Culture Empowers the Chinese Economy

By Charles Sun, Licensing Team China Toy & Juvenile Products Association charles_sun@tjpa-china.org

On November 1-3, 2022, the 15th CLE China Licensing Exhibition was successfully held at the Western China International Expo City, Chengdu, Sichuan Province. CLE China Licensing Exhibition continued to maintain its leading position in Asia with the largest scale and gathering of high-quality licensee visitors.

This exhibition attracted more than 2,000 IPs from China and abroad in all categories, including cartoon and animation such as Minions and Transformers, cultural and artistic categories such as the Palace Museum and the British Museum, fashion categories such as Pop Mart, games and sports such as World of Warcraft and NBA, film and television comprehensive arts such as the Chinese Poetry Competition.

Exclusive attendance by Leading International IPs

Many international IP giants have taken CLE China Licensing Exhibition as the only or preferred professional licensing exhibition in Asia. Properties include Minions, Transformers, Peppa Pig, Barbie, Legendary Pictures, Pokémon, Doraemon, The Little Prince, Smurfs, tokidoki, World of Warcraft, Assassin’s Creed, Plant Battle Zombies, British Museum and other international Ips. Yet again these demonstrated how CLE China Licensing Exhibition is an important platform to spotlight IP trends and planning for future .

During the show, Universal Pictures, focusing on the upcoming Jurassic World next year, released the key imagery and information. Using the opportunity of the 20th China Toy Exhibition (CTE), China Licensing Exhibition (CLE), China Baby Products Exhibition (CKE) and China Preschool Education Exhibition (CPE) hosted by CTJPA, Universal Pictures held their Greater China Partner Conference for Universal Brand Development in Chengdu on November 3, unveiling their plans and achievements.

Alifish made an exclusive appearance with 26 costumed characters including Hello Kitty and My Melody from Sanrio, which was also the first appearance at the exhibition following the official announcement of cooperation between the two sides, expanding the exclusive authorization of manufacturing and selling products in Chinese mainland in the next five years 2023 – 2027. In addition to the above international exhibitors, international IP exhibitors for the first time this year included Snoopy, Teletubbies, OSAMU GOODS in the cartoon category as well as NBA and LPL in the sports category, making CLE China Licensing Exhibition the preferred platform to develop China’s licensing market.

In addition, a number of international groups, including GCA and KOCCA from South Korea, appeared together with B FAMILY and many other international IPs.

Domestic IPs bloom, with the rising of new sectors

With the development of the domestic cultural industry, new domestic Ips have emerged. CLE has become a shining stage for many classic IPs in China, as well as emerging IPs such as those from fashion, games, etc, all of which are showing vigorous development.

Alpha Entertainment, Fantawild, Winsing Animation, and other established animation companies took part again with classic IPs such as Super Wings, Boonie Bears and GG Bond. They continued to cultivate the children’s market and explore trends of Generation Z.

forms, including Street Dance of China, INCARNATION made a collective appearance, bringing many Generation Z IPs to licensees and connecting the Internet and e-commerce to help the development of IP licensing.

In the fashion category, Molly, Dimoo of Pop Mart, PandaRoll of 52TOYS, and B. Duck, the most popular Ips, attended CLE. The Finding Unicorn company, together with its FARMER BOB, made their debut in CLE China Licensing Exhibition, attracting a wave of attention.

In terms of video games, NetEase games, together with their popular “Naraka: Bladepoint”, Onmyoji, the classic Chinese IP and Paladin: Sword and Fairy from CMGE company, continued to focus on the anime market and Generation Z.

New China-Chic IP rises - museums attract attention

New China-Chic IP has become increasingly popular with consumers in recent years. This exhibition gathered a number of new China-Chic IPs, such as cultural relics, art and traditional culture, demonstrating the value of the cultural sector.

Museum IPs have become key features of the exhibition. This year, the Palace Museum created an exclusive display in CLE for the third time. Cultural institutions and museums such as Shaanxi History Museum, Suzhou Museum, National Treasure, Meet you Museum, made their collective debut again.

30 activities link resources to all categories 2023 China Licensing Expo

In addition to the 14th China Brand Licensing Summit Forum, the event hosted match-making meetings, the match-making meetings of the Brand Licensing Alliance, the CLE Licensing Night and the China Licensing Golden Star Awards Ceremony and other traditional activities, in conjunction with the active manufacturing and modern commerce in Sichuan Province and Chengdu. There was also a round-table conference on IP authorization needed to enable integration of the Sichuan consumer goods industry, the 2022 Chengdu Modern Commerce and Trade Industry Circle Building and Chain Strengthening Promotional Activities and Chengdu’s 1st International Trend IP Authorization Exchange and Docking Conference. Other activities were held building a platform for all kinds of enterprise within the industry in order to share cross-border resources and create prosperity and development.

A variety of exhibitors including museums, China-Chic, cartoon and animation, gathered with more than 1000 senior executives from industries such as toys, stationery and gifts, clothing accessories, food and beverage, cosmetics and daily chemicals, and commercial real estate, to discuss the industry trends in IP licensing and make pre-scheduled appointments.

From October 17 to 19 2023, licensors of animation, films, museums, art and other categories will gather again at the 16th edition of China Licensing Expo (CLE) back in Shanghai, to promote the continued development of the licensing business. After 15 years of development, China Licensing Expo is widely recognized as the most effective channel to understand the licensing market, promote brands, and expand licensing businesses in China and Asia.