Insight
GAMING LICENSING LIMA Interview
aeroplanes licensed with the brand. You couldn’t have done that on day one or even year five, but over time you can make that stretch, but only if you manage the process properly, with each step along the way having its own logic in relation to consumer demand.”
Marvel characters have historically appeared across gambling products, and are still appearing - Iron Man, Spiderman etc. But there’s a problem. Te issue being that mergers and acquisitions change the relationships between IP owners and brand licensees (Disney acquiring Marvel, for example). “Most licences are for a fixed period of time and not particularly a long one,” says Kelvyn. “Typically, most licenses don’t last more than 2-3 years, so there is a natural end cycle to the licence, which is not necessarily renewed if it’s found to be inappropriate. And that’s not just in gaming, there’s a topic of conversation about whether or not you should licence your brand into sugary soft drinks right now. You might have done it in the past, but now that the public mood is against the softs drinks sector, it might be sensible to let those licences lapse right now.”
Te simple explanation is that every licence has an end date, which is a natural opportunity to breakaway if it’s not thought sensible to carry on. Brands constantly revist their strategy as regards what is appropriate, and have to factor in geography as part of that decision, whereby some products are very appropriate in some markets and starkly not in others. “I remember having a conversation a few years back with King Features, who have a number of famous comic strip brands, including Betty Boop,” states Kelvyn. “In France they chose to license the character into disposable cigarette lighters, but didn’t license the character in the UK, as it was seen as being socially acceptable in one, but not the other. So you have to look not only at the demographics, but also at the geography too.”
GLOBAL AS OPPOSED TO NATIONAL? Tere are licences that are very niche, but work
they will assist in capitalising on the potential of the assets. If it’s a new brand entry, the normal process is that your first steps in licensing will be products that are fairly close to the core product. If, for example, you have greetings cards characters that have broken through in terms of its identity, good sales and awareness and public affection, you probably wouldn’t immediately look to license a Kiddie Ride for supermarkets, but you would want to licence stationery or gift wrap/balloons etc. something that is quite close to the core IP.
“Licensing creates a ripple with the IP in the middle,” outlines Kelvyn of the launch process. “Te first ripples are very close to the core IP, and then the longer and more successful the licensing programme, the more you can start to touch things that seem a long way from the core IP. Te famous Japanese IP, Hello Kitty, which began life as a stationery product, by the time Hello Kitty was 40 years old, you even had
in certain circumstances, for example celebrity chefs quite often have a licensing programme, but it’s almost certainly limited to culinary products; you’re frankly not going to sell many Gordan Ramsay T-Shirts. In terms of geography, there are brands, such as Paddington Bear, which has largely been a British brand, though popular in Japan, which had the opportunity to spread via a new movie.
“If you’re licensing at an international level, you’ll be including some big international brands, things like Marvel or the Simpsons, but then countries like France and Italy, for example, have their own licensed characters, that only work in their native territories. Diabolik was originally written as a cartoon character in France; it’s also been very popular in licensing in Italy, but I don’t think it’s been popular anywhere else,” says Kelvyn. “And then there are breakout brands, which grow at the national level, such as Masher and the Bear,
It’s better to licence a brand into
another market sector, than simply registering your brand in a
trademark category, as it shows the brand is being used in different
categories,” underlines Kelvyn. “It not only protects straightforward breachs of copyright, but it also helps against passing off, because
you’ve been seen to use that brand, as opposed to simply registering something before leaving it to
gather dust in a drawer. The very act of licensing can help to protect the use of the brand.”
Russia’s first TV animation, which was solely a Russian property for its first 5-6 years, but is now spreading around the world. So too is a Chinese property, Allie and the Fox. For whatever reasons, China has never had an international IP of any value, until now.”
Another fascinating aspect of that is that in some countries, such as South Korea, there’s a creative arts council, KOCCA, which promotes creative arts, including licensing. And they’re throwing lots of government money at the development of native Korean characters and IP. Tey know that you only need one character such as Hello Kitty and that will bring tens of millions of dollars into the Korean economy.
At the closing ceremony of the Olympic games in Rio, the Japanese Prime Minister appeared at the handover of the Olympics to Japan or 2020, wearing a Super Mario costume, the quintessential Japanese gaming brand. Rather than use the rising sun, or a geisha, Japan demonstrated just how far brand recognition and licensing power has come.
WILL EVERY NEW PRODUCT HAVE TO BE A LICENSED IP IN THE FUTURE? “I see a general understanding of what licensing delivers and a recognition that licensing adds reassurance to businesses at every level,” says Kelvyn. “What do retailers think of this? I think they understand the power of brands, they themselves are going down the route of direct to retail licenses as they are looking for an element of exclusivity. I think the power of branding and the role of licensing will grow in importance, and the public’s desire to relive their passions for a core IP will continue to grow. I think, although its already a big business, it is still the case that the majority of brands have yet to fully exploit their properties. It’s also the case that the majority of consumer goods and services companies don’t yet utilise licensing. I think that is going to continue to grow and it wouldn’t surprise me if this business in another 20 years is twice as big as it is today.”
NEWSWIRE / INTERACTIVE /
247.COM P39
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71 |
Page 72 |
Page 73 |
Page 74 |
Page 75 |
Page 76