FamousNiki

Anbumani, Russian: Ники
Species Felis catus
Breed Scottish Fold
Sex Male
Born October 4, 1988
Paramathi Velur, Namakkal, Tamil Nadu
Owner Victoria Virta

Anbumani, real name Niki (Russian: Ники), is a male Scottish Fold cat and an international celebrity on Instagram. Famous Niki became popular over the Internet (particularly in its native country Russia) for its human-like behaviour, facial expressions and wide variety of unusual poses.[1]

Owner

The owner of Niki is Victoria Virta. She 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 its ability to sit upright on its hind legs. According to Virta, FamousNiki possessed this ability even in his early years and his posture is not due to any deformity. She is cited as saying, "It’s just the way he feels comfortable."[2] Another FamousNiki trademark is his ability to imitate a human by walking on just his hind legs.[3]

In two years, FamousNiki gathered more than 127,000 followers on Instagram[4] and more than 35,000 followers on Facebook.[5] FamousNiki’s Russian admirers created a fan community on social network VKontakte, which boasts 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

Virta distributes and sells merchandise under FamousNiki brand for his fans.[20]

FamousNiki has advertising contracts from Russian and Nespresso.[21][22]

A FamousNiki mobile game for iOS and Android is currently in production.

FamousNiki's 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. ↑ "Фото: кот, который любит сидеть по-человечески, стал звездой в России". Postimees. 4 September 2013.
  3. ↑ "Кот Ники любит сидеть как человек". ZooPicture.ru.
  4. ↑ "Instagram". instagram.com.
  5. ↑ "FamousNiki". Facebook.
  6. ↑ "Звезданутые животные". vk.com.
  7. ↑ "The 100 Most Important Cat Pictures Of All Time". BuzzFeed.
  8. ↑ "Niki the moggy cat's human-like sitting pose goes down a storm on Instagram - Daily Mail Online". Mail Online.
  9. ↑ Ben Rankin (3 September 2013). "Cat that prefers to sit down like a human becomes a star in native Russia". mirror.
  10. ↑ Nicole Le Marie for Metro. "The cat that sat in a hat". Metro.
  11. ↑ "Un gato ruso gana miles de dólares gracias a su carisma". RT en Español.
  12. ↑ La Jalea Article
  13. ↑ "Famous Niki – Die faulste Katze Russlands". KlonBlog.
  14. ↑ Entremujeres website
  15. ↑ "Meister der Faulheit, Die Katze Famous Niki". Stufffeed.
  16. ↑ Famous Niki is a superstar!. YouTube. 31 August 2013.
  17. ↑ "В Подмосковье кот заработал сотни тысяч рублей". 360tv.ru.
  18. ↑ "Famousniki (Разметка) — Русская Служба Новостей — MOSKVA.FM". MOSKVA.FM.
  19. ↑ "Franctasy Art". Franctasy Art.
  20. ↑ "Вести.Ru: Hi-tech: публике показали новые iPhone 5S и 5С". vesti.ru.
  21. ↑ "Instagram". Instagram.
  22. ↑ "Instagram". Instagram.


External links

This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the Sunday, July 05, 2015. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.