The winners of the Brand & Lifestyle Licensing Awards are heading into the long Bank Holiday weekend on a high following their victories on Wednesday (27 April) – with many sharing their initial joy at winning with LicensingSource.net.
In the retail categories, Primark was named Best Fashion Retailer of Licensed Brands with Sarah Jackson, licensing director, telling LicensingSource: “Primark are delighted to win best fashion licensed retailer at the prestigious Bella awards. This is a collective effort across multiple teams, and we are very proud to be recognised for this award.”
Iceland was a double award winner – picking up Best Brand Licensed Food or Beverage Product or Range for its TGI Fridays Frozen Appetisers and Desserts, plus Best Supermarket of Licensed Brands for the second year running.
The retailer’s trading director Oliver Gilding told LicensingSource: “This shows the determination and focus that we have on exclusive brands at Iceland, and this is just the beginning as we have more plans for the rest of this year and into 2023. It’s so great to have our hard work recognised by the industry, especially following on from our wins at last year’s B&LLAs, too.”
Meanwhile, Maxine Lister, head of licensing at the Natural History Museum, picked up the accolade for Best Licensed Heritage Or Institution Brand for the second year running.
She commented: “We are thrilled to have won the award again this year, especially when the heritage sector is so strong in licensing. It makes us extremely proud and humbled to be recognised by the industry for our work.”
Staying in the property categories, and Laura Ashley was named Best Licensed Design-Led Lifestyle Brand, with a delighted Carolyn D’Angelo, md, Gordon Brothers Brands and president of Laura Ashley Global, saying: “Laura Ashley has been working with licensing partners for over 30 years establishing long-term partnerships, but the past two years have been an exciting period for the brand as we successfully relaunched under a new licensing business model.
“Design remains at the heart of everything we do and we continue to work with expert partners who share the same passion for our brand. There are many more exciting opportunities to be explored and categories to launch into and the whole team are thrilled to be recognised by the industry for their work. Thank you for hosting a fantastic event and congratulations to all of the winners.”
The joy continued for the winners of the product categories. Sara Miller, founder of Sara Miller London, collected the trophy for Best Licensed Fashion or Talent Brand, commenting: “We are absolutely delighted to win this award for the third time. I am so humbled to have such amazing industry recognition – and forever grateful that my incredible journey started at PG Live.”
Simon Terry, owner and joint md at Anglepoise – winner of Best Brand Licensed Electrical &/or DIY Products or Range – said: “The team at the National Trust have made the launch of this collaboration an absolute joy and to be recognised at the B&LLAs is an added boon and we are delighted.”
Michelle Feeney, founder of Floral Street Fragrances, collected Best Brand Licensed Health & Beauty Product or Range for its collaboration with Van Gogh Museum on Sunflower Pop. She told LicensingSource: “We are thrilled to have been acknowledged globally with this credible award for our authentic collaboration with the Van Gogh Museum and sustainable Sunflower Pop fragrance. It means so much to be awarded by the licensing industry for our excellence in product innovation.”
For Lauren Sizeland, head of licensing and business development at the V&A, the win for Best Brand Licensed Homewares, Kitchen & Tabletop Product or Range for its work with Richard Brendon on the V&A Reflect series was “an honour”.
She commented: “The collection perfectly reframes original masterpieces in an imaginative way and is an homage to British craftsmanship both past and present. We are incredibly proud of the whole team who worked on this and thank the team at Richard Brendon for producing a stunning range that truly brings the archive inspiration, quite literally ‘to life’! It is an honour to be recognised by the industry once again and pass our sincere congratulations on to the other winners and finalists.”
Cathy Snow, licensing manager at RHS, said that winning Best Brand Licensed Children’s Product or Range was “an extremely proud moment”.
“This award-winning range was developed with the hugely creative George@Asda team, who are experts at delivering affordable, great-quality clothing that children enjoy wearing and who helped us to highlight the joys of gardens and gardening to a young audience in a gloriously fun and inspiring way,” said Cathy. “This was our first collaboration with George@Asda, and, with its great success at retail, it certainly won’t be the last. In fact a second range will be launching in the next few weeks.”
The Tetris Tetrimino Waffle Maker from Fizz Creations was a popular winner in Inspired Innovation Brand Licensed Product or Range. “We are thrilled to have won an award at this year’s B&LLAs,” said the company’s head of marketing, Zoe Ryan. “Creativity is at the heart of Fizz, and we love to combine a fusion of innovation, licence and fun to create an amazing product. Receiving recognition from the licensing industry is absolutely fantastic and a real testament to the creativity and hard work from each and every person in the Fizz family.”
Josie Will, licensing manager at Joules, said on the win for Best Brand Licensed Gifting Product or Range for the Joules Crafting Range from A2V: “We are delighted to have won a much coveted B&LLA for our crafting range with A2V. Both Joules and A2V have worked incredibly hard on this range, collaborating to bring product expertise, quality, print and colour together to land a functional and beautiful range with real standout in the market.
“We had every confidence the range would go down well with Joules consumers, it always felt like such a natural fit, but now gaining industry recognition as well is truly wonderful.”
Fleur Neal, head of partnerships at Sanderson Design Group, was part of the team collecting the accolade for Best Brand Licensed Adult Apparel Range for the Morris & Co. collection on behalf of Next. Speaking about the win, she said: “Morris & Co.’s designs have truly stood the test of time and we were absolutely thrilled to partner with Next to bring the brand to new audiences.
“It means such a lot to both teams to win this award, and to be recognised by the industry for this collection that celebrates 160 years of Morris & Co.’s iconic prints.”
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