TOTAL LICENSING
“Hypermarkets, in particularly, were ordering 30% less stock at a time”, he
explained. “But all the stock on the shelves was selling. They just lessened
their risk by putting in smaller orders more often”.
In terms of general retail, Taieb believes that whilst mail order is suffering
in France, discounters are doing well. “Carrefour, Auchan and Leclerc are all
very strong”, he remarked. And others are reinventing themselves to stay
profitable. “Monoprix is a classic example”, explained Taieb. “Dailymonop
stores are convenience City stores that are open from early morning until
midnight whilst Beautymonop stores specialise in personal care products”.
Taieb believes that to succeed in licensing in today’s climate, licensors and
licensees need to be open to change. “Minimum guarantees and royalty rates
will change”, he explained. “Licensors will need to start taking some of the
risk by, maybe, accepting lower royalty rates at the beginning of a program
and higher rates once the program breaks-even. Of course business is tough-
er today but licensed products will still sell.”
Taieb is particularly optimistic about Nickelodeon’s newest kid on the block
– Kai Lan. “We honestly could have sold fifty licenses by now. But we really
want to build the program slowly – we want it to be there in five years time.
Because of this, we are very
much treating our licensees
as partners rather than cus-
tomers. We’re brainstorming
with them and helping them
in every way we can. That
way, they are happy and, im-
portantly in the future, they
come back to us”.
Taieb, like many others, be-
lieves that the economic
situation will benefit classic properties – and he sees Dora and Spongebob
sales remaining steady. On the other hand, he believes that because compa-
nies are loathe to launch anything new, when something like Kai Lan comes
along, it stands a very good chance of success.
“Kai Lan began airing on TF1 last September and the ratings have been great.
We introduced Kailan in 2008 and now have 16 licensees with product due
to launch this back-to-school season. We also have a number of exclusive
retail launches with the bulk of product coming out in 2010”.
In anticipation of his tenth anniversary, Spongebob is being given a new look
as ‘Spongebob by Spongebob’ designed to appeal to pre-teens. “This is fash-
ion-driven”, explained Taieb. “So it’s idea for French teenagers”.
In all, Taieb is optimistic about the coming year whilst being realistic about
the ever-changing market situation. “Without strong television and strong
marketing, properties are just not going to work”, he concluded. “Buyers
are demanding much more than ever before and the ‘let’s give it a chance’
attitude has disappeared. Consumers are more careful and ‘whim’ buying is
disappearing. But, whilst there will be less properties around, that surely is
better for those that survive! Spongebob’s slogan is ‘Think Happy’ and that’s
what we need to do. Voila!”
Warner Bros also believe that evergreen properties are the way forwards
during the economic downturn although Anoush Kevorkian, Executive Di-
rector of Sales, Marketing and Retail believes that superheroes are what
consumers want. “More than ever through this tough period, we need su-
perheroes”, commented Kevorkian. “Their values are a great wall against the
gloomy background that threatens us”.
Of course Warner Bros are looking to the latest Harry Potter movie this
summer as well as forwards to the two theatrical releases in 2010 and 2011.
New products will reinforce the range including a new Harry Potter version
of the famous Cluedo game, made by Hasbro.
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