We delve into the licensing life of Bulldog Licensing’s group managing director.
Rob Corney
Group managing director, Bulldog Licensing
My route into the licensing industry went something like this…
I joined Carlton Television (part of the ITV Group) on their Graduate Management Training Scheme in 2000. It was designed to place recent grads in three month stints around each major part of the company and I spent three months working on brands like Thunderbirds in Carlton International.
At the end of the grad scheme, the company tried to place me in international TV sales but I was determined to work in licensing – during my time on the scheme, ratings for flagship shows on the broadcaster had fallen massively as a result of the advent of multi-channel TV. I saw that primary media sales was likely to be a rapidly declining market and not a healthy one in which to start a new career.
Conversely, if the primary revenue stream for major media companies was going to become increasingly challenged, more resources would be placed in the increasingly-important area of secondary rights. Not only could secondary rights become more of an integral feature of these large corporations, but its role as self-liquidating (hopefully profit-generating) marketing would be increasingly recognised and the industry was ready for a huge change.
For me, it was a great call – my team at Carlton took Thunderbirds to a number one toy and grew the department massively, giving me experience of top brands from the outset and setting me up for future roles managing the rights to global properties such as TMNT, Pokemon, Gogo’s Crazy Bones and Shopkins.
How many years in the industry?
16.
When I was growing up, I had no idea licensing was an industry so I wanted to be…
When I was very young I always wanted to be a doctor but discovered an unfortunate propensity for the arts side. Going into GCSEs, I applied to the Fleet Air Arm for a scholarship through university but apparently they prefer it when their pilots can see and aren’t 6’ 4!
I spent a lot of time working with a number of newspapers and a local radio station in order to set myself up with a career in journalism as I went into my A-levels and was writing both journalistically and fiction so was determined to head down this path, writing a number of plays as well as both verse and prose pieces.
Ultimately, it was a toss up between continuing with a masters/PHD to lecture in English Lit or look to establish a writing career either as a journalist or creative writer. Choosing the Grad Scheme at ITV as an opportunity to gain exposure into the creative writing world, I quickly moved into the commercial world which really grabbed my interest and set the scene for my future career.
The deal I am most proud of is…
An agreement with the Mail on Sunday to covermount a DVD of The Ipcress File and Brief Encounter. Although it has become common-place to covermount DVDs now, it had never been done before and caused a huge stir at ITV who were unsure about a deal in which they figured we were giving away assets that could be sold.
My most interesting experience in licensing has been…
There have been a few over the years… a romantic stroll through Central Park with Stephen Gould on Valentine’s Day; surviving (just) a trip to the hurling final in Dublin with Darran Garnham and Brian O’Toole; a midnight tour of LA with Anissa and Greg Fiore; swimming round Malta.
However, almost certainly Simon Philips asking me to move the 56” flatscreen TV to the board room at 4kids stands out. Simon’s confusion was understandable. I didn’t knowingly eschew the more traditional suit and tie in those days but apparently achieved the louche handyman look regardless, so it was understandable I would be available to singlehandedly move a piece of equipment that cast a shadow larger than the Shard.
But even my more considerable frame in those days was struggling under the weight, when in walked Billy Zane (we were working with him and his then girlfriend Kelly Brook at the time). Lovely man that he is, Billy came straight up and grabbed one end of the TV to help me carry it into the board room. As if carrying a TV with a Hollywood celeb was not surreal enough, when the electrical cable wrapped itself round my leg, meaning we couldn’t put the TV down on its stand, Billy called in Kelly to help unwrap it from me… let’s just say, one of us remembers the moment fondly!
The best piece of advice I’ve ever received is…
Treat yourself as if you are one of the brands you represent. You’d never knowingly do anything that would undermine the integrity of a brand under your stewardship and should treat every dealing you have in a way that respects all of the stakeholders.
If I wasn’t in licensing, I would be…
A professional celebrity lookalike.
Who do you admire most in the industry (and why)?
Every licensor who has taken a risk in appointing any agency that has passion, creativity and focus in place of scale; every retailer who recognises potential, opportunity and excellence in place of track record; and every licensee who invests in growth, diversity and fresh delivery as a counterpoint to staid security.
In a film of your life, which licensed character would play you?
If I was casting it, I’d have to go for Han Solo or Lion-o, but I’d probably get stitched up with Donald Trump… he is a licensed character, right? Right? I mean he’s not for real…
If I could change anything about the industry, it would be…
The opportunity for all brands to play on a level field. The industry has a great track record of allowing great creativity to flourish and, quite often, major brands come from smaller players in the industry.
This has certainly treated Bulldog very well over the years and we’ve been able to deliver properties with huge market presence. But all too often, smaller players find it difficult to achieve any market penetration due to the overwhelming dominance of the big player(s) in the business.
There are few industries in which such so few companies can dominate such a significant share of the next generation’s developmental experiences.
