THE MET Two of the biggest licensing agencies in the world have signed to represent The Metropolitan Museum of Art (The Met) in several territories across the globe. WildBrain CPLG for the UK, EMEA & Russia, and Beanstalk for the US & Japan are gearing up for what looks to be an incredible global licensing program. Here, we speak to Victoria Whellans, Group Brands Director at WildBrain CPLG Lifestyle; Linda Morgenstern, VP, Brand Management at Beanstalk; and Lisa Silverman Meyers, Head of Licensing and Partnerships at the Met, on why now is the perfect time to launch this extensive brand program
Victoria Whellans, Group Brands Director at WildBrain CPLG Lifestyle Which areas of the globe will WildBrain CPLG be looking after? How well known is The Met in some of these countries? WildBrain CPLG is the exclusive licensing agent for The Met across the UK, EMEA and Russia. The Met is one of the most famous museums in the world and the brand enjoys very strong international awareness. Each year, people travel from around the world to visit The Met and view the many iconic masterpieces housed within its walls, by artists such as Van Gogh, Louis Comfort Tiffany, Rembrandt, Monet and Pollock, to name just a few. In 2018, a third of The Met’s visitors were from outside of the US, with visitors from France, Spain and Italy being in the top five of these countries. I think anyone who has visited New Victoria Whellans
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York from overseas, especially those who have an interest in art or history, is likely to have visited The Met, or at the very least walked past the iconic location of its main building situated alongside Central Park. Having been widely used as a film location, The Met is also very familiar to many through its frequent appearances in movies, and of course there’s the famous Costume Institute and the Met Gala which every year receives widespread global publicity. Traffic to The Met’s website also shows a large number of visitors from key European markets, including the UK, France, Germany, Spain and Italy. What kind of partners are you looking for and in which categories? Homewares will be a key category – bedding, trade textiles, tabletop, room décor – in addition to gifting; apparel, including halo-fashion and brand collaborations; and stationery and paper goods. And eventually we’ll extend into accessories, health and beauty, and toys and activities. There will be short term opportunities such as sustainable fast fashion collections with accessible price points while also maintaining good quality and design, alongside longer-term brand building products with a mix of accessible and premium price points. We will also be looking for partners that have a commitment to environmental responsibility to reflect The Met’s commitment to promoting sustainable practices. Across the programme though, we want to create a merchandise offering that targets not
just museum enthusiasts, but also a broad pool of families and millennials so we can engage and educate a diverse audience. You will have a treasure trove of pieces to work with – how do you choose which parts of the museum will form the licensing program to start with? The Met collection is vast – it includes paintings, artefacts, sculptures, drawings, decorative objects, ceramics, silver, textiles, jewellery and more – so this is a very nice challenge to have and a fantastic opportunity! We have been working closely with the team at The Met who have highlighted many iconic masterpieces, artefacts and some lesser known works from their collection that we’re really excited to utilise within the licensing programme. There won’t be style guides in the traditional sense, as the programme will be very trend led. We will work closely with the team at The Met to review trends and create mood boards using assets from the collection to work into these. In the first year, our focus will be showcasing the breadth of The Met’s collection by utilising assets from a cross-section of its 17 curatorial departments, while combining this with the energy of New York and the museum’s mission to inspire and educate. We will also have the ability to work with licensees to create bespoke ranges for retail utilising assets that are grouped together into themes, such as time periods, artistic movements, motifs or geographic locations. How will you maintain and expand the brand ethos of The Met? The licensing programme will aim to bring art TOTAL BRAND LICENSING
