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Co-organised in association with LIMA (International Licensing Industry Merchandisers’ Association) the session ‘Strategies for Successfull Licensing’ had seasoned professionals at the panel with more than 45 years of experience amongst the three of them.
The speakers, all of whom have played stellar roles in the licensing and consumer products field, included HiHat (US) Media President David Jacobs, Copyright Promotions Licensing CEO Kirk Bloomgarden and Mattel VP for Entertainment Licensing Holly Stein.
The workshop adopted a very objective approach and included point by point presentation by all the speakers.
Approach licensing as a co-production partnership
Warner Bros’ Romanelli gets lifetime award Taking first strike HiHat Media’s Jacobs emphasised that producers ought to approach licensing just as they would co-production, saying,”The licensing business last year was around US$25.7 Billion. Inspite of its enormity there are very few key players in this field. It is necessary to understand that licensing is a partnership and should be approached in a similar manner as co-production. Play an active and informed role as the property owner ”
Jacobs career credits include stints at Sesame Workshop first for China (where he created a strategic partnership with General Electric (GE), NBC and Shanghai Television to produce 130 episodes of a Chinese Sesame Street (Zhima Jie) and then Japan (where he negotiated a unique merchandising and retail plan with Sony to create 2500 new products sold through 300 Sesame Street stores and boutiques. The project generated retail sales in excess of $1 billion). Jacobs was also responsible for the turn around in the declining business of Thomas the Tank Engine & Friends in the U.S where it witnessed an increased revenue of more than 300% in four years, and now generating more than $400 million in annual retail sales in the U.S. market.
The L&M veteran elaborated on the virtues of getting good partnerships including broadcast, adding,”The perception of your product matters. Align yourself with the best of brands and companies. If not money than one can at least gain some good traction by involving the broadcaster”
The earlier L&M strategies are included into pre production the better. Jacobs shared that it was necessary to prepare early on. “Live and breathe retail. Create a licensing budget early on. Be prepared to spend money on trade press and advertising, attend trade shows start preparing your creative material (Style Guides for various products that preserve the DNA of the property). Also include counsel and agent fees in your budgets”
Set realistic expectations
CEO of Europe’s leading independent licensing agency CPLG, Kirk Bloomgarden has 12 years of licensing industry experience and is a former LIMA Board Director.
Bloomgarden shared that it was important to be pragmatic and to have realistic expectations. “Don’t rely on L&M revenue for deficit financing you cannot expect product licenses to tie in with initial broadcast, it takes at least 16-18 months to warm up the market” he said.
“With competition getting intense, licensees are taking a more wait and see approach and one has to be flexible as a producer. The days of gigantic minimum guarantees are over” he added.
Further continuing Bloomgarden stated “Past success does not guarantee success in the future nor does ratings success guarantee a revenue success. There are certain properties that lend themselves to L&M beautifully while some inspite of being ratings success dont work in L&M”
Sharing an interesting statistic, Bloomgarden said, “More than 50% retail for licensed products are through the big retailers like Walmart in the US and Tesco in UK”
“However there are different approaches to creating an L&M programme. Niche Marketing works well in certain cases too. Give retailers 12 month windows and exclusive rights. Look at Thomas the Tank Engine & Friends which did 400Million US$ an it never went to Walmart” remarked Bloomgarden on a positive note.
Five pointer chart for developing L&M appeal in content
*1- Get the character/story right
*2- Get your play pattern in place
*3- Create strong visuals for product
*4- Clear translatable name
*5- Keep in mind that TV audiences are older while the L&M consumer for the same will be relatively younger
Do give thought to product execution (not just action figures) and don’t assume that everything is translatable.
As VP of Entertainment Licensing at Mattel, Holly Stein is responsible for overseeing entertainment property acquisitions across all of Mattel’s brand groups (including male action/entertainment, Barbie, girls, games and puzzles, and wheels) and has in her 15 years of dedicated licensing experience held executive positions at Vidal Sassoon, Inc., Saatchi & Saatchi advertising, Warner Bros. Consumer Products, and HIT Entertainment prior to joining Mattel.
Mattel has around 8 new brands a year with 5 being Boys brands and 3 girls brands.
On being asked as to how Licensing decisions were made at Mattel, Stein replied,”Sometimes in large companies there are licensing commitees. Getting a nod is easier tackling the various departnments that constitute the commitee one by one. For e.g if you get the toy designer interested you get a tick, if you get the marketing guys interested you get another tick and so on”
Keeping to the objective beat of the workshop, Stein’s presentation was a black and white ‘Dos and Don’ts for Pitching to Licensees’
+Do make advance contract in writing
-Dont try to get through by cold calling
+Do be ready to sign a legal waiver
-Dont expect room for a waiver negotiation
+Do make the pitch in person
-Don’t phone or video conference
+Do know your audience/consumer
-Dont assume they know what you know
+Do have more than enough information
-Dont skimp on those details
+Do bring visuals – character art/ 3D Models and backgrounds
-Don’t try to verbally explain the look
+Do have broadcaster’s input/placement
-Don’t expect underwriting by License
+Do preliminary research with target demo
-Don’t just talk to yourself
+Do create a leave behind (while pitching)
-Don’t expect to be remebered
+Do follow up aggresively with updates
-Don’t be a stalker
“And one must never underestimate the value of a licensing agent” she remarked concluding the presntation.”It is at times better to come via an agent becuase the agent has already established a working relationship with the licensee”
