Social media has permeated the licensing business as a marketing tool, as an inspiration for products (e.g. selfie sticks), as a source of properties, and as a content platform. Not surprisingly, it has also given birth to a number of design trends:
- Hashtags. Licensors and licensees are integrating hashtags into graphics for apparel and accessories. Russian licensee IQ Form’s pants, sweatshirts, sweaters, and other apparel tied to ZeptoLab’s Cut the Rope feature hashtags and QR codes as design elements, while the recently announced Rubik’s Cube x Pac-Man limited-edition fashion collaboration incorporates hashtag slogans along with retro graphics.
- Emojis. Licensed products are increasingly highlighting properties-as-emojis. Pepsi’s PepsiMojis, first developed as a library of graphics for global communication and as limited-edition artwork for beverage cans, have been licensed for use on items such as fanny packs, mobile accessories, and cookies, with the products debuting at the Story retail store. The NFL Players Association authorized a handful of companies to develop emoji keyboards based on its players; these designs were then made available to licensees such as Fanatics for use on apparel and other merchandise.
- Selfies. Artist Howard Robinson has more than 30 licensees worldwide for his Selfies brand, which comprises detailed and realistic renderings of animals in selfie-like groupings. Similarly, the National FFA Organization (formerly the Future Farmers of America) signed Club Red Licensed Apparel last year for a Barnyard Selfie line of clothing, spotlighting Farm Cam photos of animals, sold through retailers such as Tractor Supply.
RaugustReports will not be publishing on July 3 due to the U.S. Independence Day holiday. We’ll be back on Thursday, July 6.
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