The celebrity-licensing world—already crowded with actors, musicians, athletes, reality stars, designers, stylists, and more—continues to expand, with licensees and retailers casting a wider net to find personalities from untapped realms. Some of the new or emerging sectors that have inspired licensing deals, mostly within the last year or so, include: Florists. Thierry Boutemy, a floral […]
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 […]
A Tale of Two Art Shows
Artists often seem to weigh the positives and negatives of SURTEX versus Licensing Expo as if they are similar opportunities, with the main difference being their respective locations in New York and Las Vegas. And it is true that there is some crossover between the two when it comes to the artists exhibiting. But a […]
Color My World
The coloring book industry, generally a low-margin business that is not at the forefront of trends, has been part of two notable and high-profile developments of late. First, within the last year, augmented reality and user-generated content have come to the business in a big way, with strong ties to licensing. Crayola’s Color Alive includes […]
Promoting Girl Power in the Science Lab
The current societal interest in promoting science, technology, engineering, and math to children in general, but especially to girls, is increasingly having an impact on the licensing business. Several TV shows with STEM themes have girls as leading characters, for instance. Examples include Jim Henson Productions’ Doozers, Genius Brands’ Thomas Edison’s Secret Lab, Fred Rogers […]
Sporting a New Look
The four major professional sports leagues already count more than 30 apparel companies on their respective licensee lists, most of them well entrenched. And that takes into account the trend over the past several years in which the leagues (and colleges and universities to a degree) have cut the number of licensees in the category, […]
A Little Bit Country
The proliferation of singers launching and expanding consumer products efforts continues, and country music acts are no exception. But country crooners sometimes take a different path than is typical for performers in other genres. While a large percentage of musicians focus on apparel and accessories, for instance, recent country deals in this category have been […]
A Marriage of Product and Content
Several ventures launched within the past year are testing the potential of licensing to tie together content and merchandise in the hopes of spurring more sales of both: Johnson Publishing debuted a digital store for its Ebony and Jet brands. The shop allows customers to purchase content (including streaming and downloadable audio, video, music, and […]
Corporate Design Collaborations Still In Fashion
The involvement of corporate brands in fashion collaborations continues, with some of the most active participants over the last six months or so being beverage and automotive brands. One recent example is Pepsi’s Project Cobalt, which introduced its first collection last week. Project Cobalt, a partnership between Pepsi and a consultancy called All Beuys Club, […]
Performance With Character
Apparel and accessories integrating performance and technical characteristics—such as moisture-wicking, extra comfort, easy care, support, light weight, or a range of other traits—have represented one of the fastest-growing sectors in the textile industry over the last four to five years. So it follows that performance wear also has been an active area within licensing. This […]