TOTAL LICENSING

Total Licensing Spring Issue - Call for Editorial!

2012-01-18T15:35:00.000Z

***IMPORTANT CALL FOR EDITORIAL -
2012 SPRING ISSUE OF TOTAL LICENSING***
The deadline for this issue is 16 February 2012
Don’t miss your chance to feature in what will be our biggest Spring issue yet, which will be published mid-March.

Key features:

Children’s Publishing
Children’s Television and Animation
Australia Special Issue (see below)

Territory Spotlights:

Italy
France
Nordic

In addition to its regular distribution, the magazine will see bonus distribution at:

MIP:TV
Bologna Book Fair/Licensing Fair
Kazachok Licensing Forum
Cartoons on the Bay

Key features:
Children’s Publishing
This feature will cover classic well-known properties that have come out of a publishing base and also take a look at publishing products using licenses from anywhere in the world. As Bologna Book Fair continues to grow, this feature ties-in well with the wide ranging scope of licensing in the publishing sector.

Children's Television and Animation
This feature will focus on children’s television and animation, with a focus on MIPTV, which takes place 1-4 April 2012 and is the international spring market for showcasing TV in all its forms. If you are exhibiting or visiting the fair with your licensed properties, don’t miss your chance to be in this preview.

Territory Spotlights:
Italy
Brand new for 2012, and launching at the Bologna Book Fair, Total Licensing Italy is intended to highlight the best of ‘Made in Italy’ both to its domestic market
and, importantly, to overseas markets.
Published in Italian and English, Total Licensing Italy is designed specifically to create dialogue between all aspects of the Italian licensing marketplace and overseas markets and contents and editorial will be designed to cater for this. Each issue will focus on different aspects of the business and spotlight brands, licensed products, retail and specialist services. This magazine has the same deadline as the Spring issue – 16 February 2012.

France
Taking a look at the French marketplace and previewing the Kazachok Licensing Forum, if you have French properties, or those which are licensed in the country, retail, product, broadcasting news, then send us information for the feature. This issue will see wide distribution at Kazachok Licensing Forum.

Nordic
An in-depth look at what is happening throughout the Scandinavian territories.

Worldwide News
In addition to feature material, do please make sure you update us with your latest licensing news. Our readers are in 104 countries around the world and this is your opportunity to let these licensees and retailers know about your licensing activities - literally around the world.

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***TOTAL LICENSING AUSTRALIA***
Deadline 1 February 2012

Total Licensing Australia, which is a supplement in the Spring issue, and a standalone publication at the Melbourne Toy Fair, is the only magazine which takes a complete look at the licensing industry in the country. If you are working in Australia or with Australian business, in every sector of the industry, then don’t miss your chance to be part of this issue.
The deadline for Total Licensing Australia is 1 February 2012
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In addition to its printed formats, Total Licensing is published digitally. To see past issues and subscribe free of charge to receive digital issues, please visit our website www.totallicensing.com
The deadline is 16 February 2012 at the very latest.

How to send information:

Please send information, with images in high resolution electronic files in jpg, eps or tiff format, to:
Becky Ash becky@totallicensing.com
Francesca Ash francesca@totallicensing.com

Or by post:
Total Licensing | 4 Wadhurst Business Park | Faircrouch Lane | Wadhurst | East Sussex | TN5 6PT | UK

For any queries, please do get in touch
+44 (0) 1892 78 2220 / +44 (0) 1892 78 2266

We really look forward to working with you in what is set to be our biggest Spring issue yet, as well as our satellite publications Total Licensing Italy and Total Licensing Australia!

Best regards

Becky Ash
Editor

Industry opinions on BLE showing positive response

2011-11-09T15:42:00.003Z

Brand Licensing Europe 2011 took place from the 18-20 October, and had busy halls and a good vibe, especially on the first and second days.

As a snapshot of the growing number of international visitors, Total Licensing received digital subscriptions at the show from people from 42 countries.

What did you think of Brand Licensing Europe 2011?

As opinions come filtering through and news of business deals signed and agreements forming, let us know how you thought the show went for you and your company.

Nichola Durbridge, The Copyright Group

Linda and I only re-acquired The Copyrights Group on 4th October so the new Copyrights' licensing team of myself, Linda, Polly Emery and Rachel Clarke had to hit the ground running for Brand Licensing Show. It was a busy and positive show for us with really good licensee meetings and strong international attendance. We received congratulations on the re-emergence of Copyrights from many licensees and fellow agents as we walked the show and this re-affirmed our belief that there is still a place for an independent service-orientated licensing agency in today's industry. We are looking forward to following up the many leads from the Show.

Roger Bull, Managing Director, Consultants in Intellectual Property

It was a very good event this year. I was really busy on day 1 and 2, didn't attend day 3.
General atmosphere very lively and happy, good catering and coffee. I'm saving up for Las Vegas next year. Well done to the team
--

Ian Downes, Start Licensing

I thought the show was fairly busy and seemed to deliver a good volume of visitors. We met new licensees, some retail buyers and of course existing customers. I think the latter category of visitors are important to acknowledge and the fact that BLE creates a really good forum to coordinate with existing customers. The show helps create focus and momentum. I would like to see some new categories of companies attend the show – I think licensing is mature enough now to push into new areas and sectors of business – for example people from the leisure sector.

I also think Advanstar/LIMA should consider a separate event which is aimed at suppliers such as Lawyers/Accountancy firms who can have a forum to sell to companies like our own. I am keen to met companies like this but not at BLE – I think it warrants its own market. I think an extra hour on day one and/or two would have been welcome. We would always like more retail visits but we did well in that sector – I do worry that retail buyers are restricted by pre ordained schedules and maybe we could open at 8am one morning for buyers only so they could walk the show. All in all a good show for us but I think licensees need to accept that licenses have a value and we can’t sanction no advance , no guarantee deals ‘because of the economy’ – Intellectual Property is a commodity that has a cost associated with it in terms of development , maintenance and ownership.

Richard Bickersteth, Managing Director, Looking Forward Productions

Our attendance at Brand Licensing Europe this year was focused on promoting the launch of the new preschool show Gombby’s Green Island from our Portuguese client Big Storm Studios, which is already securing strong TV ratings in Spain and Portugal. BLE felt much busier and far more international than last year. As a result it was the perfect event to introduce a client to the best in class licensing agents and toy companies from around the world. With such a strong attendance, one less positive thought crossed my mind: is the Licensing industry really bucking the trend of other industries or have we all got our fingers crossed behind our backs as we make those deals!

Eric Belloso, Bondi Band

BLE has been for some years already THE reference in the European Licensing industry. This year, the show confirmed this trend and the mix of quantity of people travelling over to London and the quality of decision making people attending the show made no doubt that this fair is by far the best show in Europe for our industry. Furthermore, the most important players of the parties involved in this business (licensors, agents, licensees and retailers) were attending the show and this create a great opportunity to meet everybody in three days without having to travel European or worldwide to see those people. Lastly, the dimension of this show makes it “human” and totally manageable with a rhythm of 30 minutes meeting. If you add to all those elements the great level of conferences, there is, at least from my side, nothing to complain about!! I’ll be back next year!!

Helen Howells, HoHo Entertainment

This year saw Hoho's first outing at Brand Licensing show and it was a big step to take for a small, new production company. But we had a great show and a very positive reaction to the launch of our first pre-school series, Cloudbabies. We will definitely be back next year - my only bug bear – having to try and organise next year's space right in the middle of the show.

Morag Lloyds

This was my first year with my own stand at B.L.E. As an artist it was a fantastic experience for me. It has opened up so many doors allowing me to talk directly to buyers, and to be able to show and discuss my work with some fantastic contacts that I just would never had had the opportunity to talk to had I not been there. I have learnt so much about art licensing in the process. The other thing I really found so helpful was meeting other artists and sharing experiences. I cant wait for BLE 2012.
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Luma Creative, creators of the Magic Belles
We're used to attending as prospective licensees, so this was the first year that we were on the other side of the fence. We have to say, it was a lot more fun being on this side! Hard work, but fun! We had a busy three days. The bulk of our meetings were pre-arranged through our agent DCD Publishing, but we also had a good amount of unexpected visitors - including some very exciting new contacts. I think it helped that we were new and that nobody had seen the brand before. It piqued peoples' interest.
The show seemed busy and we were surprised by the amount of Italians who visited our stand and who seemed to be wandering the aisles. It seemed like we weren't in London at times.
Day three was the calmest, which is what we were expecting, though it's when we had some of our strongest meetings. That said, we couldn't help thinking that two slightly longer days would be better than three - if only for our hoarse voices!
All in all, it was a great experience and we made some very promising contacts. We're already in the process of booking our stand for next year!
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Chris Jolly, Brand Director, The Feelings

Exhibiting for the first time with the launch of The Feelings at this year’s Brand Licensing Europe, we had a great reaction by many expressing that we had created something new and original which was long overdue. "The Feeling" we got from people was that they were bored of the same old properties with nothing new and original being introduced to Licensing, even re hashing many older properties to fill the gaps, its time for something new.

Cathy Snow, Trading Manager, RSPCA

As this was the first year our new style guide and licensed artwork has been available we (RSPCA) were cautiously optimistic regarding the response. So we were delighted at the overwhelmingly positive comments from potential licensees and retailers. We came away with plenty of new contacts and some fantastic opportunities. I don't think we could replicate the same level of interest at any other event.

Jane Garner, Director, Kilogrammedia

BLE just seems to get busier and better each year – most of our UK based clients exhibit and the feedback from them all has been very positive. The extra day is very useful and although people tend to look a little weary towards the end of the show it’s because they have been so busy which can only be a good thing!
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Angela Hall, MD of H&A

Brand Licensing Europe has become a key focus European event for the licensing industry and this year I found it continued to be well supported by UK and European visitors. We are well in touch with the industry and key trends, yet BLE is the perfect opportunity to refresh ourselves on licensing opportunities for H&A. As such, this year we found a brand which we had looked at some time ago and now feel there is a new possibility for us to use.

Emilee Feldman, My Mediabox

We noticed a number of new exhibitors and participants in attendance at BLE this year! It was a busy show that allowed a great opportunity to catch up with colleagues and peers within the industry as well as to connect with new ones. This year, more than ever before, we have noticed that participants are eager move forward with online applications such as My Mediabox.
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Fred Gaffney, Gaffney Global

Best show ever! Changing times. HIT/Mattel. Great fit. Many many opps!

Grahame Grassby, Stella Projects
Brand Licensing Europe is an important fair for the Australian market as many of the licensed products distributed in Australia are sourced from UK and European companies.
I really like BLE as it provides a great opportunity for the indie UK properties to be seen.
This year’s fair was upbeat and of particular note was Mattel’s acquisition of Hit Entertainment.
From a TV perspective both Fremantle and Zodiak seem to be doing really well at the moment.

Peder Tamm, President, Plus Licens
Having taken part at many fairs during the years, this was one of the best. It was a truly international fair and we could reach out with our world wide rights to clients from countries such as Brazil. China, Turkey and others. The fair proved to be very instrumental for us indeed.
Eva Brannstrom, Executive Vice President, Plus Licens

This years fair is bigger, has more visitors, it's bustling and growing in all the right directions. BLE is more and more becoming THE licensing show for the European Licensing industry. BLE might for us become more important than Vegas in the future. We were also glad to see many of our existing clients there, especially from Eastern Europe and Russia.

Saphia Maxamed, LIMA Member Services Manager

Another successful show for us this year. I met up with a number international visitors. Our returned members from Russia and Japan were among those with hectic schedules.
Interestingly, I spoke to a number of Middle Eastern companies and I am looking forward to see the growing numbers of visitors from that part of the world.
It was also very nice to see LIMA global networking party - living up to its name- (gathering an international audience)
Thanks to all attendees who made the party such a success - we will definitely host another party at BLE 2012.

Jane Kennedy, Head of Sales, Consumer Products, Zodiak Rights
This year's show was very busy and there was a very positive feeling about the place, the atmosphere really was buzzing. All the attendees, brand owners, licensees and buyers alike, seemed to be very active, busy and enthusiastic which is always a great sign. Deals were being done on the stands and it was great to see retail attendance was high again this year. The third day was still generally quieter, however it gave us a change to accommodate all the walk up enquiries we had on the first two days. It’s also good that it fell after MIPCOM this year as we were really able to give the most up-to-date TV sales info to support our brands.

Sandra Vauthier-Cellier, 4Kids/4sight:
We got quite a bit of walk up traffic which is a good indication that our booth displays work and people were intrigued to find out more about Max Adventures and Chicaloca. Having the dogs on the stand on Tuesday helped as well, they were an absolute hit with everyone and people enquired about The Kennel Club. We also had Max Adventures ice cream which was a good ‘ice – breaker’ (pardon the pun).

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Simon Kay AT New Media
Overall impression of the show: less people, higher quality leads. We prefer that.
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Tristan McGee. Hari’s World
Our primary focus for the event was to attract Hari’s World Licensing Representation however aside of our programmed meetings there was an encouraging level of interest from those walking by and experiencing the opportunity of the Hari’s World Brand for the first time and we are now amidst a positive follow-up!

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Rob Corney, Bulldog Licensing
This year's BLE was a superb show. Perhaps the pre-show expectations were lower than normal given the bigger picture in the economy, but it seemed like the most positive show for years with both licensees and retailers actively seeking out new opportunities to bring excellent brands and innovative product to market.

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Morten Geschwendtner, Ink
The show went very well for us. We believe the attendance was up when looking at people from our markets which is positive. Compared to Vegas, where we mainly meet licensors, at BLE we meet licensors and licensees together and deals are initiated. The present economic situation makes people focus on the long term brands where the risk is not as big as new brands…
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Kirsty Guthrie, Pip the Cat
We had a fantastic show with the very best of visitors – both licensees and retailers. The state of the current economic market was discussed with many but there doesn’t seem to be the doom and gloom outlook that there was over a year ago. Overall impression of the show. An excellent show for Pip the Cat. The best so far!

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Janet Woodward JELC:

The show was surprisingly buoyant and busy, and we were delighted with the response. For a small company such as ours, BLE is a huge commitment and it is always a relief when it proves successful for us.

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Vickie Corner, V&S Entertainment
BLE 2011 was our debut outing for Everything's Rosie and we had a very positive response. We had a superb reaction from existing licensees, potential new licensees and retailers which goes to show that despite the current economic climate, if a property strikes a chord with the licensing community and its consumer fanbase then it will make a mark.

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Matthew Reynolds, Pedigree
I felt it was a strong turnout and it was great to see key retailers attending across multiple categories. There is obviously the wider economic situation hanging around us all, whoever you are big or small. However big brands & licensing are always key tools to build your way out of these challenging times, this is particularly important to Pedigree as securing the best licenses is a key part of our company purpose and ongoing strategy.
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Carole Postal, President, CopCorp Licensing
As an American agency exhibiting at BLE, we were able to meet with partners and potential partners not just from Western Europe but also Central Eastern Europe, Eastern Europe, the Middle East, India and even Australia at this show. Even though BLE is smaller than Licensing Expo in Las Vegas, we come to London every year because we know we’ll get to see many people who don’t go to Vegas. Meeting people in person is still important to us. When building and growing successful global licensing programs for non-media properties such as It’s Happy Bunny, Pink Cookie, Barcode Kitties, Zoodorable, and Tom Arma, we know it’s essential that sub-agents, licensees and other licensing partners have a real affinity and genuine enthusiasm for our brands. Face-to-face meetings are still the best way to gauge and stoke that enthusiasm and that’s why we love BLE.
Jodi Gottlieb, Vice President – Licensing & Creative Services, CopCorp Licensing
This was the first time CopCorp has taken its own exhibitor booth at BLE so this was my first year at the show and I thought it was great. Traffic was good and the size and layout of the show were very manageable. Traffic was definitely slower on the third day but I used that as an opportunity to walk around a bit. I liked that there weren’t any gigantic booths since that made it much easier and more enjoyable to see and talk to everyone. We kept our own booth simple and focused but I think it was also very effective having our various properties – including It’s Happy Bunny, Barcode Kitties, Crusade, Fiona & The Funky Pirates, (not so) Scary Monsters, Pink Cookie, Ringling Bros., Tom Arma, and Zoodorable – all together in one place for people to see.

Roger Bull, Owner, Consultants in Intellectual Property Ltd

It was very buzzy this year. Good for me and enjoyed the atmosphere generally. Attended first two days.

Nigel Crick

I was a first timer on Tuesday and I really enjoyed the show. Met loads of people I didn't expect to see. There seemed to be a good positive atmosphere. I will be visiting again next year but for more than a day.

Lauren Sizeland, Director of Business Development & Licensing, V and A Licensing

It was a great show. It felt as if there were more visitors and we were positioned in the same place, so a fair comparison year on year.

The economy wasn't influencing conversations - the enthusiasm for the V&A brand and associated opportunities was the overriding interest for us

I think international attendance increased from Eastern Europe and USA.

There were disappointingly few retailers - I understand all the gift buyers were in Hong Kong for the Mega Show, as it's the key trade show for gift buyers to attend.

However, we had good walk-up traffic. The majority of our visitors were not expected and much more worthwhile than in previous years

Although the third day started quiet, the day picked up - partly because it's the day I arrange meetings in advance, so makes the most of an otherwise potentially quiet day. Interestingly it was better overall than the third day at Licensing Expo!

As the early morning, particularly on day 2 and 3 are relatively dead and many meetings needed to continue after 5pm, it would make sense to change the hours to start at 9.30 or 10am (which would also help avoid the hideous travel experience exhibitors have to arrive before 9am) and finish at 5.30 or 6pm.

We've signed up for a stand in 2012.

Mark Kingston, Nickelodeon
There was a fantastic atmosphere and a real buzz at BLE this year. With great attendance across licencees, retailers & promotional partners, the three days were a massive success. From Nickelodeon’s point of view we wanted to showcase our portfolio, build our partnerships and make a statement about our intentions for the year ahead. We definitely achieved on all these levels. Our diaries were filled with back to back meetings with key partners and retailers, we generated some great business opportunities and made a number of news announcements about our new deals. BLE is an invaluable event in the calendar and we’re looking forward to next year already.
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Industry opinions on BLE.. continued

2011-11-03T09:27:00.001Z

Brand Licensing Europe 2011 took place from the 18-20 October, and had busy halls and a good vibe, especially on the first and second days.

As a snapshot of the growing number of international visitors, Total Licensing received digital subscriptions at the show from people from 42 countries.

What did you think of Brand Licensing Europe 2011?

As opinions come filtering through and news of business deals signed and agreements forming, let us know how you thought the show went for you and your company.

Nichola Durbridge, The Copyright Group

Roger Bull, Managing Director, Consultants in Intellectual Property

Ian Downes, Start Licensing

Richard Bickersteth, Managing Director, Looking Forward Productions

Eric Belloso, Bondi Band

Helen Howells, HoHo Entertainment

Morag Lloyds

Chris Jolly, Brand Director, The Feelings

Cathy Snow, Trading Manager, RSPCA

Jane Garner, Director, Kilogrammedia

Angela Hall, MD of H&A

Emilee Feldman, My Mediabox

Fred Gaffney, Gaffney Global

Best show ever! Changing times. HIT/Mattel. Great fit. Many many opps!

Saphia Maxamed, LIMA Member Services Manager

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Janet Woodward JELC:

Après MIP

2011-10-07T11:32:00.005+01:00

MIP Junior and MIPCOM, that took place in Cannes, are over for another year, and aside from the beautiful weather, the general consensus from the industry is very positive.
The aisles were packed and many people noted to Total Licensing the sheer volume of 'new' that was around. New animation, either sourced from existing properties or completely new; new programming; and of course, new technology, giving everyone a feeling that times, they are a'changing.
It was also very interesting to attend some of the conferences held in the Russia House area of the exhibition (154 Russian companies attended the show) and here about the market that is now emerging to the rest of the world.
Visitor and exhibitor levels are at their highest since 2007 - another encouraging sign. The usual quote of celebrities attended, including Kiefer Sutherland and Ashley Judd, adding to around 12,500 people in attendance.

Total Licensing UK Launches!

2011-09-21T12:22:00.006+01:00

Welcome to the latest magazine in the Total Licensing portfolio!

As Brand Licensing Europe 2011 fast approaches, we would like to introduce you to our brand new magazine, Total Licensing UK, which is available to view digitally, with the printed edition hitting your desks next week.

This new magazine, which will be available at the show as a standalone copy, and will also be inserted into the main Total Licensing Autumn/Fall issue so that all of our 80,000 readers will be able to read it, takes an in-depth look at the comprehensive UK market, with breaking news, company profiles, brand updates, a look at British licensees, and much more, plus our biggest ever BLE preview to date.

It is important to us at Total Licensing to ensure that our readers are kept up to date with what is happening in the industry, and this is one of the reasons we launched the new magazine. There will be further territory-specific magazines added to our growing portfolio over the course of the next year as well.

You can view Total Licensing UK here:

The Total Licensing Autumn/Fall issue is also available digitally, and printed copies will reach you by next week as well.

In this issue, we have an in-depth look at the huge global trend for 'nostalgia' and all that encompasses, sports branding and licensing, breaking news, opinions from industry executives, spotlights on Russia and Japan, and much, much more.

You can also pick up this issue at BLE - it's one of our biggest to date - and view it by following this link:

The Licensing Awards 2011

2011-09-15T15:30:00.005+01:00

We attended The Licensing Awards on the 13th of September, and a top evening was had by all. A record 1300 guests were in attendance, with comedian Greg Davis (headmaster from The Inbetweeners) as host. Licensing Source Book as ever did a fabulous job, well done!

Here's a list of all the winners:

Best Licensed Toys or Games Range

Star Wars Talking Plush Range from Underground Toys

Best Licensed Dress Up or Party Range

Sesame Street Dress Up Costumes from Smiffy’s

Best Licensed Children's Apparel Range

The Gruffalo SS11 Range for Sainsbury's TU from Brecrest Babywear

Best Licensed Adult Apparel Range

Where’s Wally? Underwear and Nightwear for Next from Somerbond

Best Licensed Written, Listening or Learning Range

Peppa Pig Electronic Learning Range from InspirationWorks

Best Licensed Paper Products or Stationery Range

Star Wars Classic Poster and 3D Poster Range from GBeye

Best Licensed Giftware Range

Hello Kitty Nerdy Range from Blueprint Collections

Best Licensed Home Décor, Tableware or Housewares Range

Sophie Conran Buckets Of Fun from Burgon & Ball

Best Licensed Food and Drink Range

Nando’s Food Gift Range from Kimm & Miller UK

Best Licensed Brand Range

Red or Dead Bicycle Collection from Raleigh

The Innovation Award

Volkswagen T1 Camper Van Tent from The Monster Factory

Best Pre-School Retailer of Licensed Products

Asda (includes George@Asda)

Best Kids Retailer of Licensed Products

Best Brands Retailer of Licensed Products

John Lewis

Best Direct Selling Retailer of Licensed Products

Amazon

Top Retailer Award

Best Pre-School Licensed Property

Fireman Sam

Best Schoolers/Tween or Teen Licensed Property

Ben 10

Best Brand Licensed Property

JCB

Best Sports Licensed Property

London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games

Best Celebrity Licensed Property

JLS

The Best Classic Licensed Property

Star Wars

Best Licensed Marketing Communication 2011 Award

Mr Happy Should've Gone To Specsavers from Chorion

Honorary Achievement Award

John Sinfield

A snapshot into the Korean marketplace

2011-07-21T09:31:00.007+01:00

The five-day Seoul Character and Licensing Fair opened on Wednesday alongside the Asia Animation Forum all held, as in recent years at the impressive Coex facility in the heart of the Korean capital.

To those from outside Korea, the show is a curious mix of business to business and business to consumer. The first two days are primarily aimed at the business community whilst the latter three attract over 200,000 consumers – mostly young children.

As with many shows this year, a high percentage of the properties on view were pre-existing; many were shown here last year or in previous years. A notable exception to this rule was Sunwoo who launched their Angry Birds program at the show.

Amongst major multi-national media companies, only Cartoon Network had a presence though representatives from Disney and others were involved in the concurrent Bizmatching sessions where buyers meet experts from around the world.

On the show floor however, the event seemed if anything more Korean and less international than in previous years. Amongst the 200 or so exhibitors there is only a handful of non-Korean exhibitors.

The emphasis, more than ever, was on preschool in general, and vehicles of one sort of another in particular. Samg had a major presence for their Vroomies property which now has over 100 licensed properties whilst Iconix previewed Tayo the Little Bus and Hong-Kong based Good Link focused on Ming the Minibus. Additional vehicular properties include Ava Entertainment’s Heroes of City and Roi Visual’s Robocar Poli.

As you would expect in Korea, the latest technology played its part with properties for gaming and communications and Apps all in evidence and a number of licensees exhibited mobile and tablet accessories and skins.

The show, supported by Government agency Kocca and other official partners is keen to attract exhibitors and more visitors from overseas. However, in essence it is still a very Korean event. More attention needs to be paid to dual-language badges, signage and information along with a structure which will attract the business community before the event before the show will achieve it’s aim to any great extent. If it is a snapshot of the Korean marketplace you are after, this show is the place to be. If you are looking further afield to Asia in general, Hong Kong in January is probably a safer bet.

This week for TL - South Korea, and the RSPCA

2011-07-19T11:57:00.004+01:00

This week, Total Licensing is exhibiting at the Seoul Character & Licensing Fair in South Korea.
The show has been running for nine years, and is a gateway into the Korean, and Asian, content market. Attendance stands at nearly 200,000, with around 200 national and international exhibitors.
The show is organised by the Korea Creative Content Agency (KOCCA), Coex, and sponsored by the Ministry of Culture, Sports & Tourism.
Check our newsletter for news coming out of the show.
In addition to this, this week Total Licensing also paid a very interesting visit to the RSPCA in Surrey, to meet with the team responsible for the refresh of the licensing programme. With help from JELC, the RSPCA is really generating interest as a brand.
In 2010, the licensing and retail partners generated enough income to buy enough food for all the animals in 39 centres, and pay the yearly running costs for one rehoming centre and 10 animal hospitals.
This is yet further evidence of what a diverse industry we work in, and that licensing has moved on beyond recognition, in many areas, than when it first began.
A thanks from us to the kind people at the Chobham branch who took the time to show us the good work they do there as well - although we did manage to come away empty handed! (For now).

Licensing show - more opinions rolling in!

2011-07-01T13:32:00.001+01:00

The Licensing Expo International, which took place at the Mandalay Bay in Las Vegas, is over for another year. Below, please find some comments from those who also attended the show.

Some of the strong themes from the 2011 show included the continuing trend for nostalgia, and of course many more companies making the foray into gaming.

The International Licensing Excellence Awards took place and winners included Victoria and Albert Museum and Dom Perignon, Hello Kitty, Discovery Communications/The Joester Loria Group, and Toy Story 3 which took the title of Best Licensed Program of the Year.

Opinions varied strongly on the show, with many people claiming that the show had regained some of the positivity and momentum of previous years, and others citing disappointment at the lack of anything ‘new’ in the halls.

The majority of people spoken to agreed, however, that the meetings and talks that were held were all worthwhile - the recent years’ economic downturn having the converse effect of meaning that only people who were there to do serious business attended the show.

Please find comments below from executives from Skechers, Eone Entertainment, King features, Scholastic, Bulldog Licensing, Muhammad Ali Enterprises, Baby Genius, Kilogrammedia, Little Airplane, Start Licensing, V&A, Chorion, MyMediabox, The Wildflower Group, Oxford Limited, CPLG, Penguin Group, Space Enterprises, INK and JELC

What others thought of the show…

“Licensing Expo 2011 was an enormous success for Skechers. With a growing entertainment initiative, very strong public visibility of our brands, and a major press release strategically released on the Monday before the show announcing our licensing agreement with Li & Fung; we were not only booked completely with appointments, but also enjoyed the luxury of a vast array of walk-in prospects that appear, at face value, to be quite promising. Traffic at the Skechers booths, located on one of the main aisles, was very steady. We were particularly excited to welcome visitors from all points of the globe who showed substantive interest in exploring licensing programs for Skechers, Skechers Fitness and Skechers Entertainment. We were impressed not only with the quantity of visitors received, but with the quality of the companies they represented. As a result of our exposure at Licensing Expo, we look forward to announcing many more licensing deals in the near future.”
Paul Flett, Senior Vice President, Global Licensing - Skechers USA

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“Definitely a worthwhile trip, it’s essential to have a presence at this show – it’s expected. Particularly with Peppa just taking off in the US, it was a good chance to showcase the brand. On the UK side, some licensees only make global license agreements so it was great to revisit conversations with potential licensees with US now as a potential too – the feedback was very positive. It’s great to meet up with licensees (both existing and potential) to update on all of our properties, as well as retailers of which there was a very high presence this year. We’ll be back next year.”
Hannah Mungo, Head of UK Licensing – Family, Eone Entertainment

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"In light of the economy, King Features had an excellent Licensing Show. People were there to do business. And aside from the continued growth of our classic properties like Betty Boop and Popeye, King Features enjoyed heavy traffic on high end properties like the art of Romero Britto and our latest exclusive project with Bloomingdale's featuring Vintage Beetle Bailey....

a celebration of classic comic art and high fashion coming this October."
Frank Caruso, Vice President, Creative, King Features

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“The Licensing International Expo has grown in stature and professionalism since it first moved to Las Vegas three years ago. The show provides a valuable opportunity to meet with potential partners from around the world and for attendees to share in the excitement of the latest merchandising and licensing campaigns. I was impressed by the energy and enthusiasm of the participants and the attendees. We found it to be a worthwhile experience.”
Leslye Schaefer, SVP of Marketing and Consumer Products, Scholastic Media.

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“Licensing Show was a phenomenal success for us... Gogo's is now the biggest-selling collectable brand across US retail including Walmart, Walgreens, etc. and so the traffic to the stand was unprecedented as licensees and retailers recognised the sheer scale of the opportunity with a brand which has already taken most other major territories by storm. Right across the Bulldog portfolio, we have top-performing brands, whether we're looking at LIFE and Shoot which have been selected right across top fashion outlets and major gift retailers in the UK through to Monkey which has been picked up extremely widely at retail. International trade was very strong for us with brands like Goochicoo which is now rolling out its UK success into other areas of the world and it was great to meet with a number of the top UK retailers. In fact, I think the only negative about the whole show for us was the fact that the numbering of the floor plan had once again been outsourced to Fibonacci as 'clear' and 'consecutive' were too obvious for Licensing Show.”

Rob Corney, Director, Bulldog Licensing

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“Although it appeared to me that foot traffic was down from previous years, Muhammad Ali Enterprises had a great show. We had a very positive response from licensees and potential partners as we shared our new ALI70 campaign for 2012 and lots of productive meetings.”
Kelly C. Hill, VP Worldwide Licensing, Muhammad Ali Enterprises, LLC

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"It could have not been a better attended show. The show had it all, anything and everything was possible to achieve. From licensing partners to the highest level of retail and strategic partners, our potential success was unlimited.
The Freedman service at the show was fantastic as well. That was a ton of planning.
Thanks to everybody for a job well done.”

Howard Balaban, Founder and Executive VP of New Business, Pacific Entertainment Corporation – Creators of the Baby Genius Brand.

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“As ever the show was very busy for us – most of our clients either exhibit or attend and we’re always keen that they meet with as many members of the press as is viable. I thought perhaps the aisles were a little quiet at some points but also heard that there was a lot of ‘real’ business being done. As ever Eye Candy and The Mix Bar were popular evening hangouts although a bad cold meant that regrettably I saw less of the social life than in previous years.”

Jane Garner, Director, Kilogrammedia PR

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"Licensing Show was like a pinball machine, complete with bells, flashy lights, and the adrenaline that always comes with trying to get the high score. It was an exhilarating three days and, from my point of view, the industry feels healthy and upbeat and ready to roll the dice on exciting new brands, particularly those with a strong on-line presence."

Josh Selig, Founder and President–Little Airplane Productions

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“My view was that the Show was more subdued than before and from a UK point of view less well attended - I would caveat that by saying I was a visitor not an exhibitor but I felt the bigger stands were starting to dominate the show to the detriment of other exhibitors and offsite meetings were impacting floor traffic. Bang on the Door had a stand and did well with visitors from 'emerging' markets such as Brazil - indeed for them markets such as Brazil are showing rapid growth and a good approach to innovate. This is one of the values of this show it does bring together the international community and it is a gateway to international markets - that said as more shows crop up and shows like the London Show are more successful it will be difficult to maintain anequal momentum for all shows. I also felt for such a glitzy city that the show hall , the fabric and structure looked a little tired and it could benefit from some thought in terms of making it a better 'display' venue.”

Ian Downes, Start Licensing

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“We that we found the show quieter than last year. We were in a different location and probably one with a generally lower footfall, so that may be the reason for it being quieter for us. However, on the positive side, a higher proportion of those who enquired seem to be valuable leads for us to follow up and after all we want quality rather than quantity!

It seemed there was a much smaller contingent from the UK also. Perhaps that's because the shows in Europe are more effective and therefore less need for Vegas.

Obviously, I was delighted that we won the LIMA award for Best Art Licensed Brand of the Year and I hope that will help leverage our endeavours to expand into the US.”

Lauren Sizeland, Director of Business Development & Licensing, V&A Licensing

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“This year’s Licensing Expo was even busier than the 2010 show. We had back-to-back meetings with agents, licensees and other partners from around the world. It was particularly interesting to see a growing number of retailers attending the show. As coordinated cross-category licensed programmes become increasingly important, retail buyers want to experience the industry firsthand at Licensing Expo while tracking brand developments and new trends.”

Bettina Koeckler, SVP Licensing EMEA at Chorion

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“This year's licensing show was a great success for Mediabox. The show had it all- from animal mascots parading the show floors to otters and penguins adding to booth decor. We had back-to-back meetings with potential customers and it was great to catch up with our current clients. Our booth was in a great location and it opened a lot of opportunities for us to meet a variety of attendees as they stopped by to grab information and to see what Mediabox is all about.
The show always serves as an invaluable opportunity to learn what is new in the industry, to meet people from around the globe, and to share how Mediabox can help with licensing efforts. We are looking forward to next year's show!”
Caitlyn Blizzard, Sales and Marketing Coordinator, My Mediabox

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“Licensing Show was busier than ever, though the halls seemed strangely empty. We were really happy to see such buzz around Moshi Monsters and Peppa Pig both launching in North America. As always, it was great catching up with licensors and agents outside the UK, not to mention the late nights with colleagues from London. Gaming companies had a much bigger presence this year, and we left the show with two brands in particular that we really, really want to publish. Fingers crossed!”
Eric Huang, Publishing Director, Media and Entertainment, Penguin Group

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"Overall, we found the Licensing Expo to be very good for The Wildflower Group. Girl Scouts of the USA, Pillow Pets, Natural History Museum, and Bunnies By The Bay continued to generate a lot of buzz for us as we finished up pending deals and opened up discussions on new product categories. There was a lot of excitement for our two newest properties – the world-famous Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and the popular app Cut the Rope – especially since mobile apps is a growing category for licensed content, and Cut the Rope is one of the top-selling apps."

Michael Carlisle, principal of The Wildflower Group

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“This was my first trip to the Licensing Expo in Vegas representing the University of Oxford licensing programme and hopefully it won’t be my last. I had an opportunity to meet all our international agents as well as licensees such as Discovery Bay Games at or after the show – it’s great to put a face to a name when you’re new in a job! Plenty of information was exchanged from product and range updates, to the latest news and developments from Oxford Limited, as well as a couple of contracts too. Parties, dinners and drinks kept me more than occupied after the show and of course Vegas itself did not disappoint at all – sunshine, sightseeing and shopping!”

Hannah Aspey, Licensing & Brand Manager, Oxford Limited

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“The Saturday Virgin flight was filled with a good mix of Licensors, Licensees and retailers and this was reinforced with good meetings in and around The Mandalay for the official three days of the show. I hope to be back there next year.”

Mark Hurry, Space Enterprises
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“Overall impression of the show: From the feedback I got, the general feeling seemed to be that there were fewer people at the show than last year and not much ‘buzz’. However, our actual experience as an exhibitor on the Plain Lazy stand was slightly different. It’s certainly the case that we did not have huge numbers of unsolicited meetings. However, those meetings we did have, were with very solid, reputable companies with a genuine interest in the Plain Lazy brand.”
Jane Evans, JELC
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“Making the trip to Vegas is always very valuable for us because it is the one time in the year when we get to see the full line-ups of our biggest partners from the US and consequently the only opportunity we have to show them to our customers. We would have liked to see more of our customers going, but it is a long and expensive trip and several are only attending BLE in London this year.”
Peter Schnohr, Ink
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“Was it a worthwhile trip: Absolutely 100% worthwhile – imperative part of CPLG’s calendar and “Job Done” further cementing our relationships with both licensees and licensors Globally.”
Tim Juckes – CPLG

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“Definitely a worthwhile experience from an acquisition, new business, retailer and manufacturer prospective. This show gathers companies from around the world under one roof for 4 days so from a practical stand point, very easy, efficient and was a very productive trip! This trip also gives us the opportunity to catch up with peers and partners and get updates on trends and industry changes.”

Sandra Vauthier-Cellier

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“While there is serious business to be done on the show floor there is also serious business to be done after hours! It’s a great opportunity to network, catch up with old friends, discuss general business and have fun. For me it was all about the international aspect – and though obviously great to see such a strong British contingent of licensees especially – it was the opportunity to build international relationships. It also provided the opportunity first hand to get a real flavour of the US domestic business, which often sets the benchmark for us on this side of the pond.”

Susan Bolsover, CPLG.

Licensing show: What the industry thinks - updated

2011-06-27T09:39:00.004+01:00

The Licensing Expo International, which took place at the Mandalay Bay in Las Vegas, is over for another year. Below, please find some comments from those who also attended the show.

Some of the strong themes from the 2011 show included the continuing trend for nostalgia, and of course many more companies making the foray into gaming.

What others thought of the show…

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a celebration of classic comic art and high fashion coming this October."
Frank Caruso, Vice President, Creative, King Features

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Rob Corney, Director, Bulldog Licensing

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Howard Balaban, Founder and Executive VP of New Business, Pacific Entertainment Corporation – Creators of the Baby Genius Brand.

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Jane Garner, Director, Kilogrammedia PR

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Josh Selig, Founder and President–Little Airplane Productions

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Ian Downes, Start Licensing

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It seemed there was a much smaller contingent from the UK also. Perhaps that's because the shows in Europe are more effective and therefore less need for Vegas.

Obviously, I was delighted that we won the LIMA award for Best Art Licensed Brand of the Year and I hope that will help leverage our endeavours to expand into the US.”

Lauren Sizeland, Director of Business Development & Licensing, V&A Licensing

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Bettina Koeckler, SVP Licensing EMEA at Chorion

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Michael Carlisle, principal of The Wildflower Group

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Hannah Aspey, Licensing & Brand Manager, Oxford Limited

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Mark Hurry, Space Enterprises
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Sandra Vauthier-Cellier

Licensing show: What the industry thinks

2011-06-22T11:21:00.010+01:00

The Licensing Expo International, which took place at the Mandalay Bay in Las Vegas, is over for another year. Below, please find some comments from those who also attended the show.

Some of the strong themes from the 2011 show included the continuing trend for nostalgia, and of course many more companies making the foray into gaming.

What others thought of the show…

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

a celebration of classic comic art and high fashion coming this October."
Frank Caruso, Vice President, Creative,King Features

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Rob Corney, Director, Bulldog Licensing

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Howard Balaban, Founder and Executive VP of New Business, Pacific Entertainment Corporation – Creators of the Baby Genius Brand.

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Jane Garner, Director, Kilogrammedia PR

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Josh Selig, Founder and President–Little Airplane Productions

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Ian Downes, Start Licensing

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It seemed there was a much smaller contingent from the UK also. Perhaps that's because the shows in Europe are more effective and therefore less need for Vegas.

Obviously, I was delighted that we won the LIMA award for Best Art Licensed Brand of the Year and I hope that will help leverage our endeavours to expand into the US.”

Lauren Sizeland, Director of Business Development & Licensing, V&A Licensing

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Bettina Koeckler, SVP Licensing EMEA at Chorion

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Licensing show: WHAT OTHERS THOUGHT...

2011-06-21T15:46:00.006+01:00

What did you think of the show? Was it a worthwhile trip?
Over the next few days we will be gathering the opinions of people across the industry, to give a rounded view of how the licensing industry viewed the show.
Check this space...
or email becky@totallicensing.com to give your views

Getting ready for Licensing Show

2011-05-23T10:59:00.006+01:00

Everyone's gearing up for Licensing International Expo 2011, to be held in Las Vegas. In our Summer issue, which will be out soon, we've got a huge show preview, packed with information from the exhibitors and what you can expect to see at the show.
Also in the Summer issue, you will find features on Celebrity Licensing, our regular 'Origin of the Species' article, territory spotlights on Latin America (Mexico, Columbia and Brazil), South Korea, Spain and Portugal, Israel, and Russia. We also celebrate P&L's birthday, as well as Mr. Men and Little Miss' 40th.
If you don't subscribe already to receive the issue digitally, as well as the weekly Total Licensing Report, then it's really easy to do so by simply following this link (you can also subscribe to recevie print issues of all of our titles too): http://www.totallicensing.com/subscribe.php
If you are heading to Las Vegas and would like to make a meeting so we can catch up on your latest news, then do get in touch!
http://www.totallicensing.com/contact.php

Royal Wedding proving good for business... as well as the country

2011-04-27T16:43:00.005+01:00

Following on from our Spring issue article on the Royal Wedding merchandise, the wedding is now two days away and the UK has gone mad for Royal nuptial mania. Is this a bad thing? No way, agree most experts.
The amount of revenue brought in from tourism, entertaining, merchandise and everything else is adding to the sense of national pride and the fact that for once, the papers are filled with what many would deem to be good news, instead of the usual.
The national day off for most on Friday has meant three short weeks in a row, and apparently up to a third of the UK workforce has taken the three days off between Easter Monday and the Wedding off. This has been labeled bad for small businesses and the economy in general - however, with the marriage predicted to be watched by an estimated 2 billion people around the globe, and the money brought into the country projected to be in the hundreds of millions of pounds, most people agree that this is only a good thing for the country. What do you think?

Spring issue now live!

2011-03-18T16:11:00.010Z

The Spring issue of Total Licensing is now live, and can be viewed here.

Total Licensing Spring

This packed issue includes features on Children’s Publishing, Bologna and Kazachok Previews, territory spotlights on Italy, France and Nordic, a Kidz Entertainment special, The Wiggles 20th Birthday celebrations, a look at the Royal Wedding Licensing, the countdown to the 2012 Olympics, Little Charley Bear, the Origin of the Species, and of course the Total Licensing Australia magazine – plus much, much more.

Happy reading!

For information about future issues, please email becky@totallicensing.com

http://viewer.zmags.com/publication/40a74a67

Total Licensing Winter Issue - now live

2011-01-19T14:06:00.006Z

You can view the Winter Issue here:

http://viewer.zmags.com/publication/45762a67

This issue, features include Toy fair previews and a look at the toy industry, Movies and Entertainment, Video Games, Music Licensing, Origin of the Species, as well as industry profiles and opinions from LIMA, Smiley, Hari's World, Bright, Hasbro, 2WayTraffic and many more.

Countries and territories comprehensively covered in this issue include South East Europe, Russia, Taiwan, Dubai, South Korea, India and Italy, among others.

For information about the upcoming Spring issue, which also includes Total Licensing Australia, please do get in touch, with becky@totallicensing.com

Happy reading!

The joys of international travel (Dedicated to the thousands of people still stuck at London’s Heathrow Airport after four days)

2010-12-21T14:36:00.002Z

When we tell people where we travel to in the world in the course of a year, most seem not only impressed but we often get the “I wish I could travel like that” look in their eyes.

Well, let me tell you…. It’s not all it’s cracked up to be. Not that many if not most of the places aren’t great. The problem comes when it involves one or other of our British airports or our road system which clearly can’t cope given any change of circumstances.

Now the British are known for facing adversity with strength of character. But, whereas the bombing of World War II failed to deter us, the lamentable ability of our airports to cope with a few centimetres of snow is enough to break any spirit.

Personally, we have had two very different experiences in the last month. Late November and we were in Dubai when the first snow fell in England. The airports – specifically Gatwick this time – closed for days on end and, as we were flying back into Gatwick, we arrived for our connecting flight in Doha with some trepidation.

Qatar Airways, with whom we were flying, were nothing short of magnificent. Our Gatwick flight was cancelled but, unlike the thousands camping currently at Heathrow Airport at the mercy of other airlines, Qater immediately rebooked us on a flight six hours later to Heathrow (which was open), booked us into a five-star hotel, fed us, breakfasted us and transported us back to the terminal in time for our flight. Not only that, when we arrived at Heathrow, a bus was waiting to take us to Gatwick. And it’s not as if we were flying first class. Everybody, from coach to first was treated the same.

Forward two weeks and we went to Zagreb for meetings. Snow fell again on the day of our return. We managed to land at Luton Airport which was still open (Heathrow had closed by this time) but, despite only a couple of inches of snow, it still took us six and a half hours to drive 80 miles. Not a snow plough or gritter in sight… and these were on major roads.

We were lucky… we made it back. Had we been travelling into Heathrow, we would still be in Zagreb or would have been re-routed (as we have heard from others) to handy destinations such as Rekyavik or Majorca!

The next time anybody says international travel is glamorous, remember not to travel anywhere near the UK during winter and, if at all possible, fly Qatar Airways!

We wish you all a very Happy Holiday season and hope to see you in the New Year.

Move over Captains Cook and Scott.... here comes Berrington!

2010-11-15T14:24:00.004Z

“Driving from Athens to Zagreb…how hard can it be?”

It will be a long time until Paul Berrington, CEO of leading Greek agency Black & White Licensing is allowed to forget this, following his intrepid journey through the Balkans to speak at the Licensing New Europe conference in Croatia.

Instead of taking the perhaps easier route of flying from Athens to Zagreb, he elected, complete with colleague Panos Iatridis, to drive. Armed with an Alfa Romeo 159 Touring, Google Maps on his phone and a road atlas of Yugoslavia (yes, a pre-1992 map), they set off at 3.45am on Wednesday 10^th November.

The first few hours, we understand, were relatively painless. However, the decision to drive through Albania (he’d never been there before) was to prove an interesting one. Many of the roads were little more than dirt tracks, resulting in a flat tyre, in the middle of nowhere, in the dark. Albania turned into a tale of three rivers, made more difficult by torrential rains. The first was crossed after an hour of JCB work on it. The second had around of a foot of water and the third was washed away. By the time they retraced their steps, the first bridge was covered in water. Our intrepid travellers made it across this but, not without incident. By now, not only had a tyre been damaged, but the poor Alfa had damaged wheels.

Undeterred, by the loss of the wheel trim and wheel in Northern Albania, our travellers continued, travelling partly through Bosnia before they were back in Albania.

At this point, the organisers of LNE who were expecting them on the Wednesday evening, received a phone call. Fortunately, ever-helpful as they are, they were able to direct our travellers towards a route that would prove less traumatic.

Finally, they reached the Montenego border and, from that moment, were able to make great progress (tyres and wheels notwithstanding), before reaching Zagreb, to much applause, on Thursday afternoon.

Of course, now came the problem of the car which was definitely not as Alfa Romeo had intended. Again with the help of Creata, the LNE organisers, the car was taken to an Alfa garage. But the story didn’t end there. On the way to the garage, as a result of the pounding it had received through Bosnia and Albania, two tyres burst and the sorry Alfa arrived at the garage on a pick-up truck.

The return journey, it has to be said, was far less eventful. Whilst they were stopped by the police in Serbia, everything else worked fine and the duo reached Athens in the early hours of Sunday morning. In all, they travelled 3,500km, crossed eight borders, had three flat tyres, two broken wheels and were stopped by the police twice.

It just shows how intrepid the licensing industry can really be. But a word of advice….. next time, please take the plane!!

Total Licensing heads to Croatia and Taiwan

2010-11-05T10:22:00.006Z

Next week, Total Licensing will be samplings the delights that Croatia has to offer, at Licensing New Europe, which by all accounts is looking to be a fantastic show, with exhibitors including 20th Century Fox, Warner Bros, Cartoon Network, Fremantle Media Enterprises, Europacorp, Vipo and Bruno Productions, as well as top licensing agents including Kidz Entertainment/EEMC, European Licensing Company (ELC) and Plus Licens.
It was recently confirmed that the Croatian president Ivo Josipović has given the show his official backing.
Not sure if David Cameron will be doing the same for Brand Licensing, although it is an important point to make that sometimes, people outside of the licensing industry are not aware of what a revenue-driver licensing is.
Total Licensing will simultaneously be traveling to Taiwan next week, to visit the Taiwan International Cultural and Creative Industry Expo, which will be a fascinating look at the country and it's culture. For a country so renowned for manufacturing, it will be very interesting to see the country's take on licensing.
Then, comes the Winter issue. Check our website for detailed info on the features and other things coming up.

Brand Licensing 2010 - The Round-Up

2010-10-01T11:16:00.012+01:00

The industry is in unanimous agreement that Brand Licensing Europe 2010 was a great success, with packed halls, a lot of news coming from the show, and the third day proving itself needed.

Much anticipated were the views from Andrew Davenport, and also the London 2012 commercial team.

Many listeners to his speech were curious as to what Davenport would say regarding the rumours of In The Night Garden’s demise, however he stated that the brand is being taken to new areas, and hinted that music would be key.

He also gave solid advice, including that children’s programmes are often most successful when adults don’t understand the appeal; and that a commercial programme must be tailored to be relevant. He spoke about his young exposure to licensing, and how this helped him to connect with an audience that is still learning.

The LOCOG was the focus of The Big Interview, and featured featured three key members of the London 2012 team: Charlie Wijeratna, director of commercial negotiations, Simon Lilley, head of licensing and retail and Warren Traeger, licensing manager, toys, games and souvenirs. It was hosted by Kevin Roberts, the editorial director of SportBusiness Group, and was followed by a Q&A session from the floor. More than £650m of domestic sponsorship revenue has already been raised nearly two years before the event. Licensing royalty revenues are anticipated to generate approximately £80m, with over 50 licensees who will produce around 10,000 products for the Games. There will be a range of London 2012 shops opening, and retail sales are expected to be in excess of £1 billion.

There was a huge amount of news and deals generated at the show, and below is a round-up of some of these.

Nickelodeon UK launched a wide campaign for Dora the Explorer’s 10th anniversary. To encourage the UK to be more adventurous Dora’s Beyond the Backpack Foundation has been set up from which British public of all ages can apply for adventure funding. The campaign is fronted by Jade Jagger.

Nickelodeon Consumer Products announced the appointment Trudi Hayward as its new vice president for UK & Australia regions, to take over from Clare Piggot.

Chorion unveiled the newest addition of the Little Miss family, Little Miss Princess, at Brand Licensing Europe.

Classic Media and Tiger Aspect announced new industry-wide scheme to aid children in Africa. Both Classic Media and Tiger Aspect Productions will contribute a portion of their net profits to the fund, known as the Tinga Tinga Tales Fund.

Classic Media also announced that it has secured a multi-territory broadcast deal with Nickelodeon for its tween series Life with Boys.

As part of Rocket Licensing deal with Dreamworks to represent the UK theatrical release of Puss in Boots in 3D, Olympian fencer Alex O'Connell challenged members of the licensing industry to two minute fencing bouts. Rocket are well known for their challenges at BLE, with previous events including Conker fights and Scalextric races.

Chapman Entertainment announced a new partnership with MV Sports & Leisure for its two new properties launching on CBeebies, Little Charley Bear and Raa Raa The Noisy Lion.

Big and Small, the Kindle Entertainment pre-school TV property on CBeebies, revealed details of Big and Small’s Big Tour 2010, the first tour across the UK, taking in five locations this October half-term to meet fans.

Hidden City Entertainment, the rights holder for Bella Sara, announced a deal secured with Handcraft Manufacturing Corporation to design and produce Bella Sara-themed packaged and hanging underwear for girls. Hidden City also announced partnerships with NTD Apparel and Edizioni Play Press S.r.l.

Saban Brands has appointed international agents for the Power Rangers, who were in full force at the show, greeting guests and showing how Saban is planning to bring them back in a big way. The property is set for a worldwide brand re-launch in 2011.

The agents are Copyright Promotions Licensing Group for Western Europe, Kidz Entertainment for Scandinavia/Eastern Europe, Haven Licensing for Australia/New Zealand, Segal Licensing for Canada, Character Licensing & Marketing for South Africa, Exim Licensing for Latin America (excluding Mexico) and The Rutherford James Group for the Middle East.

Zodiak Rights, the new international rights business combining RDF Rights and Zodiak Entertainment Distribution, appointed a licensing agent for Mr Bean in India. Kids Media India Pvt Ltd has been appointed to represent Mr Bean in India across all merchandise categories excluding DVD and publishing. Zodiak Rights also launched Qpiz, a worldwide multi-platform brand aimed at teen girls. The property is being developed into a series of animated shorts, an online world, a video game and publishing. Zodiak also announced the expansion of its licensing team with the appointment of two new positions. Emily French Ullah takes up the role as UK Licensing Manager, reporting into Jane Kennedy, Senior Licensing Manager while Gaby Dior has been appointed International Licensing Manager and will report into Angeles Blanco - Head of International Licensing.

ITV Studios secured a number of new partners for primetime drama Coronation Street, with product rollouts to coincide with the series' 50th anniversary. A 50th anniversary event was held at the show, and the new licensees include The Royal Mint, John Wood Nurseries, DMC Creative World, Kinnerton and Iron Gut Publishing.

HarperCollins Publishers announced new merchandising deals with Woodmansterne Publications Ltd and Bluebird Brands, resulting in an extensive new range of Collins Gem-branded greetings cards, stationery,bags, umbrellas and mugs, due to hit the retail market during Autumn/Winter 2010.

Other new merchandising deals just announced include McLaggan Smith Mugs, Green Board Games and Arnold Wills.

Animaru won the License This! The Next Big Thing challenge at the show, winning a fully-furnished stand at Brand Licensing Europe 2011.

FremantleMedia Enterprises (FME) announced a raft of new licensing deals for Rebecca Bonbon.

Italian licensee Sicem International will be developing 200 SKUs of ladies’ and girls’ fashion apparel including t-shirts, sweatshirts, fleeces, trousers and jackets. The apparel will initially launch at Oviesse retailers in January 2011. JF Ramos, FME’s first local licensee for Rebecca Bonbon in Portugal, will be producing a range of girls’ apparel covering everything from sweaters to nightwear, as well as distributing stationery including folders, notebooks and pencil cases. The products are set to launch in February 2011 across multiple retailers in Portugal.

Twentieth Century Fox Consumer Products announced new product partnerships for The Simpsons.

Among the number of licensing deals, high street retailer New Look will retail boys t-shirts made by Blues Clothing, while Primark will stock children’s underwear supplied by Somerbond. Retailer Next will continue the Ladies of Springfield nightwear range, supplied by Aykroyds, and will extend the selection to include footwear from Brand International.

Halsall Toys International, meanwhile, will launch a range of pocket money toys for 2011, and new partner Robert Frederick will be bringing branded storage boxes and adult stationery to market.

Licensee DNC will extend its Back To School offering beyond lunchboxes, in a new partnership with Fox and a new stationery partner.

Lavish Rights completed its ’100-day plan’ at the show and announced that Luv Me Buddies was met with success, with several deals in place.

The Licensing Company announced a deal with Chrysler Group, picking up the rights as worldwide licensing agency for the Chrysler and Jeep brands.

Toei Animation hosted an award night honouring European licensing brokers in the categories of “Best Licensing Award,” “Best Promotion,” and Managing Director of Toei Animation Europe SAS. The winners were: Best Licensing Program -- Backstage for Sailor moon; Best Promotion - TF1 Licences for Dragon Ball; and Best Involvement - Plus Licens for Dragon Ball and One Piece.

Bang on the Door announced that it has now signed its 100th contract for its properties, and that Trusty will be seeing a lot more exposure in places such as SpecSaver.

Character World scooped an award at EN Magazine North West Entrepreneur of the Year Awards. The company was named Most Entrepreneurial Company of the Year 2010.

Bamforth, with its archives of thousands and thousands of retro images, particularly the famous seaside-saucy images, was at the show for the first time, looking for partners.

Hakan Canta made its debut at the show, with its back-to-school licenses for Marvel and other companies on show and some interesting insights into the cultural differences between back-packs in different countries!

What were your views on the show? Did you sign any deals? Do you think having the third day was a good idea?

Let us know at becky@totallicensing.com

Brand Licensing - day 1

2010-09-28T14:35:00.000+01:00

It's the first day of the show and things are looking great. The halls are busy there's a buzz in the air. Will it still be there on day 3? There have already been plenty of announcements made, with many more expected. Check the newsletter for latest news! And we are here at stand C001 - pop by and say hi and get a free subsciption!

Staying star power? Tenuous celebrity brands

2010-09-07T11:39:00.008+01:00

Showing the tenuous nature of celebrity branding, yet another highly regarded star is seeing the potential losses after a fall-out in his personal life.
Yes, Wayne Rooney looks set to lose a few sponsorship deals after some sordid details were published in the UK Sunday papers this week.
Why do they do it? Has Tiger Woods' fall from grace in such a spectacular manner taught them nothing?
Thus, the nature of celebrity branding. Rooney and his wife Coleen, dubbed the new 'Posh and Becks', have become a power-brand in terms of licensing deals, but of course this image is built on Rooney being the all-round family man. Naturally, most of us in the business take this with a pinch of salt, as no-one is perfect, and a brand is an image rather than a personality - but still, when nearly every celebrity worth their salt is now a brand, with huge amounts of merchandise, a lot of revenue comes from this. Of course, it's not just footballers, but, being the tabloid fodder that they are, and building up huge programmes around them as brands, the harder they seem to fall.
This all being said, of course, there are some celebrities who have made a turnaround from a scandal and even seen the said scandal boost their popularity. Paris Hilton, fresh from another white powder scandal, is still a huge brand, and became perhaps even more so after her stint in a Los Angeles jail. Kate Moss saw deals dropped and then new ones formed after her own 'fall from grace'. Jordan, aka Katie Price, Kerry Katona, and Britney Spears all lurch from, if the media outlets will be believed, one disaster and drama to the next, but their brands are still strong. The Kardashians are the latest family on everyone's lips, alongside the Gosselins - and even the Palins, with their teenage-pregnancy-parents-split-then-make-up-then-split-then-he-sells-his-story-and-pictures-of-himself-barely-clothed-to-Playgirl story was huge news, and has seen Bristol and Levi talking about several possible deals. The fact that teenaged Miley Cyrus is linked to a few scandals doesn't seem to hinder her image with fans - quite the opposite in fact. Footballer Ashley Cole's philandering ways have helped to turn his now ex-wife Cheryl Tweedy into a super brand, as public sympathy goes a long way. George Michael bounces back, often, from drink-driving and other charges, and of course, Michael Jackson's fame saw no bounds after court cases brought against him by minors detailed every inch of his personal life.
Of course, there are many salubrious celebrities who have become brands out there without their personal lives being splashed out across the News of the World, National Enquirer, or every other country's version of a tabloid - but who is everyone talking about, at the end of the day?

Declining birth rate in Korea? Don't believe it!

2010-08-05T12:54:00.001+01:00

The Seoul Character and Licensing Fair closed last Sunday, having attracted a substantial number of trade visitors, as well as upwards of 100,000 children and adults!

The show, held in Seoul's impressive Coex Centre, featured two days exclusively for trade, followed by three days where the public are invited to visit. And visit, they did! By the thousand. According to demographic research, Korea has a declining birth rate. It has to be said that, witnessing the influx of small children into the show first hand, it is very difficult to believe!

Interestingly, whilst exhibits are geared to business on the opening days, by the third day many of the booths were transformed to include a wide variety of activities for small children. Some booths - such as AuroraWorld whose Yoohoo & Friends has been immensely popular and Iconix who continued to feature hit property Pororo, had long lines of children patiently waiting for their chance to go onto the stands.

The huge Pokemon stand was another extraordinary example. The majority of it was open to the public for the full five days and the queues were constant throughout the event. Rows of tables were continuously busy with children (and some adults) playing the trading cards and also the electronic Pokemon games.

One fascinating East meets West property was an animated character - Captain Park - based on Manchester United's Korean soccer player Park Ji-Sung who is also Captain of the South Korean national team. The booth attracted huge interest, particularly from small soccer-mad boys.

All told, the fair was fascinating. Properties that are immensely popular in Asia, but are virtually unknown in the West were very much in evidence and the market research provided by the tens of thousands of preschool children was invaluable.

Christmas already?! Planning ahead...

2010-07-23T16:16:00.003+01:00

Yesterday Total Licensing popped in on Disney's Christmas retail showcase, which was interesting to see, product-wise, and some trends were confirmed, etc. It goes to show that in the midst of warm weather (in this hemisphere anyway) you have to always be planning ahead. Two members of the team are in South Korea, at the Seoul Character Fair. Today, (Friday) 150,000 small children 'invade' the show, in a clever move to see exactly what children will gravitate to, months before anything reaches shelves.

Not sure how well that would go down at other shows...

Call for Editorial! Autumn/Fall issue

2010-07-05T11:38:00.002+01:00

Don't miss your chance to submit editorial for the Autumn/Fall issue of Total Licensing.

Important features:

Brand Licensing Preview
Sports Branding and Licensing
Preschool in the UK
Hong Kong Licensing Show Preview
unusual Uses of Licenses

Territory Spotlights:

UK
Germany
China and Hong Kong
Japan

Bonus Distribution around the world:

Brand Licensing 2010
MIPCOM/MIP Junior
Licensing Market Germany
Italian Licensing Forum
Character Licensing Dubai
Licensing Factory Croatia
Hong Kong Licensing Show
Creative Tokyo

Deadlines:

Edit: 20th August 2010
Ad material: 7 September 2010

Licensing Show 2010 branded a success

2010-06-22T15:30:00.006+01:00

Now that we've all had time to let the dust settle and our memories of brightly flashing lights and the constant 'ching' of the casino fade, thoughts of the Licenisng Show are still with us - and the overwhelming response seems to be that the show was a success.
The tone was different to the year before, there was a positive feel and while several people noted that the halls still looked less than crowded, this seemed to mean to many that the time wasters hadn't shown up, instead, people looking to do real business were in the aisles.
This year, there were over 500 exhibitors and thousands and thousands of brands on show. The buzzwords of last year - 'economic crisis', 'downturn' and 'recession' were heard much less. Consumer spending is of course down, but this has meant that business has become savvier. Many of the films coming out over the next couple of years are part of franchises, as people are still sticking to what they know. There appeared also to be a trend towards sustainable products - not just on the green side of things, but products and brands that will stand the test of time, through education and integrity.
By now you will probably have read the news that emerged immediately from the show, and we will keep you up to date on further deals and trends.
Did you notice anything particularly strong at the show? Were they are trends or key products that really stood out for you? If so, we'd love to know. Email any thoughts to becky@totallicensing.com

Total Licensing Summer issue...

2010-06-01T13:41:00.004+01:00

... is now live and in print. Enjoy!

Click here to read.

Air miles, rackin' em up! (Volcano allowing)

2010-05-21T11:31:00.005+01:00

The Licensing Show in Las Vegas is fast approaching, and we can't believe it's come around again so quickly. It's been quite a year for the industry, and the show will undoubtedly reflect the positives the we're seeing.
Here at Total Licensing our feet have barely touched the ground. No sooner have we returned from the Surtex show in New York, put the finishing touches to our Summer issue, than we will be off again.
It's great, really. Volcanic ash or no volcanic ash, most of the licensing industry will converge in a couple of weeks and we very much look forward to seeing you there.
On a completely different note, you may note from our Summer issue that TL has an office puppy - Oliver, who is a black flat coated retriever, but does more bounding and chomping than retrieving. This will also give us an excuse to get out into the sunshine for lunchtime walks, of which there are many pretty ones near our East Sussex office.
And it's sunny - so sunny it almost feels like Summer, just in time for the latest issue of our mag, which has a Licensing Show preview alongside maps, exhibitor details, etc, territory updates on Latin America, Iberia and South Korea, and features on Automotive, Museum, and Celebrity Licensing. Now if that pesky ash cloud would only clear out of the sky permanently, it should give you something to read on the plane!

Total Art Licensing Summer is now live

2010-04-30T10:17:00.006+01:00

Total Art Summer Licensing is now live, an important read in the run up to Surtex and Licensing Show

Total Art Licensing Summer

Vive la France

2010-04-07T16:51:00.003+01:00

Over the next ten days, we'll be at Kazachok in Paris and MIPTV in Cannes, hopefully sipping cocktails in the sunshine on a yacht (it's a hard life). The two shows are set to be interesting and busy, so we'll keep you posted with our impressions of them and as usual, all news and information.
Don't forget as well, we are currently working on Total Art Licensing Summer issue, and the Summer issue of Total Licensing, which includes, among many other features, an in-depth Licensing Show preview, has an editorial deadline of 20 April.
Au revoir!

Spring issue now live!

2010-03-17T15:01:00.003Z

Check out our Spring Issue which includes Total Licensing Australia, Toy Fair Reviews, territory spotlights in France, Italy and the Nordics, a feature on Children's publishing, a look at Latin America's stationery market, regular news, columns, and updates, and much, much more.

Australian Toy Hobby and Nursery Fair

2010-03-11T08:59:00.001Z

The 45th Australian Toy, Hobby and Nursery Fair opened today, Thursday 11th March, with the presentation of the Product of the Year Awards.
Lego was a winner this year with Awards for best preschool product for their Lego Duplo Play with Numbers together with an Award for best game.
On the girls’ side, prehaps predictably, Zhu Zhu Pets New Generation from Hunter Products won the Award and the boys’ toy of the year went to Paper Jamz Guitar, again from Hunter. Paper Jamz, in fact, won overall Toy of the Year for 2010 which appeared to be a popular choice amongst the attending audience.
On the licensing side, the Australian Toy Association, organisers of the fair and the awards, have three specific licensing awards – boys, girls and preschool. Licensed boys toy of the year went to Lego for their Harry Potter Hogwarts Castle whilst Disney Fairies Super Studio picked up the girls’ award. The preschool award went to RC2’s Wooden Thomas set – which was also named overall Licensed Product of the Year.
Walking the aisles of the fair it became fairly clear that not only were dress-up costumes (particularly those for girls in pink and glitter) popular categories but remote controlled vehicles in all shapes and forms from basic small cars to the super-techno helicopters and gunboats – presumably aimed more at fathers than their small sons.
Wooden toys, too, have a strong presence at the fair as well as games – more so than electronics. And outdoor toys were in abundance, from bikes and trikes to garden trampolines and other activity products.

It's Toy Time... and Total Licensing Australia is now live!

2010-02-18T16:21:00.013Z

Toy Fair season has been in full swing, and we are preparing our in-depth Toy Fair reviews for the Spring issue, which is due for publication in the middle of March.
Total Licensing has just returned from New York Toy Fair, which was a busy and colourful show, with new trends emerging; as was the London version. Hong Kong and Nuremberg equally saw interesting trends, and the overall mood of the industry seems to be positive for the year ahead.
We're off to the Australian Toy Fair next, and it will be interesting to see what is new in the continent, but before that we are finalising our Spring issue, which includes the Total Licensing Australia magazine including Brand Spotlights and Property Profiles. The main magazine will include the aforementioned Toy Fair Reviews, territory spotlights in France, Italy, and Nordic, a MIP TV preview, Children's Publishing feature, among others, and will be distributed at Kazachok, Bologna Book Fair and MIP TV.

Click here to read the latest Total Licensing Australia.

Winter issue of Total Licensing live!

2010-01-22T12:27:00.010Z

The Winter issue of Total Licensing is now live!

Including features on the Middle East, South East Europe, Retro, Music Licensing, Toy Season, opinions from across the board in a Licensing Roundtable, news, features, and much much more.

Click here to view the Winter issue of Total Licensing

Busy times ahead

2010-01-05T10:35:00.003Z

Happy New Year to you all.
2010 has been labelled by the British Press as ‘the year of hope’, which has a nice ring to it.
For Total Licensing, January marks the start of a busy year. The Winter issue of Total Licensing is packed with important features such as a look at emerging markets in South East Europe and the Middle East, examining why retro properties are so popular, an industry roundtable with opinions from several heads of industry, 2010 birthdays, toys, music licensing, and much, much more.
We will be at the Hong Kong Licensing Show from 11 January, the Toy Fairs in London, New York and Nuremburg, Spring Fair in Birmingham, and generally adding to our extensive air miles collection! We will also this year be broadening our market further with several new partnerships around the world, so watch this space.

Very Happy Holidays to all!

2009-12-22T09:57:00.000Z

All of us at Total Licensing would like to wish you a very happy holiday season and a great start to 2010. For many people, this will mean taking a few days to relax with family and friends, with maybe a spot of over-indulgence along the way. Great Britain is currently labouring under a great deal of snow, which has caused chaos and delight in equal measure, and we know that this has been the case for many people in the USA and other countries - although the UK seems to have come to a complete standstill because of the white stuff! Hopefully everyone will make it to their destinations on time and actually get a bit of rest over the holidays.
We hope you have a great start to 2010 also, and very much look forward to seeing you in the New Year!

Coming together for Children in Need

2009-11-23T11:07:00.000Z

By now, many of you, especially in the UK, will have seen the extravaganza that is Peter Kay’s single aimed at raising money for Children in Need 2009, The Official BBC Children in Need Medley, from his Animated All Star Band.
The single is a medley of songs including Can You Feel It by The Jacksons, Never Forget by Take That, Tubthumping by Chumawamba and Hey Jude by The Beatles. It took 132 hours to mix the vocals of the seven different songs included, with the project taking around two years to complete.
The remarkable thing from a licensing point of view is the sheer number of characters that are singing together, complete with the original voice actors. Over 100 animated characters appear, with all companies involved waiving their right to a fee in support of Children in Need, with all money raised going to organisations working with disadvantaged children and young people in the UK.
One can only imagine the feat it was to bring all these characters together, and the companies involved are in deserve of full praise.
Some of the characters involved include Bob the Builder, Paddington Bear, Angelina Ballerina, Pingu, Sooty, Bagpuss, Thunderbirds, Muffin the Mule, Thomas the Tank Engine, Peppa Pig, and the video plays out as a who’s who of children’s entertainment, old and new.
Well done to all involved!

Leading the way

2009-11-02T11:26:00.000Z

Yet again, Total Licensing was leading the way into overseas markets as the only international licensing magazine to have a presence at the Dubai Character and Licensing Fair, held last week.
The show, held alongside the Dubai Games Expo, again proved that the Middle East has not only a growing creative industry but a significantly growing and sophisticated licensing industry based on local, as well as international characters.

Last year’s inaugural show was a deal struck between Nestlé and Tashkeel – owners of The 99 – for over a million dollars. This year, two major deals were signed at the show. The first was signed between Emari Toons, one of the regions biggest animation studios, and Speedy Productions from South Africa. The deal surrounds the South African company’s Know Your Nation – a series of two minute animated series which Emari Toons will produce 100 for each of the 22 Arab League nations.

Another major signing involved Lammtara and their Freej characters. Lammtara signed a strategic alliance with Al Hokair Group to launch the first of six themed merchandise areas in shopping malls throughout Saudi Arabia.

All told, the exhibition and attendant conference again provided a valuable snapshot of the industry in a rapidly emerging region. We’ve said, time and time again, that you can only understand a a country or a region by visiting it, talking to people and listening to what makes a market tick. That’s why we, and of course the magazine, have been at events around the world over the last twelve months and why we will continue to be there.

Sunshine, Seinfeld and Simpsons in Cannes!

2009-10-15T16:11:00.000+01:00

What a difference six months makes!
At MIP.TV in April, not only was the global economic issue at the forefront of most conversations but the weather seemed to understand the subdued mood and it poured with rain throughout the show.
Fast forward to October and MIPCOM and what an amazing difference. The sun shone and the mood was upbeat as executives focused on deals rather than economic crises.
With Twentieth Century Fox Television Distribution celebrating the 20th anniversary of ‘The Simpsons’ during MIPCOM, series creator Matt Groening drew a capacity crowd and an unprecedented standing ovation to his keynote discussions with ‘The Simpsons’ executive producer Al Jean and their host/moderator and ‘Super Size Me’ director Morgan Spurlock. Cannes Mayor Bernard Brochand declared Wednesday Simpsons Day in the city and Matt Groening received the inaugural MIPCOM Creative Icon Award the same evening.
Another American comic icon, Jerry Seinfeld, wowed hundreds of international buyers at MIPCOM with a stand-up set and the international unveiling of his new comedy-panel format ‘The Marriage Ref,’ created and executive produced by Seinfeld and Ellen Rakieten and distributed by Endemol.
With over 12,000 delegates in Cannes, MIPCOM registered an increase on the 11,500 delegates who attended MIPTV in April. Buyers were also out in force, with over 4,000 in town compared to 3,500 at MIPTV.

Brand Licensing a huge success all round

2009-10-02T09:23:00.000+01:00

We're back from Brand Licensing, which ran from 30 September - 1 October, and what a great show it was. By all accounts, everyone who exhibited and visited had an extremely busy and productive time. The show itself had a great atmosphere, with the aisles jam-packed and a real buzz around Olympia.
Quite a change from last year, where the key words in everyone's sentences seemed to be 'credit crunch' and 'economic meltdown'. Not so gloomy this year - either because things really are looking up for a lot of businesses, or because the industry has accepted that times are changing, and things have to change too. Either way, it was a good show for everyone that we spoke with.
From Total Licensing's point of view, we were so pleased that so many people were interested in the magazines, had a lot of positive things to say, and it was great to see familiar faces, and many new ones too. At one point we had representatives from Asda, C&A and Debenhams on the stand all at once, taking copies of the magazine away.
We were also pleased to introduce several people from various countries to curry one evening!

Licensing Factory, Segways, and New Europe

2009-09-28T11:55:00.000+01:00

Publisher Francesca and Director Jerry attended the Licensing Factory in Croatia last week, and aside from scooting around the aisles on Segways and Ferrari pedal cars and a member of the licensing industry dressed up as Dangermouse, found the show informative and beneficial. So much so that Total Licensing is going to run an important New Europe and Balkan States feature in the upcoming Winter issue.
These are up and coming areas, with great enthusiasm to continue the foray into licensing.
Francesca was also particularly honoured to be featured on Croatian national television, and in one of the country's newspapers - indeed, as she pointed out, on page 11 was an article and picture of President Obama making a speech, with Francesca following a mere 20 pages on. A media star at last!

Green credentials...

2009-09-24T14:52:00.000+01:00

We're pleased to announce the release of our latest issue, which you can read here:
http://publishing.yudu.com/A1g40k/tlautumn09/

And a brand new website!
http://www.totallicensing.com where you can find everything you’ve ever wanted to know about us, our publications, our ethos, edit schedules, advertising rates, how to subscribe to publications, newsletters and digital issues, details of important upcoming events, read archives, and much more.
Take a look!

It's a wide, wide... industry

2009-09-14T10:57:00.000+01:00

We’ve been a bit lapse with keeping up with the blog lately, due to deadlines, and members of staff thinking they deserve holidays etc (!), but we were delighted to attend and host a table at The Licensing Awards on the 10 September this year.
It certainly lived up to previous years, with just the right mixture of black tie formality, respect for the industry, and of course, fun and games. Highlights saw the entire room of 1000+ people break a Guinness World Record for the amount of people wearing a red nose in one room for five minutes, a game of ‘higher and lower’, which sadly saw Total Licensing and friends out by the first round, and of course wit from comedian Jason Manford.
Everyone scrubbed up very nicely indeed, and it was a pleasure to see so many people deservedly winning awards – so many congratulations to the winners, and to the nominees, for managing to flourish in tough times.
For a full list of the winners see www.thelicensingawards.co.uk.
The Autumn issue of Total Licensing is due out very soon, and it’s a whopper – 188 pages to be precise. This issue sees information from almost every corner of the world, including Dubai, Australia, Taiwan, Korea, Brazil, Hong Kong, Benelux and many more. The scope of licensing never ceases to amaze us, and this is reflected, we hope, in this issue’s variety – an interview with Buzz Aldrin, contributions from Al Jazeera, 20 years of the Wiggles, an interesting piece on Michael Jackson’s legacy, and Betty Bopp still retaining her stance as a sex-symbol, amid much, much more.

Kids Rule SK!

2009-07-28T15:14:00.000+01:00

The Seoul Character Fair, which was held over five days at the end of July, was quite an eye-opener and, in many ways, made those of us who attended from Europe and USA think about the style of trade events that we have on offer.
The event brought together, quite literally, all sides of the licensing industry, from licensor or agent, to licensee, manufacturer and retailer. Nothing much new there – that’s what most western trade shows endeavour to achieve.

Where the Korean show differed from, say, Brand Licensing in London or other events held around the world is that whilst the first two days of the event were trade only, the last three days combined trade and public.

As somebody who has attended exhibitions in many parts of the world this year, and as the only licensing trade magazine in attendance, the thought of an event overrun by children initially seemed horrifying and, if the truth be known, largely irrelevant.

But, when the doors opened on the third day and thousands of children and their parents and others came into the show, it really was an eye-opener. Seeing which properties and booths attracted the most kids was invaluable. What better market research than the reaction of over 100,000 children and others?

It made us think. We’re so used to a formula for trade shows that we don’t really consider alternatives. But the Korean way was, after all, the logical way forwards. It involved, quite literally, every side of the industry – beginning with the property owner and ending with the all-important consumer.

The PR value for property owners in giving out samples and leaflets was immense. If a child fell for a character during the show, he was more likely to ask for that character after the show.

The more one thinks about it, the more logical a move it is. After all, why should trade shows, designed for the licensing industry, exclude the most important part of the foodchain – i.e. the consumer.

Granted if anyone were to suggest reorganising Licensing Expo or Brand Licensing to allow for a public day, there would be an outcry. Why? Because most of us can’t imagine a deluge of children coming into a trade event. To be honest, a couple of weeks ago, I would have felt the same. Now, though, I’m hooked! There’s nothing quite like the genuine reaction of children to tell you if you have a potential winner on your hands!

Kids will be kids...

2009-07-22T15:48:00.000+01:00

Total Licensing attended the Licensing launch of Grandpa In My Pocket on the 22 July, and it was nice to see a live action children’s television programme that, while still giving an important message and embracing themes such as family, seems to be all about fun (whilst being highly appropriate, as 1.2m children in the UK are looked after by their grandparents).

The show looks at a happy nuclear family, which possibly indicates a trend back to traditions – for many years, and rightly so, some situational children’s television has looked at the diverse nature of the family in modern times, as many children live with step-parents, half-siblings, with single or same-sex parents. However, a ‘hark back’ to a traditional concept, where there is a boy, a (slightly wacky) mum and dad, and the loveable, titular Grandpa seems, at the same time, right, as around two thirds of children in the UK do still reside with a nuclear family.

So many children’s TV programmes and films include messages, be they of love, caring, or even deeper – the film Wall-E, for example, with its lonely robot cleaning up a desolate earth after the obese, constantly-stimulated inhabitants deserted it, is one of those films. It had a very deep and resounding theme, but you have to wonder – education is of course so important in entertainment, especially from a young age, but kids will be kids. Sometimes entertainment can come in just that form, without hammering home the message that we must be green, must look after our planet, must embrace diversity in all its forms, must be politically correct, etc. The closest some of us ever got to such messages in our childhood viewing was when Big Ears hopped into bed with Noddy, and ‘back in the day’ this caused a mild furore.

Goodbye heatwave?

2009-07-15T11:51:00.000+01:00

As the heatwave in the UK appears to be dwindling away, it seems apt that the process of putting together everything for our Autumn/Fall issue of Total Licensing is well underway. The Brand Licensing preview, like the show, could prove to be bigger than ever this year due to numerous factors including the fact that some people did not exhibit at Vegas for various reasons, and that some people really feel that Europe is ‘where it’s at’ right now. We’re putting together a Sports Update, and the volume of contributions as always has amazed us. Sports is a huge sector of the licensing industry, and the end of summer really feels a perfect time to run such a feature – with events such as Wimbledon still fresh in people’s minds, and so many other sporting activities that take place in the nicer weather of the Northern hemisphere, such as the Ashes.
We’re also running a Pre-School feature, and as we all know, this part of the industry is enormous, and just so very varied.
Territory spotlights for the issue include a UK special, China and Hong Kong, Benelux and Japan – all very different places with fascinating stories and trends emerging.
On the subject of trends, a very interesting one that seems to be ever-growing is the worldwide obsession with online networking sites, blogging etc. It will be very interesting to see what merchandise and deals are struck in the next few months and years.

Worth more dead than alive?

2009-07-02T15:00:00.000+01:00

Whether you’re in mourning for the ‘king of pop’ or not sure what all the fuss is about, there’s one thing you can be sure of – Michael Jackson’s estate is set to make a fortune after his untimely demise. Thriller has topped the charts decades after its first outing, items such as autographs and signed memorabilia are reportedly selling faster than ever, even dedicated website domains are up for grabs, and they’re not cheap.
I for one remember dancing badly around my bedroom using my hairbrush as a microphone to Billie Jean, but die hard fans bought and sold nearly 20,000+ items on eBay since Jackson’s death. Call me cynical, but people around the world are cashing in on what appears the be the biggest outlay of public grief since Princess Diana – R.I.P Michael mugs and t-shirts, glittery gloves (for one hand only of course) and special Fedora hats are cropping up everywhere. It just goes to show what power one single chap can have as a brand, and I predict, will have for many years to come.
This of course makes you wonder the sheer power of star quality – regardless of the star. Publisher and editor extraordinaire Francesca pointed out after a recent trip to Cuba that the image of Che Guevara is still prevalent – in fact it can be hard to turn the corner without seeing the iconic face symbolising for some, freedom and counterculture. It goes to show that you don’t just have to be a legendary actor or musician to have years of staying power. The original photograph was taken by Alberto Corda, and the current copyright status is still in a lengthy dispute. For a revolutionary activist to remain so alive in people’s minds and on their t-shirts is fairly rare – I haven’t bought my Karl Marx mug yet.
We covered some of the well-known figures such as Marilyn Monroe, Elvis Presley and Johnny Cash in the last issue of Total Licensing in our Legend and Celebrity spotlight. (http://content.yudu.com/A17u2r/TotalLicSum09/) Naturally, many of the best-loved icons with enormous brand power are still alive and well; The Beckhams and Paris Hilton are two that spring to mind, but you have to wonder if we will still be seeing their faces on everyday items in fifty years time.

Positive response from Vegas

2009-06-09T14:51:00.000+01:00

Now the jetlag has finally faded, time to reflect on the the recent Licensing Show, held for the first time in the Mandalay Bay Hotel, Las Vegas.
Obviously it is too early to tell how much business the show generated, but suffice to say, aside from the occasional grumble about the location, layout, etc, the industry threw itself into the new location and, on the whole, triumphed. One thing about this industry is the enthusiasm from individuals that comes across so clearly.
The trend many people noticed is that classics continue to reign, which is a sign of the times of course. Tried and trusted brands and characters, with known staying power, are much less of a risk, as we wade through the much-discussed credit-crunch. Evergreen properties can be seen as a safer bet, and there’s no harm in that. The film industry capitalized on this many years ago, remaking much-loved classics to varying successes. That said, we noticed a fair amount of the new and bold at 2009’s show that is definitely worth keeping an eye on. Have a look at this week’s Total Licensing Report for our and Licensing Book’s in-depth news from the show.
It was great to see names that had been absent from the industry make a return. Kenny Viselman debuted his new Oogieloves movie projects at a cocktail party, Vegas-style, and Fred Gaffney made a welcome return after a couple of years. Total Licensing saw some of its favourite characters such as Betty Boop, Heathcliff, Daktari and Tintin enjoy a resurgence.
We were also lucky enough to meet with and interview the legendary Tony Curtis, whom we featured in the summer issue of Total Licensing, and who is a very charming chap, full of enthusiasm for the show despite being there on his birthday. (Pictured above with star-struck editor, Rebecca Ash.)
Las Vegas provided a colourful backdrop for the show. Some people were seeing it with fresh eyes, some had been frequent visitors. And what a city it is. Everywhere you look, there is something to entertain. From the flashing lights to the grandeur of the hotels, from the pirate battles and volcano to the splendour of the Belaggio fountains, it is quite a spectacle. The dates for next year’s show have already been announced – the 8 – 10 June 2010.
What outcomes emerge from the show still remain to be seen, but we would like to congratulate everyone who participated, exhibiting and visiting, for shining in uncertain times.

Watch out Vegas...

2009-05-26T14:12:00.000+01:00

Well, it's almost time to pack the suncream, speedos and sunglasses, as we prepare to head over to Licensing Show's new home in Las Vegas. Are we excited? You bet. A new hosting city for the show, we hope, will wield positive results for exhibitors and visitors alike. Total Licensing has a jam-packed schedule, meeting with old friends and new faces at the show, as well as keeping an eye on new trends and products emerging. We hope that all of you attending have a really successful time (not just in the casinos) and do what this industry does best - work hard, play hard, and ultimately, forge the new relationships that keep business so strong. We look forward to seeing you there, and check this blog after we get back for any news and updates.

Total Licensing Digital Issue and Pinted Issue

2009-05-21T12:44:00.000+01:00

Our summer issue is out. It's a hefty one, but what do you expect from such an industry? Take a moment to look at our Licensing Show Preview for all the information you will need about the impending trip to Vegas, explore territories such as Latin America, Spain and Portugal, read the latest comment from industry insiders, get breaking news, see why Mickey Mouse has a new teaching position in China, uncover the key to licensing admin, and discover pro-active ways for the industry to protect itself in the current climate.

View the latest issue of Total Licensing by clicking on this link:
http://content.yudu.com/A17u2r/TotalLicSum09/

View the latest issue of Total Art Licensing by clicking on this link:
http://publishing.yudu.com/A17l13/talsummer09/

Happy reading!

Welcome!

2009-05-21T12:10:00.000+01:00

Welcome to Total Licensing's brand new blog!

Follow us for latest licensing news and activities from around the world, show reviews and so much more.