Licensees showcasing wide range of brands at this week’s greeting cards event in London.
PG Live – the trade show for the global greeting cards industry – opens its doors tomorrow, with a raft of licences set to take a starring role on the show floor.
Taking place at the Business Design Centre in London on June 6 and 7, the event will welcome over 280 publishers, artists and designers launching new designs, showcasing latest creations and offering show-only deals, giveaways and competitions.
Licensing is a key part of the greeting cards industry – from character and entertainment brands, through to art and design – and high profile companies such as Danilo, UK Greetings, Hallmark, Gemma International and Woodmanstern among others will all be present.
In addition, licensors including Mr Men Little Miss and The Smiley Company will also be taking stands this year.
Licensing also works both ways at the show – anyone looking to licence designs for use elsewhere will be spoilt for choice and simply need to kept an eye out for the special ‘Licensing Friendly’ signs on the stands.
Below, The Source has put together highlights of just a selection of the companies on the show floor with an interest in licensing.
Gemma International
Stand 400
Gemma International is the UK’s number one in licensed greetings, aiming to give its retailers the best brands and licences. Gemma has several, fantastic new properties launching this year, including PJ Masks, Care Bears, Num Noms, Animal Jam and Miraculous Ladybug! Plus a plethora of top licenses, Peppa Pig, Thomas & Friends, emoji (the official brand), Disney, Marvel, Pokémon, to name but a few. For independent customers Gemma also works with Is It Art. For overseas customers the publisher works FOB and, if required, and can category manage cards and wrap for its customers.
Museums & Galleries
Stand 218
Museums & Galleries is the UK’s leading publisher of quality art cards and licensed design-led stationery and gifts. World-class licences include the Victoria and Albert Museum, British design icon Matthew Williamson, The British Library, artist Cressida Bell, Macmillan Cancer Support, Walker Books and Guess How Much I Love You, alongside a curated mix of classic and contemporary artists. Museums & Galleries’ commitment is simple – to promote quality and timeless style through an exclusive, unique product range for retailers.
Bright Art Licensing
Stand 242
As an innovative art agency, Bright Art Licensing represents the best of global talent; working with its artists to produce fresh, current-trend designs. Specialising in artwork ranging from digital to traditional mediums, Bright creates visuals to communicate brands, product or messages, using beautiful design – for projects across stationery, greeting cards, advertising, merchandising, branding, licensing and the publishing sectors. Bright presents award-winning artists and designers, all with vast ranges and work achieved with clients worldwide, including some of the largest publishing houses and boutique publishers.
Danilo Promotions
Stand 513
Danilo, a leading publisher of officially-licensed greeting cards, calendars, diaries and wrap in Europe and is proud to offer the most popular brands in music, celebrity, TV, film, gaming and sport. For 2017/8, Danilo is excited to be launching some brand new product ranges, including Enid Blyton’s Famous Five, Horrible Histories, Transformers, Shimmer & Shine plus many more hot licences across greeting cards, giftwrap and gift bags. The new Despicable Me 3 line will be key, with larger than life Gru and Mel making an appearance on the stand.
UK Greetings
Stand 240
Renowned for its award-winning product, UK Greetings has a licensing portfolio to be envied. Proud of its continued relationship with Disney and the success of its product development across popular franchises, UK Greetings can now boast a portfolio including Star Wars as well as Disney and Marvel. An array of fabulous new product will be on show, from well-loved franchises to hot new properties including Star Wars, New Frozen and Cars 3. UK Greetings designs feature lots of new innovative pop-ups and other mechanisms plus brand new humour and trend-led designs too.
Paper Rose & The Art Group
Stand 325
Paper Rose and The Art Group have a stunning range of cards which include styles to suit every taste, from iconic photographic, to quirky humour and beautiful handmade designs. The companies use a mixture of traditional techniques and modern technologies: fine foiling, embossing and laser cutting to ensure that their cards are both tactile and beautiful. The companies will be showing existing favourite ranges, such as Daisy Patch, Mosaic, Neapolitan and Sugar Pips as well as stylish new Designers Guild, a beautiful collection by Gaelle Boissonnard, quirky humour and exquisite new styles.
Glick
Stand 424
Glick is a fantastic giftwrap and accessories company with an exciting range of beautiful products and the range is constantly growing. Glick works closely with its many artists and licensing partners to create on-trend designs which are launched four times per year. Glick’s customers include some of the world’s top department stores, card shops, gift shops and garden centres across the UK and worldwide. Glick’s aim is to be your first choice and partner for all your finest quality giftwrapping requirements.
The Smiley Company
Stand 531
The Smiley Company will be debuting at PG Live in 2017 to showcase its vast archive of creative artworks, which has seen it named Best Licensed Lifestyle Brand 2017 and move into the Top 100 licensing companies in the world, off the back of phenomenal retail growth of 39% in the last year. Smiley is on a mission to spread happiness throughout the world and provide a unique platform for self-expression to the greeting cards industry.
Mr. Men Little Miss
Stand 336
Mr. Men Little Miss is a British born brand with a 90-strong cast of characters, who have brought fun and laughter to generations of families. Currently a book is sold every 2.5 seconds worldwide and lifetime sales total 250 million books. As well as showcasing an array of giftware for the brand, Mr Men will be displaying exclusive product from The World of Roger Hargreaves. This includes the classic 70’s series Timbuctoo, plus the new collaboration with Doctor Who. The Mr Men team is also interested in new collaborations with artists and designers.
Mask-arade
Stand 536
Mask-arade, part of the Rubie’s group, is the original maker of celebrity and character face masks. The company has over 400 fantastic faces in its range, from the latest hot licences, through to historical themed characters and controversial politicians. Come along to Stand 536 to see the latest faces, from Donald Trump to Darth Vader.
Pioneer Europe
Stand 236
Pioneer Europe is the European headquarters of Pioneer Balloon Company, the manufacturer of Qualatex balloons. Pioneer’s product range includes an extensive array of latex, Microfoil, exclusive Bubble balloons and partyware. Dedicated to helping its customers succeed, Pioneer always strives to provide the very best quality, service, education and innovation. With the recent expansion in Pioneer’s product mix, it now offers all the ingredients to bring any party to life with balloons and tableware collections, including popular Disney (including the Beauty and the Beast line), Marvel and Lucasfilm licences and more.
Woodmansterne Publications
Stand 317
Originally specialising in fine art, today Woodmansterne publishes cards for all seasons and for every occasion, regularly winning industry design awards across more categories than any other publisher. Woodmansterne is dedicated to assisting personal communication through the sharing of beautiful images – well designed, authentically sourced and meticulously reproduced.
PG Live 2017 takes place on June 6-7 at the Business Design Centre, London. Head to the official website for further details.
