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| Heidi Sturgess Launches at BLE 2008
| English designer Heidi Sturgess is launching her first range of artwork at The Brand Licensing Show. | | | Martha Stewart Craft Lines Hit Wal-Mart
| | Martha Stewart has expanded her Create and Celebrate lines into Wal-Mart stores in Canada and the United States. | | | Artistic Licensing
| | The area devoted to art licensing on the show floor of the Licensing Expo almost has the feel of a close-knit neighborhood. Of course everyone is there to do business and expand their brands with licensing deals but there is a strong sense of community amongst this group that stems from the fact that what is being promoted was created from a personal place and by the artist's own hand. | | | iota Purchased by C.R. Gibson
| | Design company iota and C.R. Gibson LLC announced that iota's business and assets have been acquired by C.R. Gibson, an affiliated company of CSS Industries Inc. | | | Gap T-Shirts to Feature Contemporary Artists
| | Building on its long history of supporting the arts, Gap has introduced Artist Editions T-Shirts, a limited edition collection of t-shirts designed by 13 of today's most influential contemporary artists, including Chuck Close, Jeff Koons, Marilyn Minter, Kiki Smith, Cai Guo-Qiang, Barbara Kruger, Ashley Bickerton, Kenny Scharf, Glenn Ligon, Rirkrit Tiravanija, Kerry James Marshall, Hanna Liden, and Sarah Sze. | | | Surface View and V&A Images Launch Bespoke Print Service
| | Interiors specialist Surface View, in conjunction with the Victoria and Albert Museum in London, have partnered to produce bespoke large-scale canvases of prints (of up to 3m by 3m) from the V&A collections. | | | Dimensional Branding Group Inks New Art Deals
| | Dimensional Branding Group announces new deals for three contemporary designer clients—Rich Evans, Masha D’yans, and Undoboy. | | | Applejack Art Partners Teams With Bruce McGaw Graphics
| | Applejack Art Partners formed an alliance with Bruce McGaw Graphics, a publisher and distributor of museum and contemporary art prints, to license artwork worldwide. | | | Thomas Kinkade Announces Vote Result for Daytona 500 Print
| | After more than 10,000 online votes were tallied, NASCAR fans have decided which Thomas Kinkade sketch will become the officially licensed Limited Edition Commemorative Portrait of the historic 50th Running of the DAYTONA 500. | |  MORE ARTICLES
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| Expanded Licensing Potential for Biltmore
| | The Valen Group, a licensing agency specializing in food and beverages, has developed a strategic plan for licensing Biltmore into retail food and beverage product categories congruent with the Biltmore brand and heritage. | | | Martha Stewart Craft Lines Hit Wal-Mart
| | Martha Stewart has expanded her Create and Celebrate lines into Wal-Mart stores in Canada and the United States. | | | Rust-Oleum Expands Portfolio of Licenses
| | The Valen Group has negotiated three new brand extension agreements for their client, Rust-Oleum. | | | Campbell Goes Organic with Wolfgang Puck Soup
| | As part of its commitment to wellness and growing presence in the organic market, Campbell Soup Company has acquired the Wolfgang Puck soup business, one of the leading organic soup brands in the United States from Country Gourmet Foods. | | | Versace Has Designs on Lamborghini
| | Fashion house Versace and Lamborghini, who have been collaborators since 2006, have launched the Lamborghini Murciélago LP 640 Roadster Versace and a collection of accessories. | | | ELC Opens New Office in Bucharest and Expands in Moscow
| | The European Licensing Company (ELC) has opened an office in Bucharest, Romania, and has moved to larger premises in Moscow where it will recruit additional team members. | | | Corbis Rebrands as "GreenLight" and signs Steve McQueen licensing deals
| | Corbis has announced that its Rights Services Division is being rebranded to "GreenLight." | | | CPLG France Drives WRC into Europe
| | Copyright Promotions Licensing Group (CPLG) France has signed car customizing specialists Impex to extend its range of FIA World Rally Championship (WRC) motor accessories for distribution across Spain, Portugal, Germany, Italy, Switzerland, Belgium, Luxembourg, The Netherlands, Greece, Cyprus, Malta, Austria, Eastern Europe, Scandinavia and the Middle East. | | | Golf Digest Tees Up for Licensing
| | Golf Digest, the number one golf magazine in the world, will expand its licensing program in both the US and internationally in 2008 with brand extensions in new and existing product categories, such as men?s accessories and apparel, eyewear, luggage, wine, stationery, golf accessories and games. | | | MORE ARTICLES
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| Fluid Brands Says Hello Kitty
| | Fluid Brands, set up by licensing veteran Andrew Lane and former Manchester United licensing supreme Tom Howgate, has been signed by Sanrio as UK licensing agent for Hello Kitty across all categories. | | | Chorion Launches Brand Character Partnership Division
| | Chorion has launched new division Chorion Brand Partners, which will specialise in building consumer and corporate brands through marketing and promotional partnerships with blue-chip organisations. | | | M&M’s Campaign Targets Hispanic Community
| | M&M’s is extending Inner M, the ad campaign it launched in 2007, into the Hispanic community with the help of celebrities Wilmer Valderrama, formerly of “That '70s Show," and Spanish language TV talk show host Cristina Saralegui. | | | 4Kids’ Mutant Ninja Turtles Hit 25
| | 4Kids Entertainment is planning a licensing program of retro products aimed at young adults to mark Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles’ 25th anniversary. | | | Naruto Energy Drink Hits Shelves
| | Naruto’s energy drink, Jutsu Power Energy Drink, has been shipped to regional and national retailers including Hot Topic, Hastings Entertainment, Trans World Entertainment and Spencer Gifts, according to Boston America Corp. | | | AGP rolls out MAGIC initiatives
| | At MAGIC Marketplace 2008, American Greetings Properties’ featured roster will include Care Bears and Strawberry Shortcake, as well as the crime-fighting Sushi Pack™ and the gross-out classic toy series Madballs. | | | Character World Wins Wall-E License
| | Disney Pixar has signed the U.K.’s Character World to produce bedroom ranges for summer blockbuster, Wall-E. | | | Mighty Fine Rolls Out New Initiatives for MAGIC
| | Mighty Fine has a host of initiative ready for the MAGIC show in Las Vegas including: | | | More Licensees Sign Up for Linguaphone’s Pingu English
| | Language training business, The Linguaphone Group, has signed a raft of new licensees for character-based pre-school English language course, Pingu’s English. | | | MORE ARTICLES
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| Will & Dewitt Titles Launch DVDs and Cross-promotional Deal with P&G
| | NCircle Entertainment announced that two new Will & Dewitt titles, “Frog-tastic Family Fun!” and “My BFF (Best Frog Friend),” will be released on DVD for the first time to retail outlets throughout the United States starting Aug. 26 as part of the company’s home entertainment distribution deal with Cookie Jar Entertainment. | |
| Chefs Become Hot Game Properties
| | Nintendo and Atari have partnered with celebrity chef Jamie Oliver to launch "What's Cooking? with Jamie Oliver," a combination cooking game and interactive cookbook, starring the English chef, more commonly known as The Naked Chef. | | | Taffy Entertainment Grows Eastern European Profile
| | The MoonScoop Group’s Taffy Entertainment has signed broadcast deals across its portfolio for Eastern Europe. | | | American Idol Develops Next Installment of Game
| | Konami Digital Entertainment, and FremantleMedia Enterprises are developing Karaoke Revolution Presents: American Idol Encore 2 for Xbox 360, Wii, and Playstation3. | | | Fluid Brands Says Hello Kitty
| | Fluid Brands, set up by licensing veteran Andrew Lane and former Manchester United licensing supreme Tom Howgate, has been signed by Sanrio as UK licensing agent for Hello Kitty across all categories. | | | New Campaign Promotes Wall•E Game
| | THQ, a video game and interactive game producer, and WonderGroup are creating a launch campaign for the Wall•E video game coinciding with the release of Disney/Pixar's Wall•E movie. | | | Studio100 Media Takes Big and Small to Telepool
| | Studio100 Media, a subsidiary of Studio100 (Belgium), has signed a deal for new puppetry series Big and Small with Munich-based licensing and distribution company Telepool. | | | Universal Launches Family Music Collection
| | The Universal Music Family collection, featuring singers from Stevie Wonder to Marvin Gaye, Ella Fitzgerald to the Jackson will hit stores Aug. 19. | | | Wanted Spawns Video Game
| | Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment is partnering with Grin to develop a video game based on the recent movie release “Wanted” starring Angelina Jolie. | | | MORE ARTICLES
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| Cards Inc: Potty about Potter license
| | In the last issue of License Europe, we talked with Warner Bros' Jay Young and Bruno Schwabthaler about the innovative new style guide for the Harry Potter franchise. Earlier this year, Warner Bros. named Cards Inc. as the official European master toy licensee for the Harry Potter series. With Toy Fair looming, we talked to Card Inc.'s head of marketing Mark Hillier to find out what we can expect for 2007. | | | Direct-to-retail: The new licensing model?
| | With a reworking of the traditional licensor-licensee-retailer relationship, under the right circumstances, direct-to-retail deals are proving successful on a difficult high street. Here we take a look at what direct-to-retail is, who is doing it and, most importantly, what the benefits are. Graham Pomphrey reports. | | | Rebuilding LEGO
| | When speaking with Jorgen Vig Knudstorp, it's worth bearing in mind how, only recently, LEGO was in crisis. In 2003, the company was falling apart, brick by brick. Sales had dropped by 30% and the company suffered its third loss in five years, despite its fiercely loyal fan base. Fast-forward three years and LEGO has turned its fortunes round. Jorgen became CEO in 2004 and the company hasn't looked back. His is a back-to-basics strategy focussed on the company's core product — the humble, ubiquitous, small and colourful plastic building block. So ubiquitous, in fact, that on average every person on earth has 52 of them. | | | Licensing online communities: mission impossible?
| | The internet is spawning lots of online communities, social networks and other virtual spaces. They are already powerful brand names with a huge a loyal user base but usually spread by word-of-mouth. So how will the licensing industry, built around traditional entertainment brands and bricks-and-mortar retailing, embrace them? Sam Phillips reports. | | | Live events: Promoting and profiting
| | You may have seen them trudging around Brand Licensing. Maybe you've met one at a charity event. Or, perhaps you've seen them performing in a theatrical environment. Costume characters add fun, colour and entertainment to any event. But, as Graham Pomphrey investigates, they are also a very powerful marketing tool. | |
| Brand Licensing 2006: Bigger and better than ever
| | Visitor numbers were up and it has been saluted as the best ever. With a new venue and a new date, Brand Licensing 2006 pulled out all the stops to reflect the demands of an evolving, maturing industry that demands the best from its premier European show. | | | Disney Home
| | Disney Consumer Products' commitment to the homewares was highlighted at a two day licensee summit it held in Paris in July. License Europe was invited and we found Disney feeling confident about the sector. Graham Pomphrey reflects on whether this is part of a wider trend, or just Disney getting things right again. | | | Ladybird gets stand alone stores
| | Woolworths intends to open its first stand-alone Ladybird shop in the UK before the end of this year and will invest in 92 dedicated Ladybird areas in its larger shops. | | | Insight - Pre-School
| | It's nearly ten years since the Teletubbies were first seen on UK television. They, and other properties like Bob the Builder, had a profound effect on the consumer products market for the under fives. A decade on, the market is different, and changing rapidly to throw up new challenges and respond to new conditions. Here we take a detailed look at where things are at and where they're going in this important European market segment. | | | MORE ARTICLES
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| Reebok Rolling Out Vince Young Cleat
| | Reebok is launching the VY Electrify football cleat and trainer, named for Titans quarterback Vince Young. | | | Van Heusen to Launch Sportswear Program and Retail Stores in Mexico
| | Van Heusen partners with Panama-based Ben Betesh International S.A. and Mexico-based Euro CVH. Under the licensing agreement, Euro CVH will manufacture and market a full range of Van Heusen sportswear and accessories and must open seven Van Heusen retail stores in Mexico by 2012. | | | H&M Posts Solid May/June Sales
| | Like-for-like sales at international fashion retailer H&M fell by 2 percent in June, compared to June 2007, while overall sales increased by 8 percent for the month against market forecasts of a 5.2 percent gain. | | | Adrenalina Signs Deal for Fragrance, Footwear
| | Adrenalina, a retail entertainment destination designed for extreme sports enthusiasts, has signed exclusive licensing agreements to sell Adrenalina-branded children’s footwear and fragrances. | | | Heidi Sturgess Launches at BLE 2008
| | English designer Heidi Sturgess is launching her first range of artwork at The Brand Licensing Show. | | | UK Licensing Awards Reveal Finalists
| | The UK Licensing Awards 2008 have named category finalists. | | | Cartoon Network, National Basketball Association Partner on Ben 10 Apparel Line
| | The National Basketball Association and Cartoon Network are partnering on a joint consumer products and promotional campaign based on the television series, Ben 10: Alien Force. | | | Marilyn Monroe Images Expand to Blues Clothing
| | Shaw Family Archives and Bradford Licensing Associates are expanding their global licensing program of Marilyn Monroe images to Blues Clothing. | | | Dive Olly Dive! Breaks Into Swimwear
| | EM.Entertainment has signed Beco-Beermann as swimwear and swim accessories licensee for Taffy Entertainment’s Dive Olly Dive! – known as Tauch Timmy Tauch! in Germany –for Germany, Austria and Switzerland. | | | MORE ARTICLES
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| In United Kingdom CBI sales figures slow for third month
| | The United Kingdom’s Confederation of British Industry’ latest Distributive Trades Survey reports mixed views from retailers, with 39% reporting sales in the first half of June were worse than the same time last year and 30% reporting that they were better. | | | Sanrio to Create New Global Consumer Products Division
| | Sanrio Inc., the international product company best known for Hello Kitty, has announced the formation of its Global Consumer Products division. | | | ‘License! Global’ Names New Executive Editor
| | Bernadette Casey has been named executive editor of License! Global, The Source for Retail and Licensing Intelligence, published by Advanstar Communications. | | | The Licensing Machine and SIC Join Forces
| | The Licensing Machine, a new division of Panini UK, covering TV, home video, promotional, merchandise, marketing, and licensing services and SIC, the independent commercial TV channel broadcasting in Portugal, have signed a deal on TV animated series “Naruto” and “FullMetal Alchemist.” | | | PopCo Continues With Licensing Business
| | Following the acquisition by Hornby of the brand name Corgi, the tooling and the inventory for the Corgi die-cast range, the remaining parts of the business—PopCo and Master Replicas—will continue to produce their existing licenses for toys, collectible and prop replicas. | | | Hornby Steams Into Corgi
| | The UK’s Hornby hobby toys, which includes Lima, Jouef and Rivarossi model railways, Scalextric slot car racing cars, Airfix models, and Humbrol paints among its brands, has bought the brand, tooling, and intellectual property rights of Corgi International for £7.5 million. | | | LIMA UK’s Spring Fling Breaks Records
| | Nickelodeon UK’s Clare Piggott has joined the panel of speakers at LIMA UK’s annual Licensing Essentials conference and Spring Fling networking event, organized in association with Brand Licensing Europe. | | | Disney Consumer Products Strengthens Organizational Structure for Future Growth
| | Disney Consumer Products will undergo significant organizational changes in order to prepare the company for the future goal of doubling its global licensing business to $50 billion in retail sales. | | | UK Retail Sales Suffer Sharp Drop in April
| | UK year-on-year retail sales fell markedly in April as poor weather and the early Easter dented spending, the Confederation of British Industry’s Distributive Trades Survey reports. | | | MORE ARTICLES
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| Execs on the Move
| | Pokémon USA, Inc., named Caryl Liebmann to the newly created position of director of retail development and promotions. | | | Execs on the Move
| | VIZ Media, LLC, appointed Linda Espinosa vice president of content management. | | | TNA Wrestling Gets in the Ring with New Motion
| | Total Nonstop Action Wrestling signed an exclusive mobile content deal with New Motion, Inc. | | | Mobile Phones: Gold Rush for Licensed Content
| | Mobile demonstrates the most powerful purchasing arrangement; every time you turn your phone on it is costing you money' | | | Editors' Picks
| | License! editors checked their crystal balls to provide a glimpse of 2005 trends and hot properties across all eight categories. | | | Interactive Licensing Grows Up
| | The 'interactive' area of licensing has gone from being an experimental, speculative and mind-boggling one to being profitable, commercial and an important consideration in the acquisition of new content. We talked to Fremantle and Celador, pioneers in this field, about trends, business models and opportunities. | | | Harnessing Hollywood
| | Licensed entertainment properties can be a gold mine for the video game industry, but only if they are properly marketed on a consistent timetable. | | | Jammin'
| | Given the immense promotional power of song placement in video games, I see us as the next MTV," proclaims Doug Scott, music manager, Electronic Arts. | | | Graphic Growth
| | Tokyopop's business has been doubling every year for the last six years, and it has picked up considerably in the U.S. over the last six months, particularly in bookstores such as Barnes & Noble and Borders, according to Steve Kleckner, the company's vice president, sales and distribution. Central Park Media likewise has seen 50 percent growth in 2003 over 2002, says CPM President John O'Donnell. In 2003, VIZ LLC teamed up with Bandai to cross promote their Inuyasha manga and DVD anime products with Bandai's video game. Revenues from these products exceeded $1 million in the first quarter alone, notes Alex Spence, product manager, VIZ. | | | MORE ARTICLES
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| Miffy Ceramics Move Under the Rainbow Umbrella
| | Rainbow Designs is the new name behind the collection of Miffy nursery ceramics created and formerly distributed by Artistic License. | | | National Geographic Partners with kidthing
| | National Geographic is expanding its brand through learning games, read-along stories, creativity products, videos and more through kidthing. | | | Kohl’s, Eric Carle Team Up for Children’s Charities
| | Kohl’s is offering an exclusive collection of the popular Eric Carle children’s bear book series through licensor Chorion in its stores this summer as part of the Kohl’s Cares for Kids program. | | | Chorion Names Major Licensing Line Up for "Noddy"
| | Chorion has named three new major licensing deals for "Noddy," which celebrates 60 years in 2009, starting at the beginning of next year.
| | | The Next Chapter in Licensing Deals
| | The Internet may be what everyone is talking about, but judging by the robust offering of licensed brands expanding in the publishing arena, print media has a long and profitable life ahead. The growth encompasses both evergreen brands reinventing themselves in new product categories and relatively new players building momentum. | | | "Franny’s Feet" March Toward Third Season
| | Decode Entertainment, a subsidiary of DHX Media, has won a third season commission for "Franny’s Feet" from Family Channel, an Astral Media network. | | | Haynes Manuals Gets into the Game With RFU
| | Haynes Publishing, famous for producing car manuals, and the Rugby Football Union have got together to create the England Rugby Manual, the official RFU guide to playing the game. | | | Taffy Signs Book Licensing Deal
| | The MoonScoop Group's Taffy Entertainment announced an agreement with Italy-based Atlantyca Entertainment's newly-established content-publishing division to produce a novelty book based on the popular animated kids' TV series "Code Lyoko." | | | HarperCollins Signs Publishing Deal on Me to You
| | HarperCollins Children's Books have acquired the publishing rights for Carte Blanche Greeting's Me to You brand. | | | MORE ARTICLES
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| Editors' Picks
| | License! editors checked their crystal balls to provide a glimpse of 2005 trends and hot properties across all eight categories. | | | International Gateways
| | "Think Global. Act Local." That's the mantra of many licensing-based organizations—from entertainment to fashion to publishing—which continue to seek opportunities in territories outside the U.S. | | | China Revisited
| | Last spring License! published "China's Creative Spark" in the art of licensing and heralded the emerging market in Chinese contemporary art. This spring, we follow up with twin interviews-one with art agent Beatrice Pei and the other with International Center of Photography Director Willis (Buzz) Hartshorn-that, in very different ways, reflect and describe the ongoing progression of that market. | | | Licensing 2004 International Show Preview
| | Licensing 2004 International Show Preview | | | Licensing Show 2003 Wrap-Up
| | Licensing Show 2003 Wrap-Up | | | TV Time
| | Content providers are rising to the challenge of shrinking broadcast and retail space in local and international markets. Key strategies include acquiring rights to properties with demonstrated success, including book properties that target preschool audien |
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