Post Show Report
Japan’s LARGEST licensing trade show ended with a great success! From June 29 to July 1, 2016, Japan’s LARGEST trade show for the character and brand business, the 6th LICENSING JAPAN http://www.licensing-japan.jp/en/ was held at Tokyo Big Sight, Japan, attracting a record number of 229 exhibitors from 11 countries and regions, 40,660* visitors from around the world. With the rapid increase of exhibitors, the scale of the show this year was 50% larger, and the number of visitors was up 33% compared with the previous edition. With Japan being the world’s second-largest market for the licensing business, LICENSING JAPAN is widely recognised as a key platform for the licensing business not only in Japan but also in Asia. (*Total number of six exhibitions of CONTENT TOKYO 2016)
The perfect venue for licensing business in Japan The key feature of this year was the huge range of properties. In addition to major Japanese characters such as GODZILLA, DETECTIVE CONAN, Rilakkuma, HANAKAPPA, Kanahei’s Small Animals, MONCHHICHI, and Peko, the show also exhibited popular characters with global appeal such as ANGRY BIRDS, Barbie, the Smurfs, Where’s Wally?, The Snowman, GHOSTBUSTERS, and RODY. It is worth noting that major publishing companies such as SHUEISHA, SHOGAKUKAN and KADOKAWA which own properties of world-famous Japanese animations, were at the exhibition seeking new licensing partnerships. Among the numerous brands that were also present were NISSAN, Japan Airlines, ROVER, HERSHEY’s, Laura Ashley, AUTOMOBILI LAMBORGHINI, and JEEP.
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The number of exhibitors from outside Japan has also increased, with a variety of brand and property owners participating from the UK., France, Italy, Spain, South Korea, China, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Thailand, and more. Among them, Taiwan and Thailand each had their own country pavilion to showcase their local products in one location.
New this year was the Art & Design Zone, where the UK’s National Gallery exhibited masterpieces by great painters including Van Gogh, Monet and others. Various other artworks were on display, including fine art and Japanese paintings as well as avant-garde works by artists such as Keith Haring, Jean-Michel Basquiat, Christian Riese Lassen, and Tachibana Tenkei. Other works by individual designers and artists were also on exhibit.
With a variety of properties, LICENSING JAPAN drew enormous attention from a great number of visitors and provided the perfect venue to seek characters and brands from across Japan, Asia and the world.
Match-making service for business tie-ups On-site match-making services were also arranged this year in order to facilitate new business between international licensors and leading Japanese retailers and manufacturers. 106 appointments were finally set up by Show Management. The match-making service will return even more powerfully next year.
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Licensing seminars provided by LIMA
As a valued opportunity to learn about the licensing business and trends, six sessions were held and 587 attendees participated in the conference in total. Mr. Charles M. Riotto, President & CEO of LIMA (International Licensing Industry Merchandisers’ Association), discussed global trends in the licensing industry. These programs as well as the exhibits made LICENSING JAPAN a core event for the Japanese licensing community.
Held inside CONTENT TOKYO 2016 LICENSING JAPAN is a part of CONTENT TOKYO, Japan’s largest and most comprehensive B2B content industry trade show with 1,371 exhibitors and 40,660 visitors in 2016. CONTENT TOKYO is a group of six exhibitions, specialising in the areas of entertainment content creation, distribution, technology, service, marketing and licensing.
By bringing together all the key players of the concurrent shows under one roof, LICENSING JAPAN provides an ideal venue for exhibitors to seek new business and to network with not only licensees but also a wide range of professionals from media firms in the television, movie, game, web and advertising industries. 3
Next Year’s LICENSING JAPAN Along with the expansion, Show Management has decided to set up three specialised areas: “Character & Entertainment Zone”, “Brand Zone” and “Art & Design Zone” inside the next LICENSING JAPAN to provide participants with even more effective business opportunities.
Dates: June 28 (Wed) - 30 (Fri), 2017 Venue: Tokyo Big Sight, Japan Organised by: Reed Exhibitions Japan Ltd. LICENSING JAPAN is held inside CONTENT TOKYO. CONTENT TOKYO 2017 consists of seven fairs related to content: 5th Video & CG Production Expo (CREATIVE JAPAN) 1st Graphic Design Expo 6th Creators' Expo 5th Content Distribution & Management Expo 3rd Advanced Content Technology Expo 7th LICENSING JAPAN 3rd Content Marketing Expo
Based upon the positive feedback from exhibitors, most of the exhibitors have already booked their booth spaces for the next editions during the show period while the other companies submitted applications for the first time. Therefore, the entire LICENSING JAPAN is expected to sell out quickly. If you are considering exhibiting at the next show, we strongly recommend booking your booth immediately to secure one of the limited exhibit spaces. "Special Price“ is only available until September 30, 2016. If you are interested in exhibiting, please contact Show Management. For further information, visit the official show website http://www.licensing-japan.jp/en/ or contact Show Management.
Contact: Exhibiting Inquiries: http://www.licensing-japan.jp/en/ex/ Visiting Inquiries: http://www.licensing-japan.jp/en/inv/ Press Inquiries: http://www.content-tokyo.jp/en/shuzai/ LICENSING JAPAN Show Management/Reed Exhibitions Japan Ltd. 18F Shinjuku-Nomura Bldg., 1-26-2 Nishishinjuku, Shinjuku-ku, Tokyo 163-0570, Japan Tel: +81-3-3349-8519 Fax: +81-3349-8530 Email: pr-eng.content-tokyo@reedexpo.co.jp
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