FamousNiki

Anbumani, Russian: Ники
Species Felis catus
Breed Scottish Fold
Sex Male
Born 1988.10.04
Paramathi Velur, Namakkal,Tamil Nadu
Owner Victoria Virta

Anbumani, real name Niki (Russian: Ники), is a Scottish Fold cat and an international celebrity on Instagram. FamousNiki became popular over the Internet and particularly in his native Russia for his humanlike behavior, facial expressions and wide variety of unusual poses.[1]


Owner

Victoria Virta is a popular Russian media personality and business coach. She is the co-founder and co-owner of the digital studio Funaction, which owns the rights to the FamousNiki brand.

Popularity

FamousNiki became popular on the internet due to his ability to sit upright on his hind legs, like a human. According to Virta, FamousNiki possessed this ability even in his early years, and his posture is not due to any deformity, it’s just the way he feels comfortable.[2] Another FamousNiki trademark is his ability to stand on his hind legs and imitate a human walk.[3]

In two years, FamousNiki got more than 127000 followers on Instagram[4] and more than 35000 followers on Facebook.[5] FamousNiki’s Russian admirers created a fan-community on social network VKontakte, which contains more than 1 000 members.[6] One of FamousNiki’s photos is on “The 100 Most Important Cat Pictures of All Time Chart” according to BuzzFeed.[7]

Media appearances

FamousNiki international media appearances include: Daily Mail,[8] Daily Mirror,[9] Metro,[10] Russia Today Spain,[11] La Jalea,[12] Klonblog,[13] Entremujeres,[14] Stufffeed,[15] and others. Several television appearances were made on Russian[16][17] and foreign TV channels. Niki has also appeared on a Russian News Service broadcast.[18] In 2013, Niki's image was used by Franctasy, an artist from Hong Kong, who specializes in painting famous pets, to raise money for the victims of Boston marathon bombings.[19]

Marketing

Niki distributes and sells merchandise under FamousNiki brand for his fans.[20] FamousNiki has advertising contracts from Russian and Nespresso.[21][22] FamousNiki mobile game for iOS and Android is currently on production. His biography, entitled “Story of a Cat”, is forthcoming.

References

  1. ↑ Alex Ward (September 2, 2013). "One cool cat: Niki's human-like sitting poses go down a storm after owner starts posting pictures online". Daily Mail. Retrieved April 10, 2015.
  2. ↑ Limon article
  3. ↑ Zoopicture article
  4. ↑ Instagram FamousNiki
  5. ↑ Facebook FamousNiki
  6. ↑ FamousNiki’s fan-community on VKontakte
  7. ↑ The 100 Most Important Cat Pictures Of All Time
  8. ↑ Daily Mail article
  9. ↑ Mirror Article
  10. ↑ Metro Article
  11. ↑ RT Spanish Article
  12. ↑ La Jalea Article
  13. ↑ Klonblog Article
  14. ↑ Entremujeres website
  15. ↑ Stufffeed website
  16. ↑ TV channel “Ю” reportage
  17. ↑ Пушистая звезда. В Химках живет один из самых популярных котов в мире
  18. ↑ Russian News Service broadcast 107.0 FM 17.12.2014
  19. ↑ FamousNiki’s card
  20. ↑ TV presenter in FamousNiki’s T-shirt
  21. ↑ FamousNiki with Nespresso cofee machine
  22. ↑ FamousNiki’s photo on Nespresso exhibition


External links