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flip comes to the UK
08/20/10 | Posted by: Kelvyn Gardner | Comments: 0Eagle-eyed LIMA members will have already seen the addition to the events calendar of a flip networking evening in London during Brand License Europe 2010. We've been fortunate to secure the Wednesday night for this event, whilst adrenaline is still ... more
Leveraging the emotion of the moment
08/05/10 | Posted by: Marty Brochstein | Comments: 0All licensing is built around emotion. A brand might evoke trust, nostalgia, ruggedness or some other property. A character might play on humor, cuteness or some other feeling. Sports licensing is built on team identification, the classic logo, or ma... more
Is Comic-Con Too Big For Its Own Good?
07/29/10 | Posted by: Marty Brochstein | Comments: 5Yogi Berra – the Hall of Fame baseball player perhaps better known for his alleged malaprops than for his considerable playing skills – was once quoted as having said about a restaurant: “Nobody goes there anymore. It’s always... more
A personal reflection on Lois Sloane
07/21/10 | Posted by: Marty Brochstein | Comments: 1It says a lot about Lois Sloane that she chose to name her agency SloaneVision Unlimited. As a creative thinker and marketer, her vision wasn't limited to replicating that which had come before, but rather moved well -- to use a tired but appropriate... more
A visit to India
07/20/10 | Posted by: Marty Brochstein | Comments: 0I attended and spoke at a two-day Brand Licensing and Merchandising Show, staged earlier this month in New Delhi by License India. Licensing is still a relatively small business in India, and this event – more workshop and seminar than sh... more
TIA Asks Members To Thwart NYC Phthalate/BPA Ban
07/01/10 | Posted by: Marty Brochstein | Comments: 0The Toy Industry Association sent an alert to its NY-based members this week, asking them to contact City Council members urging defeat of a bill that would ban the use of phthalates and BPA in toys sold in New York City. The text of the TIA alert is... more
UK Spring Fling rocks again!
05/15/10 | Posted by: Kelvyn Gardner | Comments: 0A sunny Thursday in London and we're in town for the LIMA Licensing Essentials Course and Spring Fling.We've enjoyed record attendances for our last few seminars so we're all a little disappointed that we're down on numbers for the full day. On the p... more
Sean John/Macy's Deal Brings Questions For Licensees
05/06/10 | Posted by: Marty Brochstein | Comments: 0Today’s announcement that Macy’s has become the exclusive U.S. department store retailer of Sean John men’s sportswear is only the latest in a long line of retailer moves that is having a profound effect on the licensing busin... more
Iconix Gets A True Icon
04/27/10 | Posted by: Marty Brochstein | Comments: 0This morning’s announcement of the purchase of the Peanuts characters and United Media Licensing by a joint venture formed by the heretofore fashion-centric Iconix Brand Group and the family of Peanuts icon Charles Schulz is indeed ... more
Developing The Next Generation of Licensing Professionals
04/07/10 | Posted by: Marty Brochstein | Comments: 2I spent an interesting afternoon last week listening to Michael Stone’s guest lecture to 35 students in an MBA class at Boston University. The 90-minute lecture – initiated via an initial contact by LIMA -- was part of a branding course t... more
Kids Licensing Forum
03/25/10 | Posted by: Kelvyn Gardner | Comments: 0Just back from a hastily re-arranged trip to Bologna. Hastily re-arranged courtesy of the British Airways cabin-crew strike, but rearranged in different ways, too. I’ve been a regular visitor to Bologna in early spring since 1981, to the long-s... more
Great response from UK members to the international licensing awards
03/17/10 | Posted by: Kelvyn Gardner | Comments: 0This year LIMA has made a special effort to encourage wider participation in the international awards to be presented in Las Vegas in June. In previous years members could be forgiven for assuming that the awards were too focussed on North American c... more
Impression of Brand Licensing Central & Eastern Europe
03/12/10 | Posted by: Marty Brochstein, Kelvyn Gardner | Comments: 0The inaugural Brand Licensing Central & Eastern Europe earlier this week had a good buzz about it for its two-day run in Budapest. Though their goals coming into the show varied -– some were looking primarily to find new licensees, others m... more
Scripps Exploring "Strategic Options" For United Media
02/25/10 | Posted by: Marty Brochstein | Comments: 0U.S. media company EW Scripps said Tuesday announced that it's "exploring strategic options for United Media Licensing, the wholly owned character licensing operation of United Media. Among the possible outcomes of the exploratory process are a sal... more
Has Consumer Behavior Changed Fundamentally, Or Are New Tendencies Transient?
02/25/10 | Posted by: Marty Brochstein | Comments: 0There are probably as many opinions on the above question as there are consultancies (both are verrrrrrrry large numbers!). Here's an interesting U.S.-based one emanating from a consumer study done by Booz & Co. The company concludes that "A 'ne... more
Reflections from the trade show circuit
02/17/10 | Posted by: Marty Brochstein | Comments: 1In the midst of the early-year trade fairs around the world – stretching through Hong Kong to Nuremberg, London, Birmingham, Atlanta, New York and Las Vegas, among many others -- there seems to be a recurring theme: retail sales have slowly imp... more
Rick Isaacson
02/16/10 | Posted by: Marty Brochstein | Comments: 2Rick Isaacson, one of the true "characters" of the licensing business, who was a key builder of the sports licensing business as one of the earliest and longest-tenured employees of IMG, died over the weekend after a long battle with pancreatic... more
Just when you think you've seen everything
01/26/10 | Posted by: Marty | Comments: 0File this under "Just when you thought you'd seen everything involving rights issues..." Washingtonpost.com this morning has an article a suit filed ni France by infamous terrorist Carlos the Jackal to protect his image's use in a documentary on his... more
Canine Social Media
01/21/10 | Posted by: Marty Brochstein | Comments: 0Ran into an unexpected licensing application during a trip through Mattel's pre-Toy Fair sneak preview. Under its Radica brand, the company this fall will introduce Twitter-licensed "Puppy Tweets" -- a system that includes an electronic tag to ... more
Licensing in India Conference 2009
12/07/09 | Posted by: Kelvyn Gardner | Comments: 0I’ve recently returned from India where I chaired the second annual Brand Licensing Conference in Delhi. As in all sectors of business, licensing looks upon India and its sensational economic growth with ambitious eyes. The large middle c... more
The Global Challenge
11/18/09 | Posted by: Marty Brochstein | Comments: 1“Anyone who hasn’t been thinking of their licensing business in global terms is in trouble.” That statement by a U.S.-based licensing agent is both a comment on the state of the U.S. retail scene in 2009, as well as an acknow... more
Brand agencies moving in new direction?
11/13/09 | Posted by: Marty Brochstein | Comments: 0Speculation of about a possible purchase of Playboy by Iconix Brand Group – owner of such fashion brands as Ecko unltd, London Fog, Joe Boxer, and Starter -- spotlights the vibrancy of strategic brand licensing as an important business model. I... more
Challenges in the Videogame Category
11/11/09 | Posted by: Marty Brochstein | Comments: 0The fact that the third quarter numbers published earlier this week by NPD Group, GfK Chart-Track Ltd and Enterbrain showed a decline in unit sales of videogame software couldn’t have surprised anyone vaguely familiar with the category. In Japa... more
How far do rights extend?
10/29/09 | Posted by: Marty Brochstein | Comments: 0Attorneys are always trying to get the broadest possible rights for their employers and clients. Here, via the Wall Street Journal, is a look at exactly how far some are willing to go: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB125658217507308619.html
Early Notes and Observations about the Disney-Marvel deal
08/31/09 | Posted by: Marty Brochstein | Comments: 0Notes and observations about the deal announced this morning through which Disney agrees to acquire Marvel for cash and stock totaling about $4 billion…For those who haven’t seen it, the official release is athttp://corporate.disney.go.c... more
Bud Light Fan Cans Seem To Skirt Edge Of Court Ruling
08/21/09 | Posted by: Marty Brochstein | Comments: 0An article in the Wall Street Journal today highlights complaints registered by some collegiate authorities about the "Fan Can" promotion recently launched by Anheuser-Busch's Bud Light brand. (See http://online.wsj.com/article/SB125081310939148053.h... more
Topps Reportedly Gets Exclusive Baseball card Deal From MLB
08/06/09 | Posted by: Marty Brochstein | Comments: 0The New York Times reports today that Topps has become MLB's exclusive trading card licensee, the latest step in an ongoing move by the major sports leagues toward exclusivity. For baseball, that pattern reached a fever pitch in the early part of th... more
Are U.S. Sports Teams Competitors Or Collections of Partners?
06/29/09 | Posted by: Marty Brochstein | Comments: 0Word has just come down that the U.S. Supreme Court has agreed to hear a suit by American Needle Inc. that challenges the NFL's power to grant exclusive licenses on behalf of all its teams violates Federal antitrust law. The case potentially will pro... more
First Impressions of Licensing Expo
06/08/09 | Posted by: Marty Brochstein | Comments: 10Some initial observations having arrived home from "Licensing Camp" -- the first Las Vegas-staged Licensing International Expo: 1. I call it Licensing Camp because, for better or worse, that's what the week often seemed like. The Mandalay Bay comple... more
Do Promotions and Consumer Products Belong Under The Same Roof?
05/28/09 | Posted by: Marty Brochstein | Comments: 1The sometimes uneasy relationship between promotions and consumer products licensing hits the headlines again. Two years after laying off the vast majority of its consumer products licensing business to The Beanstalk Group, Universal Studios is brin... more
As You Start To Use Bloggers As A Marketing Tool....
05/27/09 | Posted by: Marty Brochstein | Comments: 0... some interesting ethical and regulatory issues come into play. How much do you have to disclose about your relationship with a blogger who's writing something about your product? Are there any real rules, or is this the Wild Wild West? An ... more
From The Bottom Line, Summer '09: Change Is Inevitable. Deal With It.
05/27/09 | Posted by: Marty Brochstein | Comments: 0The retail business is one of continual change. Some of the shifts are swift and obvious, and others are more subtle. One of the keys to success is staying attuned to both kinds, and to figuring out which of the shifts are short-term, and which have ... more
You Never Know What's Going To Light The Fuse
05/22/09 | Posted by: Marty Brochstein | Comments: 0You never know what's going to light the sales fuse on a long-existing product, as per this Washington Post article this morning. The article ("It's Made of 100% Cotton; Its Sales Are 99% Ironic") tells the story of the Three Wolf Moon" t-shirt that'... more
An Exciting, Strategic Keynote At Licensing Expo
05/22/09 | Posted by: Marty Brochstein | Comments: 0Just in case you've missed our emails... Mark your calendar to come hear Dan Stanek, EVP of consulting group TNS Retail Forward in the first-ever FREE Keynote Session at Licensing Expo. Dan's a dynamic speaker, and will address the ongoing shifts in ... more
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