Toy companies are increasingly working with their direct competitors to refresh, extend, or strengthen their own brands. This would have been almost inconceivable in the past and shows how much the toy industry has changed over the past decade or more as players in this sector face numerous challenges: competition from video games, social media, […]
Tag Archives | Mattel
Better Together
Licensors have over the years become more flexible in how their IP is integrated into licensed merchandise, as they look for ways to keep their properties and products fresh and embrace ideas from their licensees on how to do so. A relatively new manifestation of this trend is some licensors’ openness to redesigning their corporate […]
What to Wear to The Barbie Movie
The licensing program for The Barbie Movie, set for a July 21, 2023, release, has more than 100 merchandise licensees on board, alongside a bounty of promotional partnerships, and it comes with high expectations for success. It is reminiscent of movie licensing programs of yore, which routinely had long licensee lists, although those would have […]
Asian Designers Shine in New Year Collabs
Each year, more marketers—of various sizes, working across categories and geographic regions—have been celebrating the Lunar New Year with collaborations involving designers, artists, influencers, and other creatives based or born in China or other Asian countries. This year is no exception. Among the many examples for the 2023 Year of the Rabbit, which began yesterday, […]
Think Pink
By Karen Raugust on November 10, 2022 in Character/Entertainment, Design and content themes, Fashion, Licensing
The current Barbiecore trend is thought to have gotten its start in 2019, fueled by fans on Pinterest and then Tiktok and Etsy. It has only gained steam since then. The brand, launched in 1959, has a midcentury-modern sensibility that is attractive to many consumers, as well as the nostalgic appeal of a favorite childhood […]
Bringing the Beats to Kids’ TV
A handful of classic rappers have made forays into the children’s entertainment and content arena, and sometimes into related licensed products, in the past year or so: Darryl McDaniels of Run DMC partnered with Nickelodeon and Paramount Global last November in a wide-ranging deal in which McDaniels lends his voice to the new Noggin series […]
They Are NFTs, Hear Them Roar
Women-led NFT projects are starting to proliferate, although they remain a small slice of a landscape that has been male-dominated to date. Female artists, for example, account for less than 16% of the NFT art market and just 5% of NFT sales overall, according to ArtTactic. Most of the female-led NFT projects are positioned as […]
Wrestling Groups Pin Down New Deals
Last week WWE announced a multifaceted partnership with Fanatics. This is just the latest in a string of initiatives that have surfaced in the past year or so involving wrestling-related IP. Properties and brands at the forefront include: WWE. Its long-term, global deal with Fanatics encompasses e-commerce (including a reintroduction of the WWE Shop); licensed […]
Just the Ticket
Rail stations, train lines, and railway museums are logical venues for certain experiential initiatives. Not surprisingly, a large percentage—although not all—of these ventures involve licensed entertainment properties that feature trains as characters, themes, or critical elements of their fictional universe. Four examples from 2021 and 2022 illustrate: Warner Bros. France paired with railroad company SNCF […]
Black Characters Star On Screen and On Shelf
By Karen Raugust on February 28, 2022 in Character/Entertainment, Content, Diversity/Inclusion, Licensing
As is the case every February, many product, promotional, and content announcements and launches involving licensed properties have been timed to Black History Month in 2022. The initiatives have cut across all property types and product categories. One particularly active space this year has been children’s entertainment and media, with new projects expanding representation for […]