An Education in Collegiate Licensing

The world of collegiate licensing may be a bit of a mystery outside of the United States, however, the collegiate licensing industry generates nearly $5 Billion dollars in retail sales, has roughly 3,000 licensees and its products are sold in well over 20,000 retail stores. It is a massive industry. Total Licensing recently sat down with John Mybeck, President, BrandComply College to get educated on this potentially untapped market.

Let’s start with the basics. For those unfamiliar, please define the US Collegiate Trademark Licensing marketplace?

The Collegiate Marketplace in the United States consists of over 5,300 colleges and universities, both private and public. An estimated 35% of the United States population holds a degree from one of these institutions with an estimated 4.5 million new graduates joining the ranks of alumni each year.

What makes the Collegiate marketplace unique?

The brand loyalty that Collegiate fans have for their alma mater is staggering. In many cases, they are more loyal to their school team, than a professional one. It is the sense of belonging and camaraderie developed while attending a university and its athletic events that deepens the bond. These experiences create a lasting connection to the school and the team in a way that cannot be replicated in the professional sports experience. With each entering Freshman class, new fans are created. Alumni carry on the traditions while younger fans aspire to one day follow in the footsteps of their friends and family. The growth in the collegiate industry never stops.

What kind of products are typical in Collegiate Licensing?

To begin, a single College or University can have as many as 500 Licensees and generate upwards of $15 million in royalties per year. These programs have a diverse product offering for their fans and can have upwards of 1000’s of SKUs. As you would guess, they are heavily apparel oriented with a variety of types and quality levels. From there, your imagination is the only limitation. Products include all kinds of sports-related goods, barware, automotive accessories, even caskets!

That’s an incredible variety of products. So where does BrandComply College participate in this market?

BrandComply College is a Contract Management platform from the team at Octane5 that gives academic institutions the tools they need to manage their Trademark Licensing program independently. From licensee application to consumer activation, BrandComply College puts all the resources needed for a College to run a successful trademark licensing program on their desktop or in the palm of their hand. BrandComply College supports incredible collegiate brands such as the University of Iowa, Indiana University and The Ohio State University along with many others. Of course, BrandComply also supports other global brands such as Ford, Harley Davidson, Caterpillar, Coca-Cola, ABInBev and many others.

Why did Octane5 Create BrandComply College?

BrandComply College was created to fill a void in the marketplace for academic institu-

tions who are looking to take a hands-on approach and manage their programs internally. The main stumbling block for these brands was finding a contract management platform that was both effective and affordable. With multiple mergers occurring in the Agency space, colleges and universities are reexamining how their programs are managed and the opportunity presented itself to launch BrandComply College as the industry standard.

What makes Octane5 standout versus other providers?

BrandComply, our licensing enterprise software, allows brand owners to manage all aspects of their program from a single, web-based portal. Functions include: digital asset management, product approvals, contract rights management, royalties and much more. However, in addition to full functionality, our focus is user adoption. We have in-house developers that ensure our software is intuitive and easy to use which results in 100% user adoption and the best ROI for the brand owner.

What about the consumer activation aspect mentioned above? How does that come into play?

BrandComply is completely integrated with THREADS™, our industry-leading brand protection and consumer activation program. THREADS™ hang tags and labels were developed with a leading currency manufacturer and utilize the same technologies used in bank notes around the world. We refined these technologies and brought them to the collegiate licensing marketplace thru our partnership with the Collegiate Licensed Products Association (“CLPA”) as their exclusive provider of security products. Each institution that partners with BrandComply College will utilize the CLPA THREADS program. Consumers can authenticate and engage with the institution in a new and exciting way. This consumer engagement platform is a game-changer in the protection of licensed merchandise against counterfeiting, gray market or diverted product, identifying royalty under-reporting and other compliance issues. Compliance is only the starting point. Through the THREADS™ program, Institutions can build a dialogue with their consumers. Consumers can share their perceptions on product quality, brand loyalty and more. Increasingly brands and institutions are also interested in sharing their sustainability message and THREADS gives the perfect channel to share that story.

Sounds like BrandComply College has all the bases covered. Thanks for sharing your insights on this important licensing segment John.