Baidu’s Facemoji Keyboard Brings Sanrio Anime Characters to Life via Augmented Reality

SAN FRANCISCO –

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.

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Sanrio anime characters Aggretsuko and Gudetama join library of AR Emoji on Baidu’s Facemoji Keyboard app. (Photo: Business Wire)

“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.

• 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.

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