The true story of Kiki, by it's creator !

The true story of Kiki, by it's creator !

Artwork made by Thiebaut for Kiki Planet

Few weeks ago, I had the opportunity interview Mister Meffray, Ajena's director and creator of adorable Kiki, French version of Monchhichi ! And he told me Kiki's Story, from it's creation to it's huge success, in order to rectify all the fake informations that we can see on the internet.

Let's discover Kiki's Story...

Before becoming this phenomenal 80's toy, Kiki was a simple plush waiting for his success. This little monkey was born in Japan, thanks to the very talented Mister Washino, a freelance designer who was working also with Sekiguchi company. Contrary to rumors, Mister Sekiguchi didn't designed Monchhichi, he was the director of the company.

Ajena was the third biggest French toys manufacturer, with more than 400 employees in it's four factories, including one implanted in Marroco. It was producing plushes, dolls (including the ones from Clodrey brand), but also garages, tea sets from Coqueval... Ajena was also importing beautiful dolls from Sekiguchi, and, in 1977, when the Japanese company introduce the recent monkey plush doll to Mister Meffray, the French company director decide to import few of them to sell them in France... but, even if it's very surprising, sales were very bad, at the point that Ajena had to discount them !

Ajena had very good relations with Sekiguchi company, and noticing that Monchhichi sales were pretty good in Japan, Mister Meffray decided to take a chance and tried to sell the thumb-sucking monkey, but, in order to be successful, this time, he decided to do a lot of marketing and communication !

But first, he needed a name : if today, we're used to hear names from various origins, back at that time, it wasn't the case, and it was a better choice to select a "French" nickname. Thanks to a great sportsman, the very famous skier Jean-Claude Killy, that Ajena had it's inspiration : the first skier who win three golden medals at 1968 Olympics Games was very popular, and his supporters was yelling "Allez Kiki !" to encourage him ! It's a short, cool name, and it's easy to pronounce and remember : our dear doll will be named Kiki !

Timbre représentant Jean-Claude Killy

Now Kiki can't wait to meet children ! To meet them, Ajena make an advertising campaign in collaboration with SNIP advertising agency and the very creative Mister Jaglin with whom Ajena used to work. Together, they will make some very short advertising with a little girl and a little boy, with their precious Kiki friend, and it's the first time the very famous catchword "Kiki, le Kiki de tous les Kiki" (Kiki, the Kiki of all the Kiki) has been used. So, the very iconic catchword came along with Kiki, contrary to what rumors used to say. The campaign have been diffused on the three French TV channel, and have been so popular !

Le Kiki de tous les Kiki

Kiki is so cute, but Ajena had a great idea by offering him a set of clothes names "Kiki's week", 12 outfits : college, student, overall, garden, jockey, tennis, fisherman, skier, pyjama, solider, trainer, footballer ! Kids can dress him as they want. I'd like to precise that's a French concept, which is so popular with more than a million outfits have been sold. At the same time, the company decide to create a set of furniture : bed, chair, desk, rocking-chair, rocking horse, table... Kiki now have his own playset, for the joy of every children, so they could use their imagination !

La gamme de meubles Kiki

But Kiki is more than a plush, and several songs are dedicated to the little monkey. The first song is "La Chanson de Kiki" (Kiki's Song), 1981, have been released by Jean Claude Petit, written by Mister Dessca on a music composed by Jean-Pierre Bourtayre, the very famous art director of Claude François, and it's huge success : more than 900.000 record have been sold... More songs have been released in the next years, Spatial Kiki, Lunar Kiki, Super Kiki, Camper Kiki and much more !

Les livres et chansons de Kiki

Kiki, a funny tiny friend became a successful toy and will take part, during two years, to the Great Europe 1 Podium tour, a show all across France, in beach resort, touristic places and on the very famous Tour de France circuit. Everywhere, Kiki is here to introduce it's products range to children : all the dolls, accessories, outfits as Adventures Playset : Pirate, Fireman, Parachutist, Safari, Formula 1, Astronaut/Martian, Cowboy/Indian... There is contests, gifts, and a popular singer, Julie Bataille, is singing the very famous song !

Le podium Europe 1 - Photo amicalement prêtée par Le Blog du Podium Europe 1

A new commercial will be launched for Adventures Playsets, in those advertisings, some French actors will play with Kiki and it's adventurer outfit, and they will invite parent's to finish the story... "...and you will create yourself the next adventures of Pirate Kiki !" It's new, it's original and it's funny !

Les coffrets Kiki Aventures

In the early 80's, Kiki was at the height of his glory ! For his numerous fans, Ajena will launch, besides dolls and outfits, so many games as Kiki Tripoche or Kiki Memory, or also some puzzles. A brand new set of 8 books will be launches, which relates Kiki Adventures's story : Kiki and the magical butterfly, Kiki and the volcano, Kiki and the Ghost island... So many items will be launches : bank, lamp, shirts... for children's greatest pleasure !

So many toys companies were jealous of Kiki's success, and so many counterfeits dolls appeared, most of them were from East Germany, Italie or Spain, as the very famous Virkiki. In order to fight against this unfair competition, Kiki will modify the bottom of his foot. The first ones used to have smooth foot, later they had some wave under his foot, and the final version had "Kiki Le Vrai" logo engraved under the left feet.

Kiki range keeps increasing : now there's the Petit Kiki (13cm), which is a French exclusivity, the Kiki Junior (M Size), Grand Kiki (L Size) and Kiki Géant (2L Size) who was sold with his very own overall. Ajena also increased Kiki's family members : please welcome Granny and Grand'Pa, and Kiki's cousins : a rabbit (similar to Chimutan), a sheep (similar to Chamu) a dog and a bear (similar to Kuma).

La gamme Kiki

From 1984, Kiki became colorful for the greatest joy of the children with Kiki Colori range and it's height beautiful versions : Bright yellow, Light Yellow, Light Pink, Dark Pink, Blue, Mint, Purple and White. Kiki Junior (M Size), Grand Kiki (L Size) and Kiki Géant (XL Size) will also be available in those three new colors (Blue, Pink and Yellow), those new releases will be shown in a new advertising series.

La gamme Kiki Colori

At the same time, the little monkey was very popular in Germany under it's original name Monchhichi, he was also popular in Italy with his own name Moncicci, was a little bit less popular in the UK under his name Chicaboo, and totally failed the American Market under it's original name, despite of a great TV show.

From 1985, asian concurrence was more and more efficient, and sadly affected a lot Ajena's industry. Many financial difficulties forced the company who made Kiki a star to go bankrupt, and closed in 1986. The company have been bought by some buyers who lost Sekiguchi's license, and went bankrupt two years later... Kiki continued being distributed in France, but sadly, never as popular as before...


Without even knowing, you stayed loyal to the creator of Kiki, as he created a new company in 1987, Jemini, which is selling new toys with all your children's favorite heroes : Marsupilami, Peppa Pig, Hello Kitty or Paw Patrol ! He also own Fun House, which produce furnitures for kids, and tea sets.

I hope that, as I did, you enjoyed this delicious moment with Mister Meffray, who made, from a simple monkey plush, an 80's icon and an unforgettable friends for a whole generation !

Propos recueillis par et pour KikiPlanet.blogspot.com

Article L-1224 du Code de la Propriété Intellectuelle

Toute représentation ou reproduction intégrale ou partielle faite sans le consentement de l'auteur ou de ses ayant droit ou ayant cause est illicite. Il en est de même pour la traduction, l'adaptation ou la transformation, l'arrangement ou la reproduction  par un art ou un procédé quelconque

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