The Licensing International Page

By Martin Brochstein SVP Industry Relations and Information Licensing International www.licensinginternational. org

Tools for Navigating Turbulent Times

In the end, navigating the next several months in the licensing business will come down to a single word: Confidence.

Along with the overarching personal consequences that the global pandemic has created, the uncertainty that’s been injected into everyone’s business life over the past five months is striking – working from home, economies shutting down, the ascendancy of eCommerce, the difficulty (if not impossibility) of advance planning, to name only a few.

The challenges to the licensing and retail businesses business are numerous. For brick-and-mortar merchants, the big hurdle is to make sure that shoppers are confident that when they walk into a store, they’re entering a safe environment. It requires that both retailers and their suppliers reimagine how they sell.

For example, beauty companies whose businesses are built on in-store demonstration are faced with the challenge of “How do you apply makeup (to an in-store shopper) without touching?” pointed out Stephanie Wissink of the investment firm Jefferies during a “screenside chat” earlier this month with Licensing International president Maura Regan.

She assumes they’ll have to develop small size samples for take-home, or “maybe some subscription models around sampling will begin to reemerge.”

For instore activations involving toys, it’s possible that vendors and retailers will have to have 20 samples on hand instead of two, so they can be quickly rotated out and sanitized after each use. The cleaning “will need to be done in front of the consumer because there is going to be a period of time where that trust burden is going to be pushed back to the retailer executing the experience,” Wissink said.

But the emotions that the pandemic has brought to the fore among the shopping public also offers an opportunity for those who own, license or sell goods and services that carry well-known labels.

“It’s a great opportunity for brands to connect in a new way. People are feeling vulnerable, scared and uncertain, and this is an opportunity where brands can be that new point of shelter,” Wissink said.

As has everyone in the licensing business, we at Licensing International have learned how to work remotely, and focused our efforts on helping to give the industry the information and business tools designed to help people and companies make it through this troubled time.

Our Newslinks news service offers a detailed examination of an industry issue every business day, with links also to articles of interest to licensing professionals published elsewhere.

We’ve also stepped up our schedule of online events, from the headquarters in New York, but also localized in-language events in such countries as Germany France, Italy, India, Japan, and China.

Our webinars cover of-the-moment topics specific to the licensing business, but also include a Personal Productivity Series, a Career Development Series, and Virtual Roundtables.

We’re also working with our partners at Global Licensing Group at staging Licensing Week Virtual (June 15-19), which will include a day devoted to several Licensing U sessions.

There’s lots of uncertainty in the months ahead. For example, the entertainment and sports industries rely heavily on packed stadiums, theme parks and theaters as a business staple.

The entertainment/character, sports, collegiate and music categories account for nearly six of every ten dollars that consumers spend on licensed goods and services around the world, and the pandemic has put a real crimp in that marketing chain.

We look forward to helping the industry navigate this turbulent time. We’re here for you.