would make ideal games or would be a perfect match for a range of video game accessories. Yet increasingly games firms are the exhibitors, too. Once again big name video game brands were on display for toy firms, clothing manufacturers, accessories specialists and the rest to discover. Sega was on hand to show off Sonic, Ubisoft was there to showcase Rabbidsand Assassin’s Creed, while Sony was busy pimping out its LittleBigPlanetand InvizimalsIP.
“Ubisoft has evolved into a true entertainment company in the wider sense,” says Ubisoft’s EMEA director of consumer products Virginie Sergent. “We have already launched a variety of successful extensions of our brands – merchandise, novels, short movies – and this has greatly contributed in extending our brands’ territory and our consumer’s experience outside of the video game platforms.” Sega’s European head of brand licensing Sissel Henno adds: “New merchandise broadens the user interface of the brand and allows fans to engage with our brands in a different way. It creates opportunities to appeal to a bigger audience, and may introduce new people to the fantastic gaming experience that these brands offer.”
But it is not just the big brands like
Sonicthat were at Brand Licensing Europe this year. Even more unusual brands, such as Sega’s Total War series, are available. Meanwhile Sony used the show as an opportunity to discuss its upcoming slate of new IP, including Beyond, Until Dawnand The Last of Us. Even accessories firms were at the show, and not just to buy licences to slap on 3DS cases, but to promote their own brand identities, such as A4T’s new Punky Princess brand. “Brand Licensing Europe was the perfect platform to launch our new girls brand to both licence and retail industries,”
New merchandise broadens the user interface of the brand and allows fans to engage in a different way
“ Sissel Henno, Sega 38 October 19th 2012
says Punky Princess brand manager Laura Unsworth. “Attending the show as an exhibitor allowed us to present the unique Punky Princess brand story to potential licensees, retailers and distribution partners from around Europe. We also showcased A4T’s initial product line up, which includes Apple, Kindle and general tablet accessories along with cases for smartphones and as you would expect, a range of video game accessories. “As the official strapline of our new brand proudly states, Punky Princess is ‘Born to be Original’. We have several unique points connecting to the brand story which ensures that Punky Princess will indeed stand out within the tween girl brand arena and all our initial marketing activity will be focused towards ensuring that the girls visit www.punkyprincess.com to sign up.”
GROWING UP
It’s unfair to say that video games based on licences are in decline. In the online and digital spaces the market has seen an influx of movie tie-ins, while fitness and sports brands such as Nike have become big names in the gaming market. But there’s unquestionably a growing trend of video game publishers seeking their own brands. The biggest kids games of today are not based on Toy Story or Rugrats, they are Skylanders, Moshi Monsters and Angry Birds. Blockbuster products that are in turn backed by mammoth licensing programmes all of their own. Even video game companies – such as EA Sports and Atari – have established themselves as brands in their own rights.
The companies and IP on show at Brand Licensing Europe this week represented a maturing games industry. An entertainment sector that’s being taken seriously by the sister markets who – for many years – have looked down on it.
And for everyone involved in video games, that’s got to be something to celebrate.