Practical household products and tools may not be the most exciting or highest-profile area of licensing, but they are at the center of a burst of brand-extension interest of late.
Some of the areas of focus include:
- Vacuums and floor care. Bissell retained agency IMC to expand its brand into home goods, DIY products, and the automotive category.
- Brushes and cleaning implements. Fuller Brush named Alex Meisel & Co. as its agent for extension into auto accessories, work clothes, organizational storage, and other home goods and lifestyle products.
- Hammers and tools. Estwing Tools, recognized for its solid-steel hammers, hired JRL Group to handle its licensing activities in hand tools, work gloves, tool bags, power tools, safety gear, and the like.
These brands, with their licensing programs newly minted in 2015, join a roster of other properties that have done deals involving practical household goods. Examples include relatively new initiatives such as Trane pool heaters, Waste Management and Arm & Hammer trash bags, and Scott’s and Miracle-Gro gardening tools and gloves, as well as well-established ventures such as Vick’s humidifiers or Mr. Clean sponges and mops.
More licensing should occur in these mundane but potentially lucrative categories. Companies in this space continue to consider extending their brands through licensing, and manufacturers are increasingly hoping that relevant properties can give them a competitive edge.
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