The presence of mature women in the licensing and collaboration landscape has been growing over the past several years. While they still account for just a sliver of celebrity licensing activity overall, women of a certain age, who historically were forgotten when it came to product partnerships, are increasingly accepted and embraced by marketers. These […]
Horrific Hops
Limited-edition Halloween-themed craft beer collaborations have been on the rise over the past few years, with 2022 as active as ever in terms of the number of examples. Entertainment properties of the horror genre, candy brands used for trick-or-treating, and musical acts whose stage presence, lyrics, and/or graphics are Halloween-appropriate, are well represented: Entertainment. This […]
A Price to Pay
Ye, the musician, designer, and entrepreneur formerly known as Kanye West, is demonstrating the risks for marketers involved with celebrity licensing, as many of his licensing deals and collaborative ventures have fallen apart in the last two weeks in the wake of his antisemitic comments: Adidas was the latest partner to sever ties, ending its […]
Top Toys for Tots
With the holiday season quickly approaching, major retailers and key consumer publications have released their predictions for the top toy gifts of the year. Together, these lists offer a snapshot of licensing in the toy industry, which typically reflects trends in the broader character/entertainment licensing sector as well. Here are some takeaways from an analysis […]
Beauty Brands Rock Out
Male musicians are the latest group of celebrities getting into the beauty segment in a big way, namely with collections of bold color cosmetics and nail colors to allow consumers to replicate the look of their favorite performer, whether that be glam or Goth: Ozzie Osbourne is the most recent musician to sign up with […]
Checking In On Celebrity Cannabis Projects
Now that well over 100 celebrity cannabis brands (comprising both THC/marijuana and CBD/hemp) have come on the market, a number of lifestyle, entertainment, cannabis-business, and other publications regularly publish lists of the top-selling and/or highest-quality celebrity brands available. A look at nearly two dozen of these lists that have been published recently yields a large […]
Tea Party
An estimated 450,000-plus tea and tea-drink shops were operating in China at the beginning of this year, according to the China Tea Marketing Association. These include both traditional tea shops and new-style shops focused on flavored milk, fruit, bubble, and even cheese teas, with new-style chains growing quickly over the past several years (despite a […]
Meal Time
This spring and summer, a number of chefs and other celebrities have introduced home goods collections centering on mealtimes, featuring products including cookware, tabletop items, kitchen storage, kitchen textiles, table linens, and the like. The new ranges, some produced in-house but most accomplished through licensing or collaboration, join a very crowded landscape in this category, […]
More NFT IPs Jump Offline
Three leading NFT projects have made significant moves into the world of physical consumer products this fall: The most recent example is VeeFriends, which partnered with Toikido to create a line of plush and vinyl figures based on 10 of its characters. The products will be sold starting on October 17 through Toys ‘R’ Us […]
South African Fashion Goes Global
Designers and labels from South Africa have gradually been expanding their presence on the world stage over the past several years, including through collaborations with global fashion companies and corporate brands. Four of the seven examples included here debuted this year: Just last week, Reebok announced it was launching a collection with athleisure brand Nao […]