News of the world: “The biggest challenge continues to be a super-competitive market”

Global Merchandising Services’ Lisa Streff talks Oasis, Fender, Mötley Crüe in Las Vegas and branching out into other business sectors.

Licensors and agents based outside the UK share their takeaways from 2024 and their goals for 2025, the challenges affecting the licensing industry and the opportunities waiting to be seized, plus the one word they’d use to sum up business in the year just gone and the one we’re in now.

Today: US: Lisa Streff, svp licensing & brand development (North America), Global Merchandising Services. 

“We had a solid year, with new clients signed (including Oasis and Fender), some unique collabs, new licensing partners and product launches.

Our focus in 2025 for the US market will be to develop and implement programmes to support major client milestones and events. We have the Oasis Live 2025 World Tour kicking off in summer and the 30th anniversary of their What’s the Story, Morning Glory? album, supported by new product launches planned throughout the next year.

We also have 50th anniversary celebrations for both Iron Maiden and Motörhead, with Iron Maiden playing their largest-ever UK headline show at the London Stadium in June. Fender will be celebrating its 80th anniversary in 2026, and we will have some big news coming for both Backstreet Boys and Ozzy Osbourne. There will be specific collaborations celebrating Mötley Crüe’s Las Vegas residency, too.

We continue to branch out into other business sectors, such as lifestyle and entertainment, with clients including Spinal Tap and Beavertown Brewery.

The biggest challenge continues to be a super-competitive market, both in the increasing saturation of licensed product at retail and the competition independents like us face against major studios.

For 2024, my word is expansion; for 2025, it’s scale.”

This feature originally appeared in the spring 2025 edition of Licensing Source Book. To read the full publication, click on this link.

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