Start Licensing’s Ian Downes’ week in 5 words: football, roses, colouring, Paw Patrol.
How do you know that the European Football Championships are getting near?
Two useful measurements are it is when Daniel Sturridge gets injured and when you start seeing more football-related product in store at retail. I think the retail anticipation for the Championships is definitely ramping up and it seems an early winner is Panini with their sticker collection. My sense is that they have been very successful in getting a wider pool of people into collecting this time round and seem to have aged collecting up with twentysomethings being part of the collector tribe this time round.
Sainsbury’s have made a big play in their apparel department around the Championships. They have launched a range of football leisurewear using the iconic Admiral brand and more recently they have launched a range of Official England team apparel – this includes replica team shirts that have a retro feel and accessories such as hats. The range is being sold in dedicated FSDUs in the front of store – I am guessing to make sure it is seen by the maximum amount of eyeballs as they enter the store. This range is targeting adults, but Sainsbury’s are also offering a range for children which is designed in a style more reminiscent of a character licensed range using the Lion mascot.
I am assuming that retailers in Wales and Ireland have developed ranges that reflect their local teams – football at national level obviously works on the basis that people support their local team and in that regard it is a good opportunity to develop a tailored product range. The challenge for all retailers is how much product to buy, when to launch it and how long to keep it on sale.
I imagine these days retailers have buying and top up buying strategies linked to the success of the participating teams. They need to react quickly whatever the circumstances – early departure from the tournament can see sales slump but conversely ongoing success can lead to a sales upswing. Sainsbury’s have also sensibly added a neutral football offering to their ranges with a couple of t-shirts based on the iconic football brand Subbuteo. These designs use the iconic brand identity well and offer consumers an alternative to ‘national’ colours.
The importance of building retail partnerships was emphasised to me by the eye catching Paw Patrol windows in The Entertainer that I spotted this week in their Wimbledon store. Paw Patrol seems to have become well established at retail and is a growing success story.
My feeling is that this is due to a number of factors. First the series itself has been well received in terms of characters, storys and settings; the involvement of Keith Chapman is a big plus, as is having a toy company such as Spin Master who have developed a strong toy line. However, another vital ingredient is the focused work Nickelodeon seems to have put into retail.
From the outside they seem to have managed to work effectively with a range of retailers and offer them all an individual piece of the pie. This is important as all partners have to get value from a retail partnership. The Entertainer is a retailer that seems to have embraced licensing in a proactive way recognising it’s potential to them and hopefully The Entertainer takes a long-term ‘mutual benefit’ strategy in regards to licensing. It shouldn’t be a one way conversation. The window displays given over to Paw Patrol are a really positive endorsement of the property, but also of licensing in general.
I am guessing that Toymaster’s recent call to action announcing their attendance at Licensing Expo is in part due to what they have seen in stores like The Entertainer: licensed properties can provide a great boost to retailers bringing in customers and providing some marketing muscle. It is important retailers don’t abuse this by looking at short-term gain in marketing terms and that they take a more considered long-term view. A challenge for licensing companies and licensors will be maintaining good relations with all retailers and offering them all something different.
I read at the weekend that there is a distinct possibility that the Inland Revenue may look to levy VAT on Adult Colouring Books. It seems up to this point all Colouring Books have been zero rated on the basis that they are children’s books, but it seems the Revenue have identified some of the books in the market at the moment are targeting adults.
It is quite amusing to think that an Inland Revenue inspector may have had a lightning bolt moment when colouring in Harry Potter one weekend.
I am hoping that the publishing industry will be able to resist this not least as the success of Colouring Books has been a great boost to the publishing industry and is also a ‘feel good’ activity for children. Ryman seem to be fully behind the trend with a dedicated window display promoting colouring – within this display licensed titles featuring the Moomins and Harry Potter were included.
Colouring books for adults are a great opportunity for licensing and in a way a ‘new’ category which always welcomed by licensing sales teams. It is good to see retailers like Ryman engaging with licensing in this way. Hopefully it will be a trend that will continue with licensing playing a part in it.
On the subject of arts, crafts and colouring it was interesting to see in Sainsbury’s that they have a dedicated section in the aisles for Children’s Craft – a clear sign that crafting is now a well established product category in mainstream retail.
Within this section Blueprint Collections had secured some great space for a broad range of Gruffalo Arts and Craft products. The range was well presented and encompassed some innovative product alongside more standard lines. It is good to see a licensed range gaining so much space and also that a licensee has been able to develop such an all encompassing range tapping into a trend.
I think it is important that licensees can show that they are category experts and add to the licensing process by promoting growth into new and related areas. They need to be aware of developing trends, new types of product and consumer interest. Adult Colouring Books and Kids Crafting are two good examples of categories that have developed rapidly over recent years – it is good to see licensing being part of this.
Finally, I had a day out at the Chelsea Flower Show this week. I turned the licensing radar off for most of the day, but it was hard not to spot the Roald Dahl Giant Peach on the David Austin stand that in turn was promoting the launch of the official Roald Dahl rose. The rose had a lovely colour and a great fragrance – I am not sure of the economics of the deal – there is a charity link to it, but it was certainly one of the most elegant licensed products I have seen recently.
Ian Downes runs Start Licensing, an independent brand licensing agency. His Twitter handle is @startlicensing – he would welcome your suggestions for what to look out for.
