Saturday is the 50th anniversary of Neil Armstrong’s first steps on the moon during the Apollo 11 mission. In the days and weeks leading up to the milestone, licensors, retailers, and licensees have been announcing space-themed content, promotions, and products, especially in the realms of entertainment, toys, and fashion. The initiatives, most of which incorporate […]
Building A Well-Fitting Wardrobe by the Month
A growing number of fashion designers and celebrity-backed fashion labels have been doing deals in the plus- and extended-size market in the past year and a half, many of them for the first time. One popular strategy is to partner with a subscription box marketer specializing in this segment: Betsy Johnson entered the plus-size market […]
In-World Meets High-Tech
In-world products, which take a fictional item from a film, TV show, or videogame and make it real, represent the ultimate way to differentiate entertainment/character-licensed goods from their competitors. In-world merchandise can assume a variety of forms, from Barco Uniforms’ Grey’s Anatomy scrubs, to Schwinn’s Stranger Things bikes, to Cubicall’s Bill & Ted phone booths, […]
Full of Beans
Three deals announced in the space of one week last month provide a handy illustration of the ways coffee-related brands have become active players in all types of licensing and collaboration: Brand extension. Costa Coffee, the U.K.-headquartered chain, became the latest example of coffee and coffee shop brands entering adjacent categories, especially ready-to-drink coffees. In […]
Good Grooming
A handful of licensors in the past three months have announced deals for a single functional grooming product or targeted collection. The somewhat unexpected pairings, involving properties ranging from designers to celebrities to gaming brands, have generated significant media coverage and social media discussion, some of it tongue-in-cheek and much of it positive: In June, […]
Real Characters
Celebrities have been making appearances, in cartoon form, across key storytelling and communications platforms. The initiatives are mostly for children, but there is sometimes appeal for adults as well, depending on the project. They involve a variety of media configurations: Animated TV shows and films. In June, Ellen DeGeneres’ Ellen Digital Ventures and Warner Bros. […]
Feeling Pride
June is Pride month in the U.S. and many other countries around the world. As has become the norm, companies of all kinds are celebrating the event with collaborations and other marketing initiatives. Pride-themed collections this year tend to have a number of elements in common. Fashion and beauty marketers are by far the most […]
Agency Evolution
The licensing and retail landscape has evolved over the past several years to one that, in many sectors of the business, is more about collaborations and capsules than long-term merchandise lines, more about targeted initiatives than mainstream programs, and as much about experiences as products. Licensing agencies have been gradually reacting to this transformation by […]
Seeing the Bigger Picture
The number of artists and art agents exhibiting at Licensing Expo continues to shrink, with the smallest contingent in recent memory represented at the 2019 edition earlier this month. In part, this decline is due to the nature of the Expo. It faces competition from art-only events, such as Surtex and Blueprint, which attract more […]
If The Shoe Fits…
The extended-sizing trend has been gaining steam in the women’s fashion industry (and men’s, too, to some extent) over the past few years, as fashion labels and their collaboration partners release collections for the whole spectrum of consumers, from petit to plus-size. The trend is not limited to just clothing. Consumers not only want trend-forward […]