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, […]
Archive | Licensing
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 […]
Talk to the Animals
Celebrities and pet products have been two of the most active areas of the licensing business over the last several years. While certainly there are hits and misses in both arenas, licensors and licensees continue to forge deals involving each sector on a regular basis. It makes one wonder: Why are there not more celebrity […]
A Lovely Bunch of Coconut Water
Coconut water is starting to show its presence in the world of licensed products, although not as fast as perhaps might be expected, given the steep rise in its popularity on grocery store shelves over the past five years or so. In 2014, Everlast licensed Cellulations LLC for a branded coconut water- and sea salt-fortified […]
Cartoons for Coping
Emotional intelligence, or EQ, is the ability to express and control one’s own emotions, as well as interpret and respond to the emotions of others. In the last year or so, it has become an emerging theme for entertainment and consumer products targeted at preschoolers. Some of the EQ-centric preschool initiatives in the news since […]
Join the Crowd
Licensees and retailers increasingly want to profit from the popularity of social media stars, whose fame is derived from their presence on YouTube, Instagram, Pinterest, Vine, Twitter, and/or Snapchat. Not only do these new celebrities have ever-expanding and very loyal and engaged audiences, but they can have a great influence on their fans’ purchasing habits […]