The typical path of licensing in the fashion industry is for apparel designers to broaden their scope into accessories. But accessories designers are going in the other direction, extending their names into adjacent categories—including, in some cases, apparel—at an accelerated pace. These companies follow in the footsteps of brands such as Kate Spade, Fossil, and […]
Archive | Licensing
Focusing on the S in STEM
As STEM education has gained traction in schools and at home, there has been a parallel rise in interest and availability of toys and children’s products that teach science, technology, engineering, and math, with science and engineering leading the way. This trend has resulted in an incremental increase in the presence of licensed media and […]
Girls Gravitate Toward Licensed Literature
Mattel and one of its key publishing licensees, Random House, announced last week that they would launch a middle-grade chapter book series called Malibu Mysteries, starring Barbie. This is just the latest example of the strong role licensing plays when it comes to fiction series for girls, especially those of elementary and middle school age. […]
A Turn of Phrase
Short phrases and text excerpts remain popular as design elements in apparel and other consumer products. As a result, licensors and licensees continue to feature notable quotes as a key component of their licensed merchandise ranges. This characteristic not only holds true in “social expressions” products such as cards and mugs—where text has always been […]
Beyond Fitness Bands
Much of the initial interest in the wearable-technology category, when it comes to licensing, has been focused on fitness bands. But smart watches and smart accessories (e.g., smart bands and smart bracelets) have caught up quickly as an area of activity. Like fitness bands, these devices often monitor exercise accomplishments, calories expended and taken in, […]
No Rest for Mattress Licensors
Mattress brands are increasingly establishing or expanding outbound licensing programs and signing agents to assist them in those ventures. These properties collectively represent a growing niche within the corporate and trademark brand-extension sector. Just within the last year: Serta signed Delta Children for a line of nursery cribs, mattresses, and furniture. Simmons, which already has […]
Marketers Seek Artistry in Promotion
A number of artists recently have raised their profiles by participating in promotions that support consumer products and entertainment ventures. For marketers—which have initiated most of these partnerships—bringing in an outside artist or artists is an opportunity to give fans a fresh perspective on their brand or property and generate buzz in the media. For […]
The Rise of Social Shopping
Licensors and licensees are starting to experiment with social commerce—which fuses online shopping and social media—as a new opportunity for merchandise sales: HarperCollins is currently working with Twitter Commerce on a 35%-off promotion for the hardcover movie tie-in edition of Insurgent. The publisher and Twitter are both tweeting about the offer, targeting users who are […]
Fake Languages, Real Licensed Content
By Karen Raugust on March 19, 2015 in Character/Entertainment, Content, Education, Licensing, Publishing
A handful of entertainment properties, especially in the sci fi and fantasy genres, feature well-developed languages used by characters from alien planets or fictional cultures. These languages sometimes make their way into content-based licensed products such as books and language-learning courses. A recent example occurred when HBO partnered with Living Languages last summer for Living […]
Safety in Numbers
Retail buyers in the fashion category are offering their consumers something brand new—while at the same time alleviating their risk a bit—by creating limited-edition collections tied to groups of emerging designers or celebrities. The fact that the names are lesser known gives early-adopting consumers an opportunity to be the first to support a potential future […]