Ella Haynes, event director, and Lily Drennan, event manager, take us behind the scenes of the build up to September’s Brand Licensing Europe.
With just under two months to go, the countdown is very much on for BLE 2024.
206 exhibitors are now confirmed, the Licensee Pavilion is sold out and our Service Provider Pavilion is quickly filling up. Our content programme is shaping up nicely – we’ve already announced our first two keynotes (Xbox’s John Friend and Sara Davies MBE), and we’ll have tonnes more sessions to announce before the end of the month including some brilliant European content.
There’s loads happening in the Brands & Lifestyle Zone this year, including four new product showcases, Products of Change and Women in Toys. And don’t miss our birthday party at the end of day one (24 September) in partnership with Licensing International, and the trade body is also hosting French networking drinks on day two.
Apart from being onsite, it’s this period Lily and I love the most. We call it our creativity phase – it’s when we scrutinise every single element of the show from a customer experience viewpoint: from the minute our visitors step off the train at Custom House and stroll along the walkway to ExCeL, to the hours they spend in the show, we want everyone who comes to this year’s show to enjoy an explosion of brand experiences at a level never before seen.
We’re finding our ethos of immersing visitors in experiences is being driven as much by the brands as by us this year. Exhibitors are using their presence much more creatively – whether it’s on screens in the boulevard, on stands on the floor or through content sessions in the theatre – and they are going all out to really elevate their interaction with attendees and wow them.
At this point, our big question is how do we want each area of the show to touch people – what emotions do we want them to feel when they are in it, and when they leave? Do we want them to feel loved, happy, excited, inspired, calm? In the theatre, for example, we want to create an enclosed, atmospheric space that directs everyone’s focus to what’s happening on the stage. The cafés and bars are a completely different story – we want them to be bright, fun spaces where people feel energised, excited and welcomed into our licensing community. This is where we’ll be hosting our 25th birthday party, so of course we want it to be buzzing!
And we achieve all this by getting the details right. This can be as simple as what sofa and carpet colours we choose, to the floristry on display, the music that’s being played, where signage is located and in what language, the lighting, the white space and so on – nothing at BLE happens by accident, the whole event is curated to provide a meticulous customer experience.
And nothing at BLE happens without the events team getting stuck in, either – from designing features and product displays, to building a forest of phone-charging trees, chill out spaces out of many, many bales of hay, hang hammocks in the Wellness Lounge, and, of course, transforming what feels like a mountain of Ikea flat packs over the years.
Of course, there are times when we – and our exhibitors – would love to go even further when it comes to creativity, but naturally venue healthy and safety restrictions sometimes prevent that from happening and we have to reign ourselves in!
Visitors will notice a few new touches this year in addition to the brand experiences mentioned before – for example, we’re changing the route of the character parade to make sure everyone gets optimal selfie opportunities and there will be a special birthday guest joining in, too. Let us know if you can spot them.
Brand Licensing Europe takes place 24-26 September 2024 at ExCeL, London and visitor registration is now open.
