Earlier this month, Domino’s retained Brand Central as its agent for brand-extension licensing, joining a handful of other pizza restaurants with outbound licensing programs. Overall, relatively few of the leading players in this sector are actively involved in lending their names to retail foods and other consumer products, at least in a significant way. This […]
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A Flurry of Food-Brand Agency Agreements
Food and beverage brands have represented one of the most active sectors in licensing for quite some time, and the trend shows no sign of waning. As one illustration, in the 15 weeks since January 1, 2024, more than a half dozen food and beverage brands have retained new licensing agents to expand their outbound […]
Bringing the Heat
Gen Z and millennials are currently driving strong demand for hot and spicy flavors. The Specialty Food Association and Instacart (with the Harris Poll) are among the organizations that have identified hot and spicy as one of the key flavor trends of 2023. Research and Markets predicts the global market for hot sauces and condiments […]
Monkey Business
The licensing landscape surrounding NFT images is highly fragmented. That is because, in the most popular NFT projects, owners of each unique image typically retain the right to commercialize that image and its derivative works (e.g., slightly manipulated versions for use in merchandise). Many of the licensors do not know how to go about licensing […]
A Helping of Mac and Cheese
A few months ago, we noted that cheese had become a hot commodity for food-to-food collaborations. One niche within that space that has generated particular interest of late is the ultimate comfort food, macaroni and cheese. Marketers of mac and cheese are looking to create limited-edition varieties by partnering with brands associated with compatible flavors, […]
Party On
Last October, we took a look at the emergence of licensing deals and collaborations in the hard seltzer category. At the time, a handful of brands, such as Hard Rock and Ralph’s Italian Ices, had entered the category through partnerships with alcoholic beverage makers. Since then, this space has become a go-to category for appropriate […]
Eating Out, At Home
The challenges faced by restaurants during COVID-19, especially those that do not have strong take-out, curbside, or delivery infrastructures in place, have been well-documented. Perhaps that is why there has been a flurry of announcements about new retail brand extensions—most often in the form of licensing deals—into the food and beverage category in the past […]
Influencing Playtime
Influencers with large social media followings, especially on YouTube, have had a noticeable and growing presence at Toy Fair New York over the past few years. With some important exceptions, their role has been more about endorsements than products. Recently, however, there has been a spike in signature toy lines tied to influencers and their […]
Latin Flavor
Last week MegaMex Foods, a joint venture between Herdez del Fuerte of Mexico and Hormel of the U.S., licensed its Herdez brand to Utz Quality Foods. Utz—which has distributed MegaMex Foods including Chi-Chi’s tortilla chips and Chi-Chi’s and Herdez salsas and dips since 2018—will now produce and market Herdez-branded white, yellow, and blue tortilla chips […]
Comfort TV
Some very wholesome TV shows from the past have spurred merchandise programs in recent years, and their efforts continue to expand. Modern consumers likely gravitate to these brands in large part due to their nostalgic appeal, but also, at least to a degree, because they serve as an antidote to today’s digitally driven, politically charged, […]