Being a B&LLA: “It’s a great morale booster”

With excitement building for next Thursday’s B&LLAs (27 April), LicensingSource.net caught up with Fabrice Faurie, senior vice president of licensing at IMG.

We asked him what Goodyear by IMG’s 2020 win for Best Licensed Lifestyle Brand meant to the team, and how Goodyear’s licensing programme has developed in the three years since then.

How did it feel to win a B&LLA in 2020? Do awards like this have any impact on business?

Being awarded the B&LLA for Best Licensed Lifestyle Brand made us extremely proud – it was a great achievement. Winning certainly does have an impact in the industry; it helps attract and secure potential new licensees, and has a big impact internally. It’s a great morale booster for all stakeholders, licensees and the licensor who all work hard to make the Goodyear licensing programme what it is.

What have you been up to in the three years since the win? Have you entered any new territories or categories?

The Goodyear licensing programme has expanded significantly during the last two years, obtaining double digit growth each year; it even remained consistent during 2020. The programme is stronger than ever and the brand remains relevant today, 125 years after its creation.

The brand has been successfully extended into multiple categories, always with mobility and the brand DNA in mind, including car accessories, power tools, hardware, lifestyle apparel, watches, footwear, bags, luggage, e-scooters, pet accessories, memorabilia and toys. We are also pushing for more innovative, sustainable and technical products such as auto parts, as well as home and gardening products like air purifiers and lawn mowers. Once we have a category developed in one country, we then roll out this same category in other markets.

We already have global reach, but are growing our presence in new markets like the Middle East, Turkey and India. Goodyear has secured strong distribution channels for licensed products within the last three years; technical licensed products are found at the largest retailers around the world such as Walmart, Costco, Home Depot and AutoZone in North America; Carrefour, Tesco, Auchan and Decathlon in Europe; and Walmart, Ace Hardware, Taobao, JD.com and Tmall in Asia. The brand also obtained distribution channels with fashion retailers such as GAP, Urban Outfitters, Lucky Brand and American Eagle in North America. It is also selling apparel in ASOS and Next across Europe, Sears in Mexico, Dafiti in Brazil and Falabella in Colombia.

Do you think the licensing industry has changed over the past few years? Have you spotted any trends, or any sectors ripe for growth?

A clear trend in the industry is the acceleration of digital transformation. The past few years showed online sales continue to increase in comparison to physical store sales, demonstrating how important it is to be visible online. For us, increasing the brand’s touchpoints via a digital network has proved successful in enhancing Goodyear’s market share. The growth of www.goodyearstores.eu, www.goodyearfootwear.com and www.goodyearlifestyle.com, Goodyear’s presence on other ecommerce platforms such as Amazon, JD, Tmall, Dafiti and Mercado Libre, and Goodyear Lifestyle’s Instagram (www.instagram.com/goodyearlifestyle/) are all significant in promoting the licensed products. This assists in further growing the brand, boosting engagement, driving website traffic and sales, and building a brand community.

An interesting sector for our brand is technical products such as auto parts and car accessories. Technical items are a great fit with Goodyear, as it’s a trusted brand. Therefore, we make sure the brand’s DNA and values are present in each licensed category and have expanded into lubricants, brake components, filters, spark plugs and auto batteries.

Are you able to share details of your plans for 2023?

We project double-digit growth for Goodyear’s consumer products licensing programme in 2023, with a number of exciting projects planned. We are focusing on creating new innovative mobility products, like our new smart signalling light to attach to helmets of two-wheel vehicles to enhance safety.

We have some new partners joining our programme, including a new wiper blades licensee in the USA to re-launch this category. Other exciting deals include strengthening our presence in certain geographical territories such as India and the Middle East within the auto parts and fashion categories. We recently launched a high-end capsule apparel collection with HUF, the famous LA-based skateboard brand, which features Goodyear’s seminal Blimp and Wingfoot motifs.

Goodyear has been in the footwear business since 1906 and we are going to be focusing on expanding this category with new footwear licensees in Japan and France, and a re-launch of this category in the Latin American region, particularly in Mexico, Colombia and Paraguay.

We will also be launching a new racing-inspired footwear collaboration in the US at the end of the year with outsole designs based on actual Goodyear tyres. This is a category closely linked to the brand, as not only do shoes and tyres share a common need for grip, traction, performance and durability, but the category also embodies exploration and adventure – which are synonymous with Goodyear.

Additionally, we plan on increasing efforts towards more sustainable products. Some of our initiatives include more eco-friendly and environmentally conscious packaging using FSC-certified materials. We also have a line of 100% RPET fashion bags, and a range of products for e-scooters and electric vehicle charging stations and chargers. In the US, we also implemented a remanufacturing process in our Goodyear brakes, which uses 85% fewer raw materials than manufacturing new OEM parts, reducing water and energy consumption. Goodyear offers rebates to consumers for sending in worn-out Goodyear brakes, keeping used parts out of landfills.

And finally, we are working on our new toy category for Europe and North America, with Goodyear pit-stops for kids to learn how to replace tyres. We also are further enhancing the digitalisation of our programme in general.