98-99-100-101 LSB 2020 M&H_muk.qxp_NEW LSB 2008 GRID 15/09/2020 10:37 Page 98
MUSEUM & HERITAGE FEEDBACK
National
treasures The museum, heritage and institutions sector has endured its own challenges throughout this year’s lockdown including venue closures, key exhibitions put on hold and social distancing measures to incorporate. All of this means the importance of licensed products is higher than ever. LSB catches up with some key names in the sector to find out their views on the year to date.
Maxine Lister, head of licensing, Natural History Museum “We were extremely lucky that our planned launches for spring were not affected by the lockdown and we have seen our collections with The Royal Mint, Finisterre and Uniqlo go ahead as planned. We were very fortunate that the licensing team was able to continue working throughout lockdown, which has allowed us to continue to plan and develop the upcoming launches we have for this year and also into 2021. The Museum was closed to the public for almost five months, the longest period since the Second World War, so this was of course incredibly challenging for many reasons. Even as we start to reopen our doors, there is limited capacity and new measures in place to ensure staff and visitors can have a safe and enjoyable
98
LICENSING SOURCE BOOK EUROPE 2020
Inset: Lockdown allowed time for Eden Project to consider how it wants its brand to develop and grow.
Tracey Smith, commercial manager, Eden Project “We started the year with a robust portfolio of products, each with strong environmental credentials through supply chain, materials, manufacture and packaging. Our licensees also have a strong presence with both traditional high street retailers and through online sales. The programme has remained steady throughout lockdown with some strong growth in certain areas. Particularly strong have been the Eden range of seeds as consumers have been spending considerable time at home and the trend of ‘grow your own’ has boomed during lockdown. With the emphasis on outdoor living, all home and garden products have continued to perform well including garden furniture and associated products. Coffee pods have also seen steady growth through online sales channels. Lockdown has also allowed time for Eden to really consider how we want our brand to develop and grow. Our focus for 2020 is to grow our current ranges with our licensees offering a wider portfolio of products for launch in spring 2021. We are also very keen to add new products to our portfolio that sit in line with our strict sourcing criteria. We are not restricting ourselves to specific categories as we welcome approaches from a wide range of companies where our values are aligned and we both believe we can add value through working together.”
experience. With regards to licensing, we are very lucky that our products are sold at wider retail and continued to be available during this time despite the Museum itself being closed. Our focus for the rest of the year is to support our existing licensees, as well as to continue the ongoing discussions we are currently having with various licensees and retailers. We have several launches coming up, particularly in early 2021 that we are very excited about.” Left: NHM was closed to the public for the longest period since the Second World War.