BRAND LICENSING TOTAL A TOTAL LICENSING GROUP PUBLICATIONIncorporating Total Art Licensing AUTUMN/FALL 2022
Driving to Brand Licensing Europe with leading inquiries@gtl-int.com • www.globaltrademarklicensing.com
leading Automotive Brands • Booth B244 www.globaltrademarklicensing.com
One of the fastest growing marketing tools many facets of the FA with Michael Lees James
in 2022 28
23 The
36 Brand
the
TOTAL BRAND LICENSING 30
44 Art and licensingDesignnews 45 JQ Licensing 46 Art and Design News 48 Howard Robinson 50 Total Art Galleries Autumn/Fall 2022
NFL Blitz Legends, Addison Rae x Bonkers
free 22 NavigatingOctane5an evolving
Bitter,
12 West
The World of Fleur Harris
An exclusive merchandising company Protection and Web 3.0 Heritage,
14 A
CONTENTS
An Introduction to Global Trademark Licensing and Fashion
18
Comment
The Pink Key way Cover Story: Flowhaven
The world of heritage and museum Art Licensing
a
editor 8 Global
Preview of some of brand exhibitors
Building a trillion dollar licensing industry
Thoughts from the Tinderbox,NewsVictoria Melia Hotels Ham United
32 The
Future...
Editorial
How to reach Influencers
licensing 43 Total
print 24 Brand
Black Lives Matter Licensing
29
17 Food
Where imagination runs world CapitalisingV&Aon love of pattern and Licensing Europe
PAGE 4 TOTAL BRAND LICENSING 6
20
and more
Interview
Saphia Maxamed explains
A football club pushing for glory! Refreshing Approach!
A Big Year for IMG brands
37 History,
35 Warren
the GettingMetaversetogrips with
CO-PUBLISHER
Rebecca Ash becky@totallicensing.com
The components are now intertwining and will continue to do so. So-called Web 3.0, the next generation of the internet, aims to change the mistakes that were made, initially, when the world wide web became available. This latest evolution is a full network of virtual worlds focused on social interaction.
Speaking of BLE, I can’t believe it’s been nearly a year since the last time at Excel for the show. This year promises, as well as a ‘return to normal’ (aka, no masks or vaccine passports required) a bit of a dazzler. There will be fashion catwalks, colourful stands, events, sem inars, education, groundbreaking releases and more. Indeed, with the theme of the show being fashion, the Black Lives Matter movement will have a dedicated catwalk show.
The changes that we see in both technology and global social consciousness have of course been coming for years – think how brands can now interact with fans on social media and we can tailor content towards our preference and so on – and then of course the pandemic saw most of the world thrust into the most virtual of realities, having meetings, parties, even weddings via Zoom.
Fax: +44 (0) 1892 www.totallicensing.com782226
Ah but, I might argue, it is only recently that these words have begun to trickle into our day-to-day lives and become household terms.
LICENSING TOTAL
OFFICE MANAGER
PAGE 6 TOTAL BRAND LICENSING
francesca@totallicensing.com
With thanks to those who contributed to this issue
Tel: +44 (0) 1892 782220
Of course, many people are already well-versed in these terms and their meanings, and would say they have been around for a relatively long time.
While some (yours truly included) didn’t really un derstand, for example, why Facebook had changed its parent name to Meta, or why an NFT sold for millions of dollars, this revolution that will change the way that we will exist has been coming for some time.
Some are taking the steps into this new world – Gucci, as you can find out more about in this issue, recently set up Gucci Town on Roblox. Pixel Point, created in Fortnite, was designed by Coca-Cola in order for players to engage with a new beverage, Coca-Cola Zero Sugar Byte. Bored Ape Yacht club, with its origins in the world of NFTs, is now bridging the gap between physical and digital. The Walt Disney Company also recently announced plans to develop their own virtual space combining their physical and digital library of intellectual property (IP) and product offerings.
More and more brands are stepping firmly into the virtual world and digital collector spac es. There could indeed be a limitless possibility, now, for consumer products which have not found a particular place in bricks and mortar retail.
EDITORIAL DIRECTOR
What does it all mean for brands?
We look forward to seeing you there,
Total Licensing Ltd
HEAD OFFICE
BRAND COMMENT
I don’t know about you, but I feel lately like I’ve been slowly learning a new language.
Not one that will benefit me in a beach bar – no, I am talking about words and phrases such as ‘metaverse’, ‘web 3.0’, ‘blockchain’, among others.
Total Licensing Ltd
It will be interesting to see – as the industry gathers for Brand Licensing Europe on the 20th September – how much talk there will be on the above matters, and even more inter esting to see how brand owners might action these conversations.
Rebecca Ash Editorial Director
4 Wadhurst Business Park Faircrouch Lane, Wadhurst, East Sussex, TN5 6PT, UK
Total Brand Licensing is published quarterly by Total Licensing Ltd in the UK. ©2022 Total Licensing Ltd. All rights reserved. No part of this magazine may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means whatsoever without written permission of the publishers and owners. Although persons and companies mentioned herein are believed to be reputable, Total Licensing Ltd nor any of its employees accept any responsibility whatsoever for their activities.l images are reproduced with permission from their owners.
CO-PUBLISHER
Helen Bowerman
Francesca Ash
Jerry Wooldridge jerry@totallicensing.com
Roger Berman, ZenWorks rmb@zenworks.jp
A Total Licensing Group Publication
Total Licensing are all very excited to be there – on stand F160 – with our (recently an nounced!) award-winning publications.
Rebecca Ash Editorial Director
helen@totallicensing.com
JAPAN AGENT
Authentic Brands Group has announced the appointment of Matt O’Toole as Executive Vice Chairman. In his new role, O’Toole will work in tandem with ABG’s leadership team on new brand acquisitions, driving strategic initiatives, as well as supporting the expansion of Reebok. “We are thrilled to welcome Matt O’Toole to ABG’s leadership team,” said Jamie Salter, Found er, Chairman and CEO, ABG. “Matt brings over 30 years of leadership experience in the foot wear, apparel, equipment, and sports marketing business.
On the food front Waitrose, Fortnum & Mason, The Fat Duck Group and WH Smiths have listed Made for Drink’s English Heritage Truffle flavoured crisps whilst the limited edition Chip Shop Scraps & Fries are launching in 429 Sainsburys in September. Dan Featherstone of Made for Drink said, “We have found that retailers and consumers instinctively understand the con nection between locally sourced ingredients and the English Heritage brand.”
Meliá Hotels International and its joint ven ture partner Falcon’s Beyond have announced a new, leisure and entertainment-based resort brand, Falcon’s Resorts by Meliá. The resorts will be featured within world-class entertain ment destinations, to be branded Falcon’s Be yond Destinations, being jointly developed by the two companies in prime leisure markets across the Leveragingglobe.Meliá’s 66 years of expertise in travel and hospitality and Falcon’s extensive experience as a fully integrated entertainment development company, Falcon’s Resorts by Meliá will offer a unique “resortainment” hos
VICTORIA BITTER GROOMING RANGE
As he steps into his new role at ABG, we look forward to utilizing Matt’s industry knowledge and expertise to drive Reebok and the ongoing development of other ABG brands to strategically maximize revenue opportunities across our business verticals.”
Consumers hungry for authentic English design, food and recipes can now choose from a grow ing array of English Heritage products at retail thanks to listings secured by licensees Designers Guild, Made for Drink and Gardiners Fudge.
The Designers Guild English Heritage Wallpaper and Fabric collection has announced it is in nationwide distribution with a selection of archive-inspired designs available in every John Lewis store, high end specialist interiors stores and through interior designers. Simon Jeffreys Designers Guild’s CEO explained that ‘because English Heritage appeals to consumers looking for design authenticity, we are seeing unprecedented interest from UK and international customers.”
Victoria Bitter is rewarding hard work in new ways with the launch of a brand-new grooming range, VB for Men. VB has brewed up a knock-off defining range featuring products designed to refresh, relax and restore after a hard day on the tools. With products containing freeze-dried VB, men around Australia can now reward much more than their thirst. Products include VB exfoliating scrub to wash away the dirt and grime from the worksite, VB bath frothy to soak hard working muscles and a VB face moisturiser to restore the skin after it has knocked off for the day.
At Reebok, O’Toole pioneered the brand’s return to its fitness and running roots and reshaped Reebok’s perfor mance credibility with key franchises, including Nano, Zigtech and Floatride as well as many innovative partner ships and collaborations. More recently, O’Toole has led the Company’s “Unleashed” strategy. The strategy set a course for a post-adidas Reebok, focusing on Reebok’s athletic roots, and doubling down on the brand’s most iconic styles. As a result, Reebok is seeing unprecedented global growth, including a 40% U.S. market share gain.
ENGLISH HERITAGE EXPAND RANGES
MELIA TEAMS UP WITH FALCON’S BEYOND
ABG APPOINT NEW VICE CHAIRMAN
PAGE 8 TOTAL BRAND LICENSING NEWS
For the last 15 years, he provided a clear vision for Reebok through some of its most historic and pivotal moments.
Finally, Gardiners traditional English Heritage fudge is launching in Welcome Break’s WH Smiths and duty-free retail providing a sweet reminder of traditional English recipes for travel lers across the UK.
pitality experience that will seamlessly blend premium resort amenities with extraordinary entertainment experiences in a way that’s casu al sophisticated fun for everyone. The resorts will provide direct access to vibrant and curat ed dining, shopping, and entertainment ven ues as part of a larger destination experience. “We’ve built more than a decade-long business relationship with Meliá, beginning with our successful entertainment hospitality property in Mallorca, Spain. We are delighted now to be bringing a further enhanced version of that model to Punta Cana by year-end,” said Cecil D. Magpuri, CEO of Falcon’s Beyond.
Jo Edwards, Head of Global Licensing, TSBA Group said: “London is one of the fashion capitals of the world; the marriage of these two intrinsically London brands is a perfect way to celebrate the colour and vibrancy of our capital city. It has been fabulous to work with Kurt Gei ger as they’ve translated the TfL brand and heritage to some of their sig nature products. Development is already underway for the additional collections and these will celebrate other key elements of TfL’s network through stunning product design.” Rebecca Farrar-Hockley, Kurt Geiger’s Chief Creative Officer says: “The London Underground is so recognisable that it is easy to overlook just how iconic a design icon it is – it is a key part of all our lives and I wanted to create a collection suitable for busy daily London lives but with the Tube’s colours and symbols as the core design theme. Kurt Geiger is powered by London’s fast-paced and forward-facing energy, and this new collaboration with TfL is the ultimate show of that unity; a true homage to the place we call home. The London Underground connects Londoners and everyone who comes here; it is the heartbeat of our city, enabling exploration and adventure. It was therefore a true thrill to be able to connect with TfL on this collection celebrating our mutual love for our capital.”
PICK UP -ANDTOTALCOPIESYOUROFLICENSINGTOTALBRANDLICENSINGATBLETOTALLICENSINGBOOTHF160
The initial ten-piece collection focuses on some of Kurt Geiger Lon don’s most popular styles, featuring cardholders, a cross body, a struc tured tote and reworked versions of the bestselling ‘Multi Cross Body’ and iconic ‘Leather Kensington’ bags, replacing the brand’s signature rainbow with TfL’s prominent London Underground line colours.
Kurt Geiger London has announced it has has joined forces with Lon don’s transport network – Transport for London (TfL) – to launch a new collaborative collection of bags and other accessories over the next 18 months. The collaboration was brokered by TSBA Group, TfL’s global licensing agent.
PAGE 10 TOTAL BRAND LICENSING NEWS
TINDERBOX PARTNERS WITH ATARI
PAGE 12 TOTAL BRAND LICENSING WEST HAM
Matchday hospitality has become increasingly
West Ham United Pushing for Glory!
MATCHDAY HOSPITALITY Whether you’re looking to grow your client base by hosting new prospects or strengthen and engage with existing clients in a different way, West Ham United’s Club London team are ready to help with whatever you need. Match Day hospitality with West Ham United means: • Being able to choose from a variety of different experiences, depending on what you’re looking for … from a relaxed sports bar, right through to a formal fine dining experience • Beating the rush, having exclusive access to your lounge 2.5 hours before kick-off • Enjoying quality time with friends, family, clients or colleagues • Hearing key pre-match insight from Club Legends while enjoying a phenomenal dining experience • Feeling the atmosphere build as the crowd grows and you watch the team warm up • Then seeing every moment of action from some of the best seats in the house • Before returning to your lounge to watch the late scores come in and relive every moment of theCallmatchtheClub London team on 0204 551 0037 to learn more or visit www.clublondon.whufc.com
This success has been reflected in the com mercial landscape with license re newals at an all-time high, new collaborations being explored and matchday hospitality ever more in demand.
International growth is key in the coming sea son. An already impressive following in the USA and Canada may well be boosted as The Hammers become a considerable part of the storyline for season three of the hit show Ted Lasso.
This season sees an increased capaci ty at the London Stadium, to 62,500 for the return of European football and whilst last season saw the final game for Club Captain and talisman Mark No ble, the transfer window has been hugely exciting. A number of high-profile players including Italy’s young striking talent Gianlu ca Scamacca and the highly rated and much sought after Brazilian international Lucas Paqueta have joined the club as the push for further glory continues.
‘West Ham are Massive everywhere they go’ was the tongue in cheek fan chant of last sea son. A season that saw The Hammers making great strides both on and off the pitch. A Europa League campaign that saw the return of European nights under the floodlights in cluded an historic second leg victory over firm competition favourites Sevilla to earn a place in the semi-finals, as well as a push for a top seven finish to secure another season of Thurs day night football.
popular with a range of different experiences whether it be the relaxed laid-back atmosphere of a sports bar or fine dining to impress new Traditionalprospects. licensed product continues to in crease and accounts for some of a 20% yearon-year growth, helped by making inroads into grocers and the addition of product now
stocked by Fanatics. More niche markets are also playing their part. A recent collaboration with Hornby saw the release of a best-selling limited edition Railway Van. The next month sees the launch of two new collaborations, Steak Strips, a healthy snack from the makers of Wild West (Ham!) Jerky and for the en ergetic, a West Ham branded Teqball Table. This specialist curved table is hit with many of the players as well as fans.
DRIVING TO BLE WITH LEADING AUTOMOTIVE BRANDS
GTL is heading to Brand Licensing Europe this September and will showcase its impres sive roster featuring many of the world’s most
First established in 2008 in Hong Kong, Global Trademark Licensing Ltd (GTL) has grown to become a leading global licensing agency with seven offices located in the US, UK, Singapore, Hong Kong, China and the Philippines. As early pioneers in the Chinese market and with deep roots across Asian terri tories, GTL now ranks as one of Asia’s top five agencies, as well as being a top 15 licensing agency globally. GTL’s team of experts brings over 140 years of combined licensing experi ence across all major categories and a vast array of leading brands.
The GTL team prides itself on extensive mar ket knowledge combined with a proactive, innovative, and creative business development approach that delivers outstanding results for its clients. The company’s focus is on building strong brand awareness and extending brand experiences through strategic and creative brand licensing for its partners. To achieve this, GTL offers six core services – brand representation, manufacturer representation, market consultancy, approvals management, royalty auditing, and trademark protection, with the ultimate aim of providing peace of mind for its partners, who trust in the agency
famous automotive brands, including Jaguar Cars, Land Rover, Range Rover, Pagani, Lotus Cars, McLaren Racing, London Taxi, Scania, and Mercedes-Benz.
McLaren Racing
McLaren Racing was founded by racing driver Bruce McLaren in 1963 with one single mis sion: to win Grands Prix and World Cham pionships. The team entered its first Formula 1 race in 1966, and since then McLaren has won 20 Formula 1 World Championships, more than 180 Formula 1 Grand Prix’s, the Indianapolis 500 three times, and the Le Mans 24 Hours at its first attempt.
PAGE 14 TOTAL BRAND LICENSING PROFILE
McLaren’s successful racing heritage has been driven by a relentless desire to innovate. The team currently competes in the FIA Formula 1 World Championship with Lando Norris and Daniel Ricciardo, the NTT INDYCAR Series with Arrow McLaren SP drivers Pato O’Ward and Felix Rosenqvist, and the Ex treme E Championship with Emma Gilmour and Tanner Foust.
McLaren was the first F1 team to be awarded
to represent their brands and interests like an extension of their own team.
A Refreshing Approach
Introducing Global Trademark Licensing
iconic London taxi, on a worldwide basis and is developing a cross-category global consumer products programme with an initial focus on toys, apparel, homewares, and gifting. LEVC’s history began in 1908 when the first dedicated black cab was specially designed and commis sioned for use in London. This iconic British vehicle has defined the company for over a century with its unmistakable silhouette and classic design cues.
Lotus
In March 2022 Lotus revealed the Eletre, the world’s first all-electric hyper-SUV. It takes the core principles and Lotus DNA from sports car design and engineering, evolving them into a desirable all-new lifestyle car.
Scania is a world-leading provider of trans port solutions and, together with its partners and customers, is driving the shift towards a sustainable transport system. For the last 130 years, Scania has always prioritised embracing people who came with good ideas. Innovating to not only make better things but to make things better. To make a difference. To this day, transport needs are still constantly grow ing. However, the need to transport sustain ably grows even faster, which means innova tion and engineering are more important than
PROFILE
Lotus Cars is based in Hethel, Norfolk, UK, and is the global HQ for sports car and hy percar manufacturing operations, Lotus Ad vanced Performance and the iconic 2.2-mile test
the Carbon Trust Standard in 2010 and has retained it bi-annually, most recently in Feb ruary 2021. The team was also the first in F1 to be given the FIA Sustainability Accredi tation Award at a three-star level in 2013 as part of the FIA Environmental Certification framework, before becoming a signatory to the UN Sports for Climate Action Commit ment in 2021. GTL is currently focused on further expanding the kid’s mobility, toys and collectables program.
As Lotus moves forward with an exciting new strategy, GTL is actively seeking to build on the existing program and is looking to add licensees in all categories, with a special focus on lifestyle, toys, interactive and kids’ mobility.
Lotustrack.Cars
TOTAL BRAND LICENSING PAGE 15
GTL represents LEVC, which produces the
GTLever. began representing Scania in 2021 and is focused on seeking licensees across all major toys, collectibles, and lifestyle categories with a particular focus on kids’ mobility.
In 2018, LEVC introduced its latest taxi model, the electric TX, which is the world’s cleanest, most advanced taxi ever, powered by LEVC’s revolutionary eCity technology.
builds world-class high-perfor mance cars, born out of legendary success on the racetrack including 13 FIA Formula 1 world titles and many other championship honours. In July 2021 Lotus unveiled the all-new Lotus Emira, its last petrol-powered sports car and best-of-breed, and in July 2019 it launched the Evija, the world’s first all-elec tric British hypercar.
LEVC
Scania
For more information, visit the Global Trademark Booth B244 at Brand Licensing Europe or email www.globaltrademarklicensing.cominquiries@gtl-int.com
Range Rover has been the perfect blend of comfort and off-road capability since its
In 2023 Land Rover will mark 75 years since being first revealed to the world. In that time the brand has conquered off-road environ ments and forged new possibilities with the much loved and iconic Land Rover Series and Defender models. That pioneering spirit con tinues today both in the luxurious but equally capable new Defender and in the continua tion programme of V8 editions from Classic Works.
GTL has been representing Jaguar, Land Rov er and Range Rover in the toys, collectibles, kids mobility and interactive categories since 2015 and has helped grow their licensing programme to be amongst the leading in the automotive sector and are actively looking to expand the program with new licensees in the Toys, kids’ mobility & Interactive categories.
Range Rover
launch in 1970. Through five generations it has evolved to the pinnacle of modern luxury that is today’s new Range Rover, as favoured by leaders and celebrities alike. Along the way, the brand has also expanded to include the Sport, Evoque and Velar models, each provid ing their own individual personality within the refinement of the Range Rover family.
GTL is proud to have represented Mer cedes-Benz for over 10 years in the toys and collectibles categories with a major focus on trademark protection and growing the licens ing programme in the US and Asian markets.
PAGE 16 TOTAL BRAND LICENSING PROFILE
Founded in 1992 by Horacio Pagani, whom Top Gear described as the “da Vinci of car builders,” Pagani Automobili SpA is an Italian manufacturer of supercars.
Pagani
Mercedes-Benz
The first of its cars the Zonda C12 was pre sented at the 1999 Geneva motor show. GTL is delighted to have represented Pagani for over five years in the toys and collectibles cat egories and the agency is actively looking for new licensees to add to the growing portfolio.
Jaguar traces its origins back 100 years to 1922. From the illustrious racing history of the C-Type, D-Type and the XJRs through to the elegant 1950’s XK roadsters and the sub lime E-Type, Jaguar has continually evolved and redefined motoring.
Land Rover
The next chapter will see a totally re-imagined Jaguar enter the all-electric luxury space.
Jaguar
Initially there was a global trend driven whol ly by the simplicity of single logos on a white
Art is fashion and vice versa: it doesn’t mat ter if that art was initially created for a com mercial purpose if it has a resonance with the
We like to think that Anya’s Kellogg range was at the very start of the realisation of what it is possible to do with the art that has been created through a multitude of commercial programmes. There is now a much stronger trend and many more examples of commercial properties and their assets being regarded as legitimate icons to be used in the development of fashion ranges.
this may not last long, and we know from experience that it is very, very dif ficult to drive such a thing from the brand’s point of view. You can’t force it. It takes imag ination and a creative spark to tap into the consumer psyche, and while the initial idea itself may not seem obvious, the results can be nothing less than spectacular.
at London Fashion Week sporting one of the Tony the Tiger blue tote bags. When she reached the end of the runway the lightbulbs of the cameras went off like a fireworks dis play, it was like something you see in the mov ies. Five minutes after I left, Twitter had gone mad and by noon the bags were on the fashion pages of the New York Times. I had literally had a lightbulb moment!
At this year’s Brand Licensing Europe show this will be demonstrated for the very first time on a catwalk. Go back only a few years and it would perhaps have been unthink able to consider brands such as McDonald’s, KFC or Greggs as targets for ranges of cloth ing. However, what it shows is a much deeper understanding of what I’ve heard in marketing circles being called ‘Consumer Passion Points’.
To create something like this takes a spark of genius and someone with the vision to see beyond just a packet or an image or a char acter. However, it does demonstrate that even though most of the packs, adverts, characters and logos were created for commercial purpos es and are classified as ‘marketing tools’, the key point is that they were actually designed, and as such, looked at from a different angle, they are also genuine pieces of art.
T-shirt, undoubtedly sparked by the iconic Levi’s logo. However, this then morphed into a broader trend that saw our very own Kel logg’s logo given the same treatment in a to tally unironic way. Up until that point a white T-shirt with a red Kellogg’s logo on it would have been viewed as nothing more than a piece of promotional merchandise, however, in one day at the office, we received samples from four different licensees of that very T-shirt made in four different factories for sale in four different retailers across multiple territories worldwide. That was the day we knew we were ‘on trend’.
Fashion and Food
Since the initial range we have continued to work with Anya and her team with multiple ranges and even a takeover of the Anya Hind march store in Bond Street by Tony the Tiger.
Richard Pink from Pink Key Licensing, ex plains how a lightbulb moment led to his im mersion into the world of fashion!
I will never forget the moment it all began to make sense. I had been the licensing agent for Kellogg’s – or Vintage Kellogg’s as it was then – for a couple of years, and we had de veloped a number of very nice gifting, apparel and housewares products using the vast array of imagery that was available from the Kellogg archive which stretched back to the year the company was founded in 1906.
Trendsconsumer.like
Some months later I was invited to the launch of the range. I watched a tall, elegant model dressed in white, walk down a long catwalk
TOTAL BRAND LICENSING PAGE 17 PINK KEY
Standing on my stand at the Brand Licensing Show, I took a call from someone explaining that the iconic designer of high-end bags and accessories, Anya Hindmarch, was interest ed in using some of the imagery for a range of tote bags and clutches she was designing. I have to admit that I remained sceptical on how it might all work: on the surface the idea of cereal packs on designer handbags didn’t seem to be a natural fit.
“It made leading teams on different conti nents and timezones challenging when you don’t have the unified basis of real-time infor mation in an understandable format. It was challenging to understand why something was working in one territory and not in another one. Very comparable to what we found our customers being chal lenged with,”said Timo Olkkola, Co-Founder of Flowhaven.
be fast-tracked to hit the launch window. There is a massive amount of data behind every licensing partnership, from financial agreements per SKU to product collabora tion to royalty reporting. Since all this infor mation typically exists in multiple sources, it can’t quickly be reported and compared to spot trends and extrapolate, for exam ple, how a licensing program could perform better in different territories and categories.
The next evolution of licensing
So what’s needed for the licensing industry to hit a trillion in revenue at an accelerated pace? In the trenches of day-to-day operations, most licensing programs are often disorganized and
Flowhaven experienced rapid customer growth through the pandemic, growing to al most 100 top licensors, agents, and licensees. As Flowhaven grew, internal data aggregation, communication, and decision-making became more critical to get right. This period made a few things immediately clear at Flowhaven: global teams located around the world work ing remotely didn’t have the information they needed to operate to their full potential.
Kalle Törmä and Timo Olkkola, Co-founders of Flowhaven
rection. We found that the information must be organized into very effective ready-made dynamic dashboards, so minimal effort is needed to piece together answers the licensing executives need,” said Kalle Törmä, CEO & Founder of Flowhaven.
For an industry generating over $300 bil lion annually in sales, the next big, cumu lative wins for the licensing industry don’t come just with time but with construc tive, well-timed partnerships that perfect ly meet the zeitgeist of consumer demand.
Building a Trillion Dollar Licensing Industry with Flowhaven
TOTAL BRAND LICENSING COVER STORY
• Are we focused on the right tasks?
teams can now slice and dice data any way they want to answer all their ques tions within seconds.
• Are we tracking to hit our quarterly and annual revenue targets?
Aftertomers.numerous
• Is my team able to service all of our partners’ inquiries in time to hit the launch schedule?
Licensingease.
Here are a few examples of questions teams are answering faster with Licensing Analytics:
With just a few clicks, Flowhaven’s licensing analytics tool can drill down into key metrics using real-time data.
TOTAL BRAND LICENSING PAGE 19 COVER STORY
Starting with the Brand Licensing Europe Show in London this fall, Flowhaven will re veal its new Licensing Analytics platform.
Traditional licensing program management tools were built to help licensing teams export data to spreadsheets for further processing. They were not designed to answer questions on the spot and take the needed actions.
Because the process of generating analytics manually is so work-intensive, the data is of ten outdated by the time the reports are com
• How is our licensing program performing over time in different territories and categories?
These same themes surrounding centralizing data came up at Licensing Expo in May this year. Similar issues that Flowhaven solved with its own team, ironically, had been crop ping up in discussion with prospects and cus
Most licensing program executives still get this information despite system limitations, but the added headcount needed to manually col lect and process it is costly.
Flowhaven’s team designed it to transform data into live, dynamic dashboards with ac tionable insights into licensing operations that are easy to understand at a glance.
How is this different from what’s currently available?
conversations, it became clear that the pandemic and shift to remote work have led to teams demanding to see licensing data faster, aggregated in a single location to answer specific questions.
It’spleted.important
Licensing operations and proof points of suc cess will become a competitive advantage.”
This made Flowhaven focus on its efforts to give faster answers to even the most complex licensing questions.
to remember, according to Kalle, that in the future, “there will be more variations of types of deals and complex deal structures. Programs will become faster and will require products to get to market quicker. Partners will have more brands to choose from with whom they want to work.
This gives licensing executives both a compre hensive view of their brand licensing business as a whole and the ability to dive into a sin gle partnership’s sales and service records with
Total Licensing recently sat down with Mike Dunn and Matt Dunn, founders of Octane5 International, to learn what’s new in the licensing software and product authentication space.
The past few years have seen multiple entrants into the licensing software space – what’s been the impact on the overall market?
Matt Dunn: Consum er engagement has really taken off as more and more brands are seeking a direct con nection with their con sumers at point of sale. We’re helping licensors learn consumer percep tion of their brands, their licensed products and how they move consumers along the jour ney from licensed-product to core-product. These licensing leaders now have a great story to share internally that goes beyond royalty growth. We help them tell the story about how licensing supports the brand which is an incredibly powerful story to tell.
Mike Dunn, Co-founder, Octane5 International
PAGE 22 TOTAL BRAND LICENSING OCTANE 5
How has the market responded?
Matt Dunn: Well it’s meant that more than ever, licensors will vet you carefully - they want proven features and a proven, stable plat form used globally by the largest brands. At Octane5, we are always completely upfront with prospective clients – about what we do
Octane5 will be at Stand D270 during Brand Licensing Europe if you’d like to learn more about their capabili ties to support your licensing program.
That is troubling, what has this meant for Octane5?
and what we don’t do. We see our engagements as a longterm partnership, not a quick sale so we try to educate our prospec tive clients on in dustry best practic es and how to make the best decision for their business. No games, no smoke and mirrors.
Mike Dunn: Well over the past year we’ve add ed more new clients and more new licensing-experienced team members than ever before, so I think it’s re sponded incredibly well. Licensors are under standing that there is no substitute for the right team, technology and experience when you’re look ing for the right tools to run your licensing pro gram.
Mike Dunn: That’s a great question. We’ve seen lots of venture capital money flow into our space over the last few years and we’ve ob viously watched it with great interest. Money doesn’t buy competence in licensing technol ogy - if you don’t have the right people who really understand licensing and if you don’t have a passion for this industry, you won’t make it. It’s an incredibly complex and spe cialized space. We have seen some companies already dissolve and others struggle to satisfy big money investors and trusting clients. Most troubling, are the horror stories of promised features that never appear and systems that just don’t work.
The Evolving World of Octane5
What else has happened at Octane5 since the last LicensingBrandEurope?
Matt Dunn, Co-founder, Octane5 International
Mike Dunn: Last year at BLE we announced our part nership with Crane Currency to leverage their incredible micro optics technology
to protect licensed brands, a prod uct we call Verity™. A year later, this partnership has far exceeded our expec tations and licensors are really excited about the ability of this technol ogy to securely protect their brands and en gage their consumers.
The V&A’s activity in the fashion and acces sories arena continues to expand. Lauren Si zeland, Head of Licensing, “We have a growing roster of apparel licensees including LeDiN, M.Latin and Cocoon in China; Pearly Gates and Ping in Korea; People Tree, Japan; and a debut collaboration with Love & Roses in the UK. The richness of our archives enables us to celebrate the breadth of the V&A’s collections, either capturing the beauty of nature or de picting more whimsical and narrative designs, satisfying a real diversity of markets.”
2022 also saw the ground-breaking launch of the first V&A and Chow Sang Sang Jew ellery stores in K11 Musea, Hong Kong and The Londoner, Macau, with a truly one-ofa-kind jewellery shopping experience. It is a whole new world of modern jewellery pre sented alongside some examples of European art and design throughout the store interior, conjuring up the romance, sentiment and craftmanship that inspired it. This is a real ce mentation of the long-term collaboration over 15 years between the V&A and the retailer.
The shared love of pattern and print has been encapsulated in a beautifully rich limited-edi tion collection with Love and Roses. The vari ety of the V&A’s collections has provided the fashion label’s in-house design and creative team with an invaluable creative print resource alongside unique and historic stories. The
V&A’s outstanding collections of floral textiles and natural history prints, spans many eras, from chinoiserie style furnishings to classic 1930s dress fabrics. This inspired range incor porates newly created patterns and offers mod ern silhouettes and colourful, bouquet-filled staples, designed to brighten every wardrobe and endless Peopleoccasions.Tree, the ethical fash ion retailer, a pioneer in sus tainable fair-trade fashion launched its ninth season with the V&A. It includes beautiful standout pieces, featuring ornate patterns reimagined in contempo rary colour palettes, printed on to carefully sourced sus tainable fabrics and crafted into classic People Tree styles. The collabora tion was born out of a mutual appreciation of high-quality materials and a love of print, pattern and colour. The spring summer 2022 range features delicate floral motifs which are a reproduction of a cotton chintz and inspired by a fragment of block-printed fabric. In celebration of the museum’s exhibition Al ice: Curiouser and Curiouser, many licensees globally used archival inspiration to launch products, including M.Latin. Inspired by the enchanting tale of Alice’s Adventures in
TOTAL BRAND LICENSING PAGE 23 V&A
East Asia is a key area of global expansion for the museum, with the launch with HealerB of V&A Beauty in Korea and Japan. V&A Beau ty’s product and packaging embraces different eras and styles, featuring intricate patterns and photography. The collaboration recently won the Red Dot Design Award 2022 for packag ing design. This year the V&A saw the success ful introduction of V&A Beauty stores, with the opening of two permanent concessions in Seoul, Korea and Osaka, Japan within luxury department stores. Alongside this, there have been pop-up store openings in popular de partments stores Lotte and Hyundai in Seoul with more to come by the end of 2022.
The V&A celebrated success at this year’s awards, winning Best Licensed Brand, Mu seum, Art & Design in the 2022 Licens ing International Excellence Awards. This is in recognition of the ongoing amazing creativity, expertise, and commitment of everybody in volved in the V&A licensing programme. In addition, the V&A won Best Brand Li censed Homewares, Kitchen & Tabletop Range at this year’s B&LLA’s, for its collabo ration with Richard Brendon on the V&A Re flect Series. The collection perfectly reframes original masterpieces in an imaginative way and is an homage to British craftsmanship both past and present. A stunning range that truly brings the archive inspiration, quite lit erally ‘to life’.
Wonderland by Lewis Carroll, M.Latin has followed Alice down the rabbit hole and cre ated a whimsical range of clothing featuring characters based on the humorous illustrations of John Tenniel. It offers a fantastic world of nonsense inhabited by white rabbits and play ing card gardeners on tops, dresses and cute little outfits and keys and quotes from the original books.
On behalf of Pink Key Licensing, the pair will
The Point.1888 matches brands with retail ers and manufacturers to create powerful new products with purpose that boost revenue and brand affiliation. The brand agency creates products and partnerships that do what’s best for brands, manufacturers, retailers, and con sumers across every category.
be focusing on iconic food and drink brands, including Kellogg’s, Pringles, SLUSH PUP PiE, Peperami, Quorn, Vimto, Bel Brands (including Laughing Cow and Babybel), and Pan Am’s vintage archive.
Licensing Management International (LMI) announce they are “pleased to be exhibiting at BLE this year on stand A118. After what has been an ‘interesting’ couple of years for every one, and the industry as a whole we are really looking forward to getting back to the show floor and meeting ‘face to face’ with new and existing licensees.”
For personality brands, the stand will play host to movie icon Charlie Chaplin, as well as celebrated genius, Einstein, both on behalf of Ben Group Inc. From the small screen,
of presence at international cat walks and with a very distinct design style, the Custo brand can reach well beyond apparel, into home de cor, gifting, jewelry, fragrance and many other categories. Recently the agency has increased the number of DTR agreements in different territories.
The Repair Shop, Toad & Friends, Tom Gates & Williams Racing.
BLE 2022 coincides with the celebration of Art Ask Agency’s 20th anniversary as an inde pendent brand licensing agency. Remaining focused on partnerships with The Frida Kahlo Corporation, Anne Stokes, Col lection, Brandalised, Pets Rock and some others for different territories, the agency has also welcomed newcomer the Spanish fashion designer Custo Barcelona. With over 40 years
Recent classic properties now represented by LMI include Benny Hill,The Carry On mov ies, The Rubbish World Of Dave Spud, The Little Prince and Laurel & Hardy. Also Tar zan, Zorro, with a plethora of new movies and TV shows planned along with Highclere Cas tle and the Shakespeare Birthplace Trust are also part of the LMI portfolio. LMI will be featuring new products licensed by International Space Archives and hosting existing and potential licensees as well as its network of international agents.
Brands at BLE 2022
Just some of the Brand & Lifestyle exhibitors this year.
Story.1888 also offers creative & marketing services, whilst Spotlight.1888 offers retail services & consultancy within the licensing industry, creating a true full service offering under True Purpose Enterprises.
The company specialises in licensing classic brands and portfolios on a global basis and continues to represent British Motor Heritage for the classic car marques including Austin, Austin-Healey, Morris, MG and Wolseley. BSA have now commenced distribution of a new Gold Star bike designed in Birmingham the home of the original BSA motorcycles.
BRAND LICENSING EUROPE PAGE 24 TOTAL BRAND LICENSING
The BLE spotlight for the duo showcases their wide portfolio of well-established and success ful brands covering a range of categories from preschool to food, movie icons to Kawaii, and authors to art.
The client list includes: Abbey Road, Barratt, Battersea Dogs & Cats Home, Ben Eine, Blippi, British & Irish Lions, Clean Kitchen Club, Cocomelon, Cozmo & Friends, Em ily Burningham, Flip Out, Hackney Dave, I Like Birds, Jimbobart, Little Angel, MissPrint, Moomin, Moonbug Entertainment, Moulin Rouge, Mumsnet, Official Charts Company, Percy The Park Keeper, Rachel Ellen Design, Samaritans, Sindy, St Andrews Links, Star Stable, Super Sema, Team GB, The Raccoons,
Kirsty Guthrie of KJG Ltd, and Maggy Har ris of BlueSkye Licensing, who operate as a hybrid licensing sales agency, are readying for their return to Brand Licensing Europe where they will form part of The Independents’ Lounge on stand B245.
and for a younger audience, will be popular preschool property, True and the Rainbow Kingdom, specified categories for dino lovers with Gigantosaurus, and brand new superhero animation, Petronix Defenders, on behalf of OnbRand-Ward.behalfof
The award-winning licensing programme of the V&A (Victoria and Albert Museum, London) offers an almost infinite source of design inspiration. As the world’s leading museum of art, design and performance, we hold over two million objects and house 17
Royal Museums Greenwich is comprised of the National Maritime Museum, Royal Obser vatory, the Cutty Sark and the Queen’s House, all located within the UNESCO World Her itage Site of Greenwich, London and is the place to discover sea and space exploration, pi oneering architecture, art and British history.
of the UK’s national collections, showcasing artefacts of intricate craft and remarkable in novation from around the world. The V&A’s brand is recognised globally as a powerful en dorsement of craftsmanship and excellence in design. Their experienced licensing team pro vides a tailor-made research service and they support all their licensees through the design process to create beautiful ranges for the con temporary market, authenticated by the com pelling stories from their rich archives. This well-established licensing programme operates worldwide, with product categories including homeware, apparel, jewellery, accessories, sta tionery and crafting.
Lisle Licensing is back at BLE 2022 with a client portfolio which will showcase its suc cesses in IP sectors for which it is already re nowned such as gaming and preschool brands, but also its growth in lifestyle, art & design, as well as family brands.
Theopportunities.leadinglifestyle
the first time following their sell-out success at retail in 2021 and so far in 2022; the very per sonable Kate Smith is excited to engage with potential licensees alongside Francesca Lisle and build upon the successes with Moon pig, Hallmark and Carousel. Newcomers to the portfolio: artist Lucia Heffernan, Hap py Nappers, EX GB Olympian surfer Laura Crane and mumpreneur Lillie Farrow who will launch her brand Lil’s Kitchen are also a strong focus at BLE.
Sagoo Brands, the pair will be showcasing gen Z favourite Kawaii brand, Rilakkuma, as well as the iconic Emily the Strange brand from Rob Reger. The globally renowned cultural institution of the Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation, focuses on developing the Frank Lloyd Wright design legacy, and will join Kirsty and Maggie’s stand at BLE. Frank’s century old inspiration for liv ing sustainably through truly brilliant archi tecture, home and garden design, is as relevant today as it was during his lifetime. Joining the stand fresh from its shortlisted nomination in the prestigious Henries awards, is Snowtap, a beautiful and witty artwork brand, which draws inspiration from the nat ural world and features animals with quirky captions in a perfect partnership. Last but by no means least, the international bestselling book brand by author Tim Mar shall, is Prisoners of Geography, published by Elliott & Thompson.
The Imperial War Museum’s collections con tain 93,938 works of art, 26,716 collections of documents, More than 25,000 hours of film, 149,771 objects, 34,529 sound recordings and Approximately 11 million photographs. As the authority on modern day conflict they add context to any project. Working with the Imperial War Museums not only comes with access to their extensive collection but also cu ratorial support from their experts.
Tempting Brands is the worldwide brand owner for ROUTE 66, Marie-Antoinette, and Hi Puppy for apparel, accessories, stationery, and many other product categories. The instantly recognisable ROUTE 66 is a US lifestyle property boasting a wide range of licensees, with more than 750 products, available in multiple countries. The brand has a strong UK fashion presence with part ners Brand Alliance and Bulldog and is now extending the licensing campaign with part ners in ancillary categories for the legendary highway which once linked Chicago to the American West.
BRAND LICENSING EUROPE TOTAL BRAND LICENSING PAGE 25
Tetris, the original gaming brand which will be celebrating its 40th anniversary in 2024 is a key focus in creating aspirational licensing
duo, Style Sisters, will be at BLE promoting their new licensing ranges and Lisle will be looking to expand this into new categories for 2023 that build upon the continued brand growth of the last 18months including kitchenware, wallpaper & paints. Art-design brand Kate Smith Company will be heading to the UK and attending BLE for
Philippines. As early pioneers in the Chinese market and with deep roots across Asian terri tories, GTL now ranks as one of Asia’s top five agencies, as well as being a top 15 licensing agency globally. GTL’s team of experts brings over 140 years of combined licensing experi ence across all major categories and a vast array of leading brands.
Another big feature of BLE22 for Metrostar is Elmer35; the launch of Elmer the Patch work Elephant’s 35th anniversary licensing programme. The agency will be showcasing new assets, announcing new partners and brand events – and anticipating a personal appearance from Elmer himself!
ROUTE 66 is recognised around the world and offers its licensing partners a wealth of resources. Designs include over 360 original, iconic artworks, and over 125 photos under the ROUTE 66 Style Guide, giving the vin tage, adventurous feel that the brand inspires.
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Finally, Metrostar is delighted to be able to welcome to BLE its international agents and partners working on The Jockey Club and Grand National brands. There are exciting new developments in this heritage lifestyle programme and the agency is looking forward to announcing these and celebrating them together.
Metrostar will be showcasing a number of food brands for the first time, in person, at Brand Licensing Europe 2022. These include Kraft Heinz favourites such as Heinz Toma to Ketchup, HP Sauce, Heinz Beanz, Lea & Perrins and Heinz Tomato Soup. The agency is also excited to welcome Lucozade Energy, Lucozade Sport and Ribena from Suntory to the Metrostar portfolio.
Iconix International is the world’s premier brand management company and owner of a diversified portfolio of strong global consumer brands across fashion, sports, and home. Ic onix specializes in marketing, merchandising and licensing its brand portfolio and has over 1,100 licenses with leading retailers and man ufacturers worldwide that sell across various distribution channels from the mass tier to the mid market. Iconix Europe brings the Iconix International portfolio to the European mar
Pink Key Licensing specialises in the development of licensing programmes for brands with the objective of appointing licensees who manufacture high quality products and have the ability to reach broad distribution. We have developed successful programmes for Kellogg Vintage, Pringles, SLUSH PUPPiE, Pan Am and Jane Asher.
“We will be a team of devils. Our colours will be red like fire and black to invoke fear in our opponents!” These were the words that Her bert Kilpin used as he founded AC Milan on 16 December 1899. Just a year and a half later, the Rossoneri became the champions of Italy for the first time after beating Genoa 3-0 at Ponte Carrega on 5 May 1901. The first cel ebration took place at AC Milan’s first head
established in 2008 in Hong Kong, Global Trademark Licensing Ltd (GTL) has grown to become a leading global licensing agency with seven offices located in the US, UK, Singapore, Hong Kong, China and the
Firstket.
quarters, the Fiaschetteria Toscana on Via Berchet in Milan, in 1899. Words, places and dates that gave rise to the Rossoneri’s glorious history. This is a Club that has contributed hugely to the world of football, so much so that AC Milan held the most international ti tles recognised by FIFA from December 2007 to February 2014. The Rossoneri’s history is now the stuff of legend, as are the men who have helped to write it – be they presidents, coaches or footballers.
Since founders Thomas, Axel and Jonathan Lang made Chefclub’s first croque-monsieur video in their kitchen – they have come a long way: three Digital Brand of the Year Awards (France, Germany); partnerships with PLU TO TV (US, LatAm, Spain, UK, France) and Samsung TV France; animation series in de velopment; content on proprietary, FAST and
brand licensing services covering licensing strategies, collaboration, brand extension, licensee acquisition, product design, asset management and style guide creation while delivering a financial return. We also offer ad vice, account management and brand strategy to ensure the new products and services gen erated from the licensing programmes are au thentic and truly carry the brand’s DNA.
Caroline Mickler Limited will bring a range of brands that underline the diversity and originality of its portfolio. They include The Beatles, Yellow Submarine, Stanley Kubrick’s iconic films The Shining, A Clockwork Orange, Full Metal Jacket, and 2001: A Space Odyssey, The Masked Singer™ and The Masked Dancer, Fifty Shades of Grey,
Social platforms worldwide; 700,000+ cook books and 250,000 cooking kits sold; and a 50-piece TEFAL cookery range. Chefclub’s mission is to bring families together in the kitchen, empower children to cook at a much earlier age, promote the nutritional and mental health benefits of good eating habits, and provide new and unique platforms for the universal enjoyment of food. At BLE, Chef club is excited to meet new partners to share the incredible success it has had in France in markets where fans are already poised and waiting to further enjoy this unique brand.
In six years Chefclub has established itself as a leading food entertainment brand and content creator for families, generating a whopping 2.5 billion monthly views, and 100 million subscribers. With half of its followers in the US and UK - Chefclub is thrilled to exhibit at BLE for the first time!
The new Read Aloud video featuring Actor and NSPCC Ambassador for Childline Na talie Dormer, has been licensed by digital con tent agency Little Dot Studios for their own YouTube channel Wizz.
wear. Cause-related marketing pioneers Louis Kennedy have partnered for Pantosaurus plush with sound chip featuring the PANTS theme song for the promotional category.In the digi tal category the Pantosaurus and the Power of Pants ebook can now be found on Pickatale, a leading mobile audiobook and storybook app for children aged 0–12.
The NSPCC’s Talk PANTS campaign, fea turing friendly dinosaur Pantosaurus, helps parents have simple conversations with their children to help keep them safe.
Visit the Total Licensing booth - F160 and pick up copies of Total Licensing and Total Brand Licensing
Edutainment Licensing has announced new licensees for the NSPCC’s Pantosaurus licens ing Specialistprogramme.apparel licensee, Poetic Brands have partnered for a wide variety of clothing, in cluding kids daywear, nightwear and swim
This promises to be a busy BLE for the Mo tul campaign. Since the campaign formally launched just over a year ago, it has attracted a number of major licensees across a range of Theycategories.include Sunrich Toys & Hobby, which designs and manufactures the highest-quality scale model cars for the global hobby market; Fire Design for fire extinguishers; and, most recently, Depancel, the celebrated watchmak ing brand for the Pista 24 MOTUL Edition, a feature-rich motor-sport-themed watch. Motul has also appointed a global licensing agent, ASPIRE by WildBrain CPLG, as well as agents for Japan, South Korea, Australia and New Zealand.
At BLE Motul will be highlighting its impres sive first year as a lifestyle brand and discuss ing plans to build on this success with growth throughout 2023.
Horrid Henry, Toxic Waste Hazardously Sour Candy and the latest Caroline Mickler Lim ited signing, Molang, the kawaii digital sen sation – and a brand very much for our time.
TSBA is an independent brand licensing agen cy in the UK, managing some of the world’s most iconic brands. They provide a range of
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Having a platform like BLE meant I could speak with conviction and be vulnerable and share the message to join us on the journey. During the show, we had so many people coming to us asking for help. Those kinds of conversations give us a whole new way of planning our movement. We started think ing, ’if somebody can’t take the license, maybe they can do consultation with us’ – it’s still supporting the movement and allowing us to move forward positively together. We’ve been in conversations with almost every retailer we saw at BLE, including about seven buyers from ASOS who put us in touch with their D&I team. We’re also having conversations with Tesco and Primark and HMV. In fact, HMV wanted everything immediately, they are thinking of an impactful activation.
designers in their own right. We have Anita Quansah, an accessories designer whose pieces combine African tradition with a westernised mind. She’s part of the Africa Show at the V&A. Her designs are very high end. Then we have Sibu, a founder of Jaded Life fashion label, he is a Black designer but also comes from LGBT+ community. He has been creat ing amazing fashion pieces out of Levi’s waste denim - he brings value to Levi’s waste whilst helping to save the planet. His brand ethos is all about sustainability. He’s actually showcas ing his collection at London Fashion Week and then it’s coming straight onto the BLE runway. The last designer is Bunmi, who is a bridal and haute couture designer, her pieces are beautiful, she loves to design pieces in bold colours. And the fourth brand is, of course, Black Lives Matter, and we will see the Fash ion UK collection on the catwalk.
You introduced Black Lives Matter to people for the first time at BLE 21 and you also had a stand on the show floor. What did that presence achieve for you?
Where is the licensing indus try when it comes to D&I? Are we progressive? Are we behind other industries? How much more needs to be done?
I keep hearing people saying, ‘we need to do things properly,’ ‘it takes time’, and I get that it’s not easy to figure out a proper, credible product offering. But, can I also say, you don’t need the full shebang, you can just start with one thing – that’s still progress. For example, Black people are discriminated against for our hair because nobody under stands it. So that could be something you fo cus on. Or our body shape. We get labelled as plus size when we’re not. We’re just different. We don’t fit into jeans in this country because technologists don’t know how to work with our body.
I have seen incredible examples of businesses getting D&I right and doing it authentically, where they’ve partnered with Black licensees on a brand featuring Black characters, and that result is a credible licensing programme. This is progress. And, yes, there is progression from where we started to where we are now, and I think the more people start seeing prod ucts created in this way out in retail, the more it will happen.
Why do you want people to visit you on the stand?
That’s so good, because sometimes you find people are full of conviction in the moment, but many don’t follow up with an action. We know it’s not overnight. We understand that. We’re in it for the long haul. We want these to be conscious, deep and meaningful
So, the four brands include three incredible
To have a conversation with us. It’s as simple as that. Let’s talk about how you can make a difference, and we’ll support you, whichever level you want to come into the movement.
Being able to talk about the Black Lives Mat ter movement at BLE was so impactful. On its own, that support was incredibly profound, thanks to BLE and the Informa team who threw all their weight into it. On a personal level, it’s still very emotional. All of a sudden, we’re having to speak with conviction about everything we’ve been through. We have to be, “Oh, yeah, it’s all good now.” And that’s hard. It is really emotionally charged for anyone to go through, not just me. It’s an awkward, un comfortable and painful conversation to have, but it’s a conversation that needed/and still needs to happen.
In addition, we have incredible performances from beautiful African drummers, contem porary dancers from the LGBT+ community, and Cardi B and Idris Elba’s DJ, DJ Longers. It is definitely not to be missed.
I would say it’s behind. Progress is slow. I am not going to sugar-coat it.
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actions. It absolutely can’t be a logo slapping job. And, since BLE, everyone wants to have those deeper conversations.
You’re back at BLE this year, and you have a stand, but you’re also planning the Cul ture & Unity catwalk… Yes, it is super exciting. BLE are putting so much thought and effort into this – they want it to be done correctly. So, this partnership is an incredible chance not only to showcase what Black Lives Matter can look like in an M&S store, for example, but we can also showcase these amazing Black designers who can give retailers an idea of what product from a Black owned brand can do in terms of con sumer products.
Saphia Maxamed, Founder, Black Lives Licensing,Mattertalks candidly to Total Brand Licensing about the support for the BLM movement at the show.
Ahead of its 100th anniversary next year, 24 Hours of Le Mans announced exciting collab orations with British apparel brand Castore and Bologna-based atelier The Outlierman, in deals brokered by IMG. As the official out fitter of 24 Hours of Le Mans from 2022 to 2024, Castore have created a premium range of fanwear inspired by the classic designs of the world’s oldest endurance racing event. Meanwhile, the The Outlierman’s three-year collaboration as the race’s official Licensee will include limited-edition capsule collec tions featuring silk and leather accessories dedicated to fans.
collaboration for Ascot Racecourse in mainland EstablishedChina.in1994, ANTA is a top sports wear company in China, having served as the official sportswear partner of the Chinese Olympic Committee for 8 years. The com pany partnered with the blockbuster movie Ted 2 to launch the Ted2 X Anta collection in July 2022. The first range of the collabora tion, which included t-shirts, coats and caps, was well received by consumers, prompting a second range that is set to be launched in September and will include jackets, hoodies, socks and backpacks.
IMG facilitated a deal between Gap and high-end eyewear brand De Rigo to launch
UBISOFT
IMG has had a bumper year across its portfolio of brands.
NFL BLITZ LEGENDS
In a deal brokered by IMG, Arcade1Up has partnered with the National Football League (NFL) and the IMG-managed Football Greats Alliance (FGA) to bring back NFL Blitz Legends – the iconic arcade game from the 90s. The NFL Blitz franchise aims to score big with today’s NFL fans and gamers, while also invoking a sense of nostalgia, by introducing the first and only at-home NFL arcade experience. Available at stores this upcoming NFL season, the arcade game will include popular titles - NFL Blitz, NFL Blitz ‘99 and NFL Blitz 2000: Gold Edition, and will allow players to compete online with Wi-Fi multiplayer and leaderboards, for the first time.
Premium fashion retailer Champion teamed up with popular entertainment franchise Pink Panther to launch a SS22 collection in May-June 2022, with various product waves of fashion apparel and accessories, including t-shirts, pants, shorts, footwear, caps and bags. The theme of the collaboration, “Pink Champion,” was well received by Chinese consumers, making the collection a retail Londa,success. a leading casual wear brand that has specialized in equestrian clothing for many years, collaborated with the UK’s prestigious Ascot Racecourse to launch a joint collection in June 2022 in celebration of the iconic Royal Ascot event. The collection, which includes shirts, coat and pants in a vibrant and dynamic colour palette, is the first such
IMG announced it has renewed and ex panded its exclusive licensing representation agreement with Ubisoft for Assassin’s Creed® and Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six® to include new territories and the popular Just Dance® franchise. The new, multi-year agreement adds North and South America to IMG’s re mit that already included Europe, the Middle East, Asia (excluding Mainland China for Assassin’s Creed) and Africa.
BRANDS
In a deal brokered by IMG, multi-cate gory healthy snack company Humdinger partnered with Budweiser to launch three brand-new flavors of peanuts. The all-Ameri
GAP X DE RIGO
the first collection of Gap-branded eyewear. Launched in July 2022, the collection fea tures versatile, high-quality sun and optical wear for adults, juniors and kids, ranging from classic frames with clean lines to more fashion-forward frames in bold colours. Each pair of Gap-branded glasses comes with a hard-shell case and cleaning cloth or draw string pouch, made from recycled materials.
ADDISON RAE X BONKERS
BUDWEISER X HUMDINGER
Social media mega star Addison Rae launched her first toy line in partnership with Bonkers Toys, brokered by IMG. The fashion doll line includes a music doll that plays pop music and an ultimate surprise fashion doll set to be announced later this year. The dolls also come with a QR codes on each package which activate a personal message from Addison on embracing body positivity and female entre preneurship. Additionally, Bonkers Toys and Addison Rae will be supporting non-profit, Girls Inc., to further inspire all young girls to be strong and bold. The doll line is available at Walmart stores, Amazon, and other US retailers, as well as Smyth’s in the UK and Kmart in Australia.
TOTAL BRAND LICENSING PAGE 29
24 HOURS OF LE MANS UPDATE
China has also proved a successful market for the agency.
can flavours of the coated peanuts have been crafted to complement the smooth, crisp taste of the beer.
Big Year for IMG Brands
survey from leading influencer plat form Hype Auditor found out that 43% of influencers never or rarely received person
How do you prefer to be contacted by brands interested in collaborating with you? SocialEmail media/ Direct Message SocialPhone Commentmedia Talent agency 52.1% 40.3% 1.6%1.7%3.9%
Industry standards suggest a 15% response rate to mass outreach 42% of those surveyed said one of the reasons why they would not work with a brand is that they were not happy with the budget and 38% said that the brand gave them little or no creative freedom. And 51% said they simply didn’t like or value the
PAGE 30 TOTAL BRAND LICENSING FEATURE
How to reach out to Influencers
More and more people are buying and discov ering products from online content creators but if you are growing brand that wants to work with influencers how do you contact
alised messages from their platform so a cut and paste style mass marketing is simply not yielding results.
Influencer marketing is one of the fastest growing industries at the moment. Everyone wants to be an influencer.
want to be well briefed before they embark on a campaign and that would include understanding what the required deliverables were. More than half of influencers comment ed they want clear descriptions of the products and information relating to the company they would be aligning with. This is not unusual to hear, as you wouldn’t expect to have a sales professional sell or promote your product or service without a proper brief.
Athem.recent
Influencersbrand.
By Gordon Glenister Influencer Marketing Expert
TOTAL BRAND LICENSING PAGE 31 FEATURE
Free product testing i.e. review a
A great way to engage with influencers is to try and build up a relationship first, in other words comment, like or share their content so when you do make the outreach you can make some reference to their content – they want to feel valued for the work they do.
Inmore.relation
ing, videography, graphic design and so much
Which from the following list do you receive enquiries for most often?
When approaching a talent agent, be mind ful that the manager wants to facilitate a sub stantial contribution for the creator, its worth mentioning what other opportunities you maybe able to offer in your proposal as well for example exclusive access to an event or
affiliateParticipateAmbassadorBecomepostCollaboratesamplesonasponsoredand/orstoryaBrandinanprogram Host
Of those surveyed emails was the preferred method to be contacted. Influencers with as smaller audience of up to 1000 followers on Instagram decided to work with a talent agent.
giveaway Other 30.9%33.1% 18.2% 10.9% 2.0%4.9%
A personalised email with a friendly tone or voice is important as is putting their name in
What motivates an influencer most is any thing that will add value to their audience, something exclusive (ie not available to all) and financial compensation for the content created and access to their community.
the salutation. Make sure there are clear con tact details and what the influencer has to do next. You might want to create a video presen tation adding some excitement to the propo sition, and that this is a campaign to a limited number if key influencers.
Agents typically charge a 20% fee on all brand partnerships and whilst some have been very successful for creators a lot haven’t, and lack the professional standards that appear in other creative industries.
most content creators get about 1-3 messages with many of them in relation to gifting, sponsored posts and proposals for brand ambassador partnerships. Free product tasting was the highest requested with over a third of requests, followed by a sponsored post or story.
to the licensing opportunities, its very important to indicate in the brief how long the brand can use the content creators content, ie for the campaign or for upto a year. For more information and guidance on influ encer marketing best practice visit The Brand ed Content Marketing Association fluencer-marketing-guidelines.htmlwww.thebcma.info/landing-pages/bcma-inhttps://
Gordon Glenister is an influencer expert, author of Influencer marketing strategy, host of influence global podcast and chief strategy officer for Audience2Media
Surprisingly although they’re has been a rise in social media talent agencies only 15% of in fluencers work with them opting to work on their own. Influencers overwhelming like to contacted directly from the brand.
The very best content creators act like mini creative agencies that have considerable wide ranging digital skills from photography, com munity building, copywriting, hashtag sourc
Oncontent.average
The Many Facets of The FA
Firstly, can you outline some history of the FA? And the brand ethos you work under?
We have around 35 licensees within our programme currently. These licensees cover
several core categories; apparel, sports acces sories, everyday accessories, commemorative, home, confectionery, digital, games/toys and publishing.
Can you tell us some current brand initia tives and licensing programmes at the FA?
We are looking at international markets more closely than we have previously, with a partic ular focus on the United States and Far East where we are seeing an ever-growing demand for the England brand given the success of
women’s, youth, disability football as well as running FA Competitions including the Emirates FA Cup and Vitality Women’s FA Cup, and the world-class facilities of Wemb ley Stadium and St. George’s Park, all with a purpose to Unite the Game and Inspire the Nation.
How many licenses does The FA hold to date?
PAGE 32 TOTAL BRAND LICENSING SPORT
The FA is the oldest football association in the world and the governing body of English football. We are responsible for promoting and developing every level of the game, from grassroots through to the professional game, and successfully generates enough revenue to support investment of over £150m into English football each year. The FA oversees England international teams across men’s,
Total Brand Licensing caught up with Michael Lees, Licensing Partnerships Manager, The FA Group to go deeper into the work that the Association undertakes
All profits generated by The FA are put back into the game to encourage participation, improve facilities, ensure safeguarding, and is invested across a whole range of initiatives. Licensing and merchandising also ensures that England fans young or old can interact with the brand when buying online or on the high street, which we think is crucial to engaging with fans and inspiring the next generation.
Just like all sports properties, we face a continuous battle against fake and unofficial product. We work closely with BackFour who help protect our IP and licensees against misuse and infringements, who have helped removed close to 100,000 online listings with an estimated value of over £1.5 million since
How crucial is the income generated from licensing and merchandising?
Obviously the country has recently been celebrating the Lionesses’ success! What, in terms of licensing, will you do to capitalise on this and encourage more girls and young women into football?
How do you go about tackling counterfeiting and improper use of the IP, globally?
We are already seeing an increased number of enquiries from our licensing partners regard ing the use of player imagery of our Women’s team on products. I’ve no doubt this will continue as we move into next year and an other tournament year for the Women’s team. With regards to actual product categories, we are exploring new opportunities that are more suitable for girls who want to interact with the game in a different way from boys. We hope that by ensuring our licensing
portfolio speaks to young girls just as it does to young boys, that we will see more parents buying our products over traditional licensed alternatives.
our Men’s and Women’s team and the popu larity of the English domestic leagues
TOTAL BRAND LICENSING PAGE 33 SPORT
we started working together in 2016. Back Four provide product verification support and advice to customs to ensure everyone is moving in the right direction to tackle fakes in order to prevent unofficial product from entering the markets and to protect the brand and fans who purchase.
This is Iris have revealed a partnership with Boots and British fashion brand Their Nibs - Their Nibs first capsule collection for Boots 2022 Christmas campaign has recently been released. The online launch for this years long awaited Boots Christmas Collection is finally live! With several high profile brands featured across the many ranges released today, UK licensing Agency This is Iris were thrilled to announce that British fashion brand Their Nibs had delivered their very first capsule collection for this well known High Street Workingstore.closely with part ners Shruti and Samuel Lam ont, This is Iris was able to create a new collection that celebrated the distinctive, timeless print style of this award winning British bou tique brand. From the many designs avail able from Their Nibs, Boots selected a stunning peacock feather print which has gone across kitchen textiles, ce ramics and stationery.
Faster Brand’s automotive client Cosworth Group Holdings, a premier brand in power train, battery, colling and vehicle management technology, has announced it is looking for worldwide brand licensing collaborations/ partnerships with leading manufacturing companies in a number of areas. These include computer battery storage (por table backup power products); cool technolo gy leisure (cool boxes, bags); electric scooters and cycles; performance eyewear and accesso ries; high performance sports luggage and out erwear; apparel companies with a motorsports heritage; sports footwear, and jewellery.
PAGE 34 TOTAL BRAND LICENSI8 NEWS
“As a small, female led brand, we are thrilled to be have been selected and represented by Boots to launch our extended range this Autumn. We are delighted to offer the Boots customer our brand of beautiful hand painted prints on new product lines.” Commented Fiona Bell, Their Nibs“We are so pleased to see this capsule collection released and to have had the opportunity to work so closely with our fan tastic partners and the team at Boots from the outset. In a time where we are all experiencing so many challenges at retail, it has been refreshing to be part of so many new and exciting opportu nities with retailers direct.” add ed. Sarah Lawrence, This is Iris.
BOOTS AND THEIR NIBS CHRISTMAS CAMPAIGN
COSWORTH LOOKS TO GROW LICENSING
EMOJI GAMING LICENSE
With its rich history including F1 winners Jim Clark, Graham Hill, Jackie Stewart and Nigel Mansell Cosworth Group Holdings Limited are design and building the transport systems of tomorrow and work alongside some of the top names in motorsport and luxury sports cars
UNIS Technology Ltd, a leading manufactur er of coin-operated games has signed a licens ing agreement with the emoji company to de velop a series of arcade games for emoji® - The Iconic Brand.
Under the agreement, UNIS will handle the design, manufacture and distribution of the emoji® brand games that incorporate the emo ji® brand icons within key markets including EMEA, US, Canada, LATAM and APAC.
Created in 2003 by Fiona Bell, a former fashion buyer and head of womenswear at Laura Ashley, Their Nibs has blossomed from its early days as a boutique store in Notting Hill into an online destination for lovers of inspired prints. In 2014, Fiona met Sia Smith who came on board as designer for the brand. The brand has an engaged social media following, with it’s online and instore collections repeatedly selling out.
“We are honoured to partner with UNIS, experts in the coin-operated gaming field, to launch a product that will give the consumer an unforgettable and fun experience. Using the emoji® brand icons is an empathetic way to connect with people,” said Marco Huesges, CEO and founder of The emoji Company. “Everyone knows the emoji® brand. It is such a global phenomenon that the games will cer tainly capture consumer attention.” added Ste ven Tan, UNIS General Manager. “We are extremely pleased to be working with the emoji company to bring this iconic brand to the amusement industry.”
The company works across merchandise, brand development, and activations. In 2022 alone, War ren James has just hosted LilyPichu’s live concert, Krew District’s Vidcon booth, and Hasan Piker’s Twitchcon booth. 2023 will be our first year with retail activations.
INTERVIEW
We’ve been working with KREW on the KREW District apparel line since 2020. Since then, we’ve released many product launches, including our most recent outdoors-themed, Camp KREW launch which features prod ucts such as thermoses and blankets. Our partnership with them further deepens our relationship together to be able to continue delivering best-in-class products. With new resources at play, we’re able to expand into many new categories of business – for exam ple, food and beverage lines.
Tell us all about Warren James. Myself and Ben Wiedner founded Warren James around three and a half years ago, following stints at leading global companies Jazwares and Roblox, to develop brands, cus tom merchandise and e-commerce solutions for some of the biggest content creators in the world including Aphmau, Krew, Annoying Orange, The Boys, and Hasan Piker. Since launch, the company and team has grown to more than 60 employees with offices in Los Angeles, Guangzhou, and Manilla, while simultaneously helping to define standard DTC and DTR deals for the industry. As a graduate of the Savannah College of Art and Design, CEO Kevin Ramsey’s entire career has been focused on leveraging online audiences to drive engagement and product purchases in both retail stores and online. “The passion and work Kevin has put into this economy has increased the exposure and opportunities for this genre of content within the licensing industry,” according to one licensing executive.
Some recent extremely exciting creator partnerships include building out Hasan Piker’s union-made apparel line, Ideology, in addition to developing the Hex brand with Dawko, collaborating with the popular game series Five Nights at Freddy’s and operating LilyPichu’s first ever live concert – Comfi Beats – and launching an exclusive collection on the same day.
Interview: Total Brand Licensing caught up with Kevin Ramsey, co-founder and CEO of Warren James, an exclusive merchandising firm.
Can you tell us more about your recent partnership with KREW and what this means for the two companies going ahead?
Do you work across merchandise and activations as well?
Can you outline some other recent success ful partnerships and brand extensions you have been involved with?
Our end goal is to design, and bring to the market, products that deliver excitement to both the creator and the audiences they have. Whether it is a well-designed line of apparel to a collection of functional dog-related prod ucts, such as lick mats, we’re willing to go the extra mile, and across any product category, to bring visions to life.
TOTAL BRAND LICENSING PAGE 35
What is the ethos behind your work with brands?
The mainstream media and Internet alike are alive with chatter around Web 3.0 and the Metaverse. Indeed, some companies are betting big on this new evolution of the In ternet. Facebook for example is so confident on this next iteration of the online world that it’s taken the decision to rebrand to Meta. Yet despite the prevalence of Web 3.0 and the Metaverse in the tech news pages, these technologies remain perplexing to the vast majority, businesses and consumers alike. In the same way that many are confused by (and wary of) cryptocurrencies and NFTs, so does Web 3.0 and the metaverse still continue to scratch heads.
Getting Ahead on Brand Protection in the Era of Web 3.0 and the Metaverse
New technologies need new approaches Naturally, Web 3.0 and the Metaverse don’t come without their quirks, especially when compared to Web 2.0, and some of the pro tections that brands currently receive. Due to their decentralised nature Web 3.0 and the Metaverse are free from the wider regulatory ties that we’ve come to expect from Web 2.0. This has led some naysayers to compare Web 3.0 and the metaverse to “the wild west” of the Internet, whilst other proponents like to favourably think of them as Take“Switzerland”.domainsfor example. With Web 2.0, ICANN’s UDRP and Nominet’s DRS here in the UK provide a vehicle with which to challenge domains that infringe on a business’ trademarking or IP. For Web 3.0 and the Metaverse, unfortunately no such protection exists for blockchain domains (the domain name system that operate through) meaning they have the potential to be taken advantage of by brand impersonators. In turn this could lead to all sort of brand protection issues, from scams to counterfeiting.
Considering the future potential of Web 3.0 and the Metaverse, brands should start taking the necessary precautions and lay the
Still unsure? Get the experts to help Web 3.0 and the Metaverse is a whole new realm of the Internet, and it’s understandable if you potentially feel unsure about how to approach it. If in doubt, there are trusted do main portfolio managers who have expertise that spans both Web 2.0 and Web 3.0 do mains, and can help guide you on your initial journey in securing blockchain domains and your first slice of the future of the Internet.
The good news is that registrations are relatively affordable, so aren’t a significant commitment. Even if they’re left inactive, they’ll provide peace of mind. In doing so, you’ll be futureproofing your business for what could potentially be the next stage of the commercial Internet, whilst at the same time engaging in a cost-effective hedge should Web 3.0 and the metaverse not quite live up to the anticipated hype.
PAGE 36 TOTAL BRAND LICENSING METAVERSE
What do we mean by the Metaverse and Web 3.0, and why do they matter to brands?
Are you in the ‘confused by (and wary of)’ camp? Here’s a quick definition of the two Intechnologies.itssimplest
Thousands of brand names have already been registered in the blockchain world, and brands looking to get in on the action are finding that their names have already been taken. Since these new blockchain domains lack the traditional trademark protection offered in Web 2.0, organisations should act quickly to reserve their blockchain domains as soon as they can.
By Rob Director,CommercialKriner,SuccessComLaude
Whilst nascent, the opportunity to attract new audiences and sell to new customers is very real.
foundations to make sure they are protecting their brand and IP. A good place to start is by registering the blockchain domains that correlate to your brand.
terms, Web 3.0 is the third generation of the Internet. Whilst it is still evolving, it is broadly defined as being a decentralised online environment with blockchain at its core. Web 3.0 is significant to brands as it allows for brand presence and the sale of digital goods in the metaverse. In this way, the metaverse has the potential to create new virtual experiences for consumers, with the opportunity to generate real-world revenue for businesses.
Brand protection in Web 3.0 and the Metaverse
A few brands are already taking advantage of this new market opportunity in the metaverse. Take Gucci, for example, which recently set up “Gucci Town” on metaverse platform Roblox. In this brand owned area of the metaverse, Gucci has created a digital destination with a “virtual piazza” that offers a series of experiences including mini games, art exhibitions, and (of course) shopping for digital Gucci items to outfit Roblox avatars.
That doesn’t mean they can be ignored, however. They have the potential to be just as big in the future as ‘Web 2’ is now. User numbers are growing, and the Metaverse market is predicted to reach $800bn by 2024, providing a potentially lucrative new market to businesses.
Far beyond offering additional revenue streams, heritage and museum brands offer retailers and their customers a slice of authenticity and history.
Although the apparel category is a key strate gic priority for the Cambridge brand, agents are also working on partnerships with back to school, toiletries, and stationery brands, with a focus on content from the University’s eight museums, Cambridge University Bo tanic Garden and the Cambridge University CambridgeLibrary. is already one of the main suppli ers of greetings cards to the UK marketplace, and international markets are supported by their licensee Bekking & Blitz. The themes and curated imagery selected for their prod uct ranges would also work well for home wares be it an entire image for maximum impact, a cropped element for colour and tex ture, or individual detail for a repeat pattern. All of Cambridge’s licensing concepts and content are rooted in real stories inspired by physical items that are used for research in a museum, library or department setting.
RHS
TheBradford.latest
The University of Cambridge, which will be represented at BLE by its European licensing agent, Plus Licens, has seen its trademark programme successfully capitalize on the global trend for collegiate brands in 2022. The uptick in interest and deals has resulted in a series of retail launches including a Pan European fashion deal managed by Plus Licens, a collab with Mackintosh for adult casual wear in Japan via Ingram, an athlei sure capsule collection of collegiate inspired designs for the teen market with Korean brand HAZZYS through Infiniss, as well as apparel launches in Latin America supported by Big Hands, and North America through
University of Cambridge – tapping into a global trend
Cambridge has a flexible approach to the creative treatment of the University’s trade mark and is interested in collabs with brands that represent the student demographic and can interpret Cambridge for this age group. In addition to University branded athlei sure ranges, we are also looking at technical sportswear inspired by Cambridge’s rich sporting history combined with the increas ing emphasis and importance of sport for wellbeing.
Histo ry, Heri tage, Fut ure...
partnership to be confirmed is with HAZZYS’ owner - leading fashion and life style company LF - to develop the Cambridge brand over an initial term of 5 years for the Korean market. Two other apparel deals have also been agreed over the summer for Europe and North America; further details to be announced when in-store dates and brand activation plans are confirmed.
HERITAGE
TOTAL BRAND LICENSING PAGE 37
PAGE 38 TOTAL BRAND LICENSING HERITAGE
as Laura Ashley recently confirmed its new global partnership with baby brand Mamas & SpringPapas.2023 will also see the introduction of charming, giftable new categories, including a garden accessories range for children and adults, alongside an exclusive Mother’s Day gifting range that will be sure to delight mum’s next March. 2023 will be a special year for Laura Ashley as it reaches its 70th Anniversary. To truly celebrate and indulge in the heritage of the brand, the design team have delved into the extensive archive of more than 98,000 items, to rediscover a nostalgic-filled curation of ‘prints through the decades’. These iconic prints will be reimagined across wallpaper, curtains, bedlinen, cushions and more for a special 70th Anniversary limited edition Collaborationscollection. are another key part of Laura Ashley’s global strategy. The brand saw great success from previous projects including Barbour, Urban Outfitters and more recently New York-based fashion designer, Batsheva, all inspiring a new generation of brand follow ers. Excitingly, there will be more coveted collaborations coming for 2023 that are yet to be announced.
The expansion of ARTiSTORY’s brand port folio is well timed to ensure these museum partners are included in their next bi-annu al theme and collection design launch on September 8th. ARTiSTORY transforms “Artefacts to Merchandise” by creating modern and contemporary designs inspired by original artworks and artefacts. The Phase 1, 2024 style guides follow upcoming trends identified by their research teams. Highlights include collections featuring female artists, modern artists and with a focus on Paris in the run up to the 2024 Olympics. Each trend driven theme is broken down into smaller collections which are delivered as style guides. The most popular past themes have been Gathering of the Greats and Dunhuang. Gathering of the Greats features designs inspired by master artists such as Van Gogh, Monet, Kandinsky, Mondrian and Hokusai and art from Museum of Fine Arts (Boston), National Gallery (London), and Nation al Palace Museum (Taipei). Licensees for Gathering of the Greats include Ruggable (rugs), Jade City Foods (hot sauces & coffee), Fashion UK for Kiabi (men’s fashion), Toms (footwear) obode (smart robot vacuum cleaner), UIN (footwear), CD Visionary, Inc.
Laura Ashley – 70 years in 2023
To make the collection content easier to navigate, the Cambridge licensing team has invested resource into developing packag es of seasonal content and provenance for agents and licensees to work with. Themes in development include Evolution (Darwin) and Exploration (Scott Polar) - both important collections that inform current research into climate change. Another introduction is the striking black and white animal illustrations by Cambridge Zoology professor, Hugh Cott who wrote the definitive book on camouflage in nature.
The first half of 2022 saw a significant period of growth for the iconic home and lifestyle brand, Laura Ashley. With over 20 UK licensees and 41 global partnerships, this year saw the brand sign 8 new licensees & collab oration, whilst launching over 300 products in the UK in the first 6 months of the year. There have been exciting triumphs, including winning Best Licensed Design-led Lifestyle Brand in The B&LLA 2022 industry awards, alongside extending distribution channels with more key UK retailers, including Next, John Lewis, Marks & Spencer amongst Long-termothers. licensing partnerships have been, and continue to be, a key part of the brand’s success in the UK and globally. The strength of the licensing operation since the early 90’s shows the enduring appeal of the brand across home, fashion and experiential licenses. Partnering with a diverse range of specialists to create a beautiful selection of prod ucts is key to the heritage brand’s go-forward strategy. In the remainder of 2022, it will continue to expand into new categories to truly offer a full lifestyle product range. This autumn winter, Laura Ashley lovers can pass their love down to furry friends, as it introduces a new pet Therange.new product categories continue into next year,
ARTiSTORY is fast becom ing a destination for world class heritage organisations
that want to build successful global licens ing programmes. This year ARTiSTORY announced global partnerships with Centre Pompidou (Paris), Thyssen Bornemizsa Na tional Museum (Madrid) and the Benaki Mu seum (Athens). These leading establishments join ARTiSTORY’s existing portfolio and sit alongside the National Gallery (London), Na tional Palace Museum (Taipei), Museum of Fine Arts (Boston), Brooklyn Museum (New York) Dunhuang Inspiration (China) and The British Library (London).
ARTiSTORY – world-class heritage
further in the UK and internationally and are currently seeking to work with licensees in a number of key categories including fashion, stationery, toys & games, health & beauty, homewares, tabletop and garden. The team comment: “Historic Royal Palaces is a team of people who love and look after six of the most wonderful palaces in the world. We cre ate space for spirits to stir and be stirred. We want everyone to feel welcome and accepted. We tell stories about the monarchs you know and the lives you don’t. We let people explore and we set minds racing. We are a charity and your support gives the palaces a future, for everyone.”
HRP is looking to grow business
The National Trust - nature, beauty and history
‘Dunhuang Civilisation’, which launched on August 4, giving the game’s 300+ million players the chance to explore the ancient city of Dunhuang in a way never seen before. Clash Of Kings is currently available in over 100 countries.
TOTAL BRAND LICENSING PAGE 39 HERITAGE
Along with existing material the partnership will see the digitisation of thousands of pre viously unseen items from IWM’s extensive archive which contains some 93,938 works of art, 26,716 collections of documents, more than 25,000 hours of film, 149,771 objects, 34,529 sound recordings and approximately 11 million photographs.
As the authority on modern day conflict, IWM’s content will provide contextual material to the over 30 billion records already contained on Ancestry. The new content will allow customers to explore the experi ences and life stories of their ancestors more thoroughly.
Historic Royal Palaces – to inspire and provoke change
The successful partnership with The Royal Mint has continued with the Royal Tudor Beasts Collection, their third series inspired by ten stone guardians of the Moat Bridge at Hampton Court Palace.
Imperial War Museums (IWM) has an nounced a major partnership with the global leader in family history, Ancestry. The partnership will see thousands of items from IWM’s vast collection added to Ancestry’s site. The start of the partnership is in Novem ber and will see a variety of content including photographs, documents, film, and sound being added to site.
As Europe’s largest conservation charity, the National Trust may not be viewed by every one as a commercial entity. However, with
(gift), Techno (mobile phone), Envy (apples) many of which have already launched prod ucts and with more licensees in the pipeline. ARTiSTORY recently secured a landmark deal between mobile game Clash of Kings and Dunhuang Inspiration. The collaboration gives Clash of Kings exclusive access to the historic assets, artworks and location-based resources of Dunhuang. The IP is featured in a new episode of Clash of Kings entitled
Over the past year the HRP licensing business has continued to grow successfully with new collections from existing licensing partners, bringing valuable income back to the charity and ensuring the key objectives in conserving our cultural heritage can be sustained for everyone to enjoy.
Imperial War Museums –the importance of Ancestry
To mark the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee, Har ney & Sons created a new fine bespoke Earl Grey tea with royal purple lavender and silver bergamot tips. High-end jewellery partner, Clogau, developed a Lily of Valley jewel lery range – said to be one of HM The late Queen’s favourite flowers and which featured in her wedding bouquet. The flower was also included in the Queen’s Garden, a special tribute to Her Majesty at the Tower of London.
Historic Royal Palaces (HRP) is ‘very excited’ to be exhibiting again at BLE in September.
With more than 5 million members, the NT is fortunate to have such passionate support ers. However, to ensure we can continue to look after the places, that people love to visit and the wildlife that live there, having a relat able presence with as many people as possible is Thecrucial.NTteam
comment: “For those that may not visit National Trust places but want to support in a way which fits with their lifestyle, brand licensing allows us to extend our brand onto carefully selected products for distribution beyond National Trust channels. This may mean taking inspiration from either the beauty of nature, historic details and sto ries, or by making access to the natural world more enjoyable or easier.
“We are delighted to be launching a new collaboration with Blue Diamond Garden Centres who will be bringing the stories of our plants and gardens to life by developing the National Trust Collection of plants, seeds, bulbs and compost as well as hosting all our other garden licensees”
The National Portrait Gallery – success in the Chinese Market
“The Little Greene range of paint and wallpapers are directly inspired by the prints and colours at the places we care for and the income generated is used on restoration projects across the country. (2022 Winner of ACE Cultural Enterprises Awards Best Licensed Product)
500 places of nature, beauty and history to care for, including 780 miles of coastline and 250,000 hectares of countryside, every penny we generate helps to look after these places for everyone, for ever.
This September sees the launch of the Na tional Trust’s first AW22 women’s footwear collection with leading footwear retailer, Moshulu, inspired by the flora and fauna found along the coastline the National Trust cares for.
HERITAGE PAGE 40 TOTAL BRAND LICENSING
“The royalties from our Anglepoise lamp range contributes to the conservation of our iconic mid-century property, The Home wood, where the National Trust Anglepoise lighting range was shot. (2022 Winner of BELLA’s Best Brand Licensed Electrical &/or DIY Products or Range).
The National Trust has also launched its Autumn Winter ‘22 ‘Busy Beaver Adventures’ range with eco-friendly childrenswear brand Frugi, inspired by the charity’s “50 Things to do before you’re 11 ¾” activities and celebrat ing the riverlands it cares for and the wildlife that lives there. This latest range of clothing and accessories for 0-10 years supports the charity’s ambition to encourage little ones to get closer to nature.
The National Portrait Gallery in London holds the largest collection of portraits in the world, spanning 600 years of history. From its much-loved Tudor collection to contem porary photography, the Collection provides a wealth of fascinating images and stories.
“This year was a record, award-winning year for National Trust Brand Licensing, recognis ing the strength of conservation messaging, the carefully and thoughtfully curated prod ucts which champion sustainability, and the ringfencing of royalties from licensees to fund related conservation projects. These collabo rations provide consumers with a meaningful way to support a cause that matters to them personally. For example,
Like many other British heritage brands, the National Portrait Gallery is carving its own place in the heart of Chinese consumers. Taking inspiration from the rich palettes, fabrics and fashions found within portraits in the Collection, these have been translated into a number of licensing partnerships that, to date, have focused on women’s apparel, accessories and beauty products. The first product to launch in the market was from apparel brand Jupe Vendue, who developed a womenswear collection with over 36 items ranging from skirts, trousers, jackets and blouses to tote bags, scarves, belts and phone cases. The first collection, centred around the portraits of Ellen Terry (the celebrated Shakespearean actress of the late 1800s), Tamara Karsavina (the Russian ballet dancer) and Queen Elizabeth I (who reigned England and Ireland from 1558 to 1603), used a combination of bold graphics and excerpts from portraits to create intricate patterns. The collection launched with a strong influencer campaign on Taobao; based on this success, two further collections were
Along with design assets, key to all these part nerships are quality, originality and, where possible, sustainability. Dexam lunch bags, backpacks and aprons, for instance, are made from recycled plastic bottles. British-made goods with a craft angle are also favoured –hence the appeal to the RHS of the British craftmanship that underpins Sofas And Stuff
Homeware has been particularly successful, very effectively supported by style guides based on design assets that include the RHS Lindley Collections – with more than 25,000 works that comprise the world’s largest collec tion of botanical art.
Thedesigns.RHS is a heritage brand that also hap pens to have a membership of over 600,000 people and that welcomes more than 2.9 mil lion visitors each year to its famous gardens and shows.
The RHS licensing team therefore ensures that care and time are taken to find appro priate licensees, a process that is willingly embraced by the many actual and potential partners keen to share the famous logo and its very positive associations.
prints are supported by a bespoke printing and framing service.
By contrast, when it comes to decorating children’s bedrooms and play areas, online interiors brand Surface View has focused on flora and fauna themes to develop prints for insect, flower, trees and leaves-inspired Dexam,designs. a specialist supplier of kitchen cookware, bakeware and accessories, has done something similar. It offers aprons, lunch bags, backpacks, tea towels, oven gloves and more for children and adults enlivened by beautiful vintage textile prints of carrots, peas, beetroot, cabbages, sunflowers, bumble bees, ladybirds and beetles.
As we will see in the coming months. The homeware category is continuing to expand, with new partnerships in bedding and home textiles likely to be announced very soon.
As you might expect, the licensing pro gramme of the UK’s leading gardening char ity has a strong presence in gardening-related products. But the Royal Horticultural Society long ago took the positive associations of the RHS brand into new areas with carefully chosen partners in other categories.
But the choice is even wider than 25,000 works: the RHS encourages partners to be inspired by the artworks (or style guide assets)
also Meanwhile,launched.the
The RHS – designs on homeware Homeware is a fast-growing licensing catego ry for the Royal Horticultural Society. Licens ing partners benefit not just from the positive associations of the RHS brand but from some unique design assets.
HERITAGE TOTAL BRAND LICENSING PAGE 41
The talented design team at Sofas & Stuff recently developed the Sofas & Stuff RHS 22 Fabric Collection. This too contains designs inspired by the RHS Lindley Collections –specifically artworks from botanical artists and garden designers from the 17th through to the 20th centuries. These delightful designs feature on fine fabrics that can be used across any of Sofas & Stuff range of British hand made bespoke sofas, chairs, beds, footstools, and cushions.
MSLAN chose to focus on a particular portrait as inspiration for a number of product lines: King James I. With clever use of his image, and combining this with a chessboard design, a fabulous range of knit wear, skirts and dresses has been created for sale through their online platform. In the beauty sector, Planner launched a range of liquid foundations with sumptuous packaging and a set of postcards providing detail of the portraits and women used to promote the range, including Audrey Hep burn. Following this, Honey Beauty have launched a wider range of cosmetics includ ing foundation creams and mud masks. The versatility of the portrait Collection and the storytelling that sits behind each portrait have been key to the success of the brand in the Chinese market. The Gallery is in the Top Ten of the most visited attractions in Lon don, with Chinese visitors making up a large proportion of overseas attendees. In Spring 2023, the National Portrait Gallery will re open its doors after the largest refurbishment the Gallery has seen since its inception in 1856. This will allow portraits not previously exhibited in the Gallery space to be brought into the spotlight, providing fresh inspiration for product development.
This design activity extends to housemats too. The RHS Hug Rug Collection, a range of eco-friendly barrier mats and runners promoting themes of the outdoors, nature, and sustainability, is inspired by a variety of themes that include butterflies, flowers and Aleaves.selection of the RHS Lindley Collections artworks can even be bought online at the RHSprints.co.uk website. This is a particular ly successful license where beautiful botanical
rather than simply to copy them. For example, botanicals, flora and fauna are especially popular designs for decoupage papers such as those created by paint, colour and style authority Annie Sloan. These are printed images on paper that can be cut out and applied to a huge range of pieces in a home, from cupboard doors to furniture and Forceramics.itsRHS decoupage papers, Annie Sloan took a very specific approach. It carefully searched through the RHS Lindley Collec tions to find illustrations to cut out, repeat, combine and colour to match with colours from its famous Chalk Paint palette, a ver satile decorative furniture paint designed by Annie Sloan in 1990.
Ian Downes, Director and Founder, Start Licensing, talks about the agency’s indepth work with the Ashmolean Museum.
We work closely with the Ashmolean’s inhouse licensing and publishing team who in turn work closely with the curatorial team. We work in a number of ways with their help. For existing licensees such as Flametree there is ongoing discussion about themes for products such as calendars with an emphasise on showcasing the Ashmolean’s collection as a whole and delving into core themes or collec tions. For example for 2023 calendars include ones featuring Japanese Art by Ogata Gekko and another featuring Wood Engravers. Both of these themes were in part inspired by recent exhibitions. We also track market trends and identify where the Ashmolean can be part of these trends – the Ashmolean are good at finding objects that match trends. We also undertake design work in core categories like apparel creating visuals that showcase the Ashmolean’s collection and reflect design trends. We take a proactive approach to busi ness development and create licensing stories to sell into potential licensees built around objects from the Ashmolean’s collection. We do this with visuals, outlining the back story and quite often with visits to the Museum where prospective licensees can see the objects in situ and quite often meet the museum curators who look after the items – the cura tors are able to give further insight into the objects which really helps. What is the ethos behind your brand licensing expansion?
At the heart of it is a desire to bring the Ashmolean’s collection alive in new ways and to give consumers new ways to engage with it. Licensing can be a great showcase for a museum and provides interesting ways for objects to be seen afresh. Licensing is helping museums like the Ashmolean reach more people and underpin the point that museums are for everyone. We are also keen to deliver an authentic programme that reflects the Ashmolean’s history, knowledge and unique Theidentity.Ashmolean has been inspiring minds since 1683 – we want to develop a licens ing programme that builds on and uses this legacy in a responsible way and where we can inspire consumers giving the opportunity to enjoy the wonderful collections that the Ashmolean curates.
Since we last spoke, how has business been for the Ashmolean post-pandemic?
In general terms it has been good for us – we are having meetings in the ‘real world’, at tending trade shows and doing deals. Existing product is selling through but I think there is definitely a slowing down of sell through and also it seems tougher to get new products launched. Listings are harder to come by. It seems that some retailers are focussing on selling what they have rather than adding new lines. This is understandable and reflects current conditions but longer term this may have an impact as consumers look for new products. Specifically in regards to the Ashmolean we have had a very positive time. We have signed a number of new licensees including Hook Norton Brewery for an Ash molean Ale, Rampley for silk pocket squares and Team Tea for an Ashmolean Tea blend. This is really encouraging and is building on existing partnerships. Existing partners in clude the likes of Flametree, Woodmansterne, Welbeck Publishing and Surface View. The Museum is open, and its exhibition programme is back up and running which is great. Visitor numbers and shop spend are encouraging suggesting things are back on track. We have also seen some great exam ples of licensing linking to other parts of
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the Ashmolean’s activities – for example the Ashmolean Tea blend is being used by the Ashmolean’s chef to create a cake which is now on the Afternoon Tea menu whilst Hook Norton launched their Ale by delivering the first bottles to the Museum using their Clydesdale horse and dray. This was a really eye-catching event and shows how the Ash molean can create momentum for licensees. The Ashmolean is an absolute treasure trove of centuries art, artefacts and years of history. How do you go about curating a li censing programme around a certain piece, when there are so many to choose from?
Autumn/Fall 2022
IMG TO LICENSE MATTHEW LANGILLE’S ART IN ASIA
IMG has announced it has been appointed as artist Matthew Langille’s licensing representative for Asia.
IMG will develop a licensing programme of products and collaborations that will reflect the humorous style of the art ist who has, in the past, worked on worldwide collaborations with some of the world’s best known brands and clients in cluding Swatch, Lacoste, Marc Jacobs and Beyoncé. We are excited to be working with Matthew Langille in Asia in order to extend his unique graphics, patterns, drawings and prints across new categories, local brand collaborations and influencer campaigns,” commented Miki Yamamoto, Senior Vice President Licensing, IMG. “We will be tapping into our extensive local network to amplify his influence and build engagement with fans across Asia.”
BORED APE AGENTS APPOINTED
Mighty Jaxx has recently released a B.Smiley 50th Anniversary Edition as a collectible part of Smiley’s 50th Anniversary.
Brand Central, the exclusive global licensing agency for Bored of Directors, has appointed 7 leading international sub-agents for the Bored Ape NFT collective. Working together with Licensor, NFIP Holdings, Brand Central and the network of sub-agents have already begun signing partners and engaging global retailers. The Bored of Directors’ Sub-Agents include Asembl Brands Pty Ltd for Australia, New Zealand; Bulldog Licensing for the UK; Asiana Licensing for South Korea; Plus Licens AB for Europe; Mediogen Ltd for Israel; PPW Sports & Entertainment for China and The Business Hub Group for Latin America.
“We put together a phenomenal network of leading agents in their territories who have best in class relationships with both licensees and retailers and understand how cutting edge, pop culture brands can drive successful consumer products,” said Ross Misher, CEO of Brand
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“OurCentral.goal from the outset was to put together a team with the best of the best in their respective expertise. From my co-founders, Jamie George and Harris Lipton who have been active in Web3 since its inception to the Brand Central team, everyone has provided their unique voice and experience which has been pivotal in bringing the Bored of Directors to where it is now. I am extremely excited to grow the team to include such great partners around the world and look forward to bringing the Bored of Directors lifestyle across the globe.” said Alex Locke, Co-Founder & Managing Member of Bored of Directors.
The new 12-inch vinyl art collectible includes the B.Smiley’s signature pose and is clothed in a range of apparel from the André Saraiva x Smiley collaboration. This well-known artist artist put his spin on the artwork, using one of his favorite forms of expression - graffiti - seen on the vibrant jacket. “It’s an absolute honour to be able to collaborate with The Smiley Company on reaching such a momentous benchmark,” says Jackson Aw, founder and chief executive officer, Mighty Jaxx. “It goes without saying that 50 years is an impressive length of time to be able to continually spread positivity and inspire generations of activists, artists and creators alike. What B.Smiley represents matches the feeling we here at Mighty Jaxx want to encapsulate in our collectibles, and we’re excited to commemorate that feeling and icon through this launch.”
Bored of Directors has already developed and implemented a global consumer products strategy, marketing campaign and a full style guide of creative, showcasing the Bored of Directors lifestyle.
MIGHTY JAXX RELEASE B. SMILEY 50TH ANNIVERSARY EDITION
Visit the Total Licensing booth (F160) at Brand Licensing Europe and collect your copies of Total Brand Licensing and Total Licensing magazines.
In the search to find unique and distinct styles from artists based around the globe, JBL has or ganically grown their roster into a diverse and multi-cultural portfolio of creators and influenc ers who tell compelling stories through their art. The newest additions to their portfolio include Breathe Live Explore by Oris Eddu and Annie Quigley, who are both available for new licensing Orisopportunities.Eddu,isthe self-taught Nigerian artist be hind the brand Breathe Live Explore. Mindful ness and well-being are a central theme in her colorful art. Oris uses nature’s textures and patterns to inspire others to live adventurously. Oris boasts a social media following of over 20K loyal fans and has collaborated with brands in cluding Oasis, Target, Crate & Kids and others.
Established in 1990, MGL is one of the world’s leading art licensing companies. Representing the work of over 50 artists and designers. With a portfolio of over 10,000 images, they pride themselves in representing stunning imagery covering a variety including wildlife, floral, land scapes, patterns and vintage. MGL imagery is licensed for merchandise rang ing from Arts & Crafts (diamond painting, paint by numbers, paper crafts), Paper Products (greeting cards, calendars and stationery), Textile (apparel, home, fabrics), Homeware & Gifts (mugs and novelties), Wall Art and more. As well as providing existing artwork, MGL also offers a customised service to either adapt ex isting imagery or create new, bespoke designs. They have a dedicated sales team who, under standing the needs of manufacturers, retailers and their customers, are happy to help with the decision process and advise on trends.
The Centre has more than 120,000 works of art and is one of the largest collection sof 20th and 21st century artists including Marc Chagall, Frida Kahlo, Piet Mondrian and Henri Matisse.
Jewel Branding & Licensing (JBL) is excited to highlight key initiatives and new clients signed ahead of Brand Licensing this year.
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friends. Rachael Hale has over 50 licensees around the world, many of them long-term part ners. The newest edition to this roster of worldclass partners is, Legacy, who will be releasing a 2023 wall calendar this Autumn/Fall. The brand’s existing back-to-school partners in Europe and around the world, have also refreshed their lines of BTS Inspirivityessentials.byartist,
JBL prides itself in working with a network of talented subagents around the world to license key brands and artists. Agents in Europe include Start Licensing, Edutainment, BlueSkye Licensing, License Connection, and MJA. They are excited to announce the most recent partnership with Locomotive Licensing to represent the New York Botanical Garden, Planet Cat, Alja Horvat, and Michael Storrings in Europe.
Artist Annie Quigley has a passion for creativity + art that has been a part of her since she was young. Annie has carried her love for art into her adult life but holds onto childhood memo ries for inspiration. Memories like her mother’s love for all things floral, her father’s love for gardening, and long summer days spent at the beach enjoying life’s simple and most precious moments. Throughout her body of work you will find that she will never shy away from bold, joyful color and is deeply inspired by delicate, vintage florals.
JEWEL BRANDING EXPAND THEIR LICENSING PORTFOLIO
Artistory continues to expand its growing port folio of cultural partners and have signed global licensing rights for Centre Pompidou, with initial developments in greater China.
Launched in 1977, Center Pompidou is a centre for arts and culture. Designed by architects Renzo Piano and Richard Rogers, the building in the centre of Paris is home to the Naitonal Mu seum of Modern Art.
We are beyond thrilled to be partnering with such a prominent cultural brand in the years to come, and are confident to connect it with global consumers through creative licensing projects.”
POMPIDOU CENTRE
Jennifer Wagner, started as a New Year’s resolution many years ago and turned into a creative passion for the artist. Her illustrations full of bright color, uplifting mes sages and fun designs are posted each day on her Inspirivity social pages. Jennifer loves inter acting with her 200k+ dedicated followers who share her artwork daily all over the world The Inspirivity artist believes everyone is just looking for a bit of positivity in their lives and she is glad she can spread some kindness into the world. Her artwork is available for licensing in all cat egories worldwide.
Rachael Hale, has been passionate about inspir ing and delighting animal lovers, and beyond, for over 24 years with emotionally engaging animal photography. The brand just released a new col lection of images and delightful on-trend, design elements sure to invigorate love for four-legged
“We have witnessed the museum’s effort to reach an international audience and see huge market potential globally.
THE WORLD OF MGL
TOTAL Art Licensing
With a unique expertise in brand management for design-based brands, JBL continues to devel op meaningful licensing programs. Storytelling is at the core of the brands and programs that we Lolitadevelop.® – With millions of products sold across 40 countries, this highly collectible brand was founded on a mission to “celebrate life’s big little moments.” Lolita’s sense of fun, fashion, and charm offer a winning combination. Most renowned for its colorfully designed drinkware and glassware, JBL recently added licensee Cer tified International to launch ceramic tabletop later this year with additional partnerships in the works. This brand is available for licensing in Eu rope across multiple categories.
The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts is working with art pop-up book publisher Poposition Press for a series of licensed pop-up books and cards showcasing the career of Andy Warhol. With four books planned, spanning forty years, the artist’s work will take on a new form. The series takes a piece of history and changes how fans view Warhol’s work through pop-up sculptures and re-interpretations of Warhol’s art.
“We are so excited to have this new partner for our client Bob Ross, The Joy of Painting, noted Cynthia Modders, CEO of Firefly Brand Management. “GBD prides itself on providing sustainable solutions and is highly recognized for their accomplishments, like recycling over 118 million gallons of latex and oil paint with utmost scrutiny. Consumers can now get their Bob Ross “creativity-on’, moving their painting from the canvas to the walls!” What makes Bob-Ross paint stand out from the pack is the exceptional coverage, ultra-rich color with outstanding resistance against scuffs, scrubs and stains,” says Sanjeev Bagaria, GDB’s CEO.
Firefly Brand Management has signed with GDB International, Inc, the global leader in the paint recycling industry, to produce a new line of Bob Ross of latex interior paints and Wood deck paint stain. GBD introduced the line Bob Ross branded latex and deck paint at this year’s consumer merchandise show, ASD Show in Las Vegas. The Bob Ross multiple sheen paints will be available at all Evolve Paint Stores and on-line.
BOB ROSS PAINT LINE DEBUTS
POP-UP ANDY WARHOL
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The UK’s Royal Horticultural Society (RHS) has announced the online retail launch of the RHS Welsh Slate Collection, a range of garden features and furniture made from handcrafted pieces of genuine natural stone in partnership with specialist design company Welsh Slate Water Features.
currently serving multiple consulting clients in the categories of apparel, home décor, craft/hobby, food gifts, and seasonal products. Licenses acquired on their behalf range among top entertainment/character properties, sports, brand and influencers.
Welsh Slate Water Features hand craft bespoke natural stone water fea tures and decorative rocks for garden designs and landscaping projects across the UK. This is the first licensing partnership that Welsh Slate has forged with any brand.
Every RHS Collection product is bespoke – crafted from real Welsh Slate with inherent natural qualities that make them unique.
Cathy Snow, Licensing Manager at RHS, adds: “The real beauty of Welsh Slate is its natural ability to enhance both traditional and contemporary settings – and nowhere is this more apparent than in this collection. The unique products in the RHS Welsh Slate Collection will truly enhance any garden at a time when gardens are more important to us than ever.”
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We are therefore delighted that the RHS, the UK’s favourite gardening charity and a strong supporter of British craft excellence, has lent its name to what we feel is a truly inspiring partnership.”
“Frida Kahlo is a modern icon: difficult to con strain even within a definition, her persona is as in-spiring as her art, so strong and decisive in her sharp naivete. Moleskine is proud to join forces with the Frida Kahlo Corporation to cel ebrate such a free mindset, such a remarkable artist and woman with a Limited Edition Col lection dedicated to her,” said Anna Meneguzzo, Moleskine Brand and Communication Director.
LINDSAY KIVI FROM MHS Art Licensing
In recent news, MHS have recently introduced Lindsay Kivi whose signature style captures the beauty of an animal spirit. As an animal and en vironmental advocate, she supports animal res cues, sanctuaries and conservation organisations through her artwork and aims to inspire others to do the same.
MOLESKIN LAUNCH FRIDA KAHLO COLLECTION
Welsh Slate Water Features works in partnership with many garden de signers and landscapers to create beautiful outdoor spaces. Its manufac turing and sourcing are entirely British, a strong attraction for the RHS whose licensing campaign often emphasises home-grown and handcrafted Ioanproducts.Raymond, Owner at Welsh Slate Water Features, says: “For our firstever licensing agreement we wanted to work with a property that under stood the importance of gardens, gardening and home-grown craft skills.
Founded in 1995, MHS is considered one of the nation’s leading licensing and consulting agencies specializes in representing popular art brands as well as advising manufacturers in the search, evaluation and acquisition of licensed proper ties, brands and influencers. Collectively their art properties generate more than $130 million in annual sales through their 400 plus licensee MHSpartners.isalso
RHS LAUNCH WELSH SLATE COLLECTION GARDEN FEATURES
The RHS Welsh Slate Collection brings slate, hand-selected in Wales with an expert eye, to specially designed water features, window stones, step ping stones and slate benches as well as Japanese or Zen-themed designs. All work perfectly in traditional British gardens, and equally well when adding texture and organic tones within clean, contemporary landscapes. The time is certainly right for this inspirational range. With more and more of us turning to our private gardens as havens of peace and tranquil lity, the products in the RHS Welsh Slate Collection were chosen to fit a theme of mindfulness and wellbeing at home.
After the success of the first collection launched in 2020, this second collection will also be dis trib-uted worldwide in stationery stores, airport stores and top end department stores at the end of 2022.
The collection is designed to inspire fans to seize the creative moment and express their own truth, in words or drawings. Each colourful agenda in the collection reflects Frida Kahlo’s vi brant artistic approach and introspective nature. A unique and sophisticated Moleskine interpre tation, featuring iconic elements and quotes.
Art Ask Agency has announced that Moleskine have launched their second collection of 3 luxu ry Frida Kahlo dated journals.
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The largest world heritage site is the Phoenix Islands Protected Area in Kiribati with an area of 408,250 km2. The site is mostly ocean as the actual land area of Kiribati is only 811 km2 - slightly larger than Paraguay.
To go with our Heritage feature, here are some little known facts...
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English Heritage places have inspired many writers, including Bram Stoker, who immor talised the Whitby Abbey in Dracula, Sir Wal ter Scott, who based his novel Kenilworth on the story of Elizabeth I and Kenilworth Castle, and Thomas Hardy, who featured Stonehenge in Tess of the D’Urbervilles.
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UPCOMING SHOWS & EVENTS
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London Book Fair 5 - 7 www.londonbookfair.co.ukApril
Start 10
INFORMATION
Progressive Greetings Live 6 - 7 www.progressivegreetingslive.comJune
There are currently 1,092 world heritage sites. They are divided between 845 cultural, 209 natural, and 38 mixed sites.
The most visited world heritage site is Paris, Banks of the Seine, which is the third most visited city in the world, and the most visited city in which most of it is a world heritage site.
V&A 9
Licensing Japan June 28www.licensing-japan.jp30
Brand Licensing Europe 56
Hong Kong International Licensing Show 27 - 29 www.hktdc.com/fair/hklicensingshow-enApril
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Did you know…?
Flowhaven 1
Theresites.
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Atlanta Gift Market 11 - 18 January www.americasmart.com2023
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Ambiente 3 - 7 www.ambiente.messefrankfurt.com/frankfurtFebruary
The Inspired Home Show 4 - 7 www.theinspiredhomeshow.comMarch
Portfolio 50
Brand Licensing Europe 20 - 22 www.brandlicensingeurope.euSeptember
are 32 countries with at least 10 world heritage sites, 13 countries with at least 20 sites, 8 with at least 30 sites, and 5 with 40 .
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Octane 11 5
Pitti Immagine Uomo 10 - 13 www.pittiimmagine.comJanuary
Licensing China 30 March - 1 www.licensing-china.hk.messefrankfurt.comApril
Global Trademark Licensing 2, 3
Bologna Book Fair 21 - 24 www.bolognalicensing.comMarch
One of the most prominent structures in the world, Eiffel tower, was built during the 19th century, being 324 meters high and attracting more than 7 million visitors annually.
Licensing Expo May 23www.licensingexpo.com25
Nuremberg Toy Fair 2 - 6 www.spielwarenmesse.deFebruary
Magic 14 - 17 www.magicfashionevents.comFeb
MGL 51 - 53
Some of the significant historic artefacts in En glish Heritage’s care include Charles Darwin’s notebooks, Queen Victoria’s bathing machine and the Duke of Wellington’s boots
Asembl 7
Howard 43 45
The smallest world heritage site is the Holy Trinity Column in Olomouc, Czech Republic which has an area of 200 m2.
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INDEX OF ADVERTISERS
With 54, Italy has the most world heritage
There are two sites which are restricted to women: Okinoshima Island, Japan, and Mount Athos, Greece. Both are religious com munities which are only for men.
Total Licensing, Total Brand Licensing, Total Licensing China, Total Licensing Australia For more information, or to subscribe free of charge, visit www.totallicensing.com
