Organizers of location-based events are experimenting with new configurations to give their fans something of the original real-life experience in a safe way during the pandemic. Typically this has meant taking the event virtual in some form. But several marketers have gone the physical route recently, by boxing up real-life experiences and shipping them to […]
Getting Out the Vote
By Karen Raugust on October 19, 2020 in Design and content themes, Licensing, Politics/social movements
Every four years as the U.S. Presidential election comes around, licensors, licensees, and retailers create products and promotional initiatives highlighting themes tied to voting. Historically, these have been mostly focused on merchandise featuring vote-related graphics, primarily as a way to offer some fresh and timely designs. This year, however, marketers (many with ties to the […]
K-Pop Culture
K-Pop has been growing in popularity in the U.S. for the past few years. In 2019, BTS—the bestselling K-Pop act globally and the biggest K-Pop brand in the U.S. and most other markets—tied the Beatles as the only other group to have three albums hit number one on the Billboard charts in a single calendar […]
Spiked Seltzer Deals Bubble Up
Consumers in the U.S. purchased close to $1 billion in hard seltzer from March 7 to May 30, 2020, the first three months of the pandemic, compared to $1.5 billion for the whole of 2019, according to Nielsen. In the week ending June 6, the start of the summer season, hard seltzer sales—which have been […]
Teaming Up for CBD
Sports leagues, teams, and events, as well as athletes, have become active players in the CBD industry, with many of their efforts focused on pain management. In fact, athletes and sports licensors account for 19.2% of IP partnership deals done in 2019 and 2020 in the cannabis space, second only to musicians, who have been […]
Here Come the Bridal Designers
High-end bridal designers who got their start specializing in wedding dresses, and remain well known for their creations in this space, have been expanding their licensing activity recently. Some are poised to get into licensing and collaboration in a significant way for the first time, while others are adding to a long list of existing […]
Resale Circles Back
When the pandemic first hit, many observers thought retailers’ resale initiatives, which offer quality second-hand and slightly imperfect apparel and home goods at a deeply discounted price and had been on the rise prior to the lockdown, would be placed on hold for safety reasons. Consumers, they thought, would potentially be concerned about the merchandise […]
Sportswear Brands Still Competing in Asian Esports
By Karen Raugust on September 28, 2020 in COVID-19, Interactive gaming, International, Licensing, Sports
COVID-19 has had a big impact on global esports revenues. Newzoo predicted in July 2020 that revenues for the esports industry worldwide would increase by 1.7% this year, compared to growth of 23.3% year-on-year in 2019. Sales of esports merchandise and tickets—Newzoo tracks the two revenue streams as one segment of the total industry—will take […]
Student Unions
A handful of collaborations this past summer involving schools of fashion served as a reminder that working with student designers can be a good way to infuse fresh looks into products tied to established properties or brands: In August, the Girl Scouts of the USA paired with three design students from the Fashion Institute of […]
Sporting Goods Get a Workout
Consumers have been boosting their purchases of sporting goods and outdoors products during the pandemic, as they search for ways to exercise safely, look to break up their homebound routines with activities outside, and, in some cases, address their fears in a turbulent time. Total retail sales of sporting goods in June 2020 were up […]