Rainbow-themed girls’ entertainment is in, if this year’s Licensing Expo is any indication. Among the rainbow-centric properties prominently displayed at the show this year are: True and the Rainbow Kingdom. This Netflix Original is produced by Guru Studio and licensed by Brand Central, with Toy State on board as the licensee for playthings. The show […]
Archive | Licensing
Hard Liquor’s A Gonna Fall
The announcement last week that Bob Dylan was getting into the spirits game with a collection of premium whiskeys is just the latest in a raft of deals pairing musicians with wine, beer, and liquor marketers. More than a half dozen agreements announced this year so far illustrate the wide variety of music genres, business […]
Honing In On The Hispanic Market
Licensors and licensees continue to develop product initiatives meant to appeal to U.S. Hispanic consumers: In April, Masked Republic introduced a website, LuchaCentral.com, with Asteri Networks as a hub for news and content about Mexican masked wrestling. In addition to curated and original news, an event calendar, profiles of the luchadors (wrestlers), and a social […]
A Branded Property Paints a Thousand Words
Rather than doing business under their own names, as is traditional, a growing number of artists are creating separate brand names to identify their work and serve as the centerpoint for their licensing activities: Mexican artist Juan de Lascurain, represented by RJM Licensing, uses the Dream Big World brand as the umbrella for his colorful […]
Head First
The head seems to be the new center of social expression when it comes to showing one’s love for an entertainment property, as all manner of headwear features eye-catching, sculptural representations of favorite characters: Plush hoods and hats. Companies such as Elope feature plush headwear with representations of characters including Dr. Seuss Enterprises’ The Grinch […]
Remixing Fashion for Ravers
DJs from the world of electronic dance music (EDM) have become increasingly active in fashion collaborations over the past five or six years, with both the number of musicians involved and the number of deals being done continuing to rise. Compared to other genres of music, such as country, classic rock, or rap, EDM stars’ […]
Scents That Sparkle
Last month, Graff Diamonds announced a licensing agreement with Inter Parfums for a multi-scent fragrance line that will launch in 2019 in high-end department stores, upscale travel retail, and Graff jewelry stores. The deal is a reminder that luxury brands with roots in fine jewelry are a force on the prestige end of the fragrance […]
Walking in Chefs’ Shoes
Chefs who enter the licensing business typically focus on items closely related to their vocation, such as kitchen gadgets, cook- and bakeware, tableware, and sometimes foods. A category that seems to be outside the scope of traditional chef-based licensing but has been growing rapidly over the past five years: sneakers. While at first glance there […]
Designing and Building a Home Décor Program
Some of the skills architects use to design buildings are also applicable to other sculptural products, from furniture and vases to home décor, handbag clasps, and drinkware. Their sketches and other artwork also make good graphics for plates or bowls. It is no surprise, then, that architects, living and deceased, have lent their names, drawings, […]
Ghosts of Fitness Past
Several of the pioneers of pop-culture fitness oversee licensing programs, joining today’s fitness trainers, such as Tracy Anderson, Tony Horton, and Jen Widerstrom, in inspiring lines of health and wellness-related goods. Three examples: Charles Atlas. This month, Pacific Swell Brands announced that it would be representing the Charles Atlas brand for licensing into core fitness […]