Three U.K. greeting card brands have recently taken steps to expand their presence in the market by forging representation agreements with licensing agents to help them facilitate their move into additional product categories or regions: Brilliantly Brave, a new greeting card publisher whose mission is to promote good mental health, both through its messaging and […]
Archive | Stationery/Paper
Counting Down the Days to Christmas
Advent calendars are getting more sophisticated each year, featuring increasingly elaborate packaging, daily surprises of higher value, and a growing range of themes and categories, from jerky, healing crystals, and nail polish to cat food, instant noodles, and wine. Licensors across property types have gotten into the game, typically either through in-house-produced examples or with […]
Construction Paper
Paper engineering (the art and science of creating pop-ups and paper sculpture) has inspired a growing, albeit still small, product category dubbed paper art. The sector has attracted a number of entertainment/character licenses over the past 18 months or so: Lovepop announced early in December that it had introduced a 3D paper art collection tied […]
Swanky Stationery
Fashion and interior designers continue to strengthen their presence in the high-end stationery category, furthering a trend that has been evident over the last couple of years. Some of the licensing agreements focus on e-stationery, while others encompass both electronic and print versions of holiday cards, invitations, and thank you notes. Two designers adding their […]
Heading to the Office
Direct-to-retail licensing agreements and exclusive distribution deals in the office supply channel have popped up sporadically for many years, with properties from TV financial expert Jean Schatzky to interior designer Christopher Lowell among those entering the market. But the incidence of such deals is slowly on the rise. This year, Martha Stewart renewed and expanded […]
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 […]
Putting Pen to Paper
Stationery companies have struggled to stay relevant as personal communications have moved away from paper, first to e-mail, e-cards, and e-vites and now to social media platforms such as Snapchat and Instragram. As a result, marketers of cards and other paper products are taking steps to lure consumers back to traditional greetings and notes. One […]
Party On
Party planning is starting to emerge as an area of interest within the licensing business, both in terms of properties available and as a category/theme for licensed merchandise. Celebrity wedding planners have been extending their names into bridal categories for a few years now, but the landscape is changing as they are increasingly positioned not […]