Ah, digital! How quickly and stealthily you have crept up upon a previously unsuspecting licensing industry!
Sorry for that bit of cod-Elizabethan verse, but it seems apt given just how suddenly this world has burst into the world of consumer products – in all its aspects. Not even two years ago at a feature licensing event I overheard a retail buyer declaring that she would not even look at a license ‘if it did not have solid TV support’. This was a pertinent, if challengeable, view six or seven years ago, but not today. It’s almost the equivalent of gainsaying the digital world by retailers themselves, whereas, in reality, all are scrambling to establish their online sales presence. By contrast, it was put to me recently that a large percentage of licensing successes has always come from stuff we look at on screens. Films, TV shows, sports and events, they are all presented for our delectation in some form of screened medium. To that extent, with the advent of digital, we have simply added more screens to the range: PCs, tablets, smart phones, ‘phablets’ and so on.
The new digital environment has already given birth to several big winners in licensing: notably Angry Birds, Moshi Monsters and Minecraft. All very different properties, from companies with very different styles, but each has torn it up in licensing with a wide range of merchandise. Moreover, Moshi Monsters, having begun life on the seemingly ‘ancient’ platform of PC website, has now itself evolved into the world of apps with Moshi Village and even Moshi Kart. So digital is providing valuable rights opportunities already. But what if your property, or your consumer goods business, is not itself in this space?
Whether it’s through a social media campaign, the development of a strong website, or links to key online retailers, the licensing industry won’t be left behind here. Just as few things that exist only in digital work well with consumers on a commercial level, so the key retailers online have, for the most part, been offshoots of bricks and mortar stores that we’ve grown to know and love so well. This is a far cry from pre-Dotcom ‘boom and bust phenomena’ like Etoys.com, that at one point was valued on NASDAQ as worth considerably more than Toys R Us, only to disappear completely shortly afterwards.
Trust is an important part of adherence to every brand, so it seems clear that trusting your retailer in the same way has led us to this place. That’s not to say that this is exclusive, however. The success of ASOS, for one, has shown that. Indeed, in the last few years Kitbag, Moonpig.com and Play.com have all won category titles, beating many familiar high-street store brands, in The Licensing Awards, the UK’s premier awards for the licensing business as a whole. We’re still in the infancy of this new world and thus adaptability and keeping an eye open to constant innovation are key. However, licensing has embraced digital solidly already, and there’s a lot more to come from us yet.
By Kelvyn Gardner, Managing Director of LIMA UK.
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