9 minute read
COVER STORY: SMILEY
The Original Good News Brand
We are living in unprecedented times, relentlessly bombarded with bad news from always-on social and digital media. According to Google Trends, searches for ‘good news’ have reached all-time highs in March 2020, as more consumers look for positive, inspiring, feelgood news as a remedy. Smiley is the original good news brand. Initially used in Europe’s leading newspapers to highlight feel-good stories, spreading positivity and good news has become intrinsic to the brand. Smiley has been powering positive propaganda since 1972, through good news stories, championing community heroes and charitable causes and creating a lifestyle aesthetic synonymous with fun, positivity and cool. With an established track-record of sharing good news, Smiley today focuses on meaningful collaborations with like-minded partners for a changing world. It was through the launch of Smiley’s non-profit Smiley Movement in 2019 that CEO Nicolas Loufrani saw the opportunity to put the brand’s purpose back into action. With the remit to inspire hope, bring people together to help others and drive positive impact, Smiley Movement started repurposing Smiley’s original good news message through its Smiley News site, which has already published over 200 stories. CEO Nicolas Loufrani spoke about this, “Smiley’s message has always been about spreading good news and positivity and we feel that good news today is about those doing good in their local communities. We’ve built an in-house editorial team that focusses on championing the everyday heroes who work or volunteer for charities and social enterprises. We believe their stories are not only uplifting but are engaging more to do like them.” Smiley Movement also started building bridges between Smiley’s partners and local charities, offering routes to make ‘giving back’ the new norm. A great example of this ‘matchmaking for good’ was the recent partnership with renowned explorer brand Eastpak. Smiley Movement put Eastpak together with a leading homeless charity De Paul and arranged
vital funding for the Korotich Mother and Child Home in Ukraine. Smiley Movement has helped coordinate partnerships between French retailer Celio and CeKeDuBonheur and facilitated a charity fundraising tee shirt for the Greater Manchester’s Mayor’s charity, through the United We Stream platform. Even before the Covid-19 outbreak, Smiley had been working hard to readapt its original positive message to the world, with fashion providing a creative outlet for the brand’s inclusive and diverse message. Michaela Fass, VP Fashion at Smiley said:
“With shoppers seeking joy and prioritising self-betterment, companies positioning themselves around happiness and positivity are resonating and we are seeing more and more brands turning to Smiley because it connects authentically, with emotion, context, and humanity.” This approach has seen Smiley launch gender-inclusive fashion collaborations with DB Berdan and Manish Arora. While recent upscale partnerships have continued to inspire hope, Sandro’s Love & Smile capsule was decorated with the poignant message Give Back Love, while Lorenzo Serafini’s Philosophy ‘Spray Me’ collaboration championed “Happy Without You.” Throughout Covid-19, Smiley’s blockbusting partnership with Chinatown Market has been generating much-needed funds for ‘Feeding America’ a US-based non-profit feeding more than 46 million people. By releasing ten shirts for ten cities Chinatown Market and Smiley have raised vital funds for local Feeding America offices. While Chinatown Market x Smiley face masks, a fashion must-have
for the months ahead, have seen a portion of proceeds donated to ‘Give A Mask,’ a not for profit organisation working on manufacturing and distributing face masks to hospitals, first responders and essential workers. As we exit lockdown, Smiley has redoubled its efforts also to support mental health charities, following the fall-out from the crisis. With a collection dedicated to mental health awareness at retail with Pac Sun through LA brand Desert Dreamer creating awareness and raising funds for To Write Love On Her Arms. UK streetwear brand Luke is addressing the issue of suicide amongst young men through its recently launched collaboration with Smiley, fundraising for leading charities Mind and Papyrus. Smiley has also been working on charity projects outside of the fashion space, last year launching a charity fundraising promotion with Central Tham Mall in Thailand, The Smiley Arcade, a retro video game experience which raised over 815,000THB for the charity program ‘Million Gifts Million Smiles.’ This established record of sharing good news will become the focus of Smiley’s 50th anniversary in 2022 when the brand reboots its original 1972 message “Take The Time To Smile,” to generate hope, optimism and positivity through specially curated collaborations and partnerships to put its purpose into action for the next 50 years. Some brands can say that they are committed to sharing good news, but Smiley can prove it, with a track record of sharing positivity. Now, in these uncertain times, Smiley’s mission is more critical than ever. As an organisation, it’s doing what it does best: bringing positivity and hope to a world that urgently needs it. Smiley is the antidote to a world in crisis.
For more information, please contact matt@smiley.com
Licensors who establish a solid framework for exchanging information and ideas with their licensees reap many benefits. Creating an open dialog helps licensors and licensees ensure that higher-quality products reach store shelves quickly, leading to increased revenue for both parties. But this is often easier said than done. Communication is the key to making any relationship work (applicable to both personal and professional). In today’s fast-paced digital era, it is easier and more important than ever to build connections and strengthen partnerships. In this article, we will go over some of the elements that contribute to a strong infrastructure for brand licensing companies and licensor-licensee communications, including: • Online databases for style guides and quick answers to common questions • Detailed royalty reports with SKUs for sales tracking • Notification systems for reminders and updates • Better communication mechanism to improve the relationship and connection you have with licensees
Managing Digital Assets
With clear guidelines on how to utilize a licensor’s brand, licensees will be able to easily present these brands with associated products in the best way possible. They will also avoid any confusion that might prevent delays in the approval workflow. Licensees can access any information they need without having to call licensors directly for every single decision or question. This is possible with a licensing management software in place. It is important to give licensees access to lowres images to place on product sketches during the approval process, as well as downloadable production-quality images for use in manufacturing once the designs are approved. Having both readily accessible at the right time will ensure that licensees do not recreate artwork outside the licensor’s specific requirements.
Detailed Reporting of Royalties by SKU and Retailer
When licensees share details about each product sold at retail or through distributors, licensors can gain insight into what products are selling and in which territories. This allows them to adjust their marketing spend, as well as their advertising, promotional strategies, and marketing plans. They also gain information to spot trends more quickly in the market. Detailed reporting from licensees assists licensors in creating multiple forecasts based on actual data, which leads to better planning. The best crystal ball available to licensors or licensing agents is their licensees’ marketing plans. In many categories, licensees have open orders to help keep costs down and plan their cash flow. Licensors should take advantage of this information to better compare their royalty income by licensee or product category against past forecasting trends. Having this data will allow licensors to refocus their energies on brands that are producing revenue and steer away from introducing brands that are unlikely to succeed.
Self-Reporting and Notifications
Traditionally, licensors receive reports from licensees at the end of each reporting period, typically each quarter. Nowadays, licensees can continuously monitor their brand licensing activities in-house, allowing nearly real-time improvements to their licensing practices. Constant communication between licensor and licensees, during which licensees can share important, internally generated information on an ongoing basis, will allow both parties to work together to create great products. For their part, licensors need to reciprocate by sending out reminders and alerts about annual insurance certificates, overdue royalties, updated agreements, upcoming guarantee payments, revised style guides, and more. Receiving these notifications on a timely basis helps licensees submit all required information before deadlines. Since licensors have many licensees to communicate with and sending out reminders can be repetitive and time consuming, licensors need the ability to inform licensees quickly and effortlessly when these important events take place.
Encourage Consistent Communication & Reinforce Brand
It’s crucial to provide licensees with an integrated platform that encourages constant and clear communication between parties with active monitoring while improving partnership to further strengthen brand exposure. With an integrated brand licensing management software, sharing information among all parties can become a seamless process. This leaves all partners able to make the best use of the information being shared - boosting revenues for everyone and establishing greater collaborations. That is an area where we can help you. Our brand licensing software allows licensors to upload digital assets to a centralized cloudbased database for quick, secure access. Because this a one stop solution for your every brand licensing needs, our solutions can track royalties to show individual sales down to SKU level and ensure you have the data to evaluate licensees’ performance and identify areas to improve for related parties.
Key Takeaways
• Communication is an essential piece of all business relationships. Licensors and licensees must find seamless channels to build this connection. • Through an integrated online system, style guides, digital assets, intellectual property usage guidelines and more can be available for licensees to access, anytime and anywhere in world; optimizing product development, and approval workflow, which in turn ensures higher quality product to reach store shelves. • Automated royalty reporting software gives licensors access to key data points regarding licensees’ marketing strategies, advertising spend, and returns. Through a comprehensive platform, licensors can have constant access to information and create accurate forecasts and allocate funds accordingly. • Rather than submitting reports quarterly or annually, licensors have a chance to use reports within a brand licensing management software which automatically tracks numbers and generate analysis reports with real-time data. • Licensors can set up the process to send automatic notifications to remind licensees of upcoming royalty payments, due dates, as well as alerts of any changes to style guides, licensing contracts, and trademark management with the right brand licensing management software,
Dependable Solutions, Inc. 877-289-8431 or 424 213 6663, or +44 203 882 3370. www.dependablerights.com
