SUMMER 2016 | VOLUME 1 | ISSUE 2 | WWW.BELMAG.BIZ
BRAND EXTENSIONS & LICENSING WORLDWIDE
Rethinking Licensing The Role Of
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Contents 26
COVER STORY
THE TIME HAS COME TO
RETHINK THE ROLE OF LICENSING There’s nowhere near enough brand strategy in most brand expansion, and there’s nowhere near enough expansionist thinking built into most brand strategies. If we want to find a new role for licensing in the growth agenda, we need to make people with licensing skills more involved participants in the wider growth conversation, and to do that we need to change the perceptions that others have of licensing.
FEATURES
34
LESSONS FROM N°5 AND BEYOND
50
GETTING ROYALTY PAYMENTS CORRECT
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SUPPLEMENT
Why do some brands that have been around for decades continue to captivate us whilst others that were once considered invincible have died or lost profile? How do you avoid redundancy in the attention economy? And what do these brand dynamics tell us about how to make the most of brand assets?
Businesses that include proper contract language instructing a licensee how to calculate a royalty, the specific documents to retain and that have a proactive licensee monitoring program are best positioned to achieve higher royalty revenues at reduced monitoring costs without damaging business relationships.
SPLiCE
COMMUNITY OF BEST PRACTICES The Society of Product Licensors Committed to Excellence is a global trade organization founded as best practice think-tank for trademark licensors. The organization continues to raise the bar of business standards for brand licensors and the brand industry overall. Find out the whole story about organization, its members, initiatives, goals, and the future of trademark brand licensing.
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06 Editor’s Note
PUBLISHER | EDITOR-IN-CHIEF Goran Kernyak goran@belmag.biz
It is Time to Rethink the Role of Licensing.
07 Brands In Brief
From Aston Martin, to Nokia, NFL, CAT, Zeptolab and Laura Ashley
22 Why Branding As We Know It Is Over
What Kanye West and Diane Von Furstenberg Can Teach Us About Modern Branding?
25 Mergers & Acquisitions in Brief
INTERIM CMO Dan Scott dscott@belmag.biz
Brands Acquired, Companies merged
30 The New Retail Landscape
The Retail Landscape Is In a State Of Upheaval, a Tectonic Shift. Now What?
32 Perfectly Timed For Generation Z
LEGO’s Extension Into Watches and Clocks Offers a Newsfound Buying Bridge
40 Licensing Expo 2016
Event Preview and Highlights On Select Exhibitors
46 Right of Publicity and the Celebrity Brand - Dead or Alive
What Is Right Of Publicity and Why Should Licensing Professionals Care?
54 Licensing in a Regulated and Controversial Industry
Creating a Successful Licensing Program For American Legend: Winchester Story
66 Anticounterfeiting - Seeing The Brand perspective
Global Value of Counterfeit and Pirated Products Could Be More Than $1.75 trillion (!!!)
70 Spotlight on Select Brand Licensors
From AT&T to Whirlpool and Head, Thirty Brand Licensors Presented.
80 Up and Coming
CREATIVE CHIEF OFFICER William Kernyak william@belmag.biz
ASSOCIATE R&D MANAGER Karla M. Wintersteiger karla@belmag.biz CONTRIBUTING WRITERS: Weston Anson Sydney P. Blum Pete Canalichio David J. Katz Kimberly Kociencki Joe McGraw Ted Pulton Jemma Samala Dan Scott Mark Di Somma SUBSCRIPTIONS: www.belmag.biz bel@belmag.biz
Calendar of Events
BEL is a publication of: BEL | Brand Extensions and Licensing 708 Third Avenue, 6th Floor NY 10017, New York, USA P: +1 917 214 6101 E: bel@belmag.biz
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BEL magazine is published four times a year by BEL | Brand Extensions and Licensing. © 2016 BEL. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by no any means without permission of the publisher. All images are reproduced with permission of their respective owners. PAGE 05 |
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Editor’s Note
It is Time to Rethink the Role of Licensing I’d like to take the opportunity to thank you, BEL’s supporters, for your commitment to experiencing the difference with our B2B publication focused on, but not limited to, trademark and corporate brand extensions and licensing. We’ve learned a lot from your feedback, and from the surveys and researches BEL has conducted. We’ve learned that you’re leaders in your industries. Your innovation is in many cases groundbreaking. We’ve learned that streamlining your organization’s brand management, brand expansion, licensing and merchandising efforts are your #1 priority. From countless conversations we’ve had with a top-notch executives is clear: If we’re going to grow the relevance of brand licensing, we all need to change the way we talk about it. Read more about it in this and following issues of the BEL magazine. This issue of the BEL magazine carries major features on the Rethinking Brand Licensing, Retail, Branding, Right of Publicity, Royalties and special supplement dedicated to SPLiCE - the Society of Product Licensors Commited to Excellence. Within the pages you will find information about more than hundred companies and brands, valuable info and contacts in spotlight pages, best practices, brand stories and insights. I hope that our tools and solutions will improve the way you do business this and in the following years. I hope that your company’s messaging and support streams will improve when you partner with BEL. I hope that you will take advantage of our communication multiplatform, magazine, curated and original content, matchmaking services and free whitepapers. Thank you to our Contributing Writers, numerous colleagues and SPLiCE and its members for all their support. Sign up at www.belmag.biz, follow us on Twitter @BELmagbiz, and Linkedin at www.linkedin.com/company/10069555 and let us know how we’re doing. If not yet, I hope you’ll get involved and I look forward to hearing your feedback. Sincerely,
Goran Kernyak, Editor-in-Chief
BEL Magazine is publication designed for qualified professionals who strive to connect, engage and collaborate with their peers in business – those who care about corporate brands, trademarks, brand extensions and licensing from all sides. The BEL audience are well-informed, growth-focused professionals searching for content that focuses on brand management, trademark protection, brand extensions and the overall licensing business experience.
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FOOD BRANDS IN BRIEF
Celebrity Chef Maeve Rochford Taps Coastal Limited For Licensing National full-service business development company Coastal Limited has signed celebrity chef Maeve Rochford, owner of Sugar and Scribe Bakery/Fine Food, for business development, brand extension and merchandise licensing opportunities.
Holiday baking mixes with Jelly Belly Jill McCauley and Terry Howard, the founders of The Invisible Chef will launch Jelly Belly Holiday Baking mixes at this year’s Summer Fancy Food Show, June 26- 28, at the Jacob Javits Center in New York City. The boutique company, which produces gourmet, all-natural baking mixes that are inspired by the founders’ favorite family recipes, became a licensee of Jelly Belly in 2015 to create original baking mix recipes based
In December, Rochford won the $50,000 grand prize in the Food Network’s Holiday Baking Championship, displaying a combination grit and iron that characterizes her fiery Irish heritage. In her Fay Avenue bakery and restaurant, Rochford offers an array of cakes, cupcakes, pies, muffins and cookies, as well as a breakfast and lunch menu.
Everything is cooked from scratch on site and many items are authentic Irish recipes handed down from her Irish mother and her grandmother, who cooked for British aristocracy in the 1930s. Rochford’s passionate enthusiasm for food has been met with rave reviews. Sugar and Scribe was named the best bakery in San Diego by A-List voters in 2014, surpassing 50 nominees. Following its move to La Jolla last year, Sugar and Scribe was rated the best new restaurant in La Jolla by The La Jolla Light. The one-year-old Coastal Limited with offices in New York City and La Jolla, has already elevated another La Jolla company into the national limelight. Leonhardt and his partner Jed Ferdinand recently orchestrated a multimillion dollar partnership agreement with Cherokee Global Brands for La Jolla-based apparel and adventure company Everyday California. Coastal Limited also produced a reality series on Everyday California with Roy Bank of Banca Studio and sold it to the E! Network.
on the iconic Jelly Belly flavors and recipes. After almost a year of research and development, the team are excited to debut their new line of products, including Hot Chocolate Donut Mix, Candy Cane Swirl Cake Mix, French Vanilla Cookies and Chocolate Covered Cherry Cupcake Mixes. These delicious products will be available to sample at the Summer Fancy Food Show, and will be available to consumers in the fall.
Dylan’s Candy Bar in a deal with IMG Dylan’s Candy Bar has been delighting consumers of all ages for nearly fifteen years with an innovative brand “recipe” that combines art, fashion and pop culture with candy. Under the agreement, IMG will negotiate licensing partnerships in order to develop Dylan’s Candy Bar’s private label of candy-inspired products into areas such as home décor, toys, gifts, fine stationery and do-it-yourself candy kits.
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BRAND AGENCIES IN BRIEF
Seltzer selected by American Red Cross The American Red Cross, one of the world’s leading humanitarian organizations has selected The Seltzer Licensing Group to manage and expand their brand licensing program with new partnerships that will help further their mission to empower consumers and organizations to be prepared for emergencies. The organization is looking forward to work with new licensing partners and retailers to expand current licensed product program from licensees such as Eton, The Ready Project, and Tomy. Red Cross consumer products will bring a trusted and authoritative name to the Home Safety, First Aid, Medical Device and Disaster Preparedness categories among others.
Beanstalk Adds Icon Representation Global brand extension agency Beanstalk further expand its comprehensive range of services by addition of the representation of personality rights of legendary icons. The service, formally called Icon Representation, will be led by Martin Cribbs, who has joined the agency as Vice President, Brand Management. Beanstalk’s union with Cribbs will combine the company’s reputation and Omnicom affiliation with more than 200
German Icon partnering with LMCA TELEFUNKEN, an industry icon of German engineering excellence, has teamed up with LMCA to exclusively represent its brand rights in the USA and China. LMCA will support the further expansion of Telefunken global licensing business based on its deep market expertise and local industry relationships in these regions. LMCA will expand TELEFUNKEN´s trademark licensing business in a wide range of categories including TV/Video products and domestic appliances. With retail sales already exceeding $400 million annually, the TELEFUNKEN is one of the top 80 licensing programs in the world. | BEL MAGAZINE | SUMMER 2016
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marketing and advertising agencies in nearly 100 countries, with Cribbs’ expertise in personality rights management. Icon Representation will represent the personality rights of legendary icons for use in advertising, promotions, licensed products, and longterm brand associations. The new service will provide clients trusted access to rights holders, quick turnaround of rights clearances, and transparency of fees.
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BRAND AGENCIES IN BRIEF Gordon Brothers Group Acquires Blast-Off Brands To bring even deeper brand building and licensing capabilities in-house, Gordon Brothers Group has acquired Blast–Off Brands, the Los Angeles-based licensing and branding company. Since founding the company in 2014, the Blast–Off Brands team has established a reputation for providing a unique mix of art and science to licensing clients such as the Life is Good lifestyle brand. Prior to Blast–Off Brands, the same team pioneered a hands-on and integrated branding and licensing approach with dozens of high-profile brands over the course of more than a decade. Blast-Off Brands co-founder, Ramez Toubassy, will join Gordon Brothers as President of the Brands Division and the rest of the Blast–Off Brands team will take on senior leadership positions on both the creative and licensing sides of the business. The team’s branding and licensing skill-sets will serve to complement the existing capa-
Scotts Miracle-Gro Expanded Licensing Program Scotts Miracle-Gro, the world’s largest marketer of branded consumer lawn and garden products, has joined forces with CedarCraft to bring unique and innovative planters and raised garden beds to market under the Miracle-Gro brand. The products are made from 100% sustainable and reclaimed Western Red Cedar and are designed for small space gardening to address what has become a greater need amongst consumers. Scotts Miracle-Gro has also added Langley Empire Candle Co. as a licensee to help capture the essence of your lawn and garden in a scented candle. The offering from Langley will include several iconic scents from the outdoors presented in decorative and functional garden-themed reusable vessels. With the addition of CedarCraft and Langley Empire Candle Co., Scotts Miracle-Gro’s licensing program has expanded to include 12 strategic partners, which include: Acme United (cutting tools), American Lawn Mower Co. (reel lawn mowers), Bond (plant support accessories), Garden State Bulb Co. (bulbs), Greenscapes (lawn fabric), Horizon Group
bilities of Gordon Brothers Group. For over a century, the firm has been a leader in hard asset management, recovery and valuation, and has applied those same principles to intellectual property. Gordon Brothers Group leverages its intimate knowledge of consumer markets, sourcing, marketing and retailing to maximize brand values. Notable past brand acquisitions include Polaroid, Coby Electronics, Linens ‘N Things, Bombay & Company and The Sharper Image. The new team will oversee Gordon Brothers Group’s existing consumer brands portfolio including collaborating with the management team of Polaroid to grow the brand and to pursue additional brand investments that complement that business. Brands team will also support the valuation practice within Gordon Brothers with market perspective and licensing expertise, as well as coordinate with Gordon Brothers Finance Company, the firm’s middle-market debt investment partner, to provide underwriting expertise on intellectual property loans.
USA (children’s garden kits), Swan Hose (hoses & nozzles), TTI Group (outdoor power tools), and West Chester Protective Gear (lawn & garden gloves). Seltzer Licensing Group, exclusive global
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licensing agency of Scotts Miracle-Gro, continues to explore new licensing opportunities and work closely with current licensees in an effort to bring consumers new and innovative lawn and garden products.
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TECH BRANDS IN BRIEF The World’s First Smartphone With an Integrated Thermal Camera Bullitt Group, a worldwide licensee of Caterpillar for „rugged“ mobile devices and accessories, will launch the Cat S60 smartphone - the world’s first smartphone with an integrated thermal camera. A new product was created for wireless communication that meets the great variety of needs of a demanding life. The embedded Lepton Thermal Microcamera Module, powered by FLIR, visualises heat that is invisible to the naked eye, highlighting temperature contrasts, and is accessed on the S60 via the specially designed MyFLIR thermal camera Android app. Having a thermal camera integrated into the rugged mobile device will provide endless time saving efficiencies from on-the-job report generation to email integration. Only having to carry one device around that has all the capabilities of a high end smartphone, plus can pick up heat and measure surface temperatures, will enable a huge range of use cases for building professionals, utility workers, emergency first responders and gadget lovers to name but a few. An SDK is available to developers, by application via the Cat phones and FLIR websites
SOLS Announces Brand Partnerships SOLS announced a new brand partnership strategy to provide end-to-end customization for your favorite footwear. #PoweredbySOLS represents a new focus for the company, offering major shoe brands
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from June. This toolset will enable developers to bring thermal imaging capabilities to custom business apps and other innovative utility apps, directly invoking the S60’s ther-
mal camera within their user experience. The Cat S60 is available for pre-order in Europe via www.catphones.com from June, with other territories to follow soon.
access to the unique MAPP3D platform, and enabling ExoSOLS, SOLS’ current consumer product, to be customized for brand partners. As the custom footwear industry emerges, with NIKE, Under Armour, and Reebok charging full steam ahead, SOLS’
brand partnership program will accelerate the transition of mass-customized footwear from early adopters to mainstream markets. Brands using the MAPP3D platform can expect to add their shoe last data to the SOLS platform, and offer custom fit insoles at the point of shoe purchase, enjoying increased revenue and customer satisfaction as a result, while dipping their toe into the world of digital manufacturing. #PoweredbySOLS technology works with any brand or style of shoe and is relevant to brands seeking to increase the competitiveness of their innovation and technology portfolio without increasing their internal R&D budget. This level of customization represents a monumental change in the shoe industry, allowing both partners to benefit from this expansion of reach. SOLS plans to announce two major partnerships in the weeks ahead, on the consumer and medical side.
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TECH BRANDS IN BRIEF Atari and SIGFOX to Develop Ataribranded Connected Devices Atari, which has disruption rooted in their DNA, announced a global partnership with SIGFOX to develop a line of new connected devices based on Atari’s iconic brand. The cooperation will bring together Atari’s brand and creative power with SIGFOX’s unique value proposition: connecting the physical world to the Internet through a simple, reliable, low-cost, energy-efficient solution. Currently operating in 18 countries and registering over 7 million devices in its network, SIGFOX is on its way to establishing one global, seamless network that provides ubiquitous connectivity for billions of objects. The collaboration will cover a wide range of
Nokia signed strategic brand and IP licensing agreement Nokia has announced plans that will see the Nokia brand return to the mobile phone and tablet markets on a global basis. Under a strategic agreement covering branding rights and intellectual property licensing, Nokia Technologies will grant HMD global Oy (HMD), a newly founded company based in Finland, an exclusive global license to create Nokia-branded mobile phones and tablets for the next ten years. Nokia will provide HMD with branding rights and cellular standard essential patent licenses in return for royalty payments. HMD has been founded to provide a focused, independent home for a full range of Nokia-branded feature phones, smartphones and tablets. To complete its portfolio of Nokia branding rights, HMD announced that it has conditionally agreed to acquire from Microsoft the rights to use the Nokia brand on feature phones, and certain related design rights. Together these agreements would make HMD the sole global licensee for all types of Nokiabranded mobile phones and tablets. HMD intends to invest over USD 500 million over the next three years to support the global marketing of Nokia-branded mobile phones and tablets. Nokia-branded feature phones remain one of the most popular choices of mobile phone in many markets around the world today, and HMD will continue to market them as part
new Atari products, from the very simple to the highly sophisticated, providing customers with an easy way to know at any time where the devices are and what their status is. The initial product line will include categories such as home, pets, lifestyle and safety. By connecting to SIGFOX’s global network, the products will benefit from its competitive advantages: a very long battery life and a simple solution that does not require local Internet connectivity and pairing. As soon as the battery is inserted in the object, it is immediately connected to the network. Development of the new product line will begin this year and more details will be shared soon.
of an integrated portfolio alongside a new range of smartphones and tablets. HMD’s new smartphone and tablet portfolio will be based on Android, uniting one of the world’s iconic mobile brands with the leading mobile operating system and app development community. As also announced by FIH Mobile Limited (FIH), a subsidiary of Hon Hai Precision Industries, the remainder of Microsoft’s feature phone business assets, including manufacturing, sales and distribution, would be acquired by FIH. HMD and Nokia Technologies have signed an agreement with
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FIH to establish a collaboration framework to support the building of a global business for Nokia-branded mobile phones and tablets. This agreement will give HMD full operational control of sales, marketing and distribution of Nokia-branded mobile phones and tablets, with exclusive access to the pre-eminent global sales and distribution network to be acquired from Microsoft by FIH, access to FIH’s world-leading device manufacturing, supply chain and engineering capabilities, and to its growing suite of proprietary mobile technologies and components.
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ART & DESIGN BRANDS IN BRIEF Nina & Other Little Things Makes its North American debut NINA & Other Little Things, the poetic design project that has taken Europe by storm, will make its North American debut with the appointment of licensing agency The Sharpe Company. Nina’s poetic observations, accompanied by charming illustrations of Nina & her little red hat have struck a chord with fans. NINA’s charming illustrations appeals to girls 5-12 but also has a collectability that connects with W25-45.
The Sharpe Company represent BPOTY Bird Photographer of the Year (BPOTY) has appointed The Sharpe Company to license the award winning imagery into homewares, puzzles, stationery, wall art, greetings, calendars, pet accessories, giftware and tech accessories. BPOTY combines the beauty of bird watching and ornithological conservation to bring together a competition that both celebrates birds and contributes directly to ornithological research. Bird-watching is a multi-million dollar indus-
try and one of the biggest attractions for ecotourism. The recreational sport associated with bird-watching, called “birding,” has one of the largest followings of any leisure activity in the world and is continually growing with over 60 million American birdwatchers.
Pets Rock continues to grow in North America Pets Rock has signed new deals with wall art and home furnishings supplier Empire Art Direct in North America. Empire Art launched the Pets Rock range at High Point in early 2016 and has already secured placement at retailers including Nordstrom, Kirklands and Wayfair. At the same time, Culturenik launched a range of collectible gift mugs. These two licensees join established licensees Trevco, Just Funky, TF Publishing and PR Greetings. In Australia, the Pets Rock range continues to develop with t-shirts from Caprice at Big W and Best & Less & Sperling car accessories which will launch in time for Father’s Day this September. Summer 2016 sees the launch of the Pets Rock book from Carlton Books. Pets Rock is nominated as the licensed art & design property in this year’s 2016 LIMA Licensing Awards. | BEL MAGAZINE | SUMMER 2016
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NINA ranges can be found in Europe at retailers Printemps, Fnac & Colette and have been featured in Vogue Italia & Elle. Hachette are launching a collection of books this year. Sharpe has plans to replicate the success in Europe, licensing Nina into infant & toddler apparel, giftware, dolls, stationery, publishing & dated products.
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ENTERTAINMENT BRANDS IN BRIEF Cut the Rope Launches an Art Licensing Project ZeptoLab, the creators of popular mobile game series Cut the Rope, presents Om Nom Arts, a special art project with the main character of the game — candy-loving green monster Om Nom. It’s a unique collection of style guides made by artists from different territories, under an umbrella brand of Om Nom Arts. The idea behind the project is to illustrate Om Nom through their creative vision. ZeptoLab presents collaborations with Joan Marie and Jenny Foster as well as with Blue Fish Studio (India). ZeptoLab will also present several collaborations with famous European artists. ZeptoLab has launched Cut the Rope comics and given Om Nom his very own animated series called “Om Nom Stories”, that has gained more than 2 billion views across various video platforms. The company also extended Cut the Rope franchise with toys, board games, apparel, accessories and other licensed merchandise.
Star Wars Collectibles Launched Disney and Lucasfilm have launched Star Wars Collectibles: Ultimate Studio Edition bringing an unprecedented level of authenticity to prop replica products for fans. Made to order by propmakers at Propshop in Pinewood Studios using digital data collected during filming of Star Wars: The Force Awakens, the production process marries cutting-edge 3D printing technology
with master craftsmanship to produce replicas virtually identical to those seen on screen. The initial offering from the Star Wars Collectibles line features eight prop replicas from Star Wars: The Force Awakens, including Darth Vader’s melted helmet, Rey’s lightsaber hilt, FN-2187 Stormtrooper helmet and more. Each replica item is a limited production piece due to the high level of craftsmanship required to create them.
Wet Hot American Summer Licensed The creative team behind the 2001 cult classic, Wet Hot American Summer, has appointed Creative Licensing as the worldwide merchandise licensing agent for the film. The partnership will build off of Wet Hot’s current licensing program, with the goal of expanding into categories such as apparel, art posters, summertime accessories, board games, publishing, promotional tie-ins, specialty gifts and live action entertainment. Current licensees include Mondo, Ripple Junction, and Rusted Wave, with apparel merchandise located at Urban Outfitters, Kohl’s, Spencer’s, and Hot Topic. PAGE 13 |
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SPORT BRANDS IN BRIEF 24 Hours of Le Mans Special Edition Driving Shoes Beginning in 2017, Piloti will debut 24 Hours of Le Mans special edition driving shoes, designed for fans, driving enthusiasts and lovers of the automotive culture epitomized by this iconic motorsports event. The partnership was coordinated by IMG, the exclusive licensing agency of the Automobile Club de l’Ouest (ACO), organisers of the 24 Hours of Le Mans. A popular brand from 1999 to 2012, Piloti (Italian for “driver”) re-entered the marketplace in 2014 with a new vision to not only create technically advanced driving shoes, but also driving shoes comfortable and stylish enough to wear on the street, at the cafe or in the office . In addition to the FIA and SFI certified Performance driving shoes favoured by motorsports professionals, Piloti’s made-in-Italy Luxury line of premium leather driving shoes fuse Italian design, racing style, and patented biomechanics. Perfect for driving and general wear, the street-friendly Casual line features patented Roll Control Heel technol-
ogy and Piloti’s vintage racing tire-inspired tread pattern. The Piloti 24 Hours of Le Mans special edition driving shoes will be available at 24
Hours of Le Mans boutiques in Le Mans and Paris, France, and in specialty motorsports boutiques world-wide.
Tottenham Hotspur Appoints Infiniss Tottenham Hotspur’s growing presence in South Korea has led to the Club appointing Infiniss as its new Licensing Agent in the region. The Club’s South Korean fanbase has seen growth of nearly 30% in the last year and an increased demand for Tottenham Hotspur product as a result. This was sparked by last summer’s arrival of South Korean international and Asian Footballer of the Year, Heung-Min Son, as well as the Club’s exciting Premier League title challenge during the past season. Infiniss will now work with the Club to appoint licensees for Tottenham Hotspur-branded goods and accessories. The partnership is already bringing results with SJ Trend appointed to produce Club-branded apparel with a sales focus on South Korea’s popular TV shopping channel market. Infiniss adds Tottenham Hotspur to an already impressive portfolio of global partner brands that includes Lamborghini, Shell and Sony Pictures. | BEL MAGAZINE | SUMMER 2016
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SPORT BRANDS IN BRIEF
Football Greats Alliance Created to Preserve the Legacy of Former NFL Players
the FGA will help solidify and preserve the legacy of former NFL players. The FGA will provide opportunities for retired players to band together for a wide variety of partnerships and will provide revenue for the Greater Good Fund which will benefit the health and welfare of retired players. Established with the initial funding from the NFL, 25% of all proceeds from FGA partnerships will
go to the GGF. The NFL will play an integral role in supporting the FGA, providing access to NFL sponsors, club marketing personnel, and hospitality space for events including the 2017 Super Bowl and Pro Bowl. The NFL is underway on projects to sell retired players’ jerseys online in tandem with nflshop. com licensees, and to cross-promote the FGA on NFL digital platforms.
In March 2013, NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell announced the settlement of the NFL’s image/likeness lawsuit with retired NFL players. As a part of the $50 million resolution of the case, the Pro Football Retired Players Association (PFRPA) was created to administer the terms of several new ventures. The two major initiatives born out of the PFRPA are the FGA and The Greater Good Fund, a charitable foundation. Operated by IMG, the Football Greats Alliance (FGA) creates, develops and manages the strategic execution of rights for more than 22,000 retired NFL players, offering a one-stop shop for marketing rights, approvals, contracting and financing for a group that includes 160+ Hall of Famers, 50+ Heisman winners, 225+ broadcasters and 35 NFL MVPs. Through relationships with authentic sponsors, partners and licensees,
Arnold Palmer Enterprises in a Deal With a Unique Charitable Arrangement Arnold Palmer Enterprises has signed a new licensing agreement with apparel company Sport Casuals, with a unique arrangement that benefits Arnie’s Army Charitable Foundation. The multi-year agreement, brokered with the assistance of IMG, will allow Sport Casuals to develop and distribute a range of Arnold Palmer clothing for the U.S. market. With an initiative that is the first of its kind for golf apparel, the net profits will be donated to Arnie’s Army Charitable Foundation, Arnold Palmer’s recently established philanthropic entity. Incorporating a classic golf performance style and using technical fabrics, the line will include polo shirts, pants and shorts as well as various outerwear and weather-resistant items, the line will also extend into lifestyle with sportswear and an emphasis on fashion. The first products are slated to land at retail later this year. PAGE 15 |
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AUTOMOTIVE BRANDS IN BRIEF
Art of Living by Aston Martin British luxury brand Aston Martin introduces Art of Living, an opportunity to experience the company’s legendary reputation for cutting-edge technology, iconic design and exceptional craftsmanship across a portfolio of the finest artisan products and truly bespoke experiences. Since its founding in 1913, Aston Martin has developed a reputation for discernment and dynamism. The marque’s heritage has forged a rare blend of elegance and individuality that has transcended its cars. Art of Living is a behind-the-scenes access at some of the world’s best events; it is a unique pair of sunglasses, a beautiful watch or an exquisite silk scarf. It is a way of life
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that captures the very essence of the Aston Martin brand. Art of Living champions independent talent, refined craftsmanship and design integrity to create beautiful objects. It is enjoying authentic experiences, enriching your passions and mastering new skills. Engaging with the Art of Living will bring you closer to the soul of the brand, be it via a life-enhancing experience or by owning a uniquely special product. For over 100 years Aston Martin has had access to the most creative thinkers, outstanding designers and unique personalities. A fine example of Art of Living in practice is the AM37, a stunning 37-foot powerboat that is being created as the ultimate in maritime
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refinement in partnership with Quintessence Yachts. The new boat showcases the Aston Martin design philosophy where luxury meets technical excellence to create a powerful yet understated product. Marma London recently launched an innovative new range of Aston Martin eyewear with detailing inspired by the beautiful lines of the Aston Martin Racing cars. The exceptional quality of the eyewear is reflected in every Art of Living product. The next extraordinary Art of Living by Aston Martin experience will take place at the world’s most thrilling endurance race, the 24 Hours of Le Mans. During an exciting three-day Fast Track Adventure guests will have the chance to immerse themselves in the heart of the action by helicoptering into the circuit each day from the private chateau and meet the Aston Martin team’s racing drivers, before taking some of the best seats in the house for the big race. Information on other future Art of Living events will be released soon, including an extravagant weekend at the renowned Goodwood Revival; behind the scenes access to the finest fashion houses in Paris; a discovery of the technology and architecture of Japan and a unique Californian gastronomic experience, which will include private tastings and tours of the finest wines and vineyards.
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AUTOMOTIVE BRANDS IN BRIEF
Goodyear Has Launched Denim Collection in Europe Continuing in the success of the heritage brand’s Lifestyle Program, Goodyear has launched its Denim Collection in Europe. Further reflecting the diverse and illustrious story of the brand, the range includes a durable and stylish range of unique, high quality
Goodyear Performance Collection Combines Fashion and Racing The Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company, will introduce the Goodyear Performance Collection in the U.S., its first line of men’s casual footwear that blends fashion, comfort and racing-inspired detailing. This line is available at specialty and department stores nationwide. The Goodyear Performance Collection features styles that not only appeal to consumers who appreciate a carefree look, but also have a passion for auto racing.
jeans, shorts and jackets. Inspired by Goodyear’s unique history and reputation for durability and technical innovation, the range combines modern style with vintage design. Available in light and dark colors, the range focuses on regular and slim-fit jeans and shorts, using a tie-wash effect to emphasise the brand’s
authentic style. The Goodyear Denim Collection, with its impressive modern design and style, sits perfectly within the Goodyear Lifestyle Program, which includes an extensive range of quality clothing, footwear and accessories and is currently on sale throughout Europe.
Goodyear’s designs have incorporated durability, mobility, traction and comfort, and Goodyear tire tread patterns in the soles. They have also utilized real components of car racing shoes. This collection provides avid racing fans and general consumers with a quality product, enabling them to express personal style and love for their favorite sport at the same time.
BSA Finds Perfect Fit With Trend Retailers in North America WGSN’s showcase at MAGIC this year heralded a uniquely modern take on the classic 60’s café racing look – part steampunk and part ‘Peaky Blinders’ – the trend is identified as an homage to denim with a racing edge and an authentic British style. The vintage motorcycle that was once considered the most popular bike in the world is in the eye of a perfect storm of when a brand and fashion trend collides. Currently retailing in fashion retailers The Gap & Urban Outfitters, the vintage motorcycle trend is on track to trickle down to mid-tier and mass in 2017. In North America, the BSA brand is represented by Sharpe Company.
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FASHION & LIFESTYLE BRANDS IN BRIEF World’s First Harper’s BAZAAR Café Art aficionados and fearless fashionistas will enjoy the world’s first Harper’s BAZAAR Café open in Dubai Design District (d3). The café, which is launched by Dubai’s Marka PJSC and Hearst Magazines International is the first time the internationally renowned brand has ventured into the food and beverage arena. This unique concept was designed with Dubai’s foodies and socialites in mind, as well as its art, design and fashion communities, as it brings Harper’s BAZAAR’s distinct point of view to life through cuisine, culture and style. The venue itself has a dining capacity of 140, with 74 interior seats and 66 across the 166 m2 outdoor terrace, which is inspired by the secret gardens and retreats of renowned fashion houses. The terrace provides an enticing entrance to the café itself as well as an ideal event space. A number of activities are planned that will encourage cultural and social interaction, thereby making it the go-to destination to experience the very best in art, design, fashion and food in Dubai. The parties were brought together by IMG in a multi-year regional agreement.
Delmar Jewelers Has Launched Laura Ashley Jewelry From beautiful floral and delicate ribbon motifs to diamond-studded pieces, Delmar Jewelers is poised to accessorize Laura Ashley ladies in fine jewelry. The brand has entered into a licensing partnership with Laura Ashley and has launched its fine jewelry collection. The extensive range that includes classic wedding sets along with more modern necklaces and bracelets with pops of color. Pearls, iconic for the brand, are mixed with gemstones in lovely rings, pendants, charms, lockets and brooches. Some inspired by the famous Laura Ashley Bramble Sprig. The collection is designed to add something special for every day wear. Pieces will be available at online specialty retailers in Fall 2016.
| BEL MAGAZINE | SUMMER 2016
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FASHION & LIFESTYLE BRANDS IN BRIEF Celine Dion Partners with Epic Rights Celine Dion has joined forces with Epic Rights and Prominent Brand+Talent to create and launch a new collection of Celine Dion lifestyle products and services. Celine’s lifestyle brand will evoke her unique style and superior attention to detail that fans have come to expect from her music, concerts and charitable activities. Celine will collaborate with Epic/Prominent on the creation and implementation of this new venture in partnership with top tier retailers and licensees worldwide. Lifestyle collection will reflect Celine Dion’s sense of style and fashion through a select range of product categories, including health and beauty, home furnishings, fashion and accessories.
One of the most immediately recognized, widely respected and successful performers in music history, Celine Dion has sold over 240 million records during her over 30-year career and completing 4 sold-out world tours. She has earned five Grammy Awards, two Academy Awards, seven American Music Awards, 20 Juno Awards (Canada), an astonishing 40 Felix Award (Quebec) and just received the “Icon Award” at the 2016 Billboard Music Awards event in Las Vegas. Celine at The Colosseum at Caesars Palace, a glamorous show featuring Celine’s biggest hits directed by famed Grammy Awards producer Ken Ehrlich, is currently in its 13th year of residency.
The Smiley Company to Expand the Iconic Rubik’s Cube Concept The Smiley Company has been appointed as the master licensee outside puzzles for Rubik’s Brand. This exciting new venture will see the two companies work collaboratively to shape a licensing program to expand the iconic Rubik’s Cube concept into a new world of product categories and to develop this business globally. Smiley Company’s expertise in cross cate-
Michael Kors Brings Fashion to Technology Michael Kors is now entering the wearables market. This fall, the company will introduce a new wearable technology accessories line, beginning with the MICHAEL KORS ACCESS display smartwatch. The launch is geared towards the fashion-focused consumer and features a smart timepiece that focuses on glamorous style and innovative design. The cutting-edge technology, which runs with both iPhone and Android phones, is made possible through a partnership with Google, using their Android Wear smartwatch platform. Designed to show that technology and social connectivity should be seamless, the MICHAEL KORS ACCESS line
gory product development will create a new design vision for the Rubik’s Cube and an exciting new business opportunity built from the amazing brand equity of the Cube. Smiley Company has also introduced distinct new design styles that will appeal to a wide variety of demographics as well as fans of the Rubik’s Cube. Each of four design styles has its own logo and original design direction whilst leveraging a different aspect of Rubik’s heritage.
proves that access can be both glamorous and effortless. MICHAEL KORS ACCESS smartwatches offer customizable features: exclusive Michael Kors display faces, which change with a swipe; Interchangeable leather and silicone wristbands, and glamorous versions for women and sporty versions for men Powered by Android Wear, the touchscreen display smartwatches include Social media updates and text and email alerts, App notifications, Smart help from Google, Built-in fitness tracking and Voice-activated Google. The MICHAEL KORS ACCESS smartwatch will be available in Michael Kors stores, MichaelKors.com and select department and specialty stores. PAGE 19 |
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FASHION & LIFESTYLE BRANDS IN BRIEF
Piege Continues to Expand Felina and Jezebel Brands Piege Co., owner of intimate apparel brands Felina, Jezebel and Paramour, continues to expand all three lingerie brands. For over 30 years Piege has established itself as one of the leaders in intimate apparel with its labels Felina and Jezebel and in 2009 launched the Paramour brand
Fossil Group in the Wearables Space Chaps, Diesel, Emporio Armani, Fossil, kate spade new york, Michael Kors, Misfit and Skagen will each launch product in the wearables space in 2016. More than 100 wearables products will be available in 40 countries and more than 20 languages by Holiday 2016. The category of wearables offered will vary by brand. Fossil Group will support the wearables with unique and branded apps across all brands, three product categories, and two operating systems. The 2016 launches are part of the company’s efforts to bring a fashion-first focus, innovation and an increased variety of products to the wearables industry. Since acquiring Misfit in November 2015, Fossil Group has increased capabilities for the development and production of the technology supporting its wearables products. The company’s wearable technology platform includes proprietary power management technology that enables coin cell battery-powered non-display watches and trackers to be deployed across the | BEL MAGAZINE | SUMMER 2016
bringing affordable contemporary lingerie to the full figure market. Piege has now added sleepwear and has recently launched a full collection of loungewear. To compliment the company’s core products, Piege has entered into licensing agreements for activewear, socks and hosiery with Just One and swimwear with Dreamwave, a division of Bentex Group. The Brand Liaison,
the exclusive licensing agency for Piege Co, continues to seek to expand the family of brands into additional apparel and accessory product categories. Current product categories available include dresses, sportswear, outwerwear, handbags, jewelry, accessories, health and beauty and fragrances.
entire Fossil Group brand portfolio. Without the need for daily, weekly or even monthly charging, the new devices function much more like traditional watches and lifestyle accessories than as typical consumer electronic products that require daily maintenance. Concurrent with the advancement of Fossil
Group’s owned technology and research and development capabilities, the company continues its strong partnerships with third-party technology partners, including Google and their Android Wear platform, to deliver on the company’s short- and long-term wearables strategy.
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FASHION & LIFESTYLE BRANDS IN BRIEF Cherokee Expand Channels of Distribution and Product Offering Four additional multi-category license agreements with specialized fashion industry leaders are announced from Cherokee Global Brands for its Cherokee brand in the United States. Cherokee’s licensees and their categories include: SaraMax Apparel Group, which specializes in the design, merchandising and production of women’s intimate apparel, girl’s underwear, men’s and boy’s underwear; High Point Design, the one-stop destination for infant, toddler, kids, juniors, ladies and men’s hosiery products; Cudlie Accessories the manufacturer and importer of accessories for infants and children and The Eastman Footwear Group, for men’s and boy’s outdoor, casual and athletic footwear.
Disney x Coach Limited Edition Collection Two American classics and global originals join forces for Disney x Coach, a limited-edition collection featuring Mickey Mouse designs on Coach leathergoods and ready-to-wear fashions. Mixing the irreverent with the iconic, the collection will launch exclusively in a specially-designed concept at the Coach store in Soho, New York and at Colette, the celebrated store on rue St. Honore in Paris. The collection is part of a series of exclusive, limited-edition projects that celebrate American pop culture, and
commemorate Coach’s 75th anniversary. The exclusive artwork appears on t-shirts as well as signature Coach glove-tanned leather bags including the Saddle and the Dinky. The range includes sneakers featuring Coach’s signature hangtag playfully redesigned in the shape of Mickey’s ears. The Mickey ear silhouette is also marked out with punky studs on a biker jacket and a frame on a re-edition of an archival Coach bag from the 1960’s ‘the Kisslock’. Collectible pieces like oversize black leather Mickey dolls and shearling beanbags complete the offering.
Catherine Malandrino Fine Jewelry Renowned fashion brand Catherine Malandrino, managed by Bluestar Alliance, has signed an exclusive multiyear license for fine jewelry with Delmar Jewelers. For the last 18 years, Catherine Malandrino has become a lifestyle that embodies femininity and strength. Bridging the style of Paris, the romance of Provence and the energy of New York, the Catherine Malandrino voice is embraced by women of style all around the world. With the powerful and feminine Catherine Malandrino woman in mind, Delmar Jewelers have designed bold statement pieces. The timeless and eclectic line consists of seven distinct collections, totaling over 100 pieces. Intricate detailing, vibrant gemstones, and bold design are the line’s common denominators. PAGE 21 |
BEL MAGAZINE |
by Ted Pulton |
| BEL Branding
THE NEW WORLD OF BRANDING
Why Branding As We Know It Is Over Ted Pulton Futurist, Marketing Alchemist
It seems we’re now living an IWWIWWIWI existence (“I Want What I Want When I Want It”). We’re growing increasingly impatient. We have an insatiable thirst to consume in the moment. To enjoy it in the here and now. Not only has digital technology connected us instantly to information, to each other and to every place on the planet, it has shortened our attention span to 8 seconds...and counting down. Why should we wait when, depending on your supply of 5 Hour Energy, in a single weekend we can consume upwards of three seasons of House of Cards or Breaking Bad or Game of Thrones. It’s a phenomenon that’s spilling over into every other aspect of our lives. Time frames of the previous century have utterly collapsed. You see it not only in how people are living their lives, but also in the wrenching change confronting every business defined by legacy, whether that be fixed assets, business models, route to market or any combination thereof. While legacy | BEL MAGAZINE | SUMMER 2016
What Kanye West, Diane Von Furstenberg and Binge culture can teach us about modern branding? There’s never been a better time than now. By that I don’t mean this day and age. I mean right now. This instant. This very nano-second. keepers sleep, someone’s in their basement building an app to get it to us faster, cheaper and just the way we want it. A February 11, 2016 NY Times article, “How Smartphones Are Killing Off the Fashion Show” details how a sluggish relic of the previous century makes women wait six months to purchase apparel that was Periscoped the moment it appeared on the runway and instantly shared with the masses via the Snap-Twit-Insta-Face socio-sphere. Wait six months? By then, in the calculus of 8-second attention spans, that’s not aged inventory, it’s inventory from the Dark Ages hardly worth anyone’s attention. By the way, who among us would have been first to name Diane von Furstenberg, chairwoman of the Council of Fashion Designers of America, as the unlikely heroine attempting to drag this legacy-bound group into the 21st Century? Props to Diane. What’s happened to record industry buzz campaigns, the announcement of the artists | PAGE 22
“returning to the studio” with an expected release date five months down the road? Gone. Now Queen Bey drops her surprise album online and BAM!, it’s instant fan gratification to the tune of 828,773 copies sold worldwide in its first three days and the fastest-selling album in iTunes store history. What could be better than instant gratification? Sustainable gratification, complements of one Kanye West who announced his “finished” album, “The Life of Pablo,” while still adding songs and repeatedly changing lyrics and iterating release dates. As The NY Times so aptly put it, “Mr. West has turned the album release process—into a public conversation, one taking place on Twitter, YouTube, Periscope and in Madison Square Garden as much as in the studio.” Kanye, while simultaneously introducing his latest fashion line, has in the process quite masterfully been curating his personal brand by inviting fans into his artistic process. His West-ness tweeted: “Life of Pablo is a living
breathing changing creative expression.” So, dear marketers, welcome to the new world of branding. A world in which Culture - enabled by the bit stream, all its interconnected access points, social media and big data - has become the crucible of an ever-evolving, dynamic, real-time, iterative shaping of a brand’s narrative in collaboration with its publics. Culture is the new media and earned impressions are the new metric of success Watch-out, ad agencies, another legacy business model-yours-is about to bite the dust. Among the relics of the post-advertising era will be the multi-million dollar, one- minute anthem ad. Remember that 8-second (and counting down) attention span? By the time an agency conducts focus groups, briefs the creative teams, completes an exploratory, tests-modifies-re-tests and gets their spot on the air, the audience has moved on. Agencies are not only NOT in their flow,
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they’re not even in their slipstream. Instead, automated, real-time analytics tools are informing creative development. Which in turn feeds programmatic delivery of content assembled on the fly, which swiftly swirls onto the user’s screen of choice. Meantime, algorithms react to behaviors, interests and integrated views across multiple platforms and channels and the process of continuous message refinement hums along happily with less human intervention than ever before. And why would clients still pay for media when they can on their own generate and track earned impressions at a fraction of the cost? What’s more, after climate change, the great recession, crumbling infrastructure, massive waste streams, rising oceans and planetary plundering we simply don’t trust what brands say. Today’s savvy brand owners know that opinions are now shaped by peers with audiences of their own. They PAGE 23 |
expect nothing less than transparency. Truth. Purpose. Voting with their dollars people are coercing brands into cleaning up their act, some are even integrating social good into their business models.* Now that search engines are more trusted than traditional media, brands are no longer the sum of their advertising; they’re the sum of their behaviors. The problem confronting agencies is that “Brand Behavior” is no more an advertising proposition than announcing to a roomful of strangers what a terrific person you are and believing you’ve thereby earned their eternal admiration. It’s game over. Control is now totally in your consumers’ hands and hearts. You can’t fake it or side-step it. You simply no longer dictate the rules. Consumers now expect brands to “show up” in their lives in meaningful ways. To advocate for their behaviors and beliefs, not sell to them. And since big data enables us to BEL MAGAZINE |
| BEL Branding
engage, track and interact with them in their Culture you must make the algorithm your friend and take to your multi-platform, 24/7 aggregated digital dashboards. Which gives rise to two last critical points about the new model of brand building. The first is that content for content’s sake is a fallacy. It’s the lowest hurdle, which alone amounts to nothing more than borrowed interest. Such approaches may keep you in the game, but when you’re competing in an 8-second attention economy, there’s no way you’ll ever win. You must start with a unique and well defined brand advocacy platform - or “positioning” for the more traditional among you - that you alone can own. One that is rooted in the belief systems and totems of your consumer’s culture or sub-culture. When conceived within the envelope of a unique brand point of view a brilliantly curated content strategy, by which I mean everything the brand says, does, delivers and how and where it shows up, creates sustained engagement, astonishingly powerful impact and most of all, adds immeasurable value. The last point is that Culture is not episodic. Rather it is a flow of vibrant, dynamic, ever-evolving expression. It is, therefore, all too swift and easy to lapse into irrelevance. Without the right tools to understand and track Culture; without a commitment to continuous vigilance, to uncovering every nuance and signal of where its edges are carving new territory, you’ll be relegated to reacting when you should have been anticipating.
Welcome to the New World of Branding A few Dos and Don’ts of the new branding: Don’t test.
Culture is the real-time crucible of learning.
Don’t observe.
Live in the consumer’s culture.
Stop selling.
Show up. Engage. Advocate.
Ban “content.”
Deliver cultural truths.
Screw perfection.
Do! Accept failure. Move forward.
Never talk at.
Dialogue. Solicit feedback. Give editing privileges.
Stop managing.
Collaborate. Evolve. Leverage the algorithm.
Let the Culture be your guide.
This new model takes diligence, creativity, tracking, analysis, content creation/iteration and commitment to implementation excellence to a whole other level.
Ted Pulton is a Futurist at the New York marketing consultancy, Faith Popcorn’s BrainReserve. At BrainReserve Ted is doing “the most interesting work in the world”− predicting the Future for clients − and leading C-level, multi-million dollar strategic global engagements in the technology, healthcare, retail/e-tail, packaged goods and financial services sectors. | BEL MAGAZINE | SUMMER 2016
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M&A IN BRIEF Ne’Qwa Art Acquired by Precious Moments Precious Moments has acquired Ne’Qwa Art, the world’s largest producer of reverse painted glass. Founded in 2002, Ne’Qwa Art produces hand-painted items utilizing the centuries-old tradition of painting on the inside of blown glass. Ne’Qwa Art feature designs by top artists including Dona Gelsinger, Susan Winget, and Liz Goodrick-Dillon. The ornaments are carried at premier re-
bebe Stores and Bluestar Alliance in Joint Venture Global specialty retailer and iconic contemporary women’s brand, bebe stores, has entered into a joint venture with Bluestar Alliance. Under the terms of the agreement, bebe has contributed its trademarks and related intellectual property to a newly formed joint venture and has received just over 50% of the joint venture. Bluestar has contributed the $35 million to the newly formed joint venture that was then paid to bebe and has received just under 50% of the joint venture. The strategic decision to aggressively pursue a licensing strategy allows bebe stores, inc.
Sequential Brands to Acquire GAIAM Yoga Brand Sequential Brands Group has signed a definitive agreement to acquire the branded consumer product business from GAIAM, Inc. As part of the transaction, Sequential will acquire GAIAM’s yoga, fitness and wellness product business - which includes the GAIAM and SPRI brands - with expansive distribution through Amazon, Kohl’s, Target, and Bed Bath & Beyond, among other leading retailers and e-commerce channels in the U.S. and abroad. This bolt-on acquisition will seamlessly integrate into Sequential’s Active Division, which is currently anchored by the AND1 and AVIA brands. In tandem with the acquisition, Sequential signed long-term licensing agreements for the brands’ core categories, which will become effective upon closing. Fit For Life will be the licensing partner for the hard goods and equipment categories as well as the digital properties, and High Life will be the licensing partner for GAIAM’s yoga and
tailers, including Dillard’s and Hallmark, and visitor sites such as Hearst Castle in San Simeon, California and Bergstrom Mahler Museum of Glass in Neenah, Wisconsin. Precious Moments will bring new, high-profile licensing opportunities into the brand and plans to expand the Ne’Qwa Art line to include even more extensive year-round as well as seasonal decorative items, including creating custom-designed pieces for museums, resorts, businesses and organizations.
to capitalize on the value of the brand in all categories and channels on a global scale. The company have seen significant demand from prospective licensees and expect to generate long-term, committed royalties. Bluestar will leverage its existing brand management organization and infrastructure to develop a wholesale domestic and international lifestyle licensing business for the joint venture and will manage its dayto-day operations. Bluestar owns, manages and markets a portfolio of consumer brands including Kensie, Nanette Lepore, Catherine Malandrino, Michael Bastian, English Laundry and Limited Too.
athleisure apparel business. With a 20+ year heritage, GAIAM is dedicated to making yoga, fitness and wellness accessible to all through a wide distribution network that consists of approximately 38,000 retail doors, 19,000 store within
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stores, 5,000 category management locations, e-commerce, and a newly acquired mobile platform which features Yoga Studio, the leading paid yoga app for Apple, mobile, and tablet devices with over 1 million downloads to date.
BEL MAGAZINE |
by Pete Canalichio & Mark Di Somma |
| BEL Brand Expansion
COVER STORY
The Time Has Come To
Rethink Licensing The Role Of
Pete Canalichio
Mark Di Somma
Growth is something that gets talked about a lot by companies and brands, but the reality is that the goals don’t get achieved close to anything like the extent that people think. Bain research from some years back found just 10% of companies consistently hit growth targets – and they were surprisingly low targets - over a 10 year period. As the author Christopher Zook has observed, “Investors, employees, and financial markets demand more and more growth, even as the target becomes harder to hit.” There are a number of important reasons for that in our view: • It’s very difficult to identify ideas and products with enduring global potential; • Staying interesting and profitable is difficult in a world of more and more products, contracting margins and shortening attention spans; • When a brand does succeed, they need to be able to meet upsurges in consumer de| BEL MAGAZINE | SUMMER 2016
If we want to find a new role for licensing in the growth agenda, we need to make people with licensing skills more involved participants in the wider growth conversation, and to do that we need to change the perceptions that others have of licensing. mand at the speed and within the proximity that those consumers expect; and • In an omni-channel, omni-sectoral world, coordinating efforts across multiple markets and multiple channels is bewildering No wonder then that large companies are still tending to look to constructs they feel familiar with, such as merger and acquisition, to drive their growth strategies. What continues to surprise us is that “licensing” doesn’t get as much attention as it deserves in these conversations. It’s still seen in many sectors as a handy revenue gathering tool rather than as a powerful growth mechanism.
Expanding the role of licensing If we want to find a new role for licensing in the growth agenda, we need to make people with licensing skills more involved participants in the wider growth conversation, and to do that we need to change the perceptions that others have of licensing. The best way to do that we believe is to stop | PAGE 26
calling what we do ‘licensing’. The focus on deals and royalties has relegated brand licensing in the minds of too many to the level of transactions and revenue gathering, meaning it carries less strategic value than it deserves. It’s too much about what companies do with the brands they have rather than what they do for the brands they are growing and for the consumers that love those brands. Our view, and it’s a view shared by seasoned executives like Simon Waters at Hasbro, is that the licensing sector continues to sell itself short. People who work in licensing have much more ability than they are given credit for. At its best, this is a highly creative craft with the ability to revolutionize how brands think about themselves and how they integrate and co-ordinate consumer interactions. What we need to be thinking and talking about much more openly and frequently are ideas like brand expansion and brand extrapolation, not just brand ex-
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tension. It’s about partnering for success.
what their brands mean. Brands like Bulgari are reinventing what they do, based on their core DNA, in order to completely change not just who they reach, but how and where they reach them. On the face of it, that brand’s decision to move into hotels through licensing partner Marriott doesn’t make sense. But it works because it takes what consumers know about Bulgari and completely revamps that understanding to give the brand new meaning, new dimensions and new revenue streams.
The reason we like terms like “brand expansion” is that expansion is: • Growth focused – linking it to the discussions that businesses are having at every level; • 360 degree – which is so important in a multi-channel, multi-strategy world; • All about building on strengths and latent value; and • Global – all about untapped market demand
Historically, licensing hasn’t done that. It’s tended to focus on doing more of the same, or variations on the same in “near neighbour” categories. Increasingly, the magic will have to come from having something
Redefining the growth framework The opportunity that’s being missed is that in order to redefine what brands can earn, marketers must be prepared to re-imagine PAGE 27 |
BEL MAGAZINE |
| BEL Brand Expansion
There’s nowhere near enough brand strategy in most brand expansion, and there’s nowhere near enough expansionist thinking built into most brand strategies. original to begin with and then combining it with other elements that no-one expected. Achieving greater than organic growth isn’t about producing more of the same, it’s about finding ways to deliver something that wouldn’t otherwise be possible. As Rick White, former President and CEO of Major League Baseball Properties observed when we interviewed him, “We need to stop thinking about growth through deals and start thinking about growth through value.” Marketers talk a lot about differentiation and innovation, but they tend to base their gameplans on the scenarios and the frameworks they know and their teams are comfortable with. Increasingly, if CMOs want to achieve the growth that is being expected of them by their fellow senior executives, they need to be prepared to take a brand somewhere new, somewhere bold, somewhere that others haven’t thought of, and yet that consumers deeply connect with. The critical judgment of course is knowing why you are growing and where you are growing into. This quote from Silvio Ursini, Bulgari’s Creative Director, absolutely captures the opportunity for brands to be saying something unexpected: “Do something if you have something to say.” And, we would add, something to share. In a world where everyone wants new experiences, bringing ideas together in fantastic ways, and presenting them with an opinion, is the best opportunity going to redefine the growth framework. In order to change how licensing is seen and valued, practitioners also need to change how they think about what they are in the business of doing. Deals are critical, but they are the mechanism for a wider value set. We need to be in the business of alchemy, of creating products and value through powerful collisions, not just predictable extensions. That’s why we need to change the language we use with others and the language we use | BEL MAGAZINE | SUMMER 2016
with ourselves. We need to be talking far more about the effect of what happens when we do our work well. We need to acknowledge the power of imagination in what we do. The problem with terms like brand extension is that they portray brands as linear and elastic such that they should be stretched and stretched to near-breaking point for every ounce of royalties they can produce. Disney used to make movies. What they do now of course is to create characters that people come to love, and they put them in all sorts of places including their movies. As Simon Waters said in our interview with him, “Create something that people want more of. Then keep finding new places for that to happen. Start a story in people’s heads and then go where the story takes you.” It’s all about the big picture. It’s all about how big the brand can be, and how all the pieces fit together across regions, languages, cultures and channels to expand the brand to its full size. What brands owners like Disney do so well is really, really think about the points of value, and how to connect one point with another to make everything bigger than what it is. More brands need to be thinking about what they are in the business of creating and marketing in this way.
The new meaning of “brand” All of this is happening at a time when the very meaning of the word “brand” is evolving. Today, a brand is not just a product or service, it can also be an event, a celebrity, a film, a TV series or a political party. Brand has come to mean anything that is
recognized as an entity in its own right and is treated as such by both mainstream and social media. A brand is something that is valued. And when you think about brand in those terms, all those involved with brands are trying to do the same thing – add value to something that people value so that it will grow. The problem is that everyone’s been trying to do their thing in their space without reference to what’s going on around them. There’s nowhere near enough brand strategy in most brand expansion, and there’s nowhere near enough expansionist thinking built into most brand strategies. Yet, we all have the same goal. It’s all brand strategy. It’s all about finding ways to make brands prosper.
This should be a golden time for brand expansion As brands search for new ways to build engagement with consumers, as they make that move from share of wallet to what Nigel Hollis refers to as ‘share of life,’ marketers need to understand that organic growth, even M&A, is not necessarily going to get them the results they’re looking for at the speed they need. People with brand licensing expertise therefore need to assert a more proactive and strategic role for themselves in the development of brands. They need to become a core part of the group responsible for brand governance. And they need to work alongside, and in a much more integrated way, with all the other strands of brand development that are in play. That means they need to understand how brands work and how they are strategized, and they need to show how their expertise can be a game-changer for brand growth. In short, they need to step up and make the case for greater involvement. In a recent webinar, we outlined four key developments that we believe need to take place in order to reframe the meaning and
Brand has come to mean anything that is recognized as an entity in its own right and is treated as such by both mainstream and social media. A brand is something that is valued. | PAGE 28
value of licensing in the wider marketing world:
1. New consideration framework Many brands seem to lack a robust reference for assessing the wider growth potential of their brand. We’re currently developing a new consideration framework: a set of criteria that will allow brands to better understand when they are ready to expand, and will help those looking to work with brands to better understand what they should be looking for the brands they want to partner with.
2. New levels of brand integration Increasingly, brands need to think of what they do as an ecosystem underpinned by story and experiences. So, as per our point earlier, we think that the various disciplines of brand need to stop working in silos and really come together to work more closely to find the growth opportunities. There needs to be much greater integration in our view of all the strands of a brand - strategy, identity,
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valuation, communications, expansion – so that the experience for consumers is much more seamless. Some brands are already doing this well. Many could do more.
3. Make brand value work much more actively In addition to thinking about their brands more holistically, marketers need to better value and evaluate brands for their potential. This will enable them to invest confidently and to have meaningful discussions around brand expansion with other senior executives. To do that, we think that brands need to take a much more nuanced view of what is valued, and engage their senior teams far more closely in how their brands can help companies achieve their broader strategic objectives.
4. Rethink product innovation Finally, we think that there are exciting opportunities to develop products that are inherently licensable and to make that a critical factor for approval rather than develPAGE 29 |
oping products and then looking for ways to expand them. In other words, companies should be challenging their product developers to create “addictive” things – products that people want more of, in more places, and that actually become more valuable as they become more accessible because of the momentum and desirability they generate.
Mark Di Somma is a creative strategist, a commentator on brands and branding and an Author at Branding Strategy Insider. Connect with him at @markdisomma or by email at mark@markdisomma.com. Pete Canalichio is President and Founder of Licensing Brands, Inc. a brand licensing agency with clients including the American Cancer Society, Coca-Cola, Entrepreneur Media, Kmart, Liberty Mutual and Symantec. Connect with him via email at pete.canalichio@brandlicensingexpert.com BEL MAGAZINE |
by David J. Katz
| BEL Retail
TECTONIC SHIFT
The New Retail
Landscape
David J. Katz katzd@randa.net
| BEL MAGAZINE | SUMMER 2016
The word “disruption” is too moderate to describe what is occurring. The retail landscape is in a state of upheaval, a tectonic shift, and the new landscape will not resemble anything we have previously known.
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In 2015 the apparel and retail industries experienced a challenging first half, a tough third quarter... and then things got worse. It wasn’t the weather or the strength of the American dollar. Nor was it brand relevance, product assortment or fear of terrorism, although all of these contributed to the challenge. It was the retail apparel industry’s most promotional year on record yet stores continued to brim with too much inventory, and too few shoppers. And, this trend is continuing… The word “disruption” is too moderate to describe what is occurring. The retail landscape is in a state of upheaval, a tectonic shift, and the new landscape will not resemble anything we have previously known. The Internet’s influence on consumer spending is exceeding all expectations and the rate of that influence is increasing. Ubiquitous price transparency has escalated and allows, even encourages, consumers to be more discount- and more value-oriented than ever before – the Great Recession of 2008 provided even affluent consumers with a taste of “brand names for less,” and they liked it. Unbiased product reviews are available at the click of a button. Today educated consumers are no longer our best customers, they are our only customers. No longer can a brand, a vendor, or a retailer exploit the ignorance of their customers; now it’s the other way around. Not only have the path-to-purchase and products purchased changed, the planning and timing of these purchases are evolving too. “Buy now, wear now” is enabled by next-day, or same-day, availability not only for seasonal merchandise, but also for counter-seasonal products. You can find a full assortment of seasonal brands and sizes on Amazon.com 365 days a year, no advanced planning required. Welcome to the “New Retail Landscape.” Retail and brand partners cannot successfully navigate tomorrow’s landscape with yesterday’s maps; their strategies, tactics and infrastructure must be re-thought and rebuilt. All is not lost. Out of necessity, retailers are re-evaluating their door counts, store locations, web presence and how human, inventory and other resources are deployed
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to support all channels of shopping. “Stack it high, watch if fly,” resulting in stores that often resembled warehouses, will be replaced with integrated online and offline “experiences.” Stores will curate assortments with consumer-relevant points of view and new pay-and-carry models As for e-commerce, it is neither Savior, nor Satan. Depending upon who you believe, ecommerce is 10% to 20% of apparel and accessories purchases; this leaves, at a minimum, 80% of sales occurring in physical stores. The new landscape overwhelmingly includes smart devices to inform purchase decisions in new ways. Some interesting new service models are evolving. Deliv supplies same-day delivery service for retailers and merchants, while Curbside.com provides drive-thru pickup and return for any store within a mall. Increasingly, mobile devices are our “goto” source for product, brand and retailer experiences. Savvy retailers will weave the online world into real-time enhanced shopping experiences providing information on features, wearing occasions, size and color assortment and delivery options. New landscape retailers will offer in-store experiences that leverage technology to invisibly fulfill a customer’s desires, immediately and without friction. Expect big data, 3-D printing and artificial intelligence to enable personalization and mass customization on an increased scale and with improved customer engagement. Add social media, smart phones, beacons, and other localized PAGE 31 |
technology, and personalization will become omnipresent, prescient (and possibly an invasion of privacy). Technology will also provide for better fit measurements, augmented and virtual reality to model clothing, and A.I. to design and select it. Tomorrow’s consumer will gravitate toward brands that show new landscape relevance. They will test brand integrity, evaluate authenticity and share their thoughts both widely and instantly. Change will be faster, more disruptive and more valuable than ever before. Embrace change or suffer change - the choice is yours. Successful new landscape retailers, brands and licensees will offer great products, extraordinary value, remarkable experience, frictionless 24-hour shopping, immediate availability and outstanding customer service. Survival requires one or more of these attributes; industry leaders will deliver them all. David J. Katz is executive vice president and chief marketing officer at Randa Accessories, a $700 million global consumer products company. He is a public speaker, co-author of the best-selling book “Design For Response: Creative Direct Marketing That Works” [Rockport Publishers] and has written over 200 published articles. Named one of the fashion industry “Menswear Movers of 2016” by MR Magazine, he has been featured in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, New York Magazine, and Women’s Wear Daily. @davidjkatz BEL MAGAZINE |
by Dan Scott |
| BEL Brand Expansion
PERFECTLY TIMED
4 Generation Z Few brands carry the worldwide recognition and family-focused fun of LEGO. The 85-year-old Denmark-created brand that started as a small carpenter’s workshop has grown to be recognized in 2015 by Forbes as “The Most Powerful Brand in the World.” The premise behind LEGO is simple and universal. Not a lot has changed through the decades. But were you aware you can own a LEGO watch? ClicTime Holdings LTD, the global authorized manufacturer and licensee of LEGO watches and clocks contracted PSE Group as their North American exclusive distributor for jewelry retailers and watch stores. Yet their target consumer is one you probably haven’t considered, and should. Generation Z, also known as Centennials, were born at the turn of the century. They are, by far, the most talked about youth segment within marketing circles today. The key, targeted age of Gen Zer’s are 11-16 | BEL MAGAZINE | SUMMER 2016
year olds, yet easily ramp up to 19. These pre-teen and teenagers are quite smart, since they were educated through an accelerated means of digital technology. They only know a world that delivers everything fast and the access is 24/7. What are surprising researchers is these children and young adults have an inherent desire to personalize everything they own and buck the trends that Millennial often start. Moreover, Gen Zer’s don’t believe in the “American Dream,” as they haven’t seen that vision materialize, surrounded by heavy political debate and watching their parents on daily overload. Gen Zer’s plan to do something about it. Commanding $44 billion dollars in buying power, this is a new, unleashed mega force. In fact, Gen Zer’s make up a quarter of the U.S. population today and by 2020 will account for 40% of all consumer spending. Gen Zer’s are ultra individualistic, ‘do it your| PAGE 32
selfers’, and shun typical lifestyle advertising and promotions. They define luxury in more of a current, daily and accessible means, and do not relate to lavish spending. After all, the majority of Gen Zer’s households never displayed such behavior. And while they may not have a lot to spend now, they do buy for themselves and they are major influencers to what their parents, siblings and relatives purchase for them. Coming from middle and high schools, they are using their allowance, holiday, graduation and birthday money at shopping malls and walking down Main Street seeking self-purchases and gifts for others. Don’t be fooled by the term ‘screenagers’; these children and young adults are looking at far more than computers screens and phones. They are peering into shopping windows and walking into stores that don’t make them feel “too young to shop”. Today’s smart jewelry retailers are starting to pay
close attention. Gone are the days when children’s jewelry is left to sell itself’ positioned next to sterling silver baby rattles, picture frames, or dropped-in at cash-wrap next to closeouts or impulse items. Today’s successful retailers welcome Gen Zer’s with niche, introductory priced products carrying strong brand recognition and personalization. “This is why LEGO watches are selling so well”, explains Peter Wish, co-founder of The PSE Group LLC, the exclusive distributor for the licensed LEGO watches and clocks and the new LEGO Watch System (a boxed set). “These items spark influencer and shopper engagement and deserve premiere, larger showcase space. We’re seeing retailers creating weekend events, separate departments or even entirely new stores catering to Gen Zer’s experiences. This isn’t a ‘wait and see’ thing...this is happening right now”, Wish added. Something else that is incredibly powerful is the strategic LEGO marketing. Most recently, a Warner Brother’s blockbuster “The LEGO Movie” grossed $257,760,692 domestically in 2014 and drew-in much more than children. In fact, the movie was produced for adults to enjoy also. And those adults felt compelled to bring their children. Unlike other ‘adult cartoons’ in theatres, LEGO wasn’t peppered with profane language or sexual overtones. The fact no one missed them is a record breaker within itself. The next LEGO movie numbers are projected to exceed the last, with a sequel due for release in May 2018, after the February, 2017 debut of the LEGO Batman Movie followed by the LEGO NINJAGO movie, set for release in September, 2017. “Just like the movie, LEGO watches are popular with adults and their children. The name, logo and look draws-in shoppers, but the extremely value-priced, colorful, unisex styles has people trying it on. Offering the customer the ability to customize the children’s watchbands by changing multi-colored interchangeable links and further personalize the outer diameter of the watch face and the strap with the new LEGO Watch System box set that increases the engagement at counter and closes the sale”, Wish explained.
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These engaging Gen Z experiences are occurring when retailers make them happen. Renown for superior quality, selection and customer service, Smyth Jewelers, based in Baltimore, Maryland, embraces the entire LEGO watch and clock line. “Smyth likes to stay on the leading edge embracing new market segments and catering to them with appropriate product. The LEGO children’s watches and clocks and the newly introduced LEGO Watch System gives us a point of difference, while appealing to the important growth segment of Gen Z”, Mark Motes of Smyth Jewelers stated. Others have built entire stores on this premise. Tiny Treasures is a Wynn & Company owned and operated retail resort store catering to children, and the child in us all. Now, the trend is growing to independent jewelry retailers countrywide. If you apply traditional marketing from only a few years ago, LEGO Watches should not be selling at The Goldsmith at Chestnut Hill. How could an upscale, fine jewelry retailer housed within an affluent Massachusetts shopping mall sell an introductory priced plastic watch? Perhaps the real question is why can’t they keep it in stock? The Goldsmith at Chestnut Hill proudly welcomes the Centennial shopper, and leverages LEGO Watches in highly profitable ways. They secured jewelry vitrines within the mall, one outside an Apple store, and tested LEGO Watches within them. “Placing LEGO Watches at unattended kiosks grabs attention. Those stations act as traffic drivers leading right to our cash register”, stated Debbie Driscoll, store manager at The Goldsmith. “Centennials are a very important group; they are much too young for engagement rings, but far too old for anything with the word ‘baby’ next to it. LEGO watches are a new bridge to building a relationship with the newest and youngest influencer (and shopper) within jewelry retailing today. Smyth Jewelers would be remiss to not offer this new buying segment what they want”, Mark Motes concluded. Centennials are the youth of today and the shopper and influencer of the now. PAGE 33 |
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by Mark Di Somma |
| BEL Brand Story
BRAND INSPIRATION
Mark Di Somma Creative strategist, a commentator on brands and branding and an Author at Branding Strategy Insider. Connect with him at @markdisomma or by email at mark@markdisomma.com
Why do some brands that have been around for decades continue to captivate us whilst others that were once considered invincible have died or lost profile? How do you avoid redundancy in the attention economy? And what do these brand dynamics tell us about how to make the most of brand assets? | BEL MAGAZINE | SUMMER 2016
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Lessons From Nº 5 We can all think of them: brands that were once icons and that now seem more like high street relics. Flagging, they wait for a restructure, buyout or perhaps a licensing deal; shadows of their former selves: surviving because of who they were rather than what they are. Others once looked to have the staggers, only to have picked themselves up and walked across water. The truly intriguing though are the brands that have retained or even grown their strength consistently with the fullness of time. Why do some brands that have been around for decades continue to captivate us whilst others that were once considered invincible have died or lost profile? How do you avoid redundancy in the attention economy? And what do these brand dynamics tell us about how to make the most of brand assets?
Understand the three key factors in play First, history, and its enemy, impatience. The past plays a critical role in branding, because consumers make decisions based on what they have known and what they have come to expect. Time adds credibility, presence, track record, reliability and the powerful and cumulative effect of collective memory. Nowhere is that dynamic more powerful than with longstanding brands. As brand strategist Joseph Benson observed in his article, Heritage: A Master Brand Builder, [http://www.marketingprofs. com/4/benson3.asp] “Heritage speaks of status, character, social class, and a history. It speaks of a traditional way of life that is of value to present and future generations.
It speaks of inheritance, of shared experiences, and of a common history.” These are powerful and emotive bonds. In a world of turbulent change and burgeoning choice, brands with time behind them are stalwarts. Yet too many brands ignore their legacy and the ties they have so carefully built up to pursue spur of the minute business decisions or change-for-change’s sake strategies. They almost seem to grow tired of being themselves. Consistency – specifically, the maintenance of the right blend of recognisable elements – is a discipline easily undervalued in a world of shiny bright objects. Secondly, nostalgia and its compatriot complacency. Brands that rely purely on their longevity and “glory days” are at real risk of finding themselves overtaken, overlooked or undermined. Credibility is vital but past reputation is no defence against the insatiable demands of today’s markets. It’s an increasingly short step from familiar to boring, as the collective attention of consumers continues to contract. Again, there’s tremendous discipline required to mix history with relevance: to continue to tell an old story in new ways that fascinate today. Thirdly, speed. Globalisation has powered an extraordinary move to scale. Brands that today are icons of our age have arrived and loomed large in shorter and shorter periods of time. As a result, new brands have been seen to capture brand strength faster and more efficiently than longstanding, incumbent brands (but also to be at risk of dying more quickly). That’s because the challenge that older brands face is the need to continue to change in order to be competitive, PAGE 35 |
whilst remaining true to the spirit that propelled them to fame in the first place. They find themselves accounting to a different set of rules than their younger competitors. What too few of them are able to do is not just use their legacy constructively and to their advantage, as per the last point, but also take the spirit of that historic success global in ways that don’t just feel like a trip down memory lane and that continue to work powerfully and competitively right through to a regional level. So how do brands balance the powerful asset of longevity and heritage on the one hand, with the need to continually evolve to meet changing consumer demands and the dynamic initiatives and responses of competitors? Who’s done it well – and what can we learn from them? Chanel remains my go-to example.
Enduring ideas defy trend The House of Chanel was founded by Coco Chanel in the first decade of the 20th century. At a time when women had very little presence or profile in business, Chanel established and consolidated an international business dedicated to delivering luxury on her terms. A wily perfectionist, famed for her attention to detail and her determination to retain control over even the smallest detail, Coco Chanel drove the diversification of the business from clothes and hats to perfume and other accessories. Chanel’s genius was to start with a simple idea – no-nonsense yet intelligent clothes that helped women feel comfortable and elegant – and to develop that into a classic BEL MAGAZINE |
| BEL Brand Story
and instantly recognisable style capable of expression across haute-couture, ready to wear, jewellery, shoes and of course fragrances. 45 years after her death, the Chanel brand is as powerful today as it was when she lived. Why? Because the Chanel brand has always understood the irony of longevity: one must be current, even ahead of one’s time, but never a slave to trend, and – most intriguing of all – never a simple reflector of fashion. As Coco herself is quoted as saying, “fashion passes; style remains”. Beyond fad and whim, novelty, outrage, discounting or momentary social conditions, Chanel gets the fact that it is the ongoing commitment of consumers to the idea of the brand that determines success. Powerful brands like Chanel have lasted because the single-minded thought that drives
| BEL MAGAZINE | SUMMER 2016
them is as powerful today as it was when Coco made it her own. The power of Chanel is the power of association with sophistication. Coco Chanel herself embodied that sixth sense of style, and tapped her intuitive understanding of it time and time again to create products and ideas that women found irresistible. The famous Chanel No. 5 for example was the first commercial perfume not blended to reflect a single flower. Instead, the mix of aldehydes, May roses and jasmine was intended by Chanel to create a scent that “reflects my personality, something abstract and unique”. The famous double-C logo, which originates from the early 1920s, embodies a cool, confident, unflappable presence. It remains largely unchanged – a graphic argument for not messing with success. Coco Chanel’s passing could so easily have
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signalled decline, yet the appointment of Karl Lagerfield as Artistic Director for the couture, ready to wear and accessories parts of the empire in 1983 didn’t detract, or distract, from the allure. Hiring Lagerfield was a gamble that worked, and it is a huge tribute to Lagerfield that he made that happen. He was certainly helped in the quest to continue the legacy of one of the great fashion houses by the fact that Chanel was an unmistakeable and unquestioned identity – but his immense gift has been the integrity and insight to recognise that this is a strong brand that needs to reference its heritage and yet move with the times. In the process, the Karl Lagerfield/Chanel creative partnership drove something fascinating: the cult of the celebrity designer. There have been others before, and more since, but Karl Lagerfield and Chanel found
a way to dance that benefitted both parties, overshadowed neither and spawned a new level of brand architecture. Lagerfield honoured the spirit and the memory of Chanel herself, but then added to it with his own immense talent and pool of ideas. He once summed this up as “not too much respect and a little bit of humour are indispensable for the survival of a legend.” Today, as a result of Lagerfield’s dexterity, Chanel retains that indelible essence that has brought it to this point. Under Lagerfield’s careful creative stewardship, the brand has also progressed, retaining its freshness and enticement. And Lagerfield himself has added elements to the mix that have helped keep the brand alive: an idiosyncratic sense of fun; and the ability to add something of his personality without detracting from hers.
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no doubt as to where you can expect to find it. Chanel today is as fiercely independent in its expression and its preservation of its identity as its originator. Many have imitated the styles. What they have never been able to copy is the spirit – a powerful lesson in itself for those that think imitation is a short-cut to increased competitiveness. And a lesson that should be writ large for those that believe in diversification of a brand, either directly or through licensing. My own view is that consistent private ownership has also played a vital role in this successful strategy because it has enabled the Wertheimer family to make decisions based on the dynamics of the brand and to think and act long-term not to short-side the brand to appease the buy and sell jostle of the public trading markets.
• Chanel has understood the need to be accessible and yet specific One of the great ironies of the Chanel brand is that it is known by everybody, aspired to by nearly all, and yet worn and experienced (in its couture anyway) by very, very few. Unlike others, this company has not succumbed to “catch all” marketing. The very fact that Chanel is in the fashion business makes this all the more remarkable, because they have not let what they do year in, year out get in the way of defining who they are and what they believe in the longer term. By building its reputation, and yet restricting its clientele, Chanel has continued to cultivate a mesmerising mystique and allure in the face of unrelenting competition. They’ve also understood the huge power of access points. Even if you can’t afford the dress or the suit, the cosmetics and fragrance
The continuing icon status of the Chanel brand is no accident – and there are powerful lessons for others in why this brand is still a brand of choice for everyone from worldly rappers looking to name-drop to sophisticated fashionistas looking to make a stop-theroom entrance.
• Chanel has remained true to itself The Chanel brand understands that the legend of Chanel is a huge asset that it must jealously protect and nurture. Chanel has evolved, changed, challenged, amazed … but it is always unerringly Chanel. Those intertwined C’s symbolise that - instantly. The sight of them is an immediate promise. Pierre Cardin or Mary Quant – brands that in their time were also hugely powerful and influential – have not fared so well. Whilst others have capitalised on extensions and other market temptations, turned their back on their roots or simply faded with time, Chanel remains a brand of wealth, exclusivity and sophistication. In fact, in a sector renowned for using licensing, Chanel’s arrangements are few and very carefully chosen. The best known is their arrangement with Luxottica Group to develop, manufacture and distribute Chanel prescription frames and sunglasses. Regardless of whether you buy it or not, there is no mistaking the personality – and PAGE 37 |
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| BEL Brand Story
are there for the asking. That’s because Chanel is, and always has been very, very clear about its audience. Fads and trends come and go – and ideas drift in and out of fashion. But a “classic” brand like Chanel understands that timeless appeal is much more important than whim. The Wertheimer family, that has had a stake in the Chanel brand since 1924, understand very well that exclusivity is directly linked to, and framed by, longevity. Their philosophy is succinctly summarised in this insightful statement: “The one thing the competition [cannot] buy [is] time. Becoming classic is something everyone wants, but it’s hard to do.”
• Chanel has always been about the detail Coco Chanel herself understood that time-proven brands never take their eye off their image, and that powerful brand stories are built on substantiation and consistency. In Chanel’s case, this attention to detail is legendary. A true Chanel jacket, for example, retains its straight line through a gold chain stitched into the hem. At a time when so many companies are shipping what they do off-shore, or short-cutting what makes them unique in the pursuit of efficiency, there’s a cautionary tale to be drawn from not losing or outsourcing what makes you special. To those that care, the Chanel level of detail is unmistakeable. The detailing itself may change, but the spirit of meticulousness and the attention to the smallest elements are never compromised. Such details are powerful “brand codes” that define the brand in the eye of the consumer. They are immediately recognisable and instantly understood, and any brand messes with such intrinsic traits at its peril. So often, brands extend or evolve past their codes and when they do that they take their brands into someone else’s space, over-license their code (killing its charm and beauty in the process) or, worse, drive the brand into no distinctive space at all.
• Chanel has a powerful story Coco Chanel’s humble beginnings were also a blessing in disguise. Most of us are aware of the rags to riches story of Chanel’s life. | BEL MAGAZINE | SUMMER 2016
Born in lowly circumstances and raised in an orphanage, Chanel changed her name from Gabrielle to Coco supposedly in honour of a song she performed in cabarets. In time, she raised the capital to start her own fashion business. Her circumstances forced Chanel to literally create the story and the philosophy of the brand from scratch. She was perhaps the first celebrity designer; the first person to turn herself into a living embodiment of her philosophy in order to highlight her work. She was one of those rare people who understood how and why what appealed to her would also work for others. She drew on her instincts, talent and preferences to create lines that were timeless, intriguing, daring and aspirational. Her personality bestrode her work, and yet it avoided being self-indulgent. That story is still very much part of the way that Chanel conducts its business.
• Chanel has never settled for being famous The little black dress, the tweed suit, the quilted handbag, perhaps the most recognised scent in the world … Chanel has contributed so much. Lesser brands might have been tempted to hit “cruise control” and mine the brand for all it was worth. Not Chanel. Today, under Lagerfield, it is still a synonym for perfectly-stated chic. Chanel invented herself and the brand she became. But Lagerfield has continue to refresh and revitalise the icon in ways that continue to win admiration and praise. Some may question whether Chanel is a realistic benchmark for those looking to manage older brands in more prosaic sectors. Far from being an easy choice, however, I think Chanel is an example of a company that could so easily have got it wrong – and chose not to do so. After all, they have a particular audience, they are in an industry that reinvents itself by default, they are surrounded by players who can undermine them on price and distribution, and they were at one time synonymous with a charismatic, high profile personality who passed on. In many ways, the odds could easily have stacked against them. The amazing talent of those who manage the Chanel brand is their ability to absolutely | PAGE 38
control the dynamics in their favour. Chanel is a story of style over money. It personifies its founder’s belief that anyone can have money, but only a few recognise style. And yet, at the same time, money has kept the brand from being compromised, because Chanel is simply not accessible to those who might do its image harm. You can’t find a Chanel store in every city, and even when you do, the breathtaking cost of even the smallest item of clothing will stop most in their tracks. Burberry paid the cost for not protecting their brand this way and it took them many years and a huge amount of energy and skill to bring the brand back.
13 timeless lessons from the House of Chanel So why have Chanel succeeded where others have not? What are they doing that other brands their age have not? The big takes from the Chanel story form important lessons for time-honoured brands looking to future-proof their progress: 1. Understand what is timeless about what you offer and what is not. 2. Maintain continuity of story, craft and presence. Voids kill classic brands. Not only do they create silence but they “break” the links that hold a brand to its history and its future. In fact, stops turn powerful brands into dead space; space that is quickly overtaken and over-written by others. 3. Recognize what those who are loyal to you really love about you, and what others have yet to find. 4. Don’t change anything that makes you competitive and distinctive. 5. Modernize in ways that are true to your spirit yet meet the needs of your customers. 6. Live your brand story without hesitation. 7. Work within the absolutes of your philosophy. 8. Know your “brand codes” intimately and weave the visual and verbal signals of those codes into everything you do. They are your most powerful and valuable reference points. 9. Never be complacent. 10. Be where people expect to find you and/ or would like to find you. 11. Keep your customers curious.
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12. Know your history, but don’t be a slave to it. 13. Pass ownership of the brand to a powerful interpreter, not just a good manager. In the hands of Lagerfield, Chanel has flourished. But who will come next – and how will they live up to the enormous expectations created by the two icons who have helmed the brand creatively so far? Great brands in many ways are like great musicians. They have enormous talent, but, just like with the Beatles and Sir George Martin, they need someone who can selflessly and skilfully elevate everything that the brand stands for into another level and another era. And to do that, like Lagerfield, they must be prepared to truly commit to the brand not just the gig. They must bring so much of themselves to the brand in order to inject the magic and the romance and the viewpoint that makes the final product so sublime.
Trouble starts when outlook stops As brands age, the research indicates that there is a very strong risk that they will shed their re-inventiveness for a range of reasons. Firstly, tradition can be a strong strength but also a destructive inhibitor, particularly when the love for ‘what was’ starts to stand in the way of ‘what needs to be’.
younger consumers have grown up with brands, the respect they will automatically afford to heritage is nil, their expectations are enormous and their willingness to put up with anything but the latest and the most fascinating doesn’t exist. But it’s not all doom and gloom. Brands like Chanel show us the power of having experience, knowledge and brand equity on your side. The challenge that all mature brands face now is continuing to grow and to prosper in ever shorter turnaround times. The solution is one built around the premise of consistent surprise – continuing to evolve and to astonish, whilst remaining utterly aligned to the core thought and the critical brand codes that underpin identity. Those prepared to shift will continue to hold public attention and build an active and engaging history like Chanel. Those that don’t, and that blindly extend in the hope of meaning something to someone, are probably heading for a bargain-basement filled with cheap plush. This is an updated version of an article that first featured on brandchannel.com
Secondly, there comes a time when many aging brands stop thinking of themselves as brands and think more of themselves as corporates. At that moment, their outlook rapidly becomes an “in-look” – and market astuteness morphs into institutional self indulgence. At this point, they start to regard market position and customer loyalty as their right and perhaps stop taking their competition as seriously as they might – competition that today fully understands the power of brand and is not afraid to exploit it.
The challenge of consistent surprise The gain-attention challenges that faced marketers 20 years ago have been replaced by the keep-attention challenges of today. Younger consumers in particular, propelled by the pace of technology and the conversations they are part of, and that are going on with others around them, are impatient for the new. Fashion and fad are quickly replacing enduring loyalty as consumer drivers in a whole range of sectors – and because these PAGE 39 |
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| BEL Trade Show Preview
LICENSING EXPO 2016
For 36 years, Licensing Expo has connected the world’s most influential entertainment, character, fashion, art and corporate brand owners and agents with consumer goods manufacturers, licensees and retailers. International and domestic attendees come to spot trends, build strategic partnerships and secure promotional tie-ins. Millions of products across the world started life as a conversation at Licensing Expo, and this is where brand owners, licensees and retailers find the right partners to expand their businesses and create relationships. More than 1.800 brands from consumer goods and lifestyle categories such as household, automotive, publishing, sports, food and beverage, corporate and nonprofit exhibit at Licensing Expo 2016. 700 international brands will be on the show floor, representing 33 countries. 500 new brands will be represented, along with 4.500 | BEL MAGAZINE | SUMMER 2016
returning brands. The show floor is merchandised into three zones: Characters and Entertainment, Art and Design and Brands and Agents. More than 16.000 retailers, licensees, manufacturers, distributors and licensing agents attend the Expo from over 90 countries. Household and lifestyle brands represented at the Expo include AT&T, Better Homes and Gardens, Caterpillar, Cherokee Global Brands, Crayola Properties, DuPont Kevlar, Ferrari, Hallmark Cards, The Hershey Company, Jeep, Jelly Belly, Kellogg’s, Pierre Cardin, Shell, Skechers and Volkswagen. In addition to numerous top brands, more than 30 licensing agencies will exhibit at the show including Beanstalk; Brandgenuity; Global Icons; IMG Worldwide; Jewel Branding and Licensing; LMCA; The Brand Liaison; and The Licensing Company, a | PAGE 40
member of Global Brands Group among others. The world’s largest licensing industry event welcomes new International Pavilions and increased representation from countries including Brazil, China, El Salvador, Korea, Malaysia, Mexico and Taiwan. Licensing Expo’s seven International Pavilions serve as commercial centers for each country and offer a full range of licensing activity. Each dedicated space features brands from that region looking to license and resources for licensors looking to bring their brand into that country. Licensing Expo is owned and organized by UBM Americas and is sponsored by the International Licensing Industry Merchandisers’ Association (LIMA). Select exhibitors and brands are featured on the following pages to help you to navigate and find the right opportunity at show.
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LICENSING EXPO 2016 Brandgenuity | Booth A154 The agency expanded the ARM & HAMMER partnership with Reynolds Consumer Products and the Hefty brand for a new line of waste bags with extra strength and the odor neutralizing power of ARM & HAMMER. The program continues to grow with automotive air fresheners and a line of laundry care items. Stonyfield licensed its trademark for a line of organic fruit flavored snacks that brought news and innovation to the category at retail. The line went from concept to market in SIX MONTHS and is available at national retailers. Hawaiian Tropic debuted a line of licensed products at midtier retailers and will expand in 2016 while Playtex launched an expansive line of infant HBA products. Boppy launched a multi-sku line of infant toys, layette, bedding and more at national specialty and midtier retailers. Viacom Music & Entertainment Group selected Brandgenuity as the exclusive licensing agency for networks MTV, VH1, Comedy Central and Spike, and the agency continues to grow their top properties including South Park, Broad City, Lip Sync Battle, Beavis and Butt-Head and many more. South Park will celebrate its 20th anniversary this year with exclusive products and special collaborations. In North America, the Gas Monkey Garage licensing program grew to 15 licensees and the brand partnered with Feld Entertainment for a branded Monster truck. MGM Studios grew to over 100 licensees across the library for famous properties including Rocky, Creed, Vikings, Robocop,
Army of Darkness, Killer Klowns and many more. The Rocky licensing program was reenergized by new content through the highly successful and critically-acclaimed film, Creed. Brandgenuity is seeking new licensees for entertainment brands in a variety of categories, including apparel, accessories, social expression, seasonal, toys, games, collectibles, gaming, special collaborations and much more.
established merchandise and licensing arm of Automobili Lamborghini, which produces some of the most world’s most sought-after super sports cars. Products are sold through its network of 135 dealers worldwide, independent boutiques and third party retailers.
Collezione Automobili Lamborghini | Booth C118 Lamborghini will show products developed under various licensing partnerships as examples of opportunities with the Italian super sports car brand. Welly’s Lamborghini Kids’ Luggage, in the shape of a Lamborghini, allows young supercar enthusiasts the opportunity to pull their own luggage when travelling or rest on the car when tired.
Jewel Branding & Licensing | Booth J101
A collaboration with Spinmaster and its Meccano brand has produced Lamborghini Huracán and Aventador radio-controlled models for construction, including authentic Lamborghini features such as scissor doors and V12 pistons, sprung suspension and digital proportional steering. The partnership between Collezione Automobili Lamborghini and Japanese sportswear brand Mizuno reflects the shared values between the two companies: innovation, pure design and high performance, seen in the premium Wave Tenjin and Wave Kuryu running shoes that feature design highlights from Lamborghini products such as a hexagonal theme, clean sharp lines and Lamborghini colors. Collezione Automobili Lamborghini is the
For Jewel Branding & Licensing, 2016 has been a busy year with the launch of new licensing partnerships. Portfolio of designers and brands represented include Airheads, New York Botanical Garden, Nikki Chu, Bouffants & Broken Hearts, Tracy Porter, Catalina Estrada, Clairebella, Rachael Hale, Shell Rummel and Lily & Val. Jewel Branding has announced the introduction of new and exciting brands and designers premiering at Licensing Expo. Antik Batik, the renowned fashion label created by designer, Gabriella Cortese, is now available for licensing in North America through Jewel Branding. Licensing partners signed include hosiery, bedding, rugs, bath and kitchen textiles. Categories available include footwear, jewelry, fragrance, children’s apparel, home furnishings and tabletop. Hang Ten is the original surf and California lifestyle brand founded in 1960 with the widely recognized ‘feet’ mark. A $1 billion brand globally, Hang Ten has a strong heritage of authenticity, quality and living an active lifestyle. Hang Ten is currently licensed in categories that include apparel, swimwear, sunglasses, footwear and outdoor recreational products. Jewel is seeking partners in home categories to further build the brand. Collier Campbell was founded in the 1960s
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| BEL Trade Show Preview
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by two sisters and found real fame in 1971 when the French fashion designer Yves Saint Laurent used designs by Collier Campbell as the inspiration for his first ever ready-to-wear collection. Categories already signed include rugs, stationery, crafting kits and home décor fabric. Jewel is seeking licensees in bedding, bath, kitchen textiles, home décor, apparel, accessories and luggage. Jeff Foxworthy introduce Fox + Arrow by Jeff Foxworthy, a lifestyle brand that embodies a genuine love for casual living and things that he holds dear. The brand will be launching in bedding later this year. Categories available for licensing include furniture, home décor, rugs, apparel and accessories.
tion covering another theme and a different target group within the female market: Lil’ Rabbit - cute and whimsical, Pineapple Glamour - vintage and chic and Flower Garden - sensual and saturated. The Lil’ Ledy brand is much more than just a cute face and stylish outfit. Being a lifestyle brand, Lil’ Ledy is all about empowering girls and women showing them the beauty of life as well as the beauty each of them carries inside. It’s all about taking on the right attitude, accepting yourself with all your strong sides and little flaws. Building on this, Lil’ledy creative team decided to take it to a new level by creating a line of Lil’ Ledy picture books. The first picture book will be launched at Licensing Expo this year under the title ‘Grow Positive Thoughts’, teaching us how to keep the right attitude in life. Lil’ Ledy is looking for publishing partners to bring the picture book and messages to girls and women all over the World. The ‘Grow Positive Thoughts’ story will be followed by ‘Dreamcatcher’ and ‘Jump into Life’ picture books by the end of 2016. The Lil’ Ledy brand is expanding into the publishing market with two additional brand content formats: Greeting cards and trendy Coloring Pages for adults. Lil’ Ledy greeting cards cover many themes from Christmas and Easter to Birthday and Encouragement cards in different shapes and concepts, featuring characters from existing collections as well as special editions. The Lil’ Ledy Coloring Pages are featuring b/w line art in the brand’s unique sophisticated cute style with many intricate details.
LMCA | Booth D146
Lil’ Ledy | Booth G97 After winning last year’s One to Watch Award for the best new brand at Licensing Expo, Lil’ Ledy returns to Las Vegas. Much has changed since last year for Lil’ Ledy with new licensing deals closed throughout Europe. Lil’ Ledy’s smiling face on US debit cards, Lil’ Ledy becoming the Zodiac star of Spain’s top fashion magazine Women and many more. Three new collections will be exclusively launched at Licensing Expo, each collec| BEL MAGAZINE | SUMMER 2016
A 29 year old leader in strategic brand licensing and the only agency dedicated exclusively to brand extension licensing, has created licenses that deliver over $6 billion per year in licensed product retail sales, across the U.S. and more than 60 foreign countries. Brands emphasized by LMCA at Licensing Expo 2016 are Trane, Westinghouse, AT&T, HP and Snuggle. The famous Trane brand originates in the whole house heating and air conditioning industry and stands for reliability, durability, and superior energy efficiency. It is being licensed in categories such as portable air | PAGE 42
conditioners, portable humidifiers, whole house humidifiers, portable air purifiers, portable dehumidifiers, sump pumps, whole house fans, water heaters and other closely related electronics products. Managed by LMCA since 2001, the Westinghouse program is focused on key consumer, commercial and B2B categories, which include LCD TVs, laptop computers, light bulbs, consumer and B2B lighting, electrical and wiring devices, electric power generation including nuclear, solar and wind renewable energy, landscape lighting, kitchen and personal care appliances, air purification, water conditioning and purification, central heating and air-conditioning, intercoms and electrical and computer and audio accessories. AT&T seeks to utilize its core brand equities to create a multi-category licensing program within the consumer electronics and mobile accessory industries both domestically and
internationally. AT&T is currently seeking licensees in wireless video cameras, GPS Trackers and wireless memory cards, among other categories. HP is a global leader in information technology products and services. HP creates technology that makes life better for everyone, everywhere. HP licensing opportunities are available in a number of product categories. As a leader in the fabric softener category for more than 30 years, Snuggle provides ultimate snuggly softness and long-lasting fresh scents to loads of laundry. This famous brand is recognized by its iconic Snuggle Bear. LMCA are seeking licensees for Snuggle branded: cotton balls and swabs; health and beauty aids including soap and shampoo; underwear and sweats; pajamas and slippers; first aid adhesive strips; toilet paper and paper towels; pet products; and Snuggle bear plush.
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LICENSING EXPO 2016 Mondo TV | Booth G214
Meredith Corporation | Booth E64 The nation’s leading media and marketing company reaching 100 million women on a monthly basis through a portfolio of trusted brands including Better Homes and Gardens, Parents, Allrecipes, EatingWell, SHAPE, and Rachel Ray Every Day. As a media company, Meredith provides native brand reinforcement 365 days a year across multiple platforms including print, digital, social, media, broadcasting, and licensing. Brand licensing work ranks Meredith as the world’s 2nd largest global licensor, with $20.1B in 2015 licensed retail sales and services. Meredith has several robust licensing programs under iconic Better Homes and Gardens brand including home décor, real estate services, and floral arrangements. Recently, Meredith launched three new licensing programs: Allrecipes cookware and kitchen gadgets to help home cooks accomplish their everyday cooking goals; EatingWell better-for-you frozen entrees that debut in grocery stores in fall 2016; and SHAPE activewear apparel that can be found online and in a variety of stores. Meredith is actively seeking new licensing opportunities across a range of product categories for EatingWell, Allrecipes, SHAPE, Traditional Home, Parents, Successful Farming, and FamilyCircle to drive additional growth in 2016.
One of the largest European producers and distributors of animated contents is ready to meet again with partners and present a large selection of brands from its portfolio. The rich catalogue provides something strong and diverse for any licensing opportunity from kids to teenagers. The brand new series YooHoo & Friends is based on the homonymous plush line created by Aurora, which boasts of over 40 million plush toys sold globally in over 60 countries since the very first launch in 2007. The series is a co - production between Mondo TV and Aurora World Corp. A further co-production with Aurora is the brand comic / adventure series called Cuby Zoo, a children animated TV show telling the adventures of 5 core key cube-shaped animal characters, who live in the human world as simple children’s toys but when the humans are away and Cuby Zoo are left alone, they come to life to play and explore.
Sissi the Young Empress is the tale of a real and modern empress who represents a mix of fundamental features - aesthetics, values and emotions, thus becoming a reference for all the girls who are willing to identify themselves with a character that is not only pretty and kind but embodies important values and makes them imagine a ‘real’ day dream. The first season of Sissi is already a hit in Europe. For the lovers of motor racing there’s The Drakers, an innovative and exciting animated series that gives young viewers a real taste of the passion and excitement of the sport. New animated series include also The Treasure Island, inspired by the R. L. Stevenson masterpiece and made up of 26 episodes which tells in a more modern way the tale of the story of Jim Hawkins and his incredible adventures looking for an inestimable treasure. For the first time in the history of Mondo TV, the Group participates as co-producer partPAGE 43 |
ner of a fiction teen series written by famous author Marcela Citterio and produced by Javier Francia for the production of Heidi, Welcome Home, where the author reinterprets the classic children’s novel, written by Johanna Spyri in 1880, bringing a real image through comedy, music and entertainment directed to children, teens and the whole family. In the series, the joyful image of Heidi relives in a fantasy universe. The 60 episodes series is currently in pre-production and it will be released in November. Mondo TV owns the worldwide licensing rights except for Argentina, Paraguay, Uruguay and Chile.
PBS KIDS | Booth M242 Spiffy Pictures, creators of the new hit animated PBS KIDS series NATURE CAT, is showcasing a host of licensing opportunities for fun, kid-friendly products based on the educational series that is posting strong ratings and has been nominated for a Daytime Emmy Award for Outstanding Writing in an Animated Program. With HiHat Media handling brand licensing for the U.S. and 9 Story Media Group running international distribution and consumer products rights outside of the U.S., the brand will be supported by comprehensive consumer product platforms that inspire children to develop connections with the natural world. NATURE CAT was created by the Emmy Award-winning creative team at Spiffy Pictures and is co-produced by Spiffy Pictures and WTTW Chicago.
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On the licensing front, new lifestyle projects will be revealed very soon, inspired by the striking fashion artwork which will be presented by Jewel Branding & Licensing and which will thrill tweens and retailers alike. For lifestyle opportunities on Airheads please contact Samira Ali at Jewel Branding & Licensing: Samira@jewelbranding.com For lifestyle opportunities on Mentos please contact Lisa Marks at Lisa Marks Associates: lmarks@lma-inc.com For food and beverage opportunities on Airheads and Chupa Chups contact Lauren Montemaro at Beanstalk: lauren.montemaro@beanstalk.com
Precious Moments | Booth D108
Perfetti van Melle | Booths J101, H108, G156 PVM will be present at Licensing Expo with its brands Airheads, Chupa Chups and Mentos. The long-standing heritage and built-in brand awareness of these brands allows for massive opportunities in licensing, both for lifestyle-oriented products as well as in the food and beverage aisles. The company has partnered with Beanstalk to develop food and beverage extensions with Airheads in the United States. Beanstalk helped to launch an assortment of Airheads ice cream in in the U.S. in 2015 with Koldwave Foods. This year, Airheads fans will be able to experience their favourite candy in new water-based frozen novelty products that capture all the flavours of Airheads. Through a partnership with Jel Sert, also brokered by Beanstalk, Airheads will launch shelf stable freezer bars in 2017. Perfetti is already exploring new exciting opportunities to take the intense and tangy Airheads flavour to desserts, beverages and bakery products. For lifestyle categories these brands are represented by boutique agencies with a great understanding of the brands’ art DNA: Jewel Branding & Licensing represents Airheads, while Lisa Marks Associates represents Mentos and Chupa Chups. | BEL MAGAZINE | SUMMER 2016
additional popular product categories including décor, pillows, infant bedding, nursery accessories, stationery products, phone covers, apps, consumables, children’s and adult publishing, back-to-school and more. To make a show appointment, contact Patrice Paglia at Patrice.Paglia@PreciousMoments.com.
The Sharpe Company | Booth C80 Sharpe is a boutique licensing agency that specializes in bringing the best in pop culture intellectual properties to the USA & the rest of the world. In business for over 14 years The Sharpe Company has built award-winning licensed retail merchandise
A top-selling brand is carrying forward the strength of its heritage while reinvigorating to appeal to today’s consumer through an aggressive global product development and licensing initiative. New markets and an increase in product categories of the bold growth strategy put the essence of Precious Moments and its iconic characters front and center.
This year new licensed products are coming to market including Precious Moments plush by new worldwide licensee Aurora World. The new line includes 30+ styles across three collections. Mon Cheri Baby, a newborn and infant apparel resource, is bringing to U.S. retail Precious Moments baby products; layettes, blankets and clothing, while an expanded holiday mass market retailer program is being launched by Kiu Hung Industries Limited to include branded Christmas ornaments, trim, gift and décor. Precious Moments seeks licensees for | PAGE 44
programs for Humphrey’s Corner, Naughty Naughty Pets, Judge Dredd, Norton Motorcycles and Rubik’s Cube – to name a few. This year, Sharpe are exhibiting the best in popular culture properties including iconic visual imaging brand Polaroid, Licensing Award nominee Pets Rock (Art & Design category), the most powerful brand in adult entertainment HUSTLER, classic motorcycle property BSA, The Artist Zoobs, Italian poetic design project Nina & Other Little Things, Atari’s vintage Battlezone, now with two new games launching in 2016, and the highly
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LICENSING EXPO 2016
acclaimed Happy Jackson. The most powerful brand in adult entertainment, HUSTLER has developed a strong licensing program supplying a growing body of retailers from apparel and headwear to accessories. Launching late 2016 is the world’s first HUSTLER branded fragrance joining cutting edge licensee ISI with HUSTLER branded vaporizers. An iconic visual imaging property, Polaroid has launched a wide reaching licensing program to include consumer electronics, camera technologies and fashion and gifts. The Polaroid brand boasts 100% brand recognition and is currently being successfully licensed around the globe. The Sharpe Company is managing the brand’s lifestyle licensing and continues to grow and develop Polaroid branded apparel, accessories, giftware, health & beauty and homewares.
months bringing distribution to some of the world’s leading retail chains. Smiley has teamed up with Dunkin Brands to be the face of Dunkin Donuts’ new Global Donut Day promotion. Smiley will be featured on donuts and appear in marketing and in-store POS, helping to bring a smile to the face of Dunkin Donuts customers across 3,200 franchise outlets in 40 countries worldwide. By taking a completely unique strategy and approach, Smiley can always ensure innovation, creativity and an unparalleled approach to every product. Having developed into a complete lifestyle brand, Smiley continues to spread happiness into the home.
Smiley | Booth C108 The original Smiley brand returns to Las Vegas Licensing Expo this year to showcase the unique and innovative opportunities for self-expression available when partnering with SmileyWorld, the brand that created the world’s first digital Smileys. The brand has enjoyed huge success in apparel with millions of units sold annually. FMCG continues to be an area for major growth with more than 10 major licensees signed to the brand’s hugely successful ‘Taste Happiness’ concept in the last 12
Tottenham Hotspur | Booth C66 Impressive performances on the pitch during the 2015-16 Premier League season have been matched by the growth in the Club’s licensing portfolio ahead of this year’s Licensing Expo. The London club are set to exhibit in Las Vegas for a fourth year running as demand for Tottenham Hotspur product continues to increase in North America, where the Club has a growing fanbase and more Official Supporters Clubs than any other Premier League team. To help cater for this demand, the Club appointed Fermata Partners as its Licensing Agent for North America – a partnership that has so far brought over 16 new licensees on board across a range of categories. North American licensees include soccer. com, Outerstuff, Fanatics, Teespring and ’47 Brand, giving fans in the region greater access to official Tottenham Hotspur-branded product than ever before. The Club is interested in speaking to further potential licensees as it enters an exciting era, having secured Champions League qualification for the 2016-17 and the dePAGE 45 |
velopment of a new world-class stadium progressing. The new stadium development, due to be completed in 2018, will also host a minimum of two regular season NFL matches over a 10-year period, putting Tottenham truly on the global map.
Turtle Wax Already known as the ‘most innovative brand in car care’, in 2016 Turtle Wax is expanding its reach by partnering with leading manufacturers to create licensed merchandise that complements its best-in-class product assortment. While the iconic brand is considering lending its name to a cross-category assortment of products, only those that can stand up to Turtle Wax’s standards of innovation and quality will move forward into development. Turtle Wax was founded on the premise of innovation and its focus is on research and development of products that meet the needs of the ever-changing consumer. Turtle Wax has appointed Kristin Edstrom as its licensing agent. Edstrom will leverage her industry knowledge, relationships and expertise to help pave the way as the brand ventures into a variety of new consumer categories. For licensing inquiries contact: Kristin Edstrom, Licensing for Turtle Wax: (630) 930-3431, kedstrom@comcast.net
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| BEL Right of Publicity
by Weston Anson & Jemma Samala |
‘DELEBRITY’ LICENSING
Right of Publicity and The
Celebrity Brand
Dead Alive or
Weston Anson
Jemma Samala
| BEL MAGAZINE | SUMMER 2016
The right of publicity happens everywhere you look. Yet when you mention the term, most people will give you a quizzical look. What is Right of publicity you ask? And how does it fit into the licensing industry? Basically it’s a person’s inherent right to make money out of his or her name, image, likeness and other elements of their persona. Why should licensing professionals care about right of publicity in their daily practice? | PAGE 46
Well, look around. Licensing of a person’s (primarily celebrity types) name, image or likeness is evident in products sold everywhere – brick and mortar stores, pop-up shops, online shops, mobile phone apps, and social media. Celebrity licensing is big business, and at one time, if not all the time, you will have to deal with celebrity licensing, and hence, right of publicity issues. Licensing trends reflect society’s cultural preferences, and are phenomena that continue to grow. Especially in today’s digital world with the exponential rate in the growth of information sharing, the expansion in consumer’s awareness of brand personalities and their licensed products is sure to continue to skyrocket. Brand personalities include those of celebrities, characters, and athletes. As this segment of the licensing industry grows, we need to remember that for a celebrity, their brand is their personal asset and intellectual property. We call this type of intellectual property the owner’s right of publicity. Right of publicity is generally defined as the right of a person to control the commercial exploitation of his or her identity, and to prevent unauthorized commercial use. Each celebrity, athlete, and character is unique, and that uniqueness is valuable. The History of Celebrity Licensing First, let’s look at the roots of celebrity licensing. The concept of licensing has been around for hundreds of years. Earliest examples would include those during the Middle Ages when there was the common practice of using papal or royal warrants. A royal family member would grant to a local entrepreneur a warrant or license to collect taxes, with a certain percentage paid back to the royal family. This is where the term “royalties” originated from. Moving on to the 1700s, the British nobility began to license their name under covenant to various manufacturers and retailers in return for a fee. So as we see today, companies such as Harrod’s, and Turnbull & Asser carry royal warrants on their letterheads. In the early 1900s, we begin to see the licensing of individuals who we would define as celebrities. Shirley Temple started her career at the age of three in 1932 and after an Academy Award in 1935, soon began licensing out her name and image. By 1936 she was reported to have made more than $200,000 in licensing royalties. Later, Ideal Toy was granted a license to create dolls based on her likeness, which by 1941 had sales of over $45 million.
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Soon thereafter, we see the growth of character licensing. Superman was created in 1932 by Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster, and eventually sold to DC Comics. By the 1940s, licensed Superman products included the popular comic books, puzzles, trading cards, and toy figures. As we see today, super hero types of products continue to be a heavily licensed category. The increasingly popular Comic-Con International convention, held in San Diego each summer, is a testament to the big business of character licensing. Fast forward to today, and examples of celebrity, character, and athlete licensing are everywhere. You walk into a large department store and you see Justin Beiber fragrances, Katy Perry clothing, and Trisha Yearwood cookware. Outside of the department store you may find celebrity-licensed cannabis products. Due to the growth of licensing in general, a whole industry was created, including licensing organizations such as the Licensing Industry Merchandiser’s Association (LIMA), and its annual Licensing Show in Las Vegas where over 20,000 people from around the world in the industry gather each year. What are Rights of Publicity Again? Since the popularity of buying products licensed out by celebrities, characters, and athletes continues to grow in popularity, those working in the licensing industry will most likely eventually work on some sort of celebrity related deal. That is why it is important to understand the concept of right of publicity. In the United States rights of publicity are protected primarily by state statutes or case law, and is not protected by a specific Federal law. Outside the United States, it is a patchwork of laws that govern rights of publicity rights. As mentioned in the introduction, a general definition of rights of publicity is that it is a right of a person to control the commercial exploitation of his or her identity, and to prevent unauthorized commercial use. And as we see in the number of celebrity based licensed products, there is value in the commercial exploitation of those celebrities. Our discussion of celebrities includes popular characters and athletes, because they too have developed their own persona. In the case of characters, the holder of those character’s rights should treat those characters as individual celebrities. Celebrity Licensing Industry In the last few years, celebrity licensing has accounted for roughly 5.75% of all the licensing PAGE 47 |
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activity as measured by the Licensing Letter. In terms of retail dollars the Licensing Letter sees the U.S. licensing industry measuring something in the neighborhood of $125 billion. Or, put another way, celebrity licensing accounts for approximately $7$10 billion annually in royalty revenues. Celebrity licensing can take many forms, such as: • Online licensing • Personal appearances • Juvenile licensing • Services licensing • Life experiences from deceased personalities (holographic shows ala Michael Jackson) • Long-term promotional licensing • Advertising campaign licensing • Social media (e.g. Twitter, Facebook, Instagram) • Long-term endorsement deals • Retail exclusive licensing Celebrity licensing is not limited to this list. As is the business of licensing in general, the categories are constantly evolving. Take for instance, holographic images of deceased celebrities. Who predicted that category ten years ago? The “Celebrity Rights Game” is a fluid one, and licensing professionals need to try to stay current with the topic. The future of ROP and technology in licensing The continuing expansion of rights of publicity usage is unquestioned. One need only turn on their television to see Samuel S. Jackson or Alec Baldwin (or the latest middle-aged celebrity) constantly selling credit card services. Or Phil Mickelson ubiquitously selling golf clubs and arthritis drugs. But where are these ads being viewed? How are
they being delivered to consumers today? Increasingly, on handheld devices – the iPad, a Samsung Quantum, the Microsoft Corona, the iPhone, etc. This is more than a paradigm shift. It is a revolution in how people see advertising and promotion – and therefore, right of publicity usages – technology is bringing changes in how rights of publicity are being used. As background, we have to understand that the rise of the handheld device is probably the most important technological revolution of the 21st century. Second, we need to see that there really are three major effects on the uses of rights of publicity in our mobile society as a result of this technological revolution. First, communication is now constant and literally instant. Second, communications and marketing are becoming intertwined on social media and Internet services; sometimes making it difficult to tell the difference between a paid advertisement from honest chatter. And third, therefore, this raises new opportunities for technology to develop new right of publicity applications. But those same devices are also bringing new legal issues and misuses. Growth in popularity and technical capability of mobile communication, has led to unique legal cases. Technology drives increasing sophistication in telecom, interfaces, apps, avatars, holography, etc. While right of publicity keeps driving into new marketing and licensing applications. What Drives Successful Right of Publicity Licensing? A “compatible brand fit.” When a celebrity spokesperson is working well for the endorsee brand, the message cuts through all of the advertising clutter, and creates a new narrative message for the endorsee brand that can use all channels of advertising and marketing, from traditional television and print to social media and phone apps. The act of ROP endorsement is one that can allow the endorsee brand to do the following: • Create new markets • Create or attract a new base of customers • Expand sales by expanding distribution • Change brand imagery • Build on the spokesperson’s own brand to enhance the endorsee’s brand • Use the celebrity to bring innovation to the traditional brand • Challenge old ideas
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All of these are factors that can influence the success of a right of publicity deal, and they all affect deal pricing. But what are the core factors that influence long term success?
purchasing a great deal of air time or ad space. Level of use can also range from small local ads to massive global campaigns that range across the world.
Core factors that predict successful celebrity endorsement Not all celebrities are cut out to be a successful licensed brand. There are generally four factors that can help licensing professionals determine if a particular celebrity will be successful in using their rights of publicity. Those four factors are: • Level of Celebrity • Level of Endorsement • Level of Use • Level of Connection
Level of Connection measures how much the celebrity knows about the product, and their usage. Companies who want to attach a certain image to their product can seek out celebrities who have already established appropriate identities. Professional athletes would be considered experts on endorsement deals for products that relate to their sport. Celebrities’ expertise can be measured based on the identity the general public perceives of them. Tiger Woods’ actual use of Nike golf balls and clubs is an ideal connection. Michael Jordan’s endorsement with Nike would have a high level of connection but Charlie Sheen’s endorsement with Hanes would receive a much lower score.
Level of Celebrity is the most important factor driving celebrity endorsements. This is a measure of how famous is the celebrity doing the sponsoring. A higher number would correlate with actors or athletes who are widely known. A top number of 10 would require the celebrity to be internationally recognized, with a great reputation, and have a fan friendly image. Furthermore, a score of 10 would generally mean the celebrity is under constant watch of the press and paparazzi. For companies looking to enter specific local markets, a low celebrity level might be acceptable, given the fact that amongst the specific market this person might be well known. An example of this would be for a company to hire a local hero to carry their product during the local New Year’s parade. Level of Endorsement is the measure of how involved the celebrity is with the brand. Celebrities are busy; hence their time is worth a great sum of money. Companies with big marketing budgets can afford to purchase a larger chunk of the celebrity’s time and right of publicity for their product. Efficient marketing involves precise planning in order to maximize returns while minimizing the chance of intellectual property law suits. For this reason, the level of endorsement, how involved the celebrity will be, should be accurately described in the contract. Level of endorsement can range from a simple Photoshop of the celebrity with the product, to the creation of a new side brand such as Nike’s Jordans.
Publicity Besides the four factors we listed, there is one other key factor – that the celebrity maintains a lack of negative publicity. A celebrity can be notorious. They can be the subject of enormous amounts of buzz and Twitter activity. But there is that line across which a company as a user of their rights of publicity doesn’t want them to cross. It is an invisible line between notorious and negative publicity – and it’s hard to define – but we all know when it has been crossed. What’s a delebrity? – a deceased celebrity Licensing professionals should also be concerned with those rights of publicity even after
Level of Use is how the company chooses to use and involve the celebrity. Once a photo or commercial has been captured of the product and celebrity then it needs to be publicized. Marketers that decide to pay for a low level of endorsement can get the most out of the endorsement deal by PAGE 49 |
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| BEL Right of Publicity
a celebrity’s passing. We’ve coined the term “delebrity” to define a deceased celebrity. Post mortem rights of a celebrity can be very valuable, possibly even more so, after death. We can quickly look to examples of post mortem licensing deals for the estates of Elizabeth Taylor, Elvis Presley, and Michael Jackson. Fans can still experience the likes of Michael Jackson through the Cirque du Soleil “Michael Jackson ONE” show, Elvis Presley with the recent release of his 53rd album Elvis Presley Forever, and Elizabeth Taylor’s luxury lifestyle through wearing of her many fragrances. Other dead celebrities with established licensing deals include Frank Sinatra, Fred Astaire, John Lennon, Mickey Mantle, and Marilyn Monroe. Plus, once the Prince estate gets sorted out, licensing opportunities will surely arise. Much like Michael Jackson and his Mijac Music catalog, Prince’s “vault” reportedly contains thousands of unreleased songs. Apparently 70% of the music he created was never released, and that’s for a musician who sold 100 million albums throughout his career. Frank Zappa’s and Tupac’s estates also released posthumous
albums. And by keeping those delebrities alive, their licensing potential not only remains intact, but may actually grow. According to the Forbes Top-Earning Dead Celebrities list, Michael Jackson pulled in over $115 million in 2015. For comparison sake, let’s refer back to Katy Perry, #3 on the “living” top earning celebrities list, who made $135 million, which includes earning for live performances. So $115 million isn’t too shabby for a delebrity. The licensing industry should be very cautious of, and at the same time take advantage of, the use of delebrity rights. Currently, rights of publicity are governed by state statutes or state case law; they are not covered by traditional intellectual property Federal laws. Depending on where the celebrity dies can determine how much future value the estate can earn. For instance in California, estates hold postmortem rights for 70 years after death, while in New York postmortem rights are not recognized. Lesson here: if you’re an heir to a prominent celebrity’s estate, make sure they die in California (or Indiana for 100 years of postmortem protection). How can you take advantage of these delebrity rights? Use technology. Take advantage of technology to pursue licensing opportunities. Use technology to expand the delebrity brand by creating new markets, attract a new generation of fans, using direct-to-consumer distribution channels. Also, take the delebrity into product categories that may not necessarily have been invented or available when they were living. For instance, with more and more states legalizing marijuana, Bob Marley’s estate is currently marketing cannabis flowers and oils, body care products that use hemp seed oil, and an assortment of marijuana smoking, storage and preparation accessories. Future Trends While we are focused on the celebrities of today and the past, brands and licensees should keep an eye out for future “celebrities” to license. We increasingly see that celebrities are not only those who headline big budget movies or on primetime television sitcoms, but those who are discovered on YouTube, NetFlix, or the large number of reality shows on both the networks and cable channels. Technology continues to be a factor in how celebrities, characters, and athletes can advance their licensing potential. The use of 3-D technol-
| BEL MAGAZINE | SUMMER 2016
| PAGE 48
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ogy, the abundance of communication platforms, and the personalities themselves, make this area of licensing a truly exciting and important industry in the global economy. The possibilities for celebrity brand extensions are headline news. Bottom line is there is lots of potential in the licensing of celebrities, characters and athletes. When there is value, there comes along with it the responsibility in maintaining that value. Make it a win-win proposition for all involved. Remember, once again: CONTEXT + TIME = VALUE
Weston Anson is the Co-Founder and Chairman of CONSOR Intellectual Asset Management, which has been a leader in Intellectual Property issues for over 25 years. Mr. Anson is active in all of the major international trademark and intellectual property associations as a speaker and an officer. He has also authored seven books on various aspects of intellectual property. Jemma Samala is the Director of Communications and IP/Legal Education at CONSOR. Prior to joining CONSOR, she was a legal analyst at Pillsbury Winthrop and O’Melveny & Myers for over a decade, specializing in litigation and creditors rights. She also has a strong interest in licensing issues and is a Certified Licensing Executive. Ms. Samala is a frequent writer on IP and licensing topics.
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BEL MAGAZINE |
| BEL Royalty Audit
by Sidney P. Blum |
BEST PRACTICE
Royalty Payments Getting
Sidney P. Blum
| BEL MAGAZINE | SUMMER 2016
Correct
Businesses that include proper contract language instructing a licensee how to calculate a royalty, the specific documents to retain and that have a proactive licensee monitoring program are best positioned to achieve higher royalty revenues at reduced monitoring costs without damaging business relationships.
| PAGE 50
Both novice and seasoned licensors make the same critical mistake by not adequately instructing the licensee on how to calculate the royalty and preserve supporting records. The emphasis to close the deal and rely on the honesty of the self-reporting licensee to report royalties properly and to maintain documents usually costs the licensor significant income. Experience shows that the typical licensee underreports revenues sufficient to trigger the cost recovery provision of the licensee agreement. Licensees with better record keeping and royalty accounting practices make more accurate and higher royalty payments, reducing the need for royalty audits and the inevitable negotiations to recover underpaid royalties and audit costs. Prior to executing a license agreement, the following questions should be considered: • How will I make certain the licensee understands their responsibility to self-report the royalty income properly? • How will I be comfortable that the licensee has complied with the license agreement? There are four important royalty reporting items to be communicated to the licensee prior to executing a license agreement: • Method of calculating royalties on the disposition of all licensed product(s). • The licensee’s responsibility to maintain internal records that support the creation and disposition of licensed product(s) (i.e.inventory and sales records).
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limited. Seasoned intellectual property attorneys may also miss the detail required in the license agreement that instructs both the licensee’s entry level accounting clerk as well as management on how exactly to calculate the royalty for all licensed product dispositions. Most license agreements tend only to address the payment of royalties from net sales, generally defined as the gross of invoiced sales minus certain deductions and any product returns. Also, these agreements do not often cover other non-sale dispositions of licensed property such as free goods, missing goods and intellectual property used internally by the licensee for things like research and development or personal consumption. A well written agreement must cover all potential uses of licensed products and define restrictions on each prospective disposition and its associated royalty, if any, to be paid to the licensor. Consider the seemingly simple area of free goods. Many agreements are either silent on the topic or when limits are placed on them, the term free good is not defined. The lack of both these limits and a definition of free goods commonly results in licensees providing the free goods to a customer in exchange for promised higher purchases of non-licensed goods or other favors that result in reduced royalty payments. The following are commonly missed instructions to licensees for calculating royalties:
• Information to be provided in royalty statements.
• Unaccounted for, free, internally used and other property dispositions not included in sales shall bear a royalty based on the highest net selling price for the licensed property.
• Information to be provided in periodic reports regarding the status of the licensee’s operations.
• Consideration should be given to not allowing free goods (unless there are strong restrictions).
Calculating royalties on the disposition of all licensed product(s) Authors of license agreements generally do not have financial experience and are, therefore, unable to identify properly the very specific financial records that should be considered for retention. They are also unable to contemplate how a licensee might interpret seemingly simple royalty calculations in various ways that inevitably lead to underreported royalties. For example, many licensees consider gross revenues to be calculated after discounts, returns and taxes while they actually should be an accounting consideration before any deductions. Therefore, many licensees’ under-report revenues when these deductions are
• Licensed products are not to be sold bundled with non-licensed product. If they are, the total bundled selling price shall be fully allocated to the licensed product. • The gross sales price shall be the invoiced price before any deductions. • Product returns shall not be subtracted from gross revenues or shall be limited to a small percentage of gross revenues. • A licensed subcomponent shall have the royalty paid based on the sales price of the total working end product. • All deductions must be specifically defined by the agreement. For example, taxes must be specifically listed on the invoice and identified by PAGE 51
BEL MAGAZINE |
| BEL Royalty Audit
category, e.g. value added or sales etc. A leading practice is to have the licensor’s royalty auditor review the license agreement prior to signing to identify loopholes that may allow the licensee to miscalculate the royalty. Maintenance procedures for licensee’s internal records Licensees rarely maintain the proper records to support their royalty calculations. Usually, the licensee’s internal record retention requirements do not consider the needs of the licensor or auditor. Even when records are required to be maintained by the license agreement, there is rarely a penalty should the licensee not retain the records. In the initial license agreement, and annually thereafter, consideration should be given to reminding the licensee in writing of its obligation to maintain financial records to support the royalty statements. If records are not retained, the licensor should give consideration to requiring that the licensee pay liquidated damages, generally defined with a minimum and maximum range, e.g., between 20% and 100% of the royalties owed or damages to be calculated by the royalty auditor that are not subject to challenge. And such liquidated damages should be considered to be further defined as not less than a specific dollar amount or at the minimum guarantee. In the end, the lowest amount is usually claimed. Information to be provided in royalty statements Licensees tend to provide minimal information in royalty statements. From their perspective, the more information provided to the licensor, the more opportunity the licensor has to identify potential under-reporting. The initial license agreement should also consider inclusion of an appendix with the royalty statement the licensee must complete. Information to be provided in periodic reports The licensor should consider constantly monitoring the licensee’s operations to identify red flags of concern that could diminish the value of the licensed property. A customized, signed checklist should be submitted with each royalty statement that provides the licensor with an update of the licensee’s operations. Certain responses provided by the licensee may trigger a detailed assessment of the licensee’s contract compliance. Establishing a license monitoring program A licensor must establish a licensee monitoring | BEL MAGAZINE | SUMMER 2016
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program to assess on a continual basis whether the licensee is properly self-reporting royalties and complying with other key contract terms and conditions. Licensors have relied far too heavily on their licensees’ own ability to provide accurate self-reporting or to adhere with various other contract provisions. In relinquishing contract oversight to the licensee, licensors fail to see that licensees have been reducing the number of staff responsible for overseeing license compliance or have been giving this responsibility to less experienced workers. More troubling, as awareness of staff cutbacks spread, so does the risk rise that licensees will purposely under-report royalties knowing the chances of getting caught are low. Licensors generally are not monitoring licensee operational changes. Cutting internal monitoring capabilities may prove especially risky in situations where licensees have international operations and the licensor lacks the resources to monitor worldwide sales. It is important to understand that underreporting royalties is more of the norm than the exception. Over my 20 plus years of royalty auditing, an overwhelming majority of royalty compliance audits, perhaps more than 95%, have resulted in tangible recoveries. This often results in a no-cost project to the licensor if the license agreement has a cost recovery provision (for example, passing on the cost to the licensee should the underreporting in any one period exceed the lesser of 3% of reported royalties or $5,000) Due to the complex nature of licensing contracts and the prevailing reliance on licensees to report and pay royalties accurately without substantiating backup documentation, the only way licensors can assess that royalties are correct and can ensure contract compliance is to establish a proactive licensee compliance program. Because the potential additional revenue from uncovering underreported royalties and license fees is greater than program costs, leading companies implement a systematic program with three major goals: (1) increase licensee awareness of their obligations; (2) assess licensee compliance with their obligations; and (3) inform the licensee of leading practices. These three goals are accomplished by two methods: internal monitoring and external monitoring through royalty audits. Internal monitoring is generally very limited in scope and relies on an analytical review of the royalty statements that
search for predetermined risk warning red flags that indicate licensee underreporting of royalties. Generally, a red flag warning will dictate the need for a royalty audit. Royalty audits Royalty audits can be an effective deterrent to licensee abuses and those conducting the audits can perform several important roles: they can help to preserve, and even enhance, the licensor/ licensee relationship; they know how to secure the greatest recoveries at the lowest cost; they provide valuable insights and advise on how to reduce future contract violations; and they often discover underreported royalties that are many times greater than that of auditors lacking this particular expertise. Take the case of a leading company that initially assigned its internal audit team to perform three biannual audits of its licensees. The work findings from the internal auditors yielded about US$20,000. After hiring external advisers to conduct the next biannual royalty audit, the findings ranged from approximately US$200,000 to US$500,000 per licensee. In addition to recouping these funds, the process helped the licensee and licensor strengthen their internal controls and clarify their reporting requirements through rewritten license agreements. In another case, top 25 university received US$15,000 in royalties from its licensee, but an external royalty audit found US$23 million more was due because the technology had been sublicensed for $75 million and never reported. The importance of the royalty auditor’s background and approach cannot be overemphasized. Ambiguous contracts are subject to varying degrees of interpretation and under-reported royalties are often so well hidden that only a very experienced royalty auditor can find the funds and successfully present the claim. Even the most sophisticated companies may under-report royalty income as a result of contract ambiguities or the efforts of inexperienced or overzealous personnel to meet pre-determined operating goals. While the auditor does not interpret the agreement, they can point out weakness in language for licensor/licensee discussion.
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the licensee that address the root causes of the reporting issues without damaging or undermining valuable business relationships. Unfortunately, too many licensors fear upsetting the relationship and therefore do not execute their rights to audit. This is a real risk if using a non-dedicated auditor to perform the royalty audit. Financial statement and internal auditors may not understand the business relationships that go beyond and often exceed the importance of monetary findings. There are several important steps to consider when developing strategies to monitor intellectual property. The first step is to identify which licensees present the highest risk based on their internal monitoring capabilities and then, if necessary, conduct a royalty audit. But it is equally important for the royalty auditor to review: • Processes and controls to offer improvement ideas to both licensees and licensor. • Existing agreements to ensure compliance and reporting requirements. • Agreement structures to reduce underpayments by licensees. • Contract-administration processes to benchmark against best-in-class standards.
Sidney Blum is a Managing Director in the Royalty Audit Practice of Stout Risius Ross (SRR), and is a world leading authority on royalty auditing. He serves as a royalty audit expert witness, has written two books on royalty contract language, and is a frequent guest speaker. He can be reached at sidneyblum1@yahoo.com
A dedicated royalty auditor will be alert to these and other problems and will look beyond collections and revenue recovery issues to identify reporting problems. The auditor also can help put controls in place at both the licensor and PAGE 53 |
BEL MAGAZINE |
by Joe McGraw |
| BEL Brand Anniversary
WINCHESTER
Licensing Program in a
Regulated Industry
Controversial
and
What happens to a major brand when its industry is controversial and highly regulated? Does its brand equity diminish and eventually disappear? Winchester confronted this issue and turned to brand licensing for help. The results provide a valuable case history that can help in presenting the benefits of licensing to your clients or management. Winchester, founded in 1866, had a rich history. Its iconic Horse & Rider epitomized the spirit of adventure, the American West, cowboys, pioneers and all things “Americana.” Winchester’s products were seen as highly reliable and mechanically superior. Its brand awareness ranked among that of the top brands in the world. However, by 1993 Winchester was facing an uncertain future. Anti-gun and anti-hunting sentiment was on the rise. Legislation restricting gun and ammunition sales loomed on the horizon. At the time, the rural population decline, lack of available hunting lands, noise restrictions, and environmental regulations placed the business at risk. The situation was further compounded by fierce competition stemming from excess domestic capacity and a glut of cheap imported products. Then, declining volumes and margins dictated reduced investment in R & D, advertising, promotion, and plant and equipment—actions that could initiate a downward spiral. Faced with these realities Winchester began | BEL MAGAZINE | SUMMER 2016
to explore options to improve short-term profitability, strengthen competitive position, and diversify in a practical way to ensure that Winchester would survive and thrive in the 21st Century. Historically, Winchester knew that its brand could be used effectively to market a variety of non-core products as demonstrated throughout its history: 1920s–1930s During this era, Winchester successfully manufactured and sold fishing gear, bats and balls, roller skates, batteries, flashlights, hand tools, and a wide range of other products under its brand. Winchester Stores, similar to Ace Hardware Stores, sprang up around the country. While this program was discontinued—a casualty of the Great Depression—it demonstrated that the Winchester Brand could be successfully used to market a wide variety of sporting goods, tools, and safety products relying on the brand’s attributes of reliability and value. 1960s–1970s During the 1960s and 1970s Winchester decided to diversify. It acquired several small sporting goods manufacturers and developed Trailblazer By Winchester—a line of sporting goods. Trailblazer manufactured and sold tents, sleeping bags, | PAGE 54
lanterns, camping stoves, and a variety of other outdoor products. While conceptually successful from a marketing standpoint, the project was unprofitable. Winchester could not effectively integrate these small manufacturers into their operations and did not have the resources needed to develop new products and cost effective processes. Trailblazer was discontinued in the mid 1970s. Winchester learned a valuable lesson from this experience—don’t get into a business you don’t understand unless you can afford to acquire a leading manufacturer. 1980s Winchester initiated a European licensing program during the ‘80s—a lifestyle program. It capitalized on the “romance” of the American West. Winchester in Europe meant freedom, open spaces, rugged individualism, and power. The Winchester Horse & Rider was the “Marlboro Man” without a cigarette. It was positioned as an up-scale fashion brand focused on men’s and women’s clothing (leather, fur, and denim), handbags, briefcases, attaché cases, accessories, watches, eyewear, children’s backpacks, and school supplies. The licensing program became a significant revenue source for Winchester. 1990s Winchester sold its European Operations
in 1991 and the European licensing initiative lost momentum. Winchester had no European-based resources to build on the program’s success and the program changed focus from growth to maintenance of existing licensees. Winchester learned a number of valuable lessons from this experience: • The brand has broad appeal outside of the sporting goods categories • Licensees with limited financial resources cannot properly exploit the brand • Licensees’ manufacturing/sourcing capabilities must be world class • Licensees must have a strong presence in key distribution channels • Licensees must be established suppliers of similar high quality products with reputations for honesty in their dealings with customers, suppliers and employees • Monitoring and co-ordination of licensees’ performance is mandatory The program was a learning experience with successes and failures. Some of the licensed products proved to be fads. However, some of the products continue to have a strong market presence more than 20 years after introduction. These earlier experiences served Winchester well as it began to explore options to defend and strengthen its business in the early ‘90s. Winchester had demonstrated that it could successfully extend its brand. It also had shown that it did not have the resources to
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develop unrelated businesses nor the capital to acquire strong manufacturers and marketers capable of exploiting the brand in other categories. Winchester decided to initiate a worldwide licensing program to unlock the potential of the Winchester Brand and insure its future. The key objectives of the program were as follows: • License only products that would preserve and expand brand imagery and value • Increase consumer presence at retail to support and strengthen the core business • Provide and co-ordinate significant advertising and promotion funding • Generate substantial royalty revenues • Ensure that the appearance and promotion of core and licensed products is seamless to avoid consumer confusion At that time, Winchester concluded that it did not have the licensing expertise needed to successfully launch such a program internally. As a result, Winchester initiated a search process to identify a licensing agency that would be compatible with Winchester management and that also had the capability to achieve Winchester’s objectives. Following an extensive search, Winchester chose LMCA as its exclusive licensing agency because of its strategic licensing focus and experience. LMCA immediately began to study the business to learn the brand’s attributes and corporate culture. LMCA developed PAGE 55 |
a strategic planning model that identified several industries suitable for entry through licensing. It proposed creation of a number of pseudo Winchester Divisions that would be served by licensees. In addition to the core Hunting & Shooting Sports Division, LMCA proposed a number of other divisions including Security Products, Outdoor Sports, and Clothing and Accessories. Product ideas were developed and tested for relevancy and probability of success. “Flagship” products were identified for each division that would provide sufficient sales volumes to establish Winchester as a legitimate competitor in each division. The program was very successful. LMCA moved Winchester into a variety of licensed products. Today, Winchester continues to benefit from licenses that have been in place for more than 15 years and Winchester’s core business is strongly enhanced by the sales and profitability from its licensing program. Winchester’s Horse & Rider is well on its way to continuing as a 21st Century icon thanks in part to an effective licensing program. Each company faces external risks and challenges throughout its life cycle. Most businesses diversify to minimize these risks. Strategic brand licensing can bring a new depth to that diversification; all without capital investment and without taking a lot of management time and attention from your core business. BEL MAGAZINE |
by Goran Kernyak |
| BEL Supplement
THE BIG INTERVIEW
Community of
Best Practices COLLABORATIVE BRANDS. INNOVATIVE ACTION.
More than eighty-percent (80%) of SPLiCE members license consumer goods globally with sixty-two percent (62%) having a licensing program in existence for over fifteen years, ninety-five percent (95%) having a licensing program in existence for five years or more and eighty-seven percent (87%) having two or more brands to license.
Spotlight on SPLiCE members pages).
SPLiCE - the Society of Product Licensors Committed to Excellence is a global trade organization founded as a best practice think-tank for trademark brand licensors.
BEL: Where did the idea originate and why was the organization established?
The US based organization founded in 2004 with the vision to continuously improve brand licensing, continues to raise the bar of business standards for brand licensors and the brand licensing industry overall. The goal in carrying out the organization’s mission is to act responsibly as a Licensors Community of Practice to share best practices for protecting, promoting and enhancing brand integrity. | BEL MAGAZINE | SUMMER 2016
At this moment SPLiCE comprises 65 member organizations from 40+ industry sectors, including business, government and non-profit. They include some of the world’s biggest licensors and together they manage more than USD$105 billion of licensing agreements worldwide. Members include P&G, Caterpillar Inc., Harley-Davidson, Dorna (MotoGP), The Coca-Cola Company, Nike Inc., LEGO, Whirlpool Corporation, Hasbro, The Walt Disney Company, Crayola, Stanley Black & Decker, Unilever, Biltmore, Meredith Corporation, M&M MARS, Reebok and Ford Motor Company. (for more info about members please see | PAGE 56
To find out more about the organization, its initiatives, goals and plans BEL talked to: Kimberly Kociencki, CEO and Founder of SPLiCE; Gayle A. Jones, Head of Licensing at P&G and past SPLiCE Chairman; Kenny Beaupre, Retail Business Development Manager at Caterpillar and SPLiCE Chairman; Shahab Khosravan, Director of Worldwide Compliance at The Coca-Cola Company and past SPLiCE Chairman.
Kimberly Kociencki: In June 2002, Rachael Shagott, then at Fisher-Price, and I discussed an industry standard for licensee and retail quality systems. At the time, the licensing industry was not providing guidance or direction needed for Licensors in regard to the internal management directives of contract requirements necessary to minimize risk. Formal benchmarking projects were cost prohibitive for licensing however we knew the question to solve was: how might a licensor determine if they are doing the right things in order to protect their brands.
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Kimberly Kociencki
Kenny Beaupre
Shahab Khosravan
Gayle A. Jones
PAGE 57 |
BEL MAGAZINE |
| BEL Supplement
Kimberly Kociencki CEO, Society of Product Licensors Committed to Excellence As a SPLiCE founder in 2003, Kimberly served as the first President of the Board of Directors. Today, she leads strategic innovation, benchmark initiatives, and member meeting facilitation and collaborates with the Board of Directors within Governance as Leadership Model. Kimberly brings to the strategic table over 20 years of organizational relationship management experience, including global liaison management for Fortune 100 & 500 companies’ licensing and manufacturing programs. Her aptitudes compliment SPLiCE as a world-class community of best practices.
Shahab Khosravan Director of Worldwide Compliance, The Coca-Cola Company. Shahab is overseeing licensed and promotional products on behalf of The Coca-Cola Company. As a Founding member of SPLiCE and active Board of Director, Shahab has instrumented the organization’s first formal benchmarking survey and as Board Chair inaugural SPLiCE Member of the Year Award. Through his leadership, Shahab has provided the SPLiCE membership a platform to begin the vigorous steps of identifying best practices in the licensing industry in regard to protecting the brand, quality assurance, and risk management. Shahab has participated as a Benchmark Champion, Team Leader and Team Member since 2004 and hosted 2006 Licensors Workshop as well as January 2005 New Year Member meeting at the Atlanta Coca-Cola Headquarters. Shahab served as the SPLiCE Board Chair from 2007 to 2009.
| BEL MAGAZINE | SUMMER 2016
To build on this idea we knew it to be effective and beneficial to have other strong brand licensing leaders who would want to investigate the same by coming together in one place for one or two day workshop. The idea was tested at the 2002 Licensing Show at Javits in NYC and received a favorable response with enough interest to move forward with the momentum. Now with support from management and the key licensing stakeholders, we proceeded to create an agenda to enrich all participants, be cost effective, and meet our ongoing goals of benchmarking. Topics included Licensing Models, Elements of Quality Licensing Programs, Risk Management, Product Liability, and Product Safety, and Selling Quality Metrics within your Licensing Program. The first event was truly a grassroots initiative. We identified early adopters from relationships built at trade shows, within LIMA, from industry standards organizations, and with existing clientele. It was key for us to secure behind-the-scenes internal resources providing technical, administrative and marketing support where needed. Together, we cold called and personally invited all the potential attendees. The rest is history. The very successful inaugural Licensors Workshop was facilitated September 8 and 9, 2003 and a grassroots trade association emerged within nine months on April 26, 2004. BEL: The list of SPLiCE members looks like the “Who’s Who” of Global Top Corporations. What are the selection criteria and what terms must a brand owner meet to become a member? Kimberly: Members shall consist only of those companies engaged in the licensing out of brands, trademarks, or other licensable properties, who apply for and fulfill the requirements for membership. Individuals may not become members. Any company seeking membership must have either $1 billion or more in annual wholesale sales, or annual licensing royalty revenues of $10 million or more. We look to enrich our membership base with those companies with strong quality practices, brand licensing expertise, intellectual property protection practices, social accountability, and/or in other areas of | PAGE 58
interest to the organization. Eligible companies may apply for membership by submitting a completed membership application form to SPLiCE. No applicant may be denied membership as a Member because it is a business competitor of another member or applicant. BEL: The Coca-Cola Company and Caterpillar joined SPLiCE in 2004 as one of its first members. P&G has been a member since 2007. How long have you been personally active within SPLiCE? What are your impressions and experience with the organization so far? Kenny Beaupre: My first experience was at the 2008 Licensors Workshop held at Nike’s world headquarters. That event had impact, and I learned about the Nike brand through the eyes of their employees. I experienced tours, demos and even running on their campus trails. That’s one of the great opportunities SPLiCE offers its membership—to learn about other brands and their journey to success. I know SPLiCE as a welcoming organization with strong thought leadership around licensing.
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priorities. A very productive two years! Shahab: My goal as the Chair was to ensure members understood the success of the organizations depended on getting involved, collaboration and information sharing within the confines of Anti-trust guidelines. BEL: Kenny, what are your priorities and what will you focus on as Chairman? Kenny: Ensuring member value through information sharing—that’s bedrock and my top focus. Digital marketing, international licensing and human rights issues are my other member priorities. BEL: Over the years, SPLiCE has established itself as very respectable, one-of-akind community of brand licensors. What is the “secret” of organization’s success?
Gayle A. Jones: I have been a member since 2007, bringing P&G into the SPLiCE community. We have found the member companies and members to share like experiences in licensing which allows for great collaboration and valuable insight as we all build our practices. Shahab Khosravan: I have been involved since the inception of the organization. SPLiCE is one of kind organization in which members have many benefits including candid information sharing and best practices. BEL: During mandate as Chairman, what were your priorities and what would you emphasize as most important achievements in that period? Gayle: As I look back, I now realize SPLiCE has taken a major step forward in broadening our membership from a numbers standpoint as well as type of industry standpoint. We have put in place a strategic plan to ensure we continue to move the organization ahead across the areas which are important to our members. Lastly, we have put in place a stronger organizational and technical structure to support our members and our
Kimberly: The people. They are brand ambassadors and genuine experts. We engage a Governance as Leadership model with our Board of Directors which lends itself the ability to listen to what is most important to our membership and act accordingly. We are diligently responsible to our mission to continuously improve brand licensing. More importantly, it just begins there, I facilitate a number of benchmark initiatives and committees that all have a thought leader. Since the very beginning in 2004 I have lead these initiatives with a vision and mission to build meaningful collaborative goals and objectives. Together, we do make a difference, for our member companies and the overall industry. Gayle: To me, the “secret” is totally around our members - the passion, support and willingness to collaborate to make licensing a true business model within our companies. Kenny: I agree with Gayle. Our members are key to the success of SPLiCE! They represent some amazing brands. Not only do we learn a lot from our meetings, Licensors Summits and Licensors Workshops, but we develop some great connections in the process. It’s a great benefit to be able to pick up the phone and get advice from another licensing professional you’ve met at SPLiCE. Shahab: We have established a community of professionals who are willing to share best practices for the success of their brands and the overall licensing business. PAGE 59 |
Kenny Beaupre Retail Business Development Manager, Caterpillar Inc. Kenny is the brand advocacy and licensing manager at Caterpillar Inc. and is responsible for managing Caterpillar’s licensed merchandise business, processes and operations. Since joining Caterpillar in 1997, Kenny has served in a variety of roles including Corporate Sponsorship Manager, Licensing Program Manager, and Marketing Communications Manager at Caterpillar Investments. Kenny has been active in SPLiCE since 2008. He has led the International Benchmark Regulations team for two years and also served on the Brand Licensing Metrics & Objectives team, Anti-Counterfeit team and is contributing to the Licensing Scorecard Team. Since September 2015 Kenny is elected Chairman of SPLiCE.
Gayle A. Jones Head of Licensing, Procter & Gamble In this capacity, Gayle is responsible for overseeing the Company’s out-licensing and in-licensing strategies, programs, processes and relationships across all Businesses on a global basis. Gayle joined P&G in 1981 in Sales Marketing. Since then, she moved into Brand Management and has held various positions in P&G’s Beauty and Professional businesses, with broad responsibilities on global Design teams and North America Delivery teams. Gayle joined P&G’s Global Business Development organization in 2005 to capitalize on her experience working with external companies and partners internationally, a key long-term strategy for the Company. Gayle was SPLiCE Chairman from September 2013 to September 2015 and previously SPLiCE Board Member and have served as an officer of the corporation in the role of Secretary. BEL MAGAZINE |
| BEL Supplement
BEL: What do members find as the top reasons and benefits of SPLiCE membership? Kimberly: Access to peers where they can meet, share best practices, and agree to disagree in an antitrust environment. SPLiCE meetings are a place to check your title and get the work completed, collaboratively. We have ambitious agendas that are punctuated with networking experiences to build professional relationships. There is something for everyone and the best news is that it impacts the 360 approach to building a balanced scorecard for trademark brand licensing teams. It offers meaningful work and fun too, levity is a good thing in any industry. Gayle: The sense of community where we all share the same challenges, goals, best practices and successes. I don’t believe there is another organization with the forum and structure to deliver what members are wanting and needing. Kenny: They value networking, events and learning. Shahab: SPLiCE is a close-knit community of professionals whom freely share information within the confines of antitrust guidelines. BEL: What are the hottest licensing topics
| BEL MAGAZINE | SUMMER 2016
addressed and discussed among members and within the organization? Kimberly: Selling licensing internally in regard to the tertiary benefits of licensing has always been on the radar. Halo effects cannot always be measured in dollars. Tied to this is the education portion, selling licensing within and outside to stakeholders. It is so important to nurture the learning part however resources many times are limited so we are looking at this particular subject from all angles to provide our members a support model they can utilize in their companies. Scorecarding is important on all facets of the business model whether it is a licensee, agency, lab, or any peripheral stakeholder. We continue to look at the overall process to evaluate each objectively. Finally, to engage social media or not ~ it’s been a big question for many of our members. We are working on all these and a few others. Gayle: I have one topic I believe drives all others - selling licensing internally. It is critical to continue to educate our Company decision makers on licensing – the what, how, who and why – to allow this to be seen as business model that supports and extends the brand – if managed correctly. Without getting this cemented in the DNA of the company, other topics fall away.
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Kenny: Digital marketing and social media are hot topics because of the rapid changes in these disciplines. Licensors are looking for ways to collaborate with licensees for the benefit of customers. Shahab: Topics has varied over the years but typically it has been related to new product regulations, contract management and lately social media. BEL: Content discussed at organization meetings is specific to process as you adhere strictly to SPLiCE Antitrust Charter and antitrust policy guidelines. Can you explain this a bit more please? Kimberly: We focus on the processes that drive licensing, not the monetization thereof. We do not engage in discussions related to royalty or price setting, core brand innovations, strategic planning or individual partner selection. BEL: As a community of brand licensors, can you give us examples where you helped members to grow and resolve some specific issues? Kimberly: Our solutions for our membership include keeping an eye on regulatory and standard influence, key performance indicators (KPI’s) that allow objectivity in the man-
agement of licensing programs, and how to convey scorecard relationship dynamics with licensees. In regard to regulation policies, we were actively engaged to respond to the Consumer Product Safety Commission’s Saferproducts.gov website in 2010. We wanted to ensure licensors would be aware of any listings from consumers in regard to potential unsafe consumer products manufactured by licensees. We continue to engage our conversations with the Commission to ensure we keep abreast of updates to the site development. Specific KPI’s cover the gamut from selling licensing internally, contract nomenclature and our SPLiCE Playbook focused on tertiary benefits of licensing’s metrics and objectives beyond royalties. Finally, we have also benchmarked areas that support transparency between the licensor and the licensee to build sound platforms. This tool is the SPLiCE Scorecard which includes quantitative verification for Program Administration, Brand Alignment, Manufacturing, Anti-Counterfeiting, Social Accountability, Environmental Sustainability, and Product Integrity Scorecards, to name a few. Shahab: It has always been when either myself or a SPLiCE member has reached out
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to get outside opinion from other members about an emerging licensing issue. As we know, there are many solutions to a problem. However, having the luxury to obtain different perspectives allows us to choose the best solution.
Gayle: It varies by Company, honestly, but for me along with the majority of SPLiCE members, it is all about brand protection and brand extension in a very strategic manner. The dollars are nice, but not the key driver. For some other Licensors in the industry, it’s primarily about the dollars.
BEL: Does SPLiCE assist other brands to initiate or build a licensing program?
Kenny: Extend their brand(s) to new audiences, fill in product gaps and monetize existing brand equity. I find that the licensing model is especially good at extending brands. Through licensing, we’ve reached new consumers in many countries that our core products and services don’t reach.
Kimberly: We do through presenting at symposiums and tradeshows such as the International Consumer Product Health and Safety Organization (ICPHSO), the Licensing Expo in Las Vegas, Brand Licensing Europe (BLE) in London, and the Hong Kong International Licensing Show / Asian Licensing Conference in Kowloon Bay, Hong Kong. We also open the floor to licensors that are not SPLiCE Members during our annual SPLiCE Licensors Summit in Las Vegas. BEL: According to your insights what are the main reasons for SPLiCE Members to engage in licensing activities? Kimberly: To protect the brands within global and domestic markets and various classes of trade. Protect the core and build the equity. When licensing is aligned with the overall strategic business plan, the sky is the view for the brand.
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Shahab: Passion, dedication and the DNA of SPLiCE which is to candidly and freely share information within the confines of antitrust requirements. BEL: Twelve years ago when SPLiCE was established, brand licensing in many companies was not really well known business model. Can you compare the licensing business today and back then? What are the main differences? Kimberly: Trademark brand licensing has grown up with a distinct personality. Its assets speak loud and clear to its gatekeepers past the immediate monetization with a future focus to support the overall strategic
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plan. I’ve seen complete programs develop with dedicated 360-teams that support marketing, legal, quality, product integrity, social media, social accountability and environmental sustainability. It’s exciting to finally see executive teams understand the complexity of licensing, the opportunity to extend the core brand culture footprint, and to inevitably look at licensing as a marketing extension to compliment overall core brand qualities. To achieve the rich dynamic attribute licensing can be is to harbor a team of core brand experts that inherently know their brand, can leverage accordingly, and most importantly know how to protect the brand from dilution and infringement. Gayle: Today it is much more known and established, with service providers focused entirely on supporting licensing. This allows more confidence in the business model and also allows internal resources to focus more
| BEL MAGAZINE | SUMMER 2016
on building the core business. Kenny: The bare bones structure is pretty similar, but today there is an intense focus on social media and digital marketing. We weren’t even talking about that in the beginning. Also, the number of companies licensing internationally has grown. And, consumer product safety laws are also tighter, which brings a new set of issues altogether. Shahab: Licensing has evolved over the years and brands are now fully aware that brand extension sometimes is only possible through licensing which can also be profitable. BEL: How can SPLiCE and its members help others in the industry to overcome the always present angst that brand equity can/will be harmed through brand licensing? Kimberly: Again, if licensing is aligned with
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core brand teams, and proper vetting of the licensee selection is conducted, this is a measure of best practices. As we all know, nothing is a given or perfect however if from the beginning the brand owner knows where they want to go, invites the right fit in partners and allows the ‘magic’ of innovation to happen, everyone involved will have a stake in the game. At the end of the day, there needs to be gain for everyone to protect their own assets. Gayle: I am not sure we can ever overcome the angst over protection of a brand equity and it is a continuous education process as people come and go within an organization. However, with best practices in place and the right level of governance, it makes it a bit easier. My advice is to start small, either with a small program or a smaller brand within your portfolio, and test the waters. Success seems to drive an openness to expand.
Kenny: Although nothing is guaranteed, it’s possible to mitigate some of the angst and risk. To those who are considering this model, I would invite them to join SPLiCE and discover some of the ways our current members worked through these challenges. Each of our members are either working on this problem or have solved it. Shahab: This is a difficult question to answer since there is no one size fits all solution to the question of licensing effectively. Again, I believe staying close to the core of brand standards and heritage is the key. BEL: By your opinion, what are the main challenges in the brand licensing business today? Kimberly: The challenges today are key category saturation, changing demographics, and how brand licensing is sold in markets. There are many brands represented in apparel, footwear, lifestyle products, and toy licensed product categories thus providing consumers many choices. Those consumers are connected virtually more than ever before through community platforms and social media. For instance, Millennials want brands that support a cause; social accountability, fair business practices, and environmental sustainability are key. This active consumer group expects to be part of a conversation with the brand, listened to, not to be lectured to. They want their voice to influence brand development and its line extensions. Soon, this group will be bigger than Baby Boomers in the US which will pose an even stronger sense to build dynamic engagement with consumers. If played right, licensing programs can challenge core brand thinking and truly enhance the overall brand experience. Social media is the key connector which is still not 100% adopted across all licensing programs or by trademark brand owners. Creating transparency platforms, open communication vehicles to listen, and stronger partnerships with licensing stakeholders can pose solutions to these challenges today for tomorrow. Gayle: Everyone is getting into licensing so the universe of good partners is shrinking and room for another entry in categories is more limited. Utilizing a strong brand that
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At this moment SPLiCE comprises 65 member organizations from 40+ industry sectors, including business, government and non-profit. They include some of the world’s biggest licensors and together they manage more than USD 105 billion of licensing agreements worldwide. links directly to the licensed category can help with retailers and consumers. Kenny: Gayle is right; finding great licensee partners can be a challenge, especially partners with strong distribution capabilities. Additionally, shrinking margins put pressure on all players in a licensing model. Other challenges include product differentiation and regulatory requirements. Shahab: It is for each brand to stay within the core of their heritage, brand standards and the priorities. BEL: What are the main obstacles preventing faster development and growth of brand licensing business in fast emerging markets? Kimberly: Brand awareness prior to launching a licensing program, indemnification, trademark registration in class of trade, retail fragmentation, taxes, lack of team or resources in country, and the list goes on. Gayle: This is an easy one – licensing is an infant business model and there are lots of strong local brands and products and consumer loyalty to those local brands. Additionally, unlike North America where the go-to-market is well established, emerging markets just sell differently, usually requiring multiple licensees for the same category. Much more complicated, more risk and less reward. Kenny: It starts with distribution strategies. Some emerging markets have fragmented retail distribution and are price sensitive. Some native licensee partners may not be able to articulate the brand story to their markets. Import/export issues, currency fluctuations, taxes, duties and tariffs are other obstacles. Shahab: A very good question which may require in-depth analysis for each brand. But PAGE 63 |
typically the main issue is for consumers in emerging markets to understand what is licensing and most importantly the “brand love” score within the region. BEL: Which steps does SPLiCE take and which steps do key players in the brand licensing business take to overcome obstacles, help better understand their business, and develop a faster growth trek, especially in fast emerging regions? Kimberly: Key research aligning their core brand demographics and awareness of their brand in speculated markets. Then, benchmarking with other brand owners in regard to case studies, sharing best practices and painful lessons learned. Gayle: While we dabble in licensing in emerging markets, it is not a priority due to the complexity we have seen. I know other companies are successful but I believe it depends on the brand, the categories in which to play and the level of return. SPLiCE has an international benchmark team, with members who are successful, to help identify the challenges, obstacles and best practices to help other members perhaps try their hand in these markets. Kenny: SPLiCE brings licensing experts together, creates a community of collaboration (within anti-trust boundaries, of course) and presents relevant information on licensing trends. It’s up to each of our member companies to digest, collaborate and apply what they learn to their programs. With SPLiCE, you don’t have to figure out licensing on your own; rather, you can leverage the vast knowledge of the community to build a better program. Shahab: To understand the consumer behavior, demographics, retailers and creating a licensing program which makes sense for the region. BEL MAGAZINE |
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BEL: SPLiCE organizes and hosts the Licensors Summit in Las Vegas. Once a year Members also gather at SPLiCE Licensors Workshop. Tell us more about these events. Kimberly: The vision for SPLiCE Licensors Summit is to facilitate best practice licensing process management. We achieve this by inviting both licensors and expert service providers in an educational forum that builds awareness of best practices and hot trends in the licensing industry. The SPLiCE Licensors Summit affords opportunities for licensors and service providers to understand business challenges and generate connections. Presenters distinguish how they streamline processes, influence more productive and efficient licensing business models, and pose developed technologies, industry trends, processes and/or consultation practices to support the licensing industry. SPLiCE Licensors Summit provides brand owners with the invaluable opportunity to gather innovative knowledge from key presenters within a controlled environment. The fifth SPLiCE Licensors Summit will be conducted on June 20 at Tropicana in Las Vegas. SPLiCE Licensors Workshop (LW) acts as the annual meetings for our Board of Directors and Members. It is an onsite event when we present benchmark findings and feature panel presentations relevant to our membership at large. We engage a creativity philosophy of divergence and convergence to sustain unique idea implementation on best practices. The vision for SPLiCE Licensors Workshop is to provide best in practice licensing education through sharing educational best practices through benchmarking initiatives, trends, identifying critical challenges for collaborative solutions, and learning from guest industry speakers. We assemble a SPLiCE Licensors Workshop Executive Committee to collaborate throughout the year to enrich the topics, content, venues, agenda, and networking selections for our event. We are an active Licensors Community of Practice and understand the importance of planning together from a team approach to exceed and delight our | BEL MAGAZINE | SUMMER 2016
membership expectations for our annual LW event. Our 14th annual SPLiCE Licensors Workshop will be hosted by Brown-Forman Corporation in Nashville, TN, September 13th-15th, 2016. BEL: During SPLiCE Licensors Workshop this September, the “SPLiCE Member of the Year” award will be presented. Who are the candidates and which criteria must be satisfied to compete for the award? Kimberly: This award is what SPLiCE considers to be a measurement of values, passion, diversity, leadership, quality, accountability and overall output from an individual or Member company for creating substantial impact to SPLiCE. This award process is open to our SPLiCE community to nominate an individual or Member company who has: gone beyond the call of membership duty; demonstrated extraordinary team work; shared resource contributions; and/ or delivered innovative contributions to the organization. The SPLiCE Member of the Year Award will be presented during our 14th annual SPLiCE Licensors Workshop State of the Union, Wednesday, September 14th in Nashville. SPLiCE Member of the Year Esteemed Recipients include 2009 Manny Grace, The Walt Disney Company; 2010 Tracey Murphy, Jarden Consumer Solutions; 2011 Shahab Khosravan, The Coca-Cola Company; 2012 Toni Sdao, Whirlpool Corporation; 2013 Scott Bannell, Stanley Black & Decker, Inc.; 2014 Tod G. Cole, The Walt Disney Company and 2015 Paul Sammons, Electrolux Global Brand Licensing. BEL: What are the priorities and plans for SPLiCE in the coming years? Shahab: To provide value to our members and ensure our community continues to share information freely and within the confines of antitrust guidelines. Kimberly: It is paramount in the strategic plan is to retain and delight our membership. The approach is to expand the membership base to include adjacent industry segments and others like luxury, sports, technology, food and beverage, and art brands. Focal education schemes remain to hone in on | PAGE 64
subjects that matter most to our membership with new presenters and venues to continue the brand learning. We plan to carry on global educational partnerships with: 1) Members; 2) Potential new members; 3) Adjacent organizations and media houses; 4) Service Providers; 5) Government regulatory bodies; 6) Academia; and 7) The global licensing industry, in general. SPLiCE actively contributes and participates at brand licensing relevant events and collaborates with trade show organizers and organizations. Last autumn organization made its debut at Brand Licensing Europe in London offering insights through a series of SPLiCE panel discussions. Panels were comprised of experts in fields ranging from global brands to drug enforcement. The presenter roster included experts from Chupa Chups, the National Football League, PBS, Sainsbury’s, the Walt Disney Company, United Nations Office on Drug and Crime, the World Customs Organization, World Trademark Review, and 24IP Law Group. It was the first time SPLiCE has brought its insights to BLE and the first time some of its members have been represented at the event. The organization will be presented this June through SPLiCE Lounge at Licensing Expo. In its inaugural year (2015), SPLiCE Lounge was incredibly successful, and provided collaborative meeting space for Caterpillar Inc., DuPont, Electrolux, Hallmark and the NFL. SPLiCE Lounge also embodied the educational and collaborative nature of the organization, holding daily educational “salons” with members and visitors on topics from Social Accountability and Licensing Scorecard, to International Licensing, Brand Licensing Metrics and Objectives, and Direct to Retail. For more information’s about SPLiCE visit their web site at www.SPLiCEonline.com
This is an updated version of an article that first featured on inaugural issue of the BEL magazine.
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BEL MAGAZINE |
by Kimberly Kociencki |
| BEL Brand Protection
ANTI-COUNTERFEITING
Seeing
The Brand
Perspective The International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) and the World Customs Organization estimate that the “upper bound of the global value of counterfeit and pirated products could be more than $1.75 trillion”. Kimberly Kociencki Kimberly@SPLiCEonline.com Licensing is a great way for lesser known manufacturers with innovative, and unique products to go to market with a brand identity. Although these consumer products are not touting the manufacturer’s IP, their information is found on the packaging, and sometimes on the product itself, for consumers and other businesses to approach them. For the Licensor, (the brand owner not the manufacturer) they are able to engage with their consumer base in a more intimate way, as the brand is extending itself from traditional core product lines. For brands, extending their product category offerings allows for more palatability for consumers to accept seeing the brand in new distribution channels and offerings. This is another vehicle for counterfeiters to build upon - and they do. Trademark brand owners license out their IP asset(s) worldwide to protect their marks and assets against fraudulent companies trying to impose themselves as the trademark corporation. Counterfeit goods pose a global problem with mass reach affecting consumers’ health and safety due to substandard | BEL MAGAZINE | SUMMER 2016
goods. These fraudulent goods support child labor, drug and human trafficking, corruption, and money laundering. For consumers, it leaves them vulnerable as an engaged audience that loves their brand(s), and unfortunately do not know that a product is counterfeit. For intellectual property rights holders (brands), counterfeit products cause the trademark owner overall brand dilution, with a need to train and communicate what the brand is and is not, within their supply chains. Today, there is a very wide margin of reported values from the counterfeit trafficking of products with no agreed upon metric to measure the market. Some values related to the effect from organized crime and others include job loss, market share loss, and the decrease of overall market value. While the costs are difficult to quantify — and do not include non-monetary damage such as illness and death — the value of counterfeiting to organized crime is estimated by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, and United Nations Office on | PAGE 66
Drugs and Crime, to be in the region of $250 billion per year. A 2011 study by the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) put the total global economic value of counterfeit and pirated products, based on 2008 data, at up to $650 billion per year. Extrapolating that data to 2015, the ICC and the World Customs Organization estimate that the “upper bound of the global value of counterfeit and pirated products could be more than $1.75 trillion”. SPLiCE (Society of Product Licensors Committed to Excellence) initiated a task force team in 2007 to identify which ways counterfeit products negatively impact brand licensing. We immediately recognized that extending manufacturing outside of the core company opens up the possibilities for infringers to jump on counterfeit activities. Recognizing the depth of the counterfeit scope, in 2009, SPLiCE formalized the task force team to become a standing committee. Today, anti-counterfeiting actions are forefront within our membership, and we actively report out to our Member Companies,
the areas and online activities to be aware of. We also work with global experts and organizations that hone in on training and tools to combat the underworld global industry. In 2013, SPLiCE collaborated with the World Customs Organization (WCO) to promote their training and activities to educate brands and Customs Officials on brand protection. SPLiCE then collaborated with the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) in 2014 to support their online campaign ‘Counterfeit: Don’t buy into organized crime’. SPLiCE raised awareness within our membership by inviting Alun Jones, then COO, UNODC, to present their program and historical findings. Since 2014, we have collaborated with Nicole Maric Quijano-Evans and Ricarda Amberg to conduct webinars and an onsite meeting in London. Within SPLiCE we have facilitated webinars and onsite presentations with Members and expert service providers, along with continuing to lead a vibrant Anti-Counterfeiting Committee. During 2015, SPLiCE recruited and har-
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nessed the voices from nonprofits, media, and outside counsel to bring together a dynamic team in one panel to showcase the concerns and efforts we can make together, collaboratively, against counterfeiting. SPLiCE created an Anti-Counterfeiting panel for the Brand Licensing Expo Licensing Academy in London, England at Olympia Centre to define the scope of the challenge and the possibilities for collaboration. Our Anti-Counterfeiting Roundtable, featuring global experts including Ricard Amberg, Programme Management Officer, Implementation Support Section, Organized Crime & Illicit Trafficking Branch, United Nations Office of Drugs and Crime; Benoit Goyens, IPM Private Sector – Manager, World Customs Organization; Christian Fortmann, partner, 24IP; Trevor Little, Editor, World Trademark Review and myself representing SPLiCE. Our educational goals were to provide the audience our point of view through our representative organizations and begin a conversation of how collaboratively we can combat counterfeit activities. We will continPAGE 67 |
ue to meet and collaborate in 2016. To highlight the brand viewpoint, we invited SPLiCE Members from our Anti-Counterfeiting Committee to create vignette perspectives to protect their brands. This article continues with outlooks from Boy Scouts of America, Caterpillar Inc., and Deere & Company. We will continue our conversations within SPLiCE and remain available to broaden our scope with others in pursuit to stop counterfeiters. To contact SPLiCE in regard to membership or to collaborate on anti-counterfeiting best practices, please email: members@SPLiCEonline.com. Kimberly Kociencki is a co-founder and CEO of SPLiCE, a Licensors Community of Best Practice. Kimberly collaborates with the Board of Directors to implement the strategic plan, develop the organizational design workflow, manage benchmark initiatives (internal and with third-party firms), engage in virtual community-building, and foster an international collaborative membership. BEL MAGAZINE |
| BEL Brand Protection
CATERPILLAR INC. Innovative Filings Since Caterpillar is a Fortune 100 company with a 72nd ranking on Interbrand’s Best Global Brand’s list, the Caterpillar Legal Trademark Team works vigorously to file, maintain, and enforce its famous brands worldwide. As the popularity of Caterpillar’s and its subsidiary brands increases, so do the number of infringements by third party counterfeiters. Counterfeiters ‘borrow’ off the goodwill of legitimate trademark rights holders by using the same or confusingly similar trademarks for advertising, promotion, and/or sale of goods. Since trademarks used by counterfeiters do not have to be exactly the same as the legitimate right holder’s mark to be considered infringing, counterfeiters make changes or ‘tweaks’ to letters/numbers, shapes and/or colors to make their mark(s) appear slightly different than the original mark. ‘Tweaked’ trademarks are particularly prevalent in those countries where Roman letters are not used in language (e.g., Cyrillic in Russia and logograms used in Asia). Because marks containing Roman letters are not pronounceable in the native tongue they are viewed in certain countries as designs. Counterfeiters often use this language barrier ‘loop hole’ to register their trademarks. These ‘loop hole registrations’ diminish the strength of the original rights brand(s). Over the years, Caterpillar has discovered a wide variety of tweaked designs, both on products sold in the marketplace, and on trademark registries. Original
Third party marks
Caterpillar’s solution to try to prevent ‘loop hole registrations’ and ‘tweaked marks’ on products is to file both traditional word and design trademarks and ‘innovative’ trademarks worldwide. Filing ‘innovative’ trademarks containing well-known, recognizable and important elements of design of the original mark can block and dissuade third party counterfeiters from using similar or tweaked marks. Examples of Caterpillar’s ‘innovative’ registered trademarks include: | BEL MAGAZINE | SUMMER 2016
a ‘place holder trademark’ (to account for variations of letters), and its famous ‘yellow triangle design’. Thus, ‘innovative’ trademark registrations enable companies like Caterpillar to establish and enforce their legitimate rights outside of ‘traditional’ filings. This helps prevent third party bad actors from tweaking their marks just enough to circumvent the law, and helps eliminate consumer confusion while upholding the goodwill of the real rights owner.
ment to report … any apparently unsanctioned or improper use of the scout name or of the insignia or uniform of the Boy Scouts of America.” In 2011, the BSA’s trademark licensing group introduced a new spin on that tradition with the “Real Deal Patch Patrol” program. Patches and patch collecting are central to Scouting. Those familiar with the Scouting often describe patches as the “currency of Scouting.” BSA manufactures patches and also licenses other manufacturers to produce Scouting patches using BSA’s trademarks, emblems and insignia. The “Real Deal Patch Patrol” program is intended to educate the Scouting community on the distinctive markings placed on the back of genuine or “official” Scouting patches – that is, patches made by BSA itself or a BSA licensee. These markings distinguish the genuine patches from those made without the BSA’s approval. The program also includes a call to action, encouraging Scouters to teach others about the markings on “official” patches.
BOY SCOUTS OF AMERICA “Real Deal Patch Patrol” program As an iconic brand with more than a century of history, the Boy Scouts of America (BSA) has been dealing with brand protection issues for quite a while. One important aspect of that effort is education, particularly education of the organization’s passionate members, volunteers, and alumni. As early as 1923, the organization understood the value of education with respect to brand protection. The BSA’s 1923 Annual Report noted, “Information is the principal thing necessary to prevent or remove infringements and to prevent confusing practices.” The report continued with a call to action, asking “all friends of the move| PAGE 68
The program’s message is “Spot it. Flip It. Teach It.” and is supported with advertising as well as a reward component. Anyone who writes to the BSA’s licensing team explaining how he or she is teaching others to “Flip It” will receive a free “Real Deal” patch. The program has been very well-received by the Scouting community and carries on the BSA’s legacy of brand protection efforts designed to educate and mobilize its core customers.
DEERE & COMPANY Balancing Proactive and Reactive Brand Protection Efforts One of the world’s most recognized corporate logos, the leaping deer trademark has been a symbol of quality John Deere products for more than 135 years. An international team of intellectual property professionals at John Deere is dedicated to protecting the company’s brand assets. Increased international trade, internet commerce, and easy access to design software and printers are just a few of the factors that make trademark counterfeiting and infringement activities more prevalent today than in the past. Coun-
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bearing the trademarks. Good communication efforts help law enforcement officers identify questionable products and find the correct brand owner contact to quickly identify counterfeits and provide affidavits when necessary.
procedures provided by e-commerce sites to report infringements. Also, regular review of newly registered domain names bearing the brand owner’s trademarks can help identify new e-commerce sites offering counterfeit goods.
The internet is a fast changing and broad reaching marketplace for infringing and counterfeit products. John Deere reviews several e-commerce sites to identify counterfeit products. The popularity of e-commerce sites that offer counterfeit products rises and falls with some frequency. A brand owner must stay updated about new e-commerce sites and the ever changing
Similarly, public notices about new trademark applications can be monitored to alert brand owners about threats to the brand and counterfeiting activities. At John Deere, brand protection efforts are reviewed and updated regularly to maintain the strength and value of its brand assets.
CONTRIBUTORS
terfeiters want to profit off of the strength of the John Deere brand. Brand owners continue to monitor trade shows and physical sales locations but they must step up their brand protection efforts. At John Deere, the trademark law team addresses trademark infringements and anti-counterfeiting efforts on many fronts from training law enforcement about the John Deere trademarks and branded products to monitoring e-commerce, third party domain name registrations, and applications for trademarks. John Deere visits customs and ports of entry facilities to provide training for customs and local law enforcement officers about authentic John Deere products and correct uses of the John Deere brand on products, packaging and hang tags. Training focuses not only on correct uses of the trademarks, but also educates officers about common branding mistakes made by counterfeiters. In countries with customs recordation systems, John Deere records information about its trademarks and authorized suppliers and licensees that export and import products
Christina Gensler is Corporate Counsel with Caterpillar. Her primary responsibilities cover all aspects of trademark matters, including, but not limited to: social media, misuse, fair use, infringement, domain name abuse, trademark prosecution & enforcement worldwide. Christina serves on the Central Illinois Riding Therapy Board of Directors as their Secretary, is an active member of the anti-counterfeiting committee for the SPLiCE, and was selected for the 2016 INTA Brands and Innovation Committee. In 2015, she was named as a “Corporate IP Star” by Managing IP All Stars. Prior to her work at Caterpillar, she worked as Judicial Law Clerk in Minnesota, a Trademark Examining Attorney at the USPTO in Arlington, VA, and Senior Associate Marketing Counsel at NASCAR Inc. Suzanne Eagle is Intellectual Property Counsel at John Deere in the Global Intellectual Property Services group. She is an active member of SPLiCE to support one of her internal clients, John Deere Brand Licensing. Suzanne is the past Chair of the SPLiCE Anti-Counterfeiting Committee, and CoTeam Lead of the Legal Best Practice team. Suzanne works with a global trademark law team and manages trademark infringement and brand protection matters for the enterprise in the US, Canada, Australia and New Zealand. PAGE 69 |
Burgin Hardin is the Licensing and Contracts Attorney for the Boy Scouts of America National Council. In this role, Burgin manages the BSA’s intellectual property matters, advises BSA business units on matters related to trademarks and copyrights, and provides legal guidance on a broad range of commercial transactions, including corporate sponsorships and IP licensing. Prior to his legal career, Burgin was as an associate with a Richmond, Virginia-based PR firm and also worked as a marketing manager for a NASCAR team. Burgin is an active member of the Charlotte, N.C., chapter of the Association of Corporate Counsel and the anti-counterfeiting committee of the SPLiCE. Amber J. Lilly, ACP, is a Trademark Paralegal for Deere & Company specializing in trademark enforcement and brand protection. She graduated from Illinois State University majoring in Political Science with a Pre-Law Concentration along with a Certificate in Legal Studies. She has also obtained paralegal professional designations, including Advanced Certified Paralegal Trademarks. She has had the opportunity to travel the country giving presentations and trainings to law enforcement officials and customs agents regarding brand protection of the John Deere brand.
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REPRESENT OVER 40 INDUSTRY SECTORS Aerospace Amusement Parks Appliances Art Automotive Beverages (Soft Drinks) Beverages (Wineries & Distilleries) Business Equipment Celebrity Estates Cellular Technology Children’s Products Cleaning Supplies Collegiate/University Confections Consumer Products Construction Dental Technology Digital Imagery & Technology Electronics Entertainment & Character Farm Products Fashion Food & Beverage Footwear Gifts & Novelties Government Health & Beauty Household Goods & Housewares Industrial & Commercial Equipment Infant Products Juvenile Products Motorcycling Music & Video Nonprofit Outdoor Lifestyle Photographic Equipment & Supplies Publishing Racing Rubber & Plastics Spirits/Alcohol Sports Sporting Goods Stationary Goods Telephony Textile (Apparel Clothing) Textile (Footwear & Accessories) Tools (Commercial and Residential) Toys & Games Trademark Brands Transportation Trucks and Other Vehicles Wellness For more info please visit our web site at www.spliceonline.com | BEL MAGAZINE | SUMMER 2016
American Red Cross AT&T BBC Worldwide The Biltmore Company The Boeing Company Boy Scouts of America Brown-Forman Caterpillar Inc. Church & Dwight The Clorox Company The Coca-Cola Company Cracker Barrel Old Country Store Crayola Deere & Company Dorna Sports MotoGP Dr. Pepper Snapple Group DuPont Electrolux Energizer Ford Motor Company Fruit of the Loom General Mills General Motors The Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co. Hallmark Cards Hamilton Beach Brands Harley-Davidson Hasbro Inc. Hearst Communications Hewlett-Packard Honeywell Jarden Consumer Solutions Kimberly-Clark Corporation Kodak LEGO Mars Retail Group Mattel Inc. McIlheny Company Meredith Corporation MillerCoors Motorola NBCUniversal Newell Rubbermaid Nike Inc. The Ohio State University P&G PBS Qualcomm Incorporated Reebok International S. C. Johnson Inc. Stanley Black & Decker Textron Inc. Time Inc. Unilever United States Air Force United States ARMY United States Postal Service U.S. Polo Association The Walt Disney Company Westinghouse Electric Corp. Whirlpool Corporation Williamson-Dickie Mfg. Co. WWE Yamaha Motor Corporation Zippo | PAGE 70
The AT&T brand is over 100 years old and is a recognized leader in brand recognition, ranking No 6 in the BrandZ 2015 Top 100 Most Valuable Brands. At AT&T, we’re bringing it all together. We’re helping people connect with advanced mobile services, next-generation TV, highspeed Internet services and smart solutions for businesses. Fast, secure and mobile connectivity – to everything on the Internet, everywhere, at every moment and on every device – is what drives us at AT&T. AT&T is leading the way to the future - for customers, businesses and the industry. We’re developing new technologies to make it easier for our customers to stay connected. We envision a world where everything and everyone work together. We envision a world that works for you. We want our Brand Values and Brand Elements to work together towards a beneficial outcome for us and our Licensees. We strive for a simple composition that helps make possibilities personal, and we want to create an emotional connection with our audience. We are looking for Licensees to enhance or to expand the AT&T brand into product categories or geographic territories that that bring value to our customers and core products. We expect superior customer service and high quality innovative products from our AT&T licensees, in addition to strict adherence to our brand guidelines. Learn about AT&T brand licensing, technology licensing, patent licensing and patent sales at www.att.com/intellectualproperty.
For more info and contact information please visit our web site at www.att.com/intellectualproperty
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Biltmore is a distinguished brand in the home furnishings, bedding and bath, and gourmet and entertaining categories. Our licensed products are inspired by an original American treasure that has been a hallmark of design, style, and hospitality for more than a century. Known as America’s largest and most visited historic home, Biltmore, located in the Blue Ridge Mountains of North Carolina, was completed in 1895 by George W. Vanderbilt, who decorated his home with unique and beautiful objects from around the world. Today, guests connect with Biltmore in so many ways — from visits to the estate and overnight accommodations to our successful wine business. Our licensing program extends the Biltmore experience for our 1.3 million annual guests, enabling them to enhance the beauty and comfort of their own homes with products available from over 10,000 retailers across the U.S. and internationally. Biltmore licensed products inspire confidence, creating the way for long-term relationships with our guests who have the desire to express gracious living and hospitality through quality and inspired furnishings in their home. Celebrating our 25th anniversary this year, we achieve a special milestone in the home furnishings industry, confirming our commitment to the industry and consumers. Our greatest strengths lay in the rich legacy of the Vanderbilt family, our unwavering commitment to quality and the trust that consumers place in our brand. Our licensed partners include Artaissance, Atlanta Cheesecake Company, Belk, Burton + Burton, Capel Rugs, Fine Furniture Design, Habersham Home, Larson-Juhl, Seven Seas, Unique Stone, and Wildwood Lamps & Accents. For more info please visit our web site at www.biltmoreforyourhome.com or contact: fyhinfo@biltmore.com
For more than 90 years, Caterpillar Inc. has been making progress possible and driving positive and sustainable change on every continent. Caterpillar is the world’s leading manufacturer of construction and mining equipment, diesel and natural gas engines, industrial gas turbines and diesel-electric locomotives. The company also is a leading services provider through Caterpillar Financial Services, Caterpillar Remanufacturing Services, Caterpillar Logistics Services and Progress Rail Services. Caterpillar makes hundred of products, but footwear isn’t one of them. It doesn’t make apparel either or any of the other 25,000 individual consumer products – from phones, baseball caps and watches to eyeglasses and toys – that bear its name. Caterpillar is fairly unique in the fact that they have a strong, genuine work brand with an authentic heritage which they can license beyond the core products and services. By licensing the essence and lifestyle of Caterpillar, the company has been able to successfully transfer its tough and bold image to licensed merchandise, allowing them to reach a whole new audience for the brand. Today, Cat branded consumer products are available in over 100,000 retail outlets, 100+ Caterpillar branded retail venues, and 150 countries around the world. Cat trademark merchandise is a direct reflection of the global values built into every Cat product– tough, durable, and bold. A corporate licensor must be true to their brand wherever they are operating in the world. As a brand grows and extends its life in the marketplace, the natural growth into new categories is closely explored and then, when appropriate, becomes an extension beyond the core work products. The Caterpillar brand is enduring. Retailers and consumers can count on it being there– meeting expectations over the long haul. For more info please visit our web site at www.cat.com or contact: Kenny Beaupre beaupre_kenneth_j@cat.com PAGE 71 |
For more than 100 years, The Clorox Company has been making everyday lives better, every day. We have a robust portfolio of leading household brands across a number of categories including laundry, home cleaning, food, charcoal, water filtration, cat litter, natural personal care, waste management and food protection. Key brands include Clorox; Pine-Sol; Liquid Plumr; Tilex; Fresh Step; Scoop Away; Glad; Kingsford; Hidden Valley; KC Masterpiece; Brita and Burt’s Bees. Clorox’s Office of Alliances is dedicated to seeking out quality trademark licensing partners across our brand portfolio. More than 80 percent of the company’s sales are generated from brands that hold the No. 1 or No. 2 market share positions in their categories. Clorox is looking for partners with fresh ideas, and who share our passion for developing brands for mutual benefit. A few of our current trademark licensing programs include Burt’s Bees Baby clothing, Clorox pool and spa, Kingsford charcoal grills and accessories, as well as Hidden Valley Ranch flavored sunflower seeds. We are also experienced licensees, and a great example of this is our Glad with Febreze trash bags. Given the breadth of our brand portfolio, we are open to entertaining a wide range of opportunities. Our values are an intrinsic part of who we are as a company and as individuals: do the right thing; stretch for results; take personal ownership; and work together to win. This is a commitment we make to each other and to our consumers, customers and shareholders. We act with integrity and strive to achieve excellence.
For more info please visit our web site at www.thecloroxcompany.com or contact: licensing@clorox.com BEL MAGAZINE |
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Cracker Barrel Old Country Store, Inc. provides a friendly home-away-from-home in our old country stores and restaurants. Our guests are cared for like family while relaxing and enjoying real home-style food and shopping that’s surprisingly unique, genuinely fun and reminiscent of America’s country heritage…all at a fair price. Over in our restaurant we serve up delicious, home-style country food like meatloaf and homemade chicken n’ dumplins as well as our made-from-scratch biscuits using an old family recipe. Our authentic old country retail store is fun to shop and offers unique gifts and self-indulgences. Established in 1969 in Lebanon, Tenn., Cracker Barrel Old Country Store, Inc. (Nasdaq: CBRL) operates more than 630 company-owned locations in 42 states. Extending our brand beyond our physical locations is an important component of our strategic plan. Cracker Barrel Old Country Store restaurants and CB Old Country Store products are both owned under the Cracker Barrel Old Country Store, Inc. umbrella of companies. Cracker Barrel Old Country Store, Inc. licenses a variety of premium meat and dry goods products in supermarkets under our ‘’CB Old Country Store’’ brand. Cracker Barrel Old Country Store tries to stay true to the old fashioned way of doing things while offering some modern conveniences. That means hand selecting our bacon before slow-smoking it over real hardwood for hours. And dry-curing our hams for a real, rich flavor. It takes longer, but you can’t rush true taste. With our CB Old Country Store buttermilk baking and pancake mix, hams, deli meats, and gravy mixes authentic home-style flavors are closer than you think.
The John Deere tractor is more than just a piece of farm equipment – it’s an icon that has come to symbolize qualities like innovation, quality, hard work and durability. For the people who depend on their John Deere equipment for their livelihood, the brand’s familiar green and yellow color scheme is like the team colors of a beloved alma mater, and that’s a connection that the company’s global licensing operations take very seriously. Licensing the John Deere brand begin in 1946 when the first replica toy John Deere tractory was introduced by Ertl. During the late 1990’s a dedicated team was assembled to expand the licensing operations. By 2010 there were close to 200 licensees between North America and Europe, when efforts were redirected to expand the licensing model globally to support Deere’s strategy of providing world-class farming, construction, turf-care and logging equipment to ‘those linked to the land’. Today, John Deere is a market leader with core product factories and operations around the world, and the licensing team has staff and supplier partners in Argentina, Australia, Brazil, China, Europe, India, Mexico, Russia, South Africa and the United States. John Deere plans to stay the course with its licensing efforts in the near future, with any growth or expansion of the brand carefully controlled so as not to risk losing the emotional connection it has with its many fans. Regardless of where its opportunities in the future lie, Deere insists on a mutually beneficial relationship where we build strong connections with licensees to market branded merchandise that reinforce the strong connections customers have with our John Deere brand and our dealers who serve them.
For more info please visit our web site at www.crackerbarrel.com www.cboldcountrystore.com
For more info please visit our web site at www.deere.com/en_US/corporate/ our_company/about_us/doing_business_with_us/licensed_merchandisers/ licensees.page
or contact: Licensing@CrackerBarrel.com
or contact: PaschkeDaleW@JohnDeere.com
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For more than 100 years, Electrolux has been a global leader in appliances for home and professional use. This year, Electrolux will sell more than 50 million products in more than 150 countries. With more than 60,000 employees, our vision is to be the best appliance company in the world as measured by customers, employees and shareholders. Electrolux Global Brand Licensing has been in the business of licensing the company’s brands for more than 40 years in 75 countries. Electrolux owns more than 50 brands and actively licenses 20 brands worldwide. These brands include Electrolux, AEG, Frigidaire, Zanussi, White-Westinghouse, Eureka, Gibson, Philco and many other wellknown brands. In today’s reality – A great product without a great brand often leads nowhere. Licensing is in its core about capitalizing on established brand equity instead of building an entirely new brand. What we offer are opportunities to move faster using the strengths of our well-established brands, utilizing both consumer recognition and brand loyalty. We develop and manage a range of licensing programs in various product categories, helping our nearly 100 brand partners to grow and strengthen their businesses. Our brand partners are selling a wide variety of products. We offer traditional appliances in some markets, along with personal care products, televisions, auto accessories, LED lighting, telephones, cookware, water purification and many other consumer products. In addition, our commercial brand partners are in the solar and electric power industries. We have a dedicated licensing team in Charlotte, North Carolina, USA and Stockholm, Sweden to support the strategic development of your business. For more info please visit our web site at www.electrolux.com/licensing or contact: Licensing@electrolux.com
Energizer Holdings, Inc., is a global leader in power and lighting solutions, and one of the world’s largest manufacturers of batteries and portable lights. By leveraging the global positioning and presence of the Energizer and EVEREADY brands, the licensing program has strategically expanded to include innovative products that complement the core, including portable power and mobile accessories, household lighting, automotive batteries, generators, inverters and much more. Licensing is a key pillar of the Energizer Holdings strategy, and the company is focused on further global expansion of the brands into relevant categories.
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Fruit of the Loom, Inc. Is a leading global company specializing in the design, manufacture and marketing of a number of iconic family apparel, athletic apparel and sporting equipment brands including: FRUIT OF THE LOOM, SPALDING, RUSSELL ATHLETIC and VANITY FAIR. Fruit of the Loom, Inc. Is an independent, wholly owned subsidiary of Berkshire Hathaway, Inc. FRUIT OF THE LOOM was born in 1851 when brothers Benjamin and Robert Knight bought their first mill and started producing cotton cloth and textiles in Warwick, Rhode Island. In 1871, FRUIT OF THE LOOM was registered as an official trademark, making it one of the world’s oldest brands – predating the invention of light bulbs, cars and telephones. Today, more than 160 years later, FRUIT OF THE LOOM is now a global underwear and casualwear business employing more than 30,000 people worldwide. Our colorful T-shirts, underwear, athletic apparel, sports equipment and intimate apparel are known by consumers in all corners of the globe and our name is synonymous with providing quality, value and style. Staying true to our roots and close to our heritage, our collections are authentic, timeless and unmistakably FRUIT OF THE LOOM. We are passionate and driven; devoted to enriching our customers’ lives through comfort, performance and fun.
We serve the world by making food people love. As one of the world’s leading food companies, General Mills believes that food should make us better. Food brings us joy and nourishes our lives, connecting us to each other and the earth. General Mills operates in more than 100 countries around the world and has more than 100 consumer brands. Headquartered in Minneapolis, General Mills had fiscal 2015 worldwide sales of US $18.8 billion. The General Mills brands are with you at the family dinner table, on a nature trail, or at a special celebration, and licensing plays a big role in connecting with consumers and supporting the brand message. Key licensed brands include Betty Crocker, Green Giant, Fiber One, Cheerios, Yoplait, Pillsbury, Old El Paso, Trix, Lucky Charms, Cocoa Puffs and Wheaties. Other valuable properties in the portfolio include Annie’s, Progresso, Nature Valley, Cinnamon Toast Crunch, Cookie Crisp, Golden Grahams, Kix, Totino’s, Hamburger Helper, Fruit Roll-Ups, Gold Medal, Cascadian Farm, Muir Glen, Larabar, Bugles, Bisquick, Toaster Strudel and Chex Mix. Significant growth to date has come from Betty Crocker decorating products, Green Giant Fresh produce and Fiber One fresh bread. General Mills is looking to expand in both food and non-food categories in North America. Food licensing opportunities exist in fresh, frozen and refrigerated categories. Nonfood opportunities exist across a number of categories with a focus on apparel and accessories, home and kitchen, seasonal celebrations and gifting, beauty, collectibles, toys and crafting.
For more info please visit our web site at www.energizerholdings.com
For more info please visit our web site at www.fotlinc.com
For more info please visit our web site at www.generalmills.com
or contact: licensing@energizer.com
or contact: Dave.Springbob@fotlinc.com
or contact: danielle.andrews@genmills.com PAGE 73 |
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The Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company was founded in Akron, Ohio in 1898 with 13 workers producing bicycle and carriage tires. Today, we are one of the world’s largest tire companies, employing approximately 67,000 people worldwide. Our famous logo, the iconic Goodyear and Winged Foot Design, was first used in advertising in 1901. This vintage logo can still be found on officially licensed fashion clothing and footwear. The modern logo can be found globally on items ranging from hand tools and car accessories to luggage and toys, and, of course, tires. From our early carriage tires to being the first tire on the moon, our famous logo remains an integral part of the Goodyear signature – a symbolic link with the company’s historic past and our dynamic future. At Goodyear, innovation is more than what we apply to products and services; it represents the foundation of the company. With more than 70 licensees worldwide, Goodyear has become an iconic lifestyle brand as its values of innovation, durability, reliability and performance can easily be transferred into many different product categories: apparel, footwear, accessories, luggage, sports equipment, promotional items, car accessories, safety products and toys. We seek licensees whose values mirror our own – those with an innovative spirit who create quality products. Goodyear also licenses its Goodyear Eagle, Goodyear Racing, and blimp design trademarks.
Hallmark makes the world a more caring place by helping people express what’s in their hearts and connect in emotional ways with others. In the U.S., innovative Hallmark greeting cards and gifts are sold through leading mass retailers, the network of Hallmark Gold Crown specialty stores and online. Worldwide, Hallmark offers products in more than 30 languages available in 100 countries. Millions of households enjoy family friendly television programming offered by cable’s top-rated Hallmark Channel and fast-growing Hallmark Movies & Mysteries. For more than 100 Years we’ve helped people connect. Giving people meaningful ways to connect with those they care about most is at the heart of everything we do. We create things that make people feel good. Our expertise in emotional storytelling has helped us secure a place in consumers’ hearts. We’ve earned this special place in people’s lives by reaching them in many different meaningful ways. People engage with the Hallmark brand to create and capture memories and moments they cherish their entire lives. Hallmark’s brand purpose is to inspire meaningful connections, which enhance relationships and enrich lives. Our brand promise is an inspiring challenge and our ultimate goal. Our brand’s purpose and promise express our central commitment to the consumer and should be served by every product, service and experience.
We are eager to continue growing our licensed products business in emerging markets while providing continued guidance and support for our established licensees. That’s the Goodyear licensing division, always looking forward while cherishing our past.
In a partnership with Hallmark, you can leverage our expertise and vast intellectual property portfolio to create a more meaningful connection between consumers and your products.
For more info please visit our web site at www.goodyear.com
For more info please visit our web site at www.Hallmarklicensing.com
or contact: Fabrice.faurie@img.com
or contact: hallmarklicensing@hallmark.com
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Hamilton Beach Brands, Inc. is a leading designer, marketer and distributor of small electric household appliances, as well as commercial products for restaurants, bars and hotels. Hamilton Beach products can be found in households and business throughout the world. Hamilton Beach Brands, Inc. is a wholly-owned subsidiary of NACCO Industries, Inc. (NYSE: NC), and is Headquartered in Richmond, Virginia. Staying connected with consumers is a vital element of our company mission to provide innovative solutions to improve everyday living. We’re proud that our product quality, wide variety of options, superior customer service, and brand name strength continue to earn us kudos with consumers. We license our Hamilton Beach and Proctor Silex brands across the globe in a number of product categories and territories. With over 100 years of established brand equity, you can be assured that you are partnering with one of the best consumer products companies in the business. We have strong partnership experience as both a licensor and licensee and have experienced professionals across all aspects of the business, including quality, marketing and legal specialists, that can help you bring your product to market. As a brand partner, we entrust you to represent our brands with the same level of innovation and quality that consumers have some to expect from our trusted brands. Potential licensees should be prepared to demonstrate how our brand adds value to your product and how your product will enhance the value of our brand. Information on innovative Hamilton Beach, Proctor Silex, TrueAir, Hamilton Beach Commercial, and Weston Brands can be found online at: www.hamiltonbeach.com, www.proctorsilex.com, www.westonproducts.com and www.commercial.hamiltonbeach.com. or contact: Wendy Reid wendy.reid@hamiltonbeach.com
For 112 years Harley-Davidson has united people around the world through amazing products and an authentic set of values, igniting passion and a sense of shared community. With both global significance and local relevance it is no surprise that Harley-Davidson ranks as one of the strongest brands in the world. Harley-Davidson established its trademark licensing program in the early 1980’s to ensure that its trademarks were protected and to create an authentic assortment of branded products that allow consumers to express themselves through the brand. Harley-Davidson works with 85 licensees producing products in the following categories: apparel (with an emphasis on Dealer imprint t-shirts), footwear, eyewear, accessories, children’s apparel, lighters, watches, jewelry, rec room, home décor, toys, pet supplies, and promotional items. At the core of Harley-Davidson’s retail program is its network of independently owned and operated dealerships, with more than 1400 Harley-Davidson dealerships worldwide. Supporting and enhancing Harley-Davidson’s relationships with its dealers is at the forefront of the licensing program. We also work with select licensees to distribute some licensed product through other relevant channels of distribution. In 2014, the Harley-Davidson licensing program generated approximately $450 million in retail sales globally. Annually, 10 Million T-shirts are sold and over 51,000 SKU’S are produced in a variety of product categories. Harley-Davidson’s formula for success stems from the strength of our brand and our relationships with our licensees, as well as the diversity and loyalty of our customer base.
For more info please contact: licensingdept@harley-davidson.com
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Hearst is the largest worldwide publisher of monthly magazines, with a span of 21 titles that reach 78 million readers and 54 million site visitors each month. For over a decade, Hearst Brand Development has personified our powerful and diverse magazine portfolio (many centennial with a long-standing, relevant history) into brand-enhancing products. By understanding the behaviors and lifestyles of our readers, we are able to connect millions of loyal, engaged consumers to their favorite brands and fully integrate these products into the fabric of their daily routine and style. In 2014, consumers spent more than $400 million on Hearst branded products across fully diversified retail channels. Hearst Brand Development’s range of legacy brands benefit from both national and regional distributions as well as consistent exclusive partnerships, including the Esquire Shirt and Tie Collection at Men’s Wearhouse, the Metropolitan Home Furniture Collection at national and regional furniture retailers in addition to the introduction of soft home products at BedBathandBeyond.com, Seventeen Confections at It’Sugar, and Car and Driver car care accessories at mid-tier and specialty retailers. Our success is amplified by the scale and engagement with this branded audience and our ability to reach them moment-to-moment across all desirable omni-channel platforms in print, digital, mobile, and social media networks. New and noteworthy launches include the Esquire and Jefferson’s Manhattan: Barrel Finished Cocktail, the Seventeen Bedding Collections at Kohls.com and JCP.com, and the addition of the New Neutrals product line to the Good Housekeeping Blinds and Shades Collection.
Honeywell is a Fortune 100 company whose innovative technologies are making our world cleaner and more sustainable, more secure, connected, energy efficient and productive. The Honeywell brand is known throughout the world. Honeywell’s proven technologies, leading edge patents, and world-renowned brands can be one of the best and fastest ways to accelerate your success. Whether you’re looking to shortcut R&D challenges, leap-frog competition, or command premium pricing through brand affiliation, Honeywell is a uniquely rewarding partner for Intellectual Property licensing. We approach licensing in a clear, straight-forward way with a focus on achieving mutual success. With expertise across a wide variety of vital industries, Honeywell offers a vast set of portable technologies and can enable your company to compete more effectively and grow market share. Honeywell provides specialized know-how, patented technologies and valuable business support to maximize your success in achieving business goals. Benefits of Technology Licensing: • Shorten product development time • Gain entry into otherwise protected industries • Enhance quality of products and processes • Build competitive advantage • Increase sales revenue • Expand existing business capabilities
Sources: AAM 2H 2014; Spring 2015 MRI GfK; comScore.
Customers prefer to buy brands they know and trust. With Honeywell behind you, you’re more likely to succeed. Our strong brands, our cooperative go-to-market initiatives, and our established position in a variety of key industries can help pave the way to higher profitability.
For more info please visit our web site at www.hearst.com
For more info please visit our web site at www.honeywell.com
or contact: gebrown@hearst.com
or contact: Mylee.Xiong@Honeywell.com PAGE 75 |
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Jarden Consumer Solutions is a division of Jarden Corporation, a world-class, Fortune 500 consumer products company with a diverse portfolio of innovative products. For nearly 100 years, consumers have trusted our brands. We market products under the Bionaire, Breville, Cadence, Crock-Pot, Food Saver, Mr. Coffee, GrillMaster, Health o Meter, Holmes, Rexair, Rival, Oster, Seal a Meal, Sunbeam, Villaware, and other leading global brands in more than 90 product categories and in over 110 countries. We manufacture, market, distribute, and license a broad line of market-leading, branded consumer products and solutions designed to improve the lives of our consumers. We enhance the consumer’s home environment, personal care, wellness, cooking, baking, garment care and other daily necessities. Our wide range of product offerings include air purifiers, blenders, clothes irons, coffeemakers, cookware and accessories, fans, food processors, heated bedding, heating pads, microwave ovens, personal and animal grooming products, roasters, slow cookers, stand mixers, and vacuum sealer / food storage systems, just to name a few. Jarden Consumer Solutions has an established product licensing program and global strategic relationship management that delivers an expanded ecosystem for consumers looking for new ways to engage with their favorite brands.
Mars Retail Group (MRG) is a division of Mars, Incorporated, a privately owned company with net sales of more than $33 billion worldwide. Founded in 1911, Mars, Incorporated has 75,000 Associates across the globe and six business segments including Petcare, Chocolate, Wrigley, Food, Drinks, and Symbioscience. Based in Mount Arlington, N.J., MRG supports and builds the iconic Mars Brands, from M&M’S Brand and the charismatic M&M’S Characters to SKITTLES, SNICKERS, STARBURST and TWIX Brands. Licensing partnerships with MRG provide tremendous brand awareness, since the company’s esteemed brands enjoy powerful consumer recognition. MRG partners with Mars brand teams, retail partners and licensees to create unique merchandise and in-store displays to create an unforgettable experience for consumers. Themed displays can align with seasons, holidays, or special events and include a wide range of licensed items at varying price points, such as apparel, novelty, housewares, accessories, plush, dispensers and candy. Several key factors differentiate the MRG program from competitors: the Brands’ strong heritage and popularity, and the iconic M&M’S Brand Characters, loved by all ages. Mars licensed products are proven successes, and MRG is excited to continue expanding the portfolio. A potential licensee should have a strong track record with a history of developing and managing brands and a successful sales and distribution organization in place.
For more info please visit our web site at www.jardencs.com
For more info please visit our web site at www.mars.com
or contact: licensing@jardencs.com
or contact: gail.martin@effem.com
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Headquartered in El Segundo, California, Mattel, Inc. is the worldwide leader in the design, manufacturing and marketing of toys and family products. Mattel has a rich portfolio of brands including Barbie, the most popular fashion doll ever produced, Hot Wheels, Monster High, American Girl, Thomas & Friends and Fisher-Price. Mattel also partners with entertainment industry giants like Disney, Warner Bros, DreamWorks and WWE to deliver a wide array of content-inspired toy lines. Additionally, Mattel has a worldwide team that licenses its brands across over 100 different product sub-categories spanning merchandise, publishing and content across a full range of mediums, platforms and channels. With 50+ exciting brands and approximately 31,000 employees in 40 countries and territories, Mattel sells products in more than 150 nations. As the leading global infant and preschool brand, with product solutions for every step along the way in a baby’s day - Fisher-Price® offers innovative solutions across a multitude of categories including baby gear and care, infant accessories, publishing, music and party supplies. This year, Thomas & Friends will celebrate its 70th anniversary and will leverage this milestone to activate untapped growth opportunities for the brand. Barbie, the doll that started it all, heads into 2015 with new soft lines partnerships, an updated look, and the most innovative and customizable products fans have ever seen. Across the girls business, from Monster High to Ever After High, Mattel continues to lead the fashion doll category and reach today’s girls with on trend themes, compelling storytelling, aspirational characters and beautiful product. Hot Wheels will continue to fuel kids’ imaginations by giving them the keys to create and discover new play experiences through fantastical vehicles and thrilling track sets. For more info please visit our web site at http://corporate.mattel.com/
Meredith Corporation is the nation’s leading media and marketing company, reaching 100 million consumers on a monthly basis. As a media company, Meredith provides brand reinforcement 365 days a year through several native promotional channels for our brands.
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Through its diverse collection of storied breweries, MillerCoors brings American beer drinkers an unmatched selection of the highest quality beers steeped in centuries of brewing heritage.
Meredith has several robust licensing programs under our iconic Better Homes and Gardens brand including home décor, real estate services, and floral arrangements. Recently, Meredith launched a new licensing program for Allrecipes that assists everyday cooks to accomplish their cooking goals through a collection of cookware, bakeware and kitchen gadgets.
Miller Brewing Company and Coors Brewing Company offer domestic favorites such as Coors Light, Miller Lite, Miller High Life and Coors Banquet. Tenth and Blake Beer Company, our craft and import division, offers beers such as Leinenkugel’s Summer Shandy from sixth-generation Jacob Leinenkugel Brewing Company and Blue Moon Belgian White from modern craft pioneer Blue Moon Brewing Company, which celebrates its 20th Anniversary this year. Tenth and Blake also operates Crispin Cider Company, an artisanal maker of pear and apple ciders using fresh-pressed American juice, and imports world-renowned beers such as Italy’s Peroni Nastro Azzurro, the Czech Republic’s Pilsner Urquell and the Netherlands’ Grolsch.
Future licensing growth will leverage our other well-known trademarks including Eating Well, Traditional Home, Parents, Successful Farming and Family Circle.
MillerCoors also offers pioneering new brands such as the Redd’s Apple and Redd’s Wicked Apple franchises and Smith & Forge Hard Cider.
Our brand licensing work ranks us the world’s 2nd largest global licensor. We help our licensing partners go to market further and faster using a Meredith trademark that lends immediate recognition and credibility across a broad segment of consumers.
MillerCoors seeks to create America’s best beer company through an uncompromising promise of quality, a keen focus on innovation and a deep commitment to sustainability. MillerCoors is a joint venture of SABMiller plc and Molson Coors Brewing Company. Learn more at MillerCoors.com, at facebook.com/MillerCoors or on Twitter through @MillerCoors.
For more info please visit our web site at www.meredith.com/national-media/ brand-licensing or contact: Claire Pierce Claire.pierce@meredith.com
Universal Partnerships & Licensing (UP&L) oversees NBCUniversal’s consumer product and digital licensing for Universal Pictures, NBC Television, Focus Features and Sprout Channel. This dedicated division is also responsible for film, home entertainment and television promotions. NBCUniversal is one of the world’s leading media and entertainment companies in the development, production, and marketing of entertainment, news, and information to a global audience. NBCUniversal owns and operates a valuable portfolio of news and entertainment television networks, a premier motion picture company, significant television production operations, a leading television stations group, world-renowned theme parks, and a suite of leading Internet-based businesses. NBCUniversal is a subsidiary of Comcast Corporation. This year, UP&L continues to expand its licensing programs based on the blockbuster film franchises, Minions, which has grossed more than $1B and counting at the global box office, Jurassic World, the third highest grossing film of all time with $1.5B at the global box office, and Fast & Furious. In 2016, the fifth film in the collaboration between Universal Pictures and Illumination Entertainment, The Secret Life of Pets, a comedy about the lives our pets lead after we leave for work or school each day, will debut in theatres. On the television side of the business, UP&L continues to build upon the successful “The Biggest Loser” franchise, while introducing new opportunities from the kids network Sprout, as well as NBC and Esquire Network’s summer ratings powerhouse, “American Ninja Warrior,” in addition to the highly-anticipated miniseries, “Heroes Reborn,” based on the 2006 breakout series “Heroes;” and fan-favorites including “The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon,” “Brooklyn Nine-Nine,” “Battlestar Galactica,” and “The Office.”
For more info please visit our web site at www.millercoors.com
For more info please visit our web site at www.nbcuniversal.com/
or contact: David2.Lee@millercoors.com
or contact: Megan.Johnson@nbcuni.com PAGE 77 |
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SPLiCE |
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Spotlight on SPLiCE Members
Newell Rubbermaid Inc., an S&P 500 company, is a global marketer of consumer and commercial products with 2014 sales of $5.7 billion and a strong portfolio of leading brands, including Sharpie, Paper Mate, Rubbermaid Commercial Products, Irwin, Lenox, Parker, Waterman, Contigo, Rubbermaid, Levolor, Calphalon, Goody, Graco, Aprica, Baby Jogger and Dymo. As part of the company’s Growth Game Plan, Newell Rubbermaid is making sharper portfolio choices and investing in new marketing and innovation to accelerate performance. Newell’s brands are known for delivering superior performance, design and innovation. Our brands continue to succeed globally because of strategic and disciplined choices made based on insight, analysis and experience. We love our brands and are passionately committed to consumers. We put consumers first in everything we do and belive that when our consumers benefit, all of our other constituents benefit. Trademark licensing can create opportunity for our brands to benefit consumers in strategic categories. The company will consider licensing trademarks where the needs of consumers for a product and the core equity of our brands align. Our brands offer the value of established equity and can significantly accelerate growth in market, however licensed products must be positioned to strengthen that equity and not simply borrow from it. Newell seeks partners that are leading in their respective categories, and that can provide consumers with an experience that delivers on the brand promise. Expectations for licensed products are high; they must deliver the same level of quality and innovation consumers have come to expect from the brands they trust. For more info please visit our web site at http://newellrubbermaid.com/OurCompany/DoBusinessWithUs/BrandAssets/ Pages/BrandAssets.aspx | BEL MAGAZINE | SUMMER 2016
The U.S. Army’s Trademark Licensing Program is about more than just commerce. The program leverages the importance of pride, performance and personal development to build brand awareness and create multiple touch points for Americans to show support to the U.S. Army,” says Paul Jensen, Director of U.S. Army Trademark Licensing. Since 2006, the Army has strategically extended its brand to more than 50 categories including apparel, footwear, jewelry, consumer electronics, gift and novelties, collectibles, cutlery, health and beauty, and camping equipment, among others. Army licensed products are available in more than 80,000 stores across the United States, including major retailers such as Walmart, Target, Kmart, Toys “R” Us, Dick’s Sporting Goods, The Sports Authority and J.C. Penney. The Army Trademark Licensing Program was created to share the time-honored qualities of the Army’s service to the nation. The Army has established a strict set of brand guidelines for licensing, and the goal of the program is to promote positive brand awareness. New and improved brand guidelines were launched in spring of 2015, enabling licensees to create fresh and original designs for a modern approach to the U.S. Army brand. The Army will continue to focus on combating brand infringement through a number of different initiatives, such as introducing a new hologram program and continuing its retail education initiative. Proceeds from the licensing program support the Army’s Morale, Welfare and Recreation (MWR) program, which benefits soldiers, retirees and their families. Examples of how this fantastic program helps the Army community are visible on Army posts across the United States: daycare and child development centers, movie theaters, bowling alleys, basketball courts, sporting and cultural events, travel opportunities, job training, and much more. For more info please visit our web site at www.goarmy.com/ or contact: usarmy.pentagon.hqda-asa-mra.mbx. army-trademark-licensi@mail.mil | PAGE 78
Whirlpool is the number one major appliance manufacturer in the world, with approximately $20 billion in annual sales, 100,000 employees and 70 manufacturing and technology research centers throughout the world in 2014. The company markets Whirlpool, KitchenAid, Maytag, Amana, Jenn-Air, Consul, Brastemp, Bauknecht, Indesit and other major brand names in more than 170 countries. Focusing on consumer needs fuels our growth and keeps us relevant in homes around the world. We exist to create purposeful innovation that helps keep homes running smoothly so personal and family lives can flourish. For generations, we have done the right thing, helping people make the most of time so they can focus on what really matters – their families and their lives. In everything we do, for generations to come, we will sustain our commitment to make each experience an extraordinary one We’re proud that our brands have become a familiar backdrop for so many quality memories. Because it’s your family life that inspires our family of brands. From cooling to cleaning and preheating to reheating, we believe you should be able to express yourself anywhere in the home. Our strong portfolio allows you to team up with distinct brands designed for your specific needs and budget. Each brand has spent decades developing a personality that complements the character in your home. For 100 years, people around the globe have welcomed our portfolio of brands into their daily lives. We‘re always looking for licensees who share our passion for filling homes with innovative solutions that help create more moments that matter.
For more info please visit our web site at www.whirlpoolcorp.com/licensing/ or contact: BrandLicensing@whirlpool.com
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Spotlight on select brands
Cherokee Global Brands offers key properties available for license including the namesake Cherokee brand, Tony Hawk, Hawk Signature, Everyday California, Liz Lange, Sideout, Carole Little, ale by Alessandra, Point Cove and newly acquired Flip Flop Shops; a leading franchise retail chain. The Cherokee brand is an American family lifestyle brand offering classic casual comfort at great value. Cherokee offers an assortment of men’s, women’s and children’s apparel, accessories, footwear and home products. It is licensed in more than 50 countries and sold in over 5,000 locations. The Tony Hawk & Hawk Signature brands, born in California and named after its founder Tony Hawk, are globally recognized as a premier board culture lifestyle brand. Product categories include apparel, accessories, footwear and home décor. The Everyday California brand embodies all aspects of the active California lifestyle. Product categories include men’s and women’s apparel, footwear and accessories. Liz Lange is a maternity brand of fashionable, affordable and flattering styles. The Sideout brand, represents a California beach volleyball heritage. Carole Little is a brand known for its colorful signature prints for women. The newly developed Point Cove takes inspiration from the spirit of California and features apparel, accessories and footwear. Flip Flop Shops is the authentic retail chain exclusively devoted to the hottest brands and latest styles of flip flops, casual footwear and accessories. In 2016, Cherokee Global Brands will forge new strategic partnerships for the Cherokee brand. It will also continue to grow and expand its portfolio of lifestyle brands through the development of new international territories, with retail partners on shop-inshop presentations to enhance the consumer experience, growing e-commerce in conjunction with retail partners and expanding Cherokee Global Brands’ proprietary 360-degree platform. For more info please visit our web site at www.cherokeeglobalbrands.com
HEAD BV is a leading global manufacturer and marketer of premium sports equipment and apparel. Our business is organized into five divisions: Winter Sports, Racquet Sports, Diving, Sportswear and Licensing. Under the umbrella of HEAD BV - are the brands HEAD, PENN, TYROLIA, MARES and SSI sold. In terms of licensing, HEAD is worldwide active with the brands HEAD and PENN. Our products are sold through over 31.000 accounts including department stores, pro shops, specialty sporting goods stores and mass merchants in over 80 countries around the world. Currently HEAD operates worldwide with 35 selected licensees for HEAD and with 5 for PENN. These include partners such as the US company Glove Source, USA, High Life, USA, Planet Sox / USA, Dobotex / Netherlands, Novus Bike / Czech Republic or Itochu / Japan. The HEAD brand is currently licensed in addition to other categories in the apparel, footwear, accessories, bikes, skates, eyewear (optical / sun), balls and fitness equipment. Recently the new Tri-Wear- / Swimrun collection of Swedish licensee CB was launched Produkter and the Czech licensee Novus bike has FatBikes presented in the market, in whose development the HEAD athletes were involved. The more than 22 countries, comprehensive license family, are gradually growing. The aim is to find further partners from areas like Luggage, Footwear (Casual / Outdoor), Stationery, Food & Beverage, Consumer Electronics, Mobile Phone Accessories and Interactive / mobile games to get on board. The HEAD licensing team is 2016 attending all relevant licensing industry and shows/ fairs such as the Licensing Expo, the outdoor / Euro Bike in Friedrichshafen or the BLE on site to find out about current license market trends and explore new collaborations.
For nearly 40 years, Precious Moments has been recognized as the world’s most inspirational brand; it’s an evergreen brand that’s a global powerhouse, consistently ranking among the top-selling lines in every key retail account. Precious Moments is the foremost licensable brand, recognized by its characters’ signature tear-drop eyes. In addition, they seek new, high-profile licensing opportunities for Ne’Qwa Art, a new aquisition by Precious Moments. Ne’Qwa Art is the world’s largest producer of reverse painted glass. With the ability to hand-paint any image within the blown glass, there are endless ways to extend the Ne’Qwa Art brand and create memorable, special gifts for any occasion.
For more info please visit our web site at www.head.com/de/licensed-products
For more info please visit our web site at www.preciousmoments.com/licensing
or contact: Giuseppe Faranna g.faranna@head.com
or contact: Patrice Paglia Patrice.Paglia@PreciousMoments.com PAGE 79 |
Precious Moments has a company-wide committment to celebrating life’s momentous occasions, which reflects in their brand and products. Licensees benefit from creative collaboration and top-notch customer service, fresh contemporary design, and relevant rich product introductions designed to drive year-round sales. Precious Moments seeks new licensees in popular product categories including décor, pillows, infant bedding, nursery accessories, stationery products, phone covers, apps, consumables, children’s and adult publishing, back-to-school and more. They’re looking for licensees who can bring these, and other product categories, to current countries where Precious Moments is sold and to emerging markets.
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UP-AND-COMING
Licensing Expo | Las Vegas | June 21-23, 2016 www.licensingexpo.com
ECTA Annual Conference | Dubrovnik | Croatia | June 22-25, 2016 www.conference.ecta.org
Licensing Japan | Tokyo Big Sight | June 29 - July 1, 2016 www.licensing-japan.jp/en/
Seoul Character & Licensing | Seoul | July 13-17, 2016 www.characterfair.kr/wp/en/
Expo Licensing Brasil | São Paulo | August 30-31, 2016 www.expolb.com.br/#edicao-2016
The Licensing Awards | London | September 13, 2016 www.thelicensingawards.co.uk
Brand Licensing Select | New York | September 27-29, 2016 www.select.brandlicensingshows.com
Brand Licensing Europe | London | October 11-13, 2016 www.brandlicensing.eu
| BEL MAGAZINE | SUMMER 2016
| PAGE 80
NEXT ISSUE OCTOBER 2016 | MAIN FEATURE: CORPORATE BRANDS BEL Magazine is publication designed for qualified professionals who strive to connect, engage and collaborate with their peers in business - those who care about corporate brands, trademarks, brand extensions and licensing from all sides. The BEL audience are well-informed, growth-focused professionals searching for content that focuses on brand management, trademark protection, brand extensions and the overall licensing business experience. What does BEL stand for? BEL is the abbreviation for Brand Extensions & Licensing