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Arriving At The Finalists
The Property Award Categories
Above: The 2018 Retail Validation Panel shared the collective responsibility for arriving at this year’s worthy finalists and winners of the retail award categories.
The Retail Award Categories
The finalists in the retailer award categories were arrived at as a result of an exhaustive nomination/ self-nomination process followed by validation by a panel comprising over 20 top industry experts (both licensees and licensors). Thousands of nomination forms were sent out to manufacturers, suppliers and importers of licensed products inviting them to state, in their opinion, which three retailers have excelled in their retail delivery of licensed merchandise to the public in the year to May 31 2018). In addition, retailers were encouraged to selfnominate, and a growing number did so, detailing their achievements and progress on the licensing front. The consolidated results of this nomination process, as well as the self-nominations, were presented to a panel of industry experts. The retail validation meeting of this panel, chaired by Anne Bradford (general manager of Blues), resulted in the finalists and outright winners of the retail categories being ratified.
The 2018 Retail Validation Panel The Validation Panel for the retail awards comprised leading licensees and licensors. Emily Aldridge (GB eye) Patrick Bailey (Fashion UK) Katie Ball (then BBC, now eOne) Mel Beer (Amscan) Susan Bolsover (Penguin Random House) Charlotte Boyce (Nickelodeon) David Boyne (Bravado) Anne Bradford (Blues) chairman of the panel Eva Dawes (Funko) Stephanie Freeman (TSBA) Helen Genia (Mattel) Dean Greasley (TDP Textiles) Terry Lamb (Corsair) Hannah Mungo (Universal) Holly Oldham (then Hasbro, now Rubie’s) Daniel Prince (Danilo) Katie Rollings (eOne) Graham Saltmarsh (CN Turner) Stacy Scimia (CPLG) Daryl Shute (Magic Light Pictures) Anthony Temple (Rainbow Designs)
Licensors and brand owners were invited to enter the Best Licensed Property Award categories by making online submissions to a dedicated website. The submissions demonstrated how well the property had performed over the last year against a set of criteria. A wide panel of knowledgeable licensees and retailers (from a number of different disciplines) were then invited to consider these online submissions before giving their confidential votes for what they consider have been the top licensed properties over the last year. These votes were then validated by industry experts.
Best Licensed Marketing Communication Award Reflecting the increased activity on the promotional side, the Best Licensed Marketing Communications Award is for the best use of a character, celebrity or property to promote another product (eg via an on-pack promotion, sponsorship, TV advertising or posters. It could also Above: Members of the Best Marketing be the use of a character to promote Licensed Communications Award Judging Panel 2018. a charity, or charitable event.) Entries were submitted online which were considered by members of a judging panel which comprised executives from the promotional, marketing and licensing fields.They considered entries against criteria, which included the objectives of the promotion, the creative use of the licence and the campaign execution. The entries were then discussed at a judging session to arrive at an overall winner and the other four finalists. The Judging Panel for this award was chaired by Richard Pink, director of promotions specialist Pink Key Consulting (4th from top) while the judging panel for this award category included (from top down) Alex Ward (Lime Communications), Kelvyn Gardner (Asgard Media/LIMA UK), Clare Piggott (Larkshead Media), Abigail Dixon (Labyrinth Marketing) and James Marsh (B3 Online). As Richard commented: “This year’s entry submissions were the strongest ever, reflecting the strength and growing importance of licensing within the promotions’ arena”.
Rising Stars In The Cosmos
The LIMA UK Rising Star Award is designed to recognise excellence among junior licensing industry professionals (under the age of 30 years old). Nominations were sought from throughout the industry with the finalists decided by a panel discussion instigated by LIMA. For the third year in succession, this LIMA award will be presented as part of the Licensing Awards, with each of the six nominees receiving a free ticket to the event. “The new talent coming through in UK licensing is truly remarkable. All of those submitted have shown true achievement and promise of more to come,” said Kelvyn Gardner, managing director of LIMA UK.
LICENSING SOURCE BOOK EUROPE 2018
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