We delve into the licensing life of Pyramid International’s licensing director.
Mordy Benaiah,
Licensing Director, Pyramid International and The Art Group
My route into the licensing industry went something like this…
I started off in licensing back in 1992 when running as M.D Starline Inc which was one of the largest US poster companies. In those days it was all about American sports in Europe post the NBA craze after the Barcelona Olympics and Michael Jordan and the Dream Team’s success. NFL had a huge following in Germany and the UK and NHL across Scandinavia and Eastern Europe. MLB and the New York Yankees were highly fashionable and suddenly companies like JD Sports were opening their doors and selling a lot of this merchandise.
From American sport we moved on and started developing licensing deals with the Premier League teams. The highlight was working with Manchester United and we had rights with them when they won the historic Treble creating a massive retail programme. After nearly 9 years at Starline we sold the European business to Scandecor Development and I worked on their licensing council. They at the time had offices and companies in all parts of Europe. That is when I really started getting stuck into entertainment licensing.
Pyramid then came along and I joined up with Ally Mayer in 2002 and understood that they were an emerging company set on developing licensing and moving into new product areas. It has been an incredible journey.
How many years in the industry?
Since 1992.
When I was growing up, I had no idea licensing was an industry so I wanted to be…
When I started off on the path to work I had no time for university; I just wanted to get out there and learn and develop myself. I started out at 17 working in electrical wholesaling. I was given the chance to develop in a large private company. It all started working in a 100,000 sq ft warehouse where I was taught to pick, pack and drive fork lifts. From there I was thrown into my first sales role working on one of their trade counters dealing face to face with electricians and kitting them out with gear.
That proved a success and the management felt that I had a knack for sales so they threw me in at the deep end into telesales. From learning how to sell and deal with clients on the phone I got moved to national accounts. I got to sell to the likes of John Lewis, Argos and Robert Dyas where at one point I was managing over £5m of business a year. So I had no idea at this point what licensing was. It found me a lot later on…
The deal I am most proud of is…
The deal(s) I am most proud of are the London 2012 Olympics. This is one of the deals that had some real prestige to it and made Pyramid a lot of money in 2012. Working with LOCOG was a challenge, but also exciting. Attending the opening ceremony with Lord Coe was truly memorable. Other landmark deals for me personally was the Michael Jackson one which when he passed away became key and sold an incredible volume of posters worldwide.
My most interesting experience in licensing has been…
Working in licensing has been a fantastic journey filled with great people and it sometimes feels like a bit of a family. Getting the chance to work on so many key properties is an amazing experience and truly enjoying and makes going to work painless.
The best piece of advice I’ve ever received is…
I haven’t really had a mentor in licensing and self developed. I am always open to taking advice though can’t say that I have so far in all these years…
If I wasn’t in licensing, I would be…
Most likely a sales director somewhere in industry.
Who do you admire most in the industry (and why)?
A few names come to mind. Barry Drinkwater, because what he has achieved in the music industry is exceptional. Trevor Jones, even though he is a competitor is a top person who always has time to speak to you and share values.
In a film of your life, which licensed character would play you?
Well, technically I do have a licensed character with my name from The Regular Show (Mordecai) so I guess he could play me in a film of my life (and would be a bit crazy though like me).
If I could change anything about the industry, it would be…
Less forecasting (it saps the life out of you) and I live for the day where we don’t have to submit royalty reports on 100 different formats. For a company like Pyramid who work with 200 plus licensors it is a lot of work.
