The trend for emoji-related intellectual properties becoming available for licensing, which started to gain traction a year or more ago, initially focused on newly created brands. Examples included those with roots as emojis, such as LINE Friends from Japan, Tuzki from China, or The Emoji Company’s Emoji trademark, as well as those inspired by emojis, […]
Archive | Licensing
Sleeping with the Enemy
Two specialty apparel retailers, Oasis and The Limited, have added their names this year to the ever-growing stable of retail chains embarking on outbound licensing programs. Oasis, a U.K. fashion retailer with 300 stores in the U.K. and Ireland and 79 elsewhere, retained Golden Goose as its licensing agent last month. It already has licensees […]
A Note from London
The stationery category in U.K. retail stores provides a showcase for lifestyle brands, fashion labels, and artists. Several of the high-end London department stores—Liberty, Harrod’s, Fortum & Mason, and John Lewis—have stationery departments where licensed collections are boutiqued, for example. At Liberty, an array of fashion designer Christian LaCroix’s note cards and journals is featured […]
Through the Looking Glass
Lewis Carroll’s Alice in Wonderland celebrates its 150th anniversary this year, and a number of British marketers are capitalizing on the event. About 10 of The British Library’s 35 licensees are creating Alice product under British Library branding; the institution has the original book in its holdings. The most successful licensee to date is Moleskin, […]
Of Brits and Baking
One observation from recent visits to several supermarkets in London—Sainsburys, Tesco, and Waitrose among them—is the strong role licensing plays in bakery-related categories, namely cake and cupcake kits and celebration cakes. Cake kits are pouch-packaged cake, cookie, or cupcake mixes with a value-added accessory, such as a cookie cutter or a set of cupcake cases, […]
Following the Crowd
A number of licensors have turned to crowdsourcing to inspire and test new products and categories. To name just a few examples, toy companies such as LEGO and Mattel have implemented innovation programs to allow their consumers to suggest and vote on new toy ideas, while a variety of crowdsourcing sites, Designed by Humans and […]
A Shave and a Haircut
Licensed products have been slowly growing as a presence in the men’s shaving and grooming industry over the past four to five years, although they still represent a small slice of the business. Examples are diverse, ranging from entertainment/character properties (such as Popeye and Turner Classic Movies, both with Razor MD) to celebrities (Carmelo Anthony […]
A Starring Role for Single Episodes
Entertainment IP owners are keeping their licensing programs fresh by developing limited merchandise arrays based on specific episodes of their TV series. A number of factors dictate the viability of these efforts: Unexpected demand. Cartoon Network licensee Cryptozoic created a board game called Card Wars, which brought to life a game played in a breakout […]
Multitasking Is In Fashion
Fashion licensing has many singular qualities compared to sports, character, corporate trademark, art, and other segments of the business. One of the most unusual is the propensity for designers to maintain and license under their own names while simultaneously overseeing fashion labels tied to other designers. While the relationships tend to come and go, some […]
LGBT in the News
From Kim Davis refusing to issue gay marriage licenses in Kentucky, to the transition of Bruce Jenner to Caitlyn, to Michael Sam becoming the first gay player in the NFL, themes and issues relating to the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgendered community have been in the news a lot lately. That is starting to be […]