Archive | Licensing

Opportunities in Africa Accelerate

Brands Licensing Africa 2024, billed as the first-ever licensing trade show on the continent, recently took place in Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire. The event reflects an interest in Africa—as both a licensing market and a source of intellectual property—that has been building slowly for many years. While the North African region and the country of South […]

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Clothing Confections

Candy brands have long been participants in fashion collaborations, but they seem to be experiencing a particularly active period in this space these days. Designs tend to go all-in on prominently featuring the shapes, colors, mascots, and packaging associated with the IP, and the focus is largely—but not entirely—on accessories categories, in part because consumers […]

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These Kitchen Appliances Are *Chef’s Kiss*

Celebrity chefs regularly lend their names to licensed cookware, bakeware, tableware, cutlery, gadgets, and other categories closely related to cooking and entertaining. One area that makes good sense, but where chefs have been infrequent players to date, is in small kitchen appliances. Typically, these sorts of collaborations, when they happen, are positioned as offering professional […]

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K-pop Artists and Their Cartoon Mascots

Many K-pop acts have created cartoon mascots to promote their group and create merchandise to supplement their ongoing group-wide and individual collaborations in fashion, beauty, and lifestyle categories. While this phenomenon has been ongoing since the early 2010s, it has accelerated in the last couple of years.  Typically, the singers in the group help develop […]

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Traveling in Style

Luggage and travel accessories partnerships have been a beneficiary of the travel industry recovery that has been ongoing since 2022. After a near-halt in new licensing and collaboration deals during the pandemic lockdowns, the category has become very active once again. Here are some of the deals, involving a variety of property types, that have […]

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Make-at-Home Margaritas and Martinis

Limited-edition cocktail kits have been bubbling up as a tool for promoting alcohol brands and their partner properties—ranging from entertainment IPs, celebrities, and sports events to food and beverage brands outside the spirits sector—as well as for engaging fans. With these products, consumers can experience the fun of opening the box and discovering what’s inside, […]

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Hair Stylists Head Into New Opportunities

Hair stylists are very frequent collaborators on signature collections with brands that offer hair care-related products and services. As these celebrities become more well known professionally and personally, through reality shows and social media, they have occasionally had opportunities to step into sectors outside of hair care as well, especially within the beauty space. Some […]

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Drink Up

Premium-priced, high-tech, fashion-forward drinkware aimed primarily at an adult consumer base interested in fitness and sustainability has been trending for close to a decade, with individual brands taking turns hitting it big on Tiktok and attracting crowds for new releases at retail. Most of the leading players have relied heavily on collaborations as a strategy […]

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