PROFILE
Licenses with Character!
Richard Pink, Pink Key Licensing explains...
“A little while ago at Pink Key Towers we played a little game: try to think of your favourite character solely associated with a food; no cheating – we’re not talking about licensing Mickey Mouse on to popcorn, or Spider Man onto cereal – these are characters that were only invented to be associated with the product they promoted. We tried it both ways: we went through the products first – cereal, sweets, drinks, beer; then we went another direction – think of an animal – who’s the most famous example of an animal invented to promote a product? Admittedly at Pink Key we have a bit of an advantage as we have possibly some of the best examples of this already living under our roof: The Laughing Cow, SLUSH PUPPiE, Tony the Tiger, Coco Monkey – I’d be hard pushed to think of a better example of a cow, dog, tiger or monkey than characters that we have been lucky enough to work with.
But when you start thinking about it by animal type it’s rather revealing. Is there a cat ? Yes there is – Felix. Is there a rabbit ? Takes longer but I would say the Nesquik bunny and the Cadbury caramel rabbit are definite contenders. Is there a bear? Is there ?! Well there is in the US – his name is ICEE and he’s also one of ours – but in Europe …not so much. I mentioned the Hofmeister Bear to Nancy and, on the basis she’d never heard of it, I realised I should have internalised than one (I’ve seldom felt that old)! Either this is a great fun game, or we are just a little bit too much into it. It gets even more interesting when you start thinking about unusual inventions to promote products – I’m talking about things like the Honey Monster and the Jolly Green Giant; I really do wonder how either of those ideas were pitched but, ironically, both were excellent and we’d be happy to welcome them into our stable. Possibly my favourite is Cillit Bang’s Barry Scott – yes, my friends, he’s made up – a character played by an actor called Neil Burgess who unsurprisingly has struggled to shake the persona of his much … errr …loved character.
licensing industry. It doesn’t even have to be a recognisable character or animal provided it has the attributes that mirror the brand values. Which brings me neatly to my point (you knew I had one didn’t you ….?) which is, has there ever been a character better aligned to the product it represents than the Peperami Animal? It looks like the product, it’s named after the ingredients, but more than that, it’s a brand character that has massive appeal to its target audience and has all the attitude still associated with its very first voice, Ade Edmondson, renowned for his portrayal of the anarchic punk Vivien in the Young Ones. It’s brilliant and the prospects for licensing are endless. If only someone had just been appointed as the licensing agent for such a great brand and character....
Oh hang on ……… we have!!”
You might ask where I’m headed with this, and to be honest I’m not at all sure, other than being further convinced that addition of a good character to a product is a tremendously strong asset and focal point if a brand wants to venture into the TOTAL BRAND LICENSING
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