One of the biggest topics of conversation at this year’s Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas was the prominence of voice assistants such as Amazon’s Alexa, Google’s Assistant, Apple’s Siri, Samsung’s Bixby, Roku’s Entertainment Assistant, and Microsoft’s Cortana. Not only are such voice assistants associated with smart speakers (e.g., Amazon’s Echo or Google’s Home), which […]
Archive | Licensing
Bringing Culinary Content to Life
Much of the attention when it comes to brand-extension licensing in the food and beverage industry focuses on food, restaurant, chef-, and diet-related brands. Another active sector, albeit smaller, consists of culinary magazine titles. A number of cooking publications have expanded their names into retail food categories from frozen entrées to shelf-stable sauces. Two deals […]
Team Mentality
The biggest entertainment/character licensors and their licensees are enhancing fans’ sense of belonging and engagement with a bit of team spirit. Initiatives take different forms: Choosing sides. Several of Disney/Lucafilm’s licensed Star Wars products, from NVidia’s computer graphics processing units (GPUs) to Ample Hills’ ice cream, give consumers two alternatives from which to select, the […]
Watching Women’s Sports
Sales of licensed products tied to women’s pro sports have always been a fraction of what men’s leagues, teams, players associations, and events bring in. That remains true today. But there have been signals over the past couple of years that this still-small sector may be poised for expansion: In November, the NFL Players Association, […]
The Consequences of Misconduct
One of the leading news stories of 2017 was the steady string of claims alleging sexual assault, harassment, and other misconduct by prominent actors, media personalities, politicians, and corporate leaders. The phenomenon has touched the business of licensing and brand extension as well, as accused celebrities have seen deals for consumer products tied to their […]
Keeping the Faith
The perceived viability of faith-based (e.g., Christian-themed) properties for licensing tends to rise and fall cyclically. Recent announcements suggest that inspirational licensing programs may be on an upswing as we enter 2018: Last month, Sony Pictures Consumer Products debuted a range of holiday merchandise tied to its animated feature film The Star, representing the studio’s […]
On the Sidelines
Celebrities who are closely connected to the pro and college sports industry—but not current athletes—have been increasingly lending their names to consumer product lines, either through licensing or their own companies. Their areas of expertise vary: Fantasy sports. Matthew Berry, ESPN’s senior fantasy sports analyst, retained The Wildflower Group in 2016 to handle licensing for […]
Tasty Tie-Ups
Late last month, the car brand GMC announced it was pairing with L.A. ice cream shop Little Damage for a limited-edition Denali Ultimate Black ice cream to coincide with the launch of its new vehicle, the Yukon Denali Ultimate Black Edition. The news is a reminder of how limited-edition ice cream flavors have become a […]
Unplug and Play
A couple of decades ago, makers of physical board, card, and tabletop games were rushing to sign deals that would bring their game play into the digital world. Those sorts of agreements are still happening, of course; Hasbro and its licensee Marmalade Game Studio introduced a new mobile game based on Clue (known as Cluedo […]
Seeking White Space in the Supermarket
Owners of food and restaurant properties have recently been looking beyond the most common brand-extension categories within the grocery store. They are lending their names to product sectors that not only make sense for their flavor profiles, but also have not been heavily licensed to date, meaning there is room for new brand entrants. For […]