Quick service restaurant chains specializing in donuts continue to extend their brands into retail food categories. This is often—but not always—accomplished through licensing agreements. Some recent examples: Dunkin’ Donuts signed Coca-Cola in 2016 for ready-to-drink coffee beverages, with a launch expected in early 2017. Deals previously in place include J.M. Smucker for coffee, Keurig Green […]
Archive | Corporate brands
Proprietary No More
Within the last month, both Sears and Macy’s have sold long-established proprietary brands—Craftsman and Frango, respectively—to third parties. Their willingness to do so is yet another indication of how much the retail sector is struggling. Sears has owned Craftsman since 1927, and the brand has been strongly associated with Sears in consumers’ minds ever since. […]
A Second Helping of Food-to-Food Licensing
When we last looked into the food-to-food licensing arena about three months ago, we outlined the large number of new deals involving food and restaurant brands that had come to fruition in the grocery industry in the previous year and a half. And we noted that, despite the crowded landscape, licensing still represents a tiny […]
A Call for Licensed Handsets
Are mobile handsets the next consumer electronics sector to be headed away from manufacturing and toward a licensing model? Last September, shortly after discontinuing its own manufacturing operations to focus on software development, Blackberry licensed its brand to BB Merah Putih, which is sourcing, distributing, and marketing Blackberry devices in Indonesia, the brand’s strongest market. […]
Reserving Room for Licensing
By Karen Raugust on December 22, 2016 in Corporate brands, Experiential licensing, Licensing, Promotion, Retail
The hotel and hospitality industry has been an area of interest for licensors of late, with potential opportunities taking many forms: Branded hotels. Karl Lagerfeld announced in November that he would launch a chain of luxury hotels, with the first to open in Macau in 2018. He joins fashion labels such as Armani, Missoni, Bulgari, […]
Product as Promotion
Several recent announcements show how corporate brands’ licensing activity these days often walks the line between consumer merchandise and marketing: Luxury meets novelty. Cheetos’ first online store, introduced at the end of November, features an assortment of luxury items, some of which sound like April Fool’s jokes. In fact, the site’s Cheeteau fragrance began its […]
All You Can Eat
Food-to-food licensing, in which food and restaurant brands extend into non-core food and beverage sectors that represent a good fit with their flavor profile or positioning, continues to proliferate. Taking a look at some of the deals announced within the last year and a half shows the wide variety of food and beverage categories impacted: […]
One Potato, Two Potato
In May, Mr. Dee’s launched a line of Hidden Valley frozen potato sides, including Shredded Hash Browns, Southern Style Hash Browns, and Roasted Red Potatoes, under license from the Hidden Valley Food Products Company. This deal represents the latest of several in the frozen potato category, a small but growing slice of the licensed food […]
Beyond the Body Shop
Most of the attention surrounding automotive-related brand extension is focused on car brands, as well as brands and properties tied to auto racing. Less high profile are the chemicals and formulas that make the cars look good and drive well, some of which also are active in licensing: Turtle Wax is reentering the licensing business […]
Spreading the Word
The number of magazine brands exhibiting at Licensing Expo has long been on the rise, reflecting the growth of this sector over the past decade or more. That remained true at last month’s show, where dozens of titles, from Healthy Living to High Times, were on display. New deals timed to the Expo give a […]