Golden week for Chinese Licensing

chandising opportunities. Now they are catching up very quickly.

Animated Chinese films also performed well in terms of licensing. During the Spring Festival, Boonie Bears: The Wild Life, the seventh film in the series, was enjoyed by many families, and continued the positive reputation that it has built up since 2012. The producer, Fantawild, one of the top local licensors in the Chinese market, is strong in terms of theme parks, cartoon series, animation films, and licensing. Another Chinese animation film Nezha Rebirth, produced by Light Chaser Animation, also became also widely known in licensing. Nezha Rebirth

and China’s popular art toy company POP MART produced several sets of designer toys for the movie. What is interesting is that POP MART, listed on the Hong Kong stock market last winter, was also one of the movie’s production companies. The line between licensor and licensee is becoming vague.

And the most popular movie entitled Hi, Mom set many records at the box office, and also led to an industrial zone area in Hubei Provence, where the film was shot, to become a popular tourist destination. Over 10 thousand tourists came to visit the factory every day, a perfect opportunity for local themed tourism, which has become a hot topic in recent years.

Traditional Chinese culture became popular on social networks

A dance program entitled Palace Banquet in Tang Dynasty hit the headlines quickly after it was performed at the Henan Province Spring Festival Gala 2021. It was hotly discussed by audiences on social network because of its traditional cultural creativity.

The creativity of the characters in the show comes from the Tang Dynasty artifacts collected in the museum - named the Tang Dynasty figurines which have a history of nearly a thousand years. The actresses in the show imitated the ancient sculptures from the museum and added dramatic body language to them. What’s more, the program applied AR technology to integrate many national treasures and cultural relics into stage background, such as a famous Chinese painting Thousands of Miles of Mountains and Rivers with a history of more than 900 years.

After years of encouraging Chinese museums to explore the potential of the licensing business, more and more museums have started to tap into licensing industry. As a result of the popular discussion about the dancing program, Henan Museum initiated a Palace Banquet in Tang Dynasty HandPainting Contest on social network, in which many Tang Palace characters were created by talented citizens. Many amongst the dance show’s young audiences also left floods of messages on social network, asking Henan Museum to produce or license more cultural products based on the Tang figurines. On request, Henan Museum acted very quickly and launched a mystery toy box set for collectible figures, themed around Palace Banquet in Tang Dynasty, two weeks later.

During the Spring Festival this year, Chinese features and content raised further attention from the public. Chinese cartoons, animation, films and traditional Chinese cultural content, modern technology and multiple media methods as well as licensed products, can all mix together to bring an experience to the modern generation. Both movie and art licensing are trendy and fashionable in China, and more high-end consumers prefer to choose those products to identify with their lifestyle and taste. Licensing is a promising industry in China and, of course, so is the China Licensing Expo. From October 19th to October 21st, licensors of animation, films, museums, art and other categories will gather again at the 15th edition of the China Licensing Expo at the Shanghai New International Expo Center in order to promote the continued development of the licensing business. After fifteen years of development, China Licensing Expo is widely recognized as the most effective channel to understand the licensing market, promote brands, and expand a licensing business in China and Asia.

An Extremely Unique Brand

Total Licensing takes a look at the many layers of EXTREME

EXTREME is a unique brand that lives at the nexus of sports, entertainment and lifestyle. This is realised through the integrated approach that encompasses strategy, design, development, and management of some of the world’s most innovative destinations, spectacular events, entertaining media, and engaging brand campaigns - as well as a strong commitment to real change and sustainability in the environment and the world around us. In fact, EXTREME joined the United Nations for climate action, an initiative to help ensure a path is forged to achieve carbon neutrality and to drive awareness, and with a commitment to be sustainable, EXTREME is signed up to Planet Mark to measure impact, which is a sustainability certification for every type of organisation. The brand’s vision is to ‘drive positive changes through extreme and adventure sports – and has a mass appeal around the globe. In operation for over 25 years, the EXTREME sports channel launched 1999 in operation for over 25 years and the brand has gone on to grow to over a 20-million strong community. Through supporting over 125 ambassadors, activation, and sponsorship of over 80 events

Annually, EXTREME’S media network delivers over 50 million video views monthly. The brand and marketing activity inspires, supports and promotes all of EXTREME’s activities. So what’s next for the brand that appeals to many different generations, has its roots in sport and adventure and is using its platform to make real global changes? Extreme has its headquarters in London, with bases in central Europe, Asia and the Middle East, including Dubai. Increasingly, eyes have turned to Saudi Arabia. The tourism and adventure sport industry are a focus for EXTREME. Founder Chief Exectuvie Officer Alstair Gosling sits on the International Advisory Board of the Saudi Arabian Qiddiya project, which plans to transform the village of Qiddiya, located South of Riyadh into a world hub for sport, leisure and entertainment. The project in Qiddiya draws upon EXTREME’S experience in adventure sports travel and will use the partnership to promote tourism to the new city which is set to be built as part of the Saudi government’s Vision 2030 project. While the pandemic has presented challenges for the sports, entertainment and adventure travel industries, EXTREME reports an increase in people’s desire to return to the brand’s core beliefs, which are to entertain, inspire, explore and experience. EXTREME sees this through its interaction across its social media platforms – the company reports an additional 74,000 facebook followers from March 2020 – March 2021. In fact, its social media channels including Instagram and TikTok reach hundreds of thousands. The Coronavirus pandemic has presented challenges for the sports, entertainment and adventure travel industry but despite this we have seen an increase in desire for people wanting to return to EXTREME’s core beliefs, which are to entertain, inspire, explore and experience. Of course, EXTREME has a long and successful licensing program around the brand, extending from apparel to mobile networks and much more – and it is clear to see how it will appeal to and play a strong part in the lives of new generations as well.