You need to be creative, innovative and push boundaries in licensing says ceo Nicolas Loufrani.
The industry is no longer about being just a “nuts and bolts licensing model”, the ceo of The Smiley Company, Nicolas Loufrani has claimed.
Speaking about Smiley’s involvement with the Brand & Lifestyle Licensing Awards, Nicolas commented: “You need to be creative, innovative and push the boundaries and the B&LLAs is driving wider recognition of this and the excellence in this field.”
Smiley is sponsoring the Best Supermarket Brand Licensed Retailer Execution at this year’s B&LLAs.
Nicolas also identified two different trends within the space – the consolidation of brand and manufacturing, plus direct to retail deals.
“Major retail chains are looking for brands to give a better perceived value to their private labels, can command higher prices and generate more margin, as well as drive traffic to their stores with brands or celebrities that are appealing to different consumer groups,” he said.
“Brand DTR partners are hard to find in Europe, where most chains look for communication to drive traffic and go for short-term opportunities with entertainment IP.”
Nicolas said that Smiley is supporting the B&LLAs because it is “a pure lifestyle driven licensing brand and we fully support the way that the B&LLAs is recognising brands such as ourselves in the licensing space”.
The Brand & Lifestyle Licensing Awards takes place at The Dorchester, Park Lane on Thursday, April 27.
Other partners on board include headline sponsor Brand Licensing Europe, LIMA, TLC, CPLG, Beanstalk, Start Licensing, Golden Goose, Pink Key Consulting, TLP, Happy Jackson, Octane 5, Brandgenuity Europe, Select Licensing, House Beautiful & Country Living Magazine, Autumn Fair and Monty Bojangles.
You can check out full details by visiting the dedicated website by clicking here.
For ticket enquiries, please contact Clare Davies of Createvents on clare@createvents.co.uk or call 01183 340085.
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