Fender is no stranger to a collaboration.
What started as informal partnerships with iconic artists – the likes of Jimi Hendrix and Eric Clapton – swiftly moved to formal collaborations with brands, placing the music giant at the forefront of culture and creativity.
And while some brands may lose their touch when taking on too much, Fender’s APAC president, Edward ‘Bud’ Cole, tells Mumbrella it’s embedded into Fender’s DNA.
Edward ‘Bud’ Cole
“As we sit here in 2024, we’re very respectful of our history,” he says.
“We’re respectful of our DNA, and we never lose sight of that.”
Its latest collaboration with Sanrio’s Hello Kitty is a prime example.
At a launch event at Fender’s flagship store in Tokyo last month, the collaboration celebrating Hello Kitty’s 50th anniversary – which has been described as an amalgamation of creativity, inclusivity, and self-expression through music – combines Hello Kitty’s cute and colourful aesthetic with Fender’s sonic innovation and brand legacy.
At the event, Cole said it hopes to reinforce the deep global cultural presence of both brands, speaking to long-time Hello Kitty fans, Fender fans, as well as new players, to support all forms of creative self-expression.
Now, on the surface level, you might not see the link between rock and roll and a child-like character. And that’s understandable. You’re not alone. In fact, when Fender attempted this collaboration back in 2006, it didn’t kick off.
The Hello Kitty Stratocasters were discontinued just three years after hitting the market, but by the late 2010s, demand changed.
Cole stresses that this collaboration does make sense, and it comes down to two things: the brands’ respective DNA, and Fender’s history with Japan and its culture.
Cole at the launch event in Tokyo
“This is just another piece of our long history really,” he explains. “Here, you have two of the most iconic pop culture brands and expressions that the world has ever known coming together. Both are about creativity, about inclusion. They’re about having fun and expressing yourself.
“I mean the amount of people who love Fender guitars and use our guitars, either to create and inspire people, or just the people who listen to Fender guitars and the artists that play them, Fender is a very inspirational brand in what we do and the effect we have.
“And Hello Kitty is no different,” he continues. “It’s one of the most recognised symbols the world has ever seen.”
He says both brands have a very clear idea of their unique essence, their DNA. And when you overlap those two it makes things very easy.
As with so many of Fender’s association with other brands and great collaborations, Cole says this will find its audience and work well – especially after the initial struggle, then demand, of the first attempt.
He says that brands who aren’t so deeply rooted in their DNA cannot effectively do collaborations – they lose their touch.
“There is an infinite long highway of ‘Boulevard of Broken Dreams’ when brands deny their basic premise and lose sight,” he jokes.
“When they lose sight of their reason to be, and put other things at the forefront, that can be detrimental.”
Fender has also had a long history with Japan, and Cole says he’s very proud of that fact – so the collaboration also provides something special for the Japanese audience.
An additional number of items, that have been crafted locally, are exclusively available at Fender’s flagship store in Tokyo, including a second limited-edition Stratocaster guitar and more collectable accessories.
The exclusive Japanese edition
“Anyone who knows the history of Fender knows that a lot of great people [in Japan] over the last 50 or 60 years have helped us during difficult times, so this is a beautiful, effortless kind of expression of that too.”
Fender takes its customer seriously – and knows that this was something its Japanese audience was wanting again.
“Those guitars have only grow in value over the last 18 years,” Cole reflects. “People are still – in a very positive way – talking about that original collaboration.”
It’s something Fender’s CMO, Evan Jones, has echoed in the past.
On Mumbrella’s one-on-one podcast earlier this year, Jones said Fender’s success ultimately comes from taking its customers seriously.
He said the audience is as important as the artists they partner with, which includes iconic names like Rage Against the Machine’s Tom Morello, Red Hot Chili Peppers bassist Flea, and even Australia’s own Tash Sultana.
“But I think the bigger point is when developing the Fender brand and thinking about what the Fender brand can stand for… we believe that what we need to focus on is really telling the Fender brand story, building the Fender brand experience, getting it right with artists, with influencers, with creators, and with players, and being good at welcoming new people into the brand,” he said in March.
The Hello Kitty collection nails this – it welcomes new people into the brand, it celebrates Hello Kitty’s history, and it builds on Fender’s already iconic legacy.
Mumbrella attended the Fender x Hello Kitty launch event as a guest of Fender Music Australia.
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Lauren McNamara is the associate editor at Mumbrella, covering the creative and PR beat. She joined in November 2022 as editorial assistant, after completing a Bachelor of Communications (Journalism) at UTS.
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brand collaborationbrand DNACollaborationEdward Bud ColeEdward ColeFenderHello KittyHello Kitty 50th birthdaySanrio
The reality of this collaboration is that in 2006 the hello kitty guitar bombed, we guitarists bought them cheap on the used market and modded them mainly because it was funny, not for anything serious. But that trend took off and the used hello kitty guitars started to go up in price – not that much, as it was still a mid tier instrument at best.
Fender now have put out their second version of this so they can cash in on the cult status of the guitar, meanwhile pricing this guitar about double what its worth.
Also…lets not call artist signature guitars collaborations, in todays guitar market, artist signatures are purely for short term cash rather than any long term collaborations. Even, the artists themselves have seen through this, and its very common for guitarists to jump between brands to launch new signature models to get as much money off the hype of a new model. It happens on guitars, amps, pedals and every other accessory a brand can slap an artists name on.
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