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 […]
Social Media-Inspired Design
Social media has permeated the licensing business as a marketing tool, as an inspiration for products (e.g. selfie sticks), as a source of properties, and as a content platform. Not surprisingly, it has also given birth to a number of design trends: Hashtags. Licensors and licensees are integrating hashtags into graphics for apparel and accessories. […]
Eye on Early Electronic Entertainment
As the first video games to achieve mainstream popularity back in the late 1970s and early 1980s approach their 40th anniversaries, many are the focus of licensing initiatives that highlight their retro appeal. These vintage-styled items are likely to resonate both with the games’ original fans and with young video gamers attracted to their old-school […]
Entering the Escape Room Game
The popularity of location-based escape room games—where several friends are locked in a room for an hour and must solve clues and puzzles in order to free themselves—has been on a steep rise since 2012 in the U.S. and since at least 2010 abroad. (The first such game launched in Japan in 2007.) From 2010 […]
School Spirit
Last week, the annual conference of the International Collegiate Licensing Association (ICLA), one of several collegiate marketing organizations administered by the National Association of Collegiate Directors of Athletics (NACDA), took place in Orlando, Florida. Some of the key topics of conversation, both in the presentations and informally, included: Retail challenges. Collegiate licensors are, like all […]
Girl-Power Properties Proliferate
Girl power continues to be a strong theme among entertainment/character properties for all ages, with new examples still entering the market and a number of ongoing initiatives performing well at retail. The trend takes a number of forms: Properties with casts featuring multiple female lead characters, such as Genius Brands’ SpacePop. Properties with female characters […]
Going Virtual
Property owners have been licensing virtual reality applications since at least 2015, with activities intensifying in 2016 as the major high-end VR headsets were released. The number of deals seems to be proliferating quickly this year as more licensors become interested in and comfortable with the technology and as more consumers are able to experience […]
Getting Around
Last month’s Licensing Expo was a reminder of the many types of vehicle-based licensing programs, beyond the familiar world of car brands, that are up and running. Examples of those spotted at the show (and a few that were not exhibiting), include: City transportation systems. Transport for London (The London Underground), which recently retained TSBA […]
Asian Ascent
Each year, the profile of character properties from China, Korea, Malaysia, and other Asian territories grows at Licensing Expo. There are new exhibitors, the booth sizes increase, and more licensors spin off from their respective countries’ group pavilions to oversee individual booths. Some, such as South Korea’s LINE Friends—a set of characters from a text […]
The Many Manifestations of the Maker Movement
Licensing International Expo, which took place last week in Las Vegas, highlighted once again how much the DIY/Maker Movement has permeated licensing, especially on the character and celebrity sides of things, over the past few years. Some of the properties that can be seen as expressions of this trend—each in its own way—include: Lauren Riihimaki, […]