Start Licensing’s Ian Downes takes a look through catalogues from HMV and Museum Selection to find out how licensing is playing its part.
It’s a tale of two catalogues this week for me.
Retailer HMV has published its ‘Summer Vacation Guide’ which is distributed in its stores and as I understand is included with mail order deliveries. It is a colour booklet featuring highlights from the current pop culture ranges. Licensing looms large in the range. HMV is a retailer with momentum and focus. It has made great strides in the pop culture space, not least as it has recognised the vital role that licensed properties play in that market.
It should be noted and acknowledged that it has made a conscious effort to achieve this by building relationships with rights owners, licensees and agents.
The front and back covers of the guide feature Funko’s Deadpool & Wolverine figures and other brands such as Spider-Man 2, reinforcing what a key part of HMV’s offering Funko form. The stores have prominent Funko displays. Funko is one of the licensees which has been in the vanguard of pop culture and in many respects has helped grow the overall market.
The HMV guide also includes a page featuring t-shirts from Heroes Inc, another licensee which is a key cog in the pop culture machine. Featured brands include Care Bears, The Goonies, Deadpool and Star Wars. Interestingly it also features the Um Bongo brand – this underpins the fact that FMCG brands are now part of the pop culture mix. One general point about companies like Heroes Inc, HMV and the featured brand owners is their commitment to developing new design treatments. They have a collective design mindset that resonates with pop culture fans. Apparel is a big part of the catalogue with other ranges from Threadless and TruffleShuffle featured.
TruffleShuffle has concessions in HMV stores and it has long been a company which understands and celebrates pop culture. It has worked hard to identify and support brands that appeal to underserved fan groups. It has understood that specialist retail, social media and PR can be an efficient way of reaching these fans and that, in turn, these fans have an appetite for product featuring their favourite brands. TruffleShuffle’s HMV range includes Care Bears, Gremlins, Fraggle Rock and Labyrinth.
Unsurprisingly, HMV also features product sourced from the world of music. It is working with specialist supplier Amplified which has developed a t-shirt range featuring iconic band brands like Blondie, Fleetwood Mac and Foo Fighters. It also has a range featuring AC/DC tying into the band’s 50th anniversary. HMV is very good at capitalising on anniversaries and launches. This recognises the fact that fan communities are tuned into anniversaries and engaged with launch events.
It was also good to see the HMV brochure supporting the publishing category – Marvel Graphic Novels are given their own page with a range of titles such as Wolverine and Deadpool. It is great recognition for an important part of the pop culture and fan market. The world of comics has been the entry point for lots of fans into fandom and, of course, comics have inspired a lot of successful franchises.
Given the fact that HMV has its finger on the pop culture pulse, it was no surprise to see the Kandy Sanrio range from Mighty Jaxx featured. This is part of the ongoing interest consumers have in special editions, blind box products and ranges created with artists. The catalogue also features Kenji and Kawaii ranges reinforcing how well established these genres are in the world of pop culture.
HMV’s ‘Summer Pop Culture Essentials’ is a tangible demonstration of the retailer’s commitment to pop culture and licensing. It is good to see but I also imagine it realises that it has to keep moving. Its retail competitors are, I am sure, awake to the appeal of pop culture, but it is a product category that needs to be nurtured. HMV has shown a willingness to invest time in nurturing the market and building relationships within it.
The other catalogue I received was from Museum Selection, which introduces the catalogue as ‘Home and Gifts inspired by our rich heritage’. Where HMV celebrates pop culture, Museum Selection celebrates culture. It is in touch with a range of museums and galleries developing products with them directly, but bolstering these with products it buys in from a network of licensees that specialise in the heritage market. The catalogue is sent to consumers on its database and is available on request via the website. From time to time it is also inserted into selected magazines which is a way of it recruiting new customers.
The catalogue is curated by theme with feature pages for specific designs, collections or types of product. A good example of this is a range of Van Gogh products that includes travel bags, vases and mugs. Artwork featured includes Sunflowers and Irises. As noted earlier, sometimes Museum Selection works directly with museums or specifically feature them – for example The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York is included by way of a Van Gogh Glass Vase featuring Van Gogh’s Irises which is part of The Met’s collection.
Given its longevity in the market, Museum Selection has a very good eye for product and great insight into the customers’ buying habits. The latter point helps inform the product selection and mix.
The catalogue features a real mix of designs and artists including Klimt, Charles Rennie Mackintosh, Tiffany and William Morris. In many ways it is a one stop shopping destination for consumers looking for heritage related products. There are certain themes such as Gardening and Horticultural where Museum Selection dips into licensed ranges from brands like Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew and the Royal Horticultural Society. Tapping into licensed ranges like these gives Museum Selection access to a great range of products and new designs.
Museum Selection also supports other brands and themes like Jane Austen, with a product range ‘inspired’ by Jane Austen. The product range is quite mixed covering apparel, jewellery, jigsaw puzzles, handbags and bedding. It is also good to see the catalogue shining a light on lesser known museums in licensing terms such as the Tolie De Jouy Museum. Museum Selection is keen to have exclusive products and designs, plus is committed to regularly introducing new products. This helps sustain consumer interest and participation.
I have worked with Museum Selection and our client The Ashmolean Museum. It has been interesting and rewarding building a product range with it. There has been a real commitment to working with licensees and the museum to identify new design opportunities. This talks to one of the strengths of the heritage sector – the range and diversity of design material available to them. It has also been good to see Museum Selection supporting new licensees. For example it is featuring Gibson’s Ashmolean Crab Apple Liqueur which has just been launched. The product is produced in Oxfordshire, so is a local licensee for the Ashmolean and the bottle has a label featuring a detail from the Ashmolean held painting ‘Still Life of apple Blossom’ by Vereist. This product is a good example of how museums can pinpoint artwork to fit with specific products.
Other brands that Museum Selection supports include BBC Countryfile, The National Trust, English Heritage and The British Library.
It is encouraging to see specialist retailers like HMV and Museum Selection being so proactive in their approach to selling and also showing an ongoing commitment to licensing. Both retailers are focused in their approach to product selection, using their consumer insight to inform their product selections. Both retailers are good examples of how licensing can play an active part in a specialist retailer. Indeed, they are both good examples of retailers that I am sure that others monitor in regards to their approach to licensing.
Licensing seems to be a good choice for specialist retailers.
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.
