Start Licensing’s Ian Downes spots a number of eye-catching window displays this week, which really underline licensing’s ability to help retailers drive customers in-store.
It has been a case of a Lot on the high street for me recently. I visited Chester a week ago and had chance for a Sunday morning stroll around their main shopping thoroughfare. I was early and the shops weren’t open so I had to confine myself to window shopping. This gave me cause for optimism in terms of the ‘in market’ presence for licensing and licensed ranges.
It also reaffirmed my thinking that licensing can help retailers bring in customers and, as seen in Chester, create eye-catching window displays. A number of the products I spotted have been mentioned on LicensingSource.net recently – it is always good to see things move from press release to retail listings.
The activations I spotted included Jo Malone’s Paddington inspired range. This partnership was launched recently centring on colognes and gift collections. Of course, the fragrances are inspired by Paddington’s penchant for marmalade. The collaboration presents well in the Jo Malone window and I am guessing one part of the appeal of this partnership is the opportunity it gives Jo Malone to ‘tell a story’ in-store, on the high street and digitally.
The ability for licensed ranges and licensed brands to create campaign collateral and cut through shouldn’t be under estimated.
Another high street retailer that featured a licensed range prominently in the window was LUSH. It is not new to licensing-led collaborations and its current partnership features Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. This follows on from a number of other partnerships. The fact it is back in the licensing market suggests that it is an approach and strategy that works for LUSH.
Window wise it certainly stops people in their tracks and I imagine creates a ‘raised eyebrow’ moment, encouraging people to step into the store and explore LUSH’s offering. I am sure there is also a specific consumer market LUSH wants to connect with that licensing helps with and I imagine it chooses which brands to work with based on their consumer appeal – no doubt combined with other factors like the brand’s fit with their products and its design potential.
My Chester visit was during the European Football Championships so there were a number of football related campaigns in evidence.
One that stood out was in Marks & Spencer’s window. Focused on the England team, M&S had teamed up with sticker company Panini to promote Panini’s England sticker collection. M&S had linked with Panini on a promotion to encourage in-store spend. Consumers received free stickers with every £20 spent in store – a simple concept but one that was well communicated. It was good to see a long standing licensee like Panini featuring so prominently in the shop window. It was also good to see what is quite a traditional product category being so well supported. It underpins that collections and collecting still hold an appeal to consumers. In the context of retailers, collections like this Panini one of course encourage consumers to return to store to complete their collections.
Retailers are very alive to a range of techniques to get people into store these days. I think this sort of promotion is one that licensing has great scope to play a part in and hopefully a concept that other retailers will be looking at. A licensed brand adds personality, creates demand and differentiates things in the context of a promotion like this one.
Another window that caught my eye was that belonging to Clarendon Fine Art, which specialises in selling wall art focusing on limited and special editions. It curates a range of artists and art styles, but in a general sense it would be fair to describe the inventory as being focused on contemporary art. Within this, it supports artists who have emerged through the street art circuit or whose style is influenced by that genre. Recently it featured a Mickey and Friends ‘Love Is the Answer’ piece featuring Mickey and Minnie Mouse created by Mr Brainwash. It was promoted as an ‘exclusive’ to Clarendon and was only available for a limited time. This isn’t the first time that Clarendon has sold art in this way and it is a sales technique other retailers in other categories employ. A limited time offer certainly focuses the mind of consumers and introduces a ‘compelling event’ purchase wise.
I liked the artwork as well – as a fan of street art I have noticed how the art and indeed artists are crossing over into the licensing arena. The world of street art is full of talented artists, interesting styles and a fresh approach to subjects. Many street artists are influenced by mainstream characters and develop tribute pieces to them. A trip down Waterloo’s Leake Street can be time well spent if you are looking for a new artist or some contemporary inspiration.
Licensing PLC put on a good show in Chester and it certainly brightened up a dull Sunday morning. I think we can take encouragement that licensing and licensed products are doing their bit to generate business for UK high streets at the moment.
Returning to street art and how it can be influenced by famous characters, I was reminded that some time ago in Nottingham I spotted a piece of street art that was the ultimate in mash ups.
I think I wrote about it at the time but inspired by Mr Brainwash I thought it was a good time to re-visit it. How many characters can you spot in it?
The artist was Kid30 I think: https://kid30.smallkid.co.uk/
Ian Downes runs Start Licensing, an independent brand licensing agency. His X handle is @startlicensing and on Instagram he is @iandownesphotos – he would welcome your suggestions for what to look out for.
