LINE FRIENDS to expand its business in China through strategic partnership with Xiaomi

• With the strategic partnership with Xiaomi, LINE FRIENDS showcases diverse products adding pleasure to daily lives, including smartphone, travel luggage, and portable battery featuring BROWN & FRIENDS -- the globally loved original characters
• The first collaboration 'MI9 SE BROWN EDITION' will capture the hearts of consumers in China with the concept of 'SUPER MI, SUPER BROWN' aligned with Xiaomi's keyword of the year 'SUPER'
• The new package has garnered explosive responses from both local and global media as well as consumers after it was unveiled at the media event hosted by Xiaomi and personal social media account of Xiaomi CEO, Lei Jun on April 1 prior to the official release
• LINE FRIENDS will expand the partnership with Xiaomi to launch a wider array of collaborative products with its character IPs

SEOUL, South Korea, April 4, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- LINE FRIENDS, one of the world's fastest growing global character brands, announced that it has formed a strategic partnership with the Chinese IT giant, Xiaomi and will launch the 'MI9 SE BROWN EDITION' package under the concept of 'SUPER MI, SUPER BROWN' in China on April 9.

The new edition aligns with Xiaomi's keyword of the year, 'SUPER MI' and delivers the story of how 'BROWN' acquired superpower and became 'SUPER BROWN'.

The first collaboration under the strategic partnership, the 'MI9 SE BROWN EDITION' package is an integration of Xiaomi's technologically-advanced smartphone with the adorable and globally loved character 'BROWN'. The package includes Xiaomi's flagship smartphone 'MI9 SE', smartphone case, portable battery and cable and a limited quantity of 5,000 packages will be available for sale, topping customers' wish lists.

In fact, local media and consumers have expressed explosive interests on the 'MI9 SE BROWN EDITION' package when it was first presented at Xiaomi's media event in Shanghai on April 1, demonstrating the popularity of 'BROWN' in China. In particular, the founder and CEO of Xiaomi, Lei Jun also showed his affection toward LINE FRIENDS by uploading a number of posts on his personal social media account regarding the release of the new package, commenting that it is "adorable" and "strongly recommended!". Not only that, consumer inquiries on 'MI9 SE BROWN EDITION' package are flooding and pre-orders for the portable battery which will be launched separately on the same day already reached over the limited quantity, forecasting a rapid sellout immediately after the release.

'MI9 SE BROWN EDITION' is also applied with BROWN-themed AI-voice recognition functions in which consumers will be able to have conversations with BROWN when it is activated. This function also offers a wide array of BROWN figures such as 'Greeting BROWN', 'BROWN with heart eyes' and 'Shy BROWN' which adds pleasure and entertainment to smartphone users.

LINE FRIENDS plans to continue the strategic partnership with Xiaomi and expand collaborative products to Xiaomi's daily IT products category 'MI Home', showcasing wide array of products including travel luggage, portable battery and more collaboration in the long-term. The encounter between LINE FRIENDS, a global character brand which has been loved worldwide based on its unparalleled creative capabilities and Xiaomi, China's representative IT company, demonstrated the amplified synergy between the two companies and has garnered massive interests in the industry.

"We anticipate offering unique experiences to our customers and create a new lifestyle by integrating Xiaomi's technology with the trendiness of LINE FRIENDS through this partnership", said Xiaomi.

"LINE FRIENDS has been widely loved by consumers in China by garnering explosive responses during the Chinese Singles Day with BROWN & FRIENDS merchandise and presenting the new character IP 'ROY6' in collaboration with the Chinese millennial artist, Roy Wang. Through the partnership with Xiaomi, LINE FRIENDS will continue to make differentiated attempts by reflecting the needs of Chinese consumers and accelerate the expansion our business as well as brand influence in China", said LINE FRIENDS.

'MI9 SE BROWN EDITION' will be released at Xiaomi's official stores on April 9.

LINE FRIENDS has recorded numerous sellouts by collaborating with world-renowned brands including global audio brand 'Bang & Olufsen', German stationary brand 'LAMY' and a widely used sans-serif typeface 'Helvetica'. As collaborative products with Xiaomi is already gaining extensive attention with high numbers of consumer inquiries and pre-orders, it is expected that there will be continued interest from consumers all around the world, along with those in China.

About LINE FRIENDS

LINE FRIENDS is a global character brand featuring 11 characters which were originally created for use as stickers for leading mobile messenger application LINE and its 200 million active worldwide users. The company has emerged as a global creator by introducing new Intellectual Property (IP) like BT21, characters created together with global boy band BTS, in addition to Animation Running Man and Usamaru. LINE FRIENDS also has collaborated with a number of renowned brands including LAMY, Beats by Dr.Dre and Brompton, all aligned with the company's philosophy and values to showcase premium character products. More recently, LINE FRIENDS has operated more than 140 stores globally in a total of 11 markets worldwide, in trend-leading cities such as Seoul, Tokyo, New York, and Shanghai, and became an independent company in January 2015. For more information please visit www.LINEFRIENDS.com.

SOURCE LINE FRIENDS

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http://www.LINEFRIENDS.com