With the National Hockey League’s Stanley Cup Finals in progress, WWE, the wrestling entertainment brand, announced last week that it was creating an officially licensed legacy championship belt for the winning team. The belt, like those given to winners of wrestling events, highlights the Stanley Cup in the center, where the WWE logo usually resides, […]
Tag Archives | NHL
Getting Together for a Meal (Kit)
Despite continued challenges in the meal kit industry, including the difficulty of retaining customers, high (and rising) operational and marketing costs, a demand curve that tends to be seasonal rather than steady, and more, the category has remained a viable one for many licensors. These include celebrities, especially chefs, and owners of family-friendly entertainment properties, […]
Designers Bring Diversity to Hockey
Professional hockey clubs, like pro teams in other sports, are increasingly collaborating with local designers on limited-edition lifestyle apparel collections, many with an eye toward diversity: The Arizona Coyotes of the National Hockey League introduced a new third jersey at the beginning of this year in collaboration with designer Rhuigi Villaseñor, founder of the luxury […]
Quality Time
While consumers are divided on many issues, one thing on which almost all can agree is that they expect their licensed products to have a level of quality commensurate with the price. Lately, several marketers have been dealing with fan blowback—magnified on social media—because their products or plans, at least according to some of their […]
Leagues Go Large on NFTs
Pro sports leagues from around the world, along with their players associations, have been among the most active property types to date in the world of NFTs. And many tend to think big, signing long-term deals for marketplaces rather than focusing on individual collections of NFTs, although they do that too. This year, and especially […]
Counting Down the Days to Christmas
Advent calendars are getting more sophisticated each year, featuring increasingly elaborate packaging, daily surprises of higher value, and a growing range of themes and categories, from jerky, healing crystals, and nail polish to cat food, instant noodles, and wine. Licensors across property types have gotten into the game, typically either through in-house-produced examples or with […]
Data Protection
With today’s ever-present worries about credit card fraud and identity theft comes a relatively new product category: Protective RFID-blocking wallets, bags, and contactless protector cards. These items are positioned as creating a barrier against RFID skimming, which is when criminals steal information from the increasing number of credit cards, drivers’ licenses, passports, and so on […]
Taking a Stake
The incidence of property owners taking an ownership stake in a manufacturer’s company as part of a licensing agreement—while not unheard of in the past—has been on the rise over the past couple of years. This activity has been particularly notable of late in the sports licensing sector. Back in 2015, the NHL took an […]
On Sports and E-Sports
Licensing deals in the e-sports arena remain fairly limited, both in number and in scope. But e-sports—a term that refers to professional competitive video gaming—continues to progress commercially, likely setting the stage for more and bigger licensing agreements down the line. One recent development of note is that traditional pro sports organizations are increasingly supporting […]
Guitar Slingers
For decades, musical instruments have been a leading area of interest for licensing-savvy musicians, attracting well-known instrumentalists and music industry types such as Eric Clapton, Carlos Santana, and Randy Jackson, to name just a tiny fraction. They have signed licensees for signature guitars, or whatever their instrument may be, as well as accessories such as […]