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DOWNES & OUT
Inset: Start Licensing has diversified its portfolio with the addition of Spirit of Concorde.
Start Licensing md, Ian Downes, explains why today’s licensing professional needs to be more nimble, open minded and flexible.
Adapt to survive I
t is hard to switch on the TV or read a newspaper these days without hearing some ‘retail news’. Sadly most of the news being reported is not great, with coverage dominated by closures and sales slowdowns. Given licensing is a retail focused business and that we all rely on selling, we are facing worrying times. A lot of meetings these days end with licensees wanting to know what ‘retailers you have onboard’ and often saying they are happy to fulfil any retail orders you get. This is certainly a different dynamic from my early days in licensing. There is no doubt there is a retail logjam at the moment. Against this backdrop it would be very easy to grow disillusioned. It is tough going but a key component of a licensing executive’s make up has to be optimism. I don’t mean blind optimism, rather a faith in the IP you represent or own. When taking on new properties we increasingly try to think about the consumer following they have, realistic product opportunities and where they will fit into the market. We are trying to build a balanced and diverse portfolio. That said we are not operating in an ideal world rights wise and sometimes you have
to compromise based on the availability of rights. Generally we are trying to look at selling rights in new ways and to new sectors. A good example of diversification in terms of our portfolio is working on the Spirit of Concorde. This is a brand that has been developed by a film company alongside a documentary that is celebrating the history of Concorde as it approaches its 50th anniversary in 2019. This is a very targeted opportunity with a well-defined audience. We have tapped into the direct marketing sector and have partnered with Bradford Exchange on a range of collectable products. Bradford Exchange is an expert in its category, know its consumers and is committed to NPD. Its databases can be segmented to optimise previous purchasers of anniversary merchants or aviation related products. This is an efficient way of licensing and gets us out of the retail malaise. Another example of working differently to achieve some sales cut through can be found in our work with the Land of Lost Content. This is a pop culture archive of ephemera and memorabilia owned by designer Wayne Hemingway. We have tapped into Above: Good IP still sells, says Ian Downes.
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Inset: The Gromit Unleashed sculpture trail is a fantastic way of characters being used differently. LICENSING SOURCE BOOK EUROPE 2018