Corporate brand extension historically has been the primary form of licensing when it comes to household-cleaning products in spray, powder, or liquid form (e.g., laundry detergents, stain removers, window and multi-surface sprays, carpet and upholstery cleaners, and the like). Home Care Industries, for example, offers a Febreze line of formulas for deep-cleaning carpet machines, as […]
Archive | Licensing
Peddling Pedals
As bike culture grows around the globe, especially in urban areas, licensing in the bicycle category is expanding outside of its historical boundaries. The U.K. market over the last year or so has served as the epicenter for several deals illustrating how bike-related licensing can stretch beyond conventional bike-licensing boundaries. For instance: Bike-culture brands are […]
Behind the Makeup
Celebrity makeup artists and hair stylists have been extending their names into cosmetics and other beauty products in a big way since at least the mid-1990s, well before social media and reality TV made them recognizable to a broad swath of consumers. The trend continues today, as several announcements in the last six to nine […]
Out of Sight But Not Out of Mind
Camouflage licensing, an already-significant sector that encompasses proprietary camouflage designs and brand names such as Realtree and Mossy Oak, has continued to evolve and grow in a number of ways over time: New brands. Camouflage suppliers beyond the big two have entered licensing, as U.S. military specialist Tennier Industries did when it retained The Brand […]
More Than Memoirs
Bookstore and book department shelves have long been filled with celebrity-penned memoirs, humor titles, cookbooks, picture books, and lifestyle tomes. A more recent development, however, is for celebrities to launch entire publishing imprints tied to their names or lifestyle brands. The imprints serve as a trade name or umbrella for not only the celebrity’s own […]
Rock ‘n’ Role-Playing
The bond between musicians and gaming is growing stronger as more pop, metal, and country acts are associating their names with interactive games, mobile and otherwise, in the casual, adventure, role-playing, casino slot, and other genres. Musicians are not usually associated with any kind of storyline or other premise that lends itself to gaming, aside […]
Licensors Eye Ethnic Fashion
More and more designers, and some character licensors, are including apparel and accessories specific to particular ethnicities or religions among their roster of products. These items include the likes of saris and salwar kameez worn by Indian women; hijabs, abayas, and burkas for Muslims; and kimonos and yukatas for Japanese women and girls. Designers have […]
Giving Trick Shots a Try
An emerging sector of social media-based licensing consists of celebrities—mainly guys—whose popularity is tied to their sports-themed YouTube videos highlighting successful trick shots. Hasbro has introduced a line of Nerf backyard sports gear tied to Dude Perfect, a group of five best friends who make extreme-sports trick-shot videos and often use Nerf products. The Nerf […]
Designer Collaborations Down Under
Like designers all over the world, Australian fashion labels are collaborating with global character properties for limited editions and/or capsule collections. In the last six months, several such deals have been announced, crossing a variety of categories: Apparel. Leroy Nguyen launched a capsule collection of five items, from sweat tops to dresses, featuring Hello Kitty, […]
The Changing Landscape of Smartwatch Licensing
Licensing in the smartwatch and wearables sector is starting to evolve. In this segment’s early days, licensors typically have forged focused deals with consumer electronics or watch companies that specifically authorize the development and production of a line of smartwatches and/or other wearables. This tactic continues today. But announcements from this year’s Baselworld, a trade […]