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Arriving At The Finalists
Inset: The three apparel categories attracted the highest number of entries.
How Were The Entries Judged?
The judging for the product categories took place on a single day in July at Islington’s Business Design Centre, which saw its Gallery Hall transformed into a veritable ‘department store of licensed merchandise’! All entries were displayed by product category, each clearly labeled with a unique entry number and RRP for the products. The judges (all of whom were retail buyers) individually considered all entries in each category against the criteria of the excellence of design, innovation and originality; consumer targeting and quality of manufacture and packaging. They then individually selected what they deemed were the five best entries in that category. A judging form was completed by detailing the corresponding entry numbers in order of merit on the form. Points were then awarded accordingly; five points assigned to the entries judges felt were the best in the category down to one point for the fifth choices. The points from all the judges’ forms were then amalgamated to arrive at the winner and five other finalists for each category. The Innovation award differs slightly from the other product category awards in that it could be for a specific product (rather than a range). For this award judges were asked to view the entries for their innovative quality – either in the product’s design, manufacture or application of a licence.
Who Judged The Entries?
Above: All manner of products were entered. Below: Retail buyers right across the spectrum judged the awards. Over 100 retailers, judged the product entries this year.
The entire responsibility of judging the entries to the Product Award categories of this year’s Licensing Awards lay in the collective hands of this year’s judging panel. This year over 100 different retail buyers (from right across the retail spectrum and from different buying disciplines) formed the official judging panel for the product categories. This year’s Judging Panel comprised buyers from Asda, Blackpool Pleasure Beach, FatFace, Geek is Chic, Groupon, House of Cards, John Lewis, M&Co, Marks & Spencer, Mothercare, Paultons Park, Sainsbury’s, Specsavers, Stanfords, Tesco, Toymaster, The Entertainer, Character.com, Aura Lingerie-Beija, Blue Inc., Butlins, Amazon, Ann Summers, Forbidden Planet, Primark, TruffleShuffle, TJ Morris, Hamleys, Moonpig, Matalan, Debenhams and Geek Universe as well as specialist independents. All retailers who are part of the BLE Retail Mentoring programme were also invited to join the judging panel.
LICENSING SOURCE BOOK EUROPE 2018
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