Start Licensing’s Ian Downes delivers his views from Top Drawer, the EAG Show and London Toy Fair this week and how licensing played its part at each of them.
Mince pies munched, crackers cracked and decorations down – Christmas is well and truly over. The New Year is here and a new round of trade shows are underway. I have already attended three and I know a lot of the licensing community will have been over in Germany for the Nuremberg Toy Fair this week.
There isn’t much time to pause and reflect in the New Year. That said, trade shows provide some early focus and momentum for the year ahead. This week’s Licensing Lookout is a whistlestop tour of the three trade shows I’ve attended – a ‘three from three’ set of observations from Top Drawer, the EAG Show and the UK Toy Fair.
Top Drawer has traditionally been a show that is ‘Licensing Lite’. But over the last few years I have noticed that more licensed products and licensing friendly suppliers have been on show. This was certainly the case this year. This would be my first observation from Top Drawer. Arguably this is because a number of gift companies that were traditionally anti-licensing are now more receptive to it because the retail footprint and complexion of licensing has changed. Likewise brand owners have become more efficient or aware of companies that attend Top Drawer and, in turn, the retail markets they serve.
A second observation from Top Drawer was the ever growing presence of heritage based brands in the licensing mix. Greeting cards company Art Press is a great example of a company that has found an effective way to work with heritage brands. It had two strong heritage ranges on its stand – one from the Royal Academy of Arts and the other from The Courtauld. Like other licensees, it has recognised that heritage brands are a good source of artwork coupled with credibility.
More and more heritage brands are looking to licensing as a way of driving revenue and consumer connections. This increased focus will naturally make the heritage sector more competitive.
A third and final observation from Top Drawer is that licensees are more and more retail savvy in regards to how they develop ranges, price them up and specifically display them at trade shows. A great example of this is licensee Paw Print Family. This was its first time at Top Drawer. I understand one of the reasons for being there was to meet more independent retailers and also retailers from the visitor attraction market. Paw Print Family is a licensee for pin badges and patches featuring brands like Shaun the Sheep, Wallace & Gromit and The Gruffalo. These products fit naturally into the gift market. What I thought was smart thinking by Paw Print Family was showing the products in retail friendly ways with the likes of counter top boxes and display units. It is making it easier for retailers to see how these products can fit into a shop and also that they can be displayed in an efficient way.
Retailers are seemingly more and more conscious that their retail space has to be used efficiently. A further bit of retail inspiration from Paw Print Family was displaying examples of how the patches can be used by consumers – for example to decorate a denim jacket. A related point is that I heard more than once from exhibitors and attendees that retail price points are more and more under scrutiny – specifically lower priced products are more in demand as consumer budgets are squeezed. Companies like Paw Print Family provide retailers with the opportunity to stock and sell good quality lower priced items that feature ‘in demand’ brands. A good combination at the moment.
On to the EAG Show. This show – the Entertainment, Attractions and Gaming Expo to give it the full title – is a showcase for companies that supply the leisure and attractions marketplace. This is a show I have attended for many years and, in contrast to Top Drawer, it has always been licensing friendly with licensed products featured throughout.
A first observation from the EAG Show was the ongoing connection and crossover with the ‘in home gaming’ sector – computer games in old speak. Not a surprise really when you consider that major players in this sector are SEGA, Nintendo and Bandai Namco. It was interesting to see how gaming franchises have jumped across into arcade gaming. A great example of this was a Halo arcade game that was on show. In this context developments like this give gaming companies the opportunity to extend their brands, characters and gameplay into ‘live’ settings. Brands like Halo resonate with consumers and are, of course, global. The latter point makes them more attractive from a development point of view. These are ‘products’ that come with high development costs. Having access to global markets allows the licensees involved a good opportunity to offset their costs. Likewise it was interesting to see sports brands like the NBA featuring on arcade games – in this case on a basketball ‘shoot the hoop’ challenge game.
A second and connected point is how gaming brands continue to perform well in categories like plush that are used as prizes in the amusement category. Many amusement and leisure games such as crane machines feature prizes as rewards. Often these feature licensed characters and brands. Gaming brands seem to be a category that are increasingly popular in the category – featured brands included Minecraft and Pac-Man. There was also a strong presence for Disney and its characters in the category, while SEGA naturally featured Sonic the Hedgehog.
A final observation from the EAG show was how new technology has inspired NPD in the category and how licensing is playing a part in this.
A great example of this is a ‘next generation’ photo booth presented as a Disney Photo Booth. A good combination of new technology and a global brand portfolio. The booth featured some nice design touches like the use of the iconic Mickey Mouse ears to signpost the booth. Products like this are often sited in very crowded and congested venues. The Mickey Mouse ears help the product stand out and I imagine site operators find this feature very appealing. A good example of how a licensed brand can literally stand out in a crowd, while also delivering a competitive edge in a crowded sector.
My third and final show was the UK Toy Fair at Olympia. Of course there has been a long-standing connection between the toy and licensing industries. Brands cross over between the two sectors readily.
My challenge here was limiting myself to three observations. In the spirit of the many board games on show at Toy Fair I took the challenge on and think I succeeded in meeting it!
My first Toy Fair observation was the fact that TV game shows seem to be driving more NPD in the marketplace. I think this is in part because rights owners are more open to licensing and are maybe better at preparing the ground for licensing. There is also undoubtedly a drive from retailers who have seen success coming sales wise from the TV game show genre.
A highlight in the category was The Traitors game which was a star attraction on the Vivid Goliath stand. Classic TV show Bullseye also attracted attention – darts is certainly enjoying a rich vein of popularity at the moment and Bully is well aware of this (he was on site promoting the Bullseye products at the show).
A star of the TV board game genre was Big Sky Games – it has curated a collection of TV tie in board games that include the likes of Lingo, Blankety Blank and Wheel of Fortune. I imagine retail buyers like the fact that there is a ‘one stop shopping’ opportunity in this category and that they can deal with a category expert. There are probably benefits in rights acquisitions, product development and marketing.
A second Toy Fair observation is the fact that more and more toy companies are seemingly embracing sustainability in regards to product development, sourcing and packaging. Companies like 8th Wonder were displaying their commitment to sustainability more proactively – in 8th Wonder’s case it outlined a number of the sustainability claims on the outside of the stand. It was good to see companies embracing sustainability more proactively. I’m sure this was a topic raised by retailers as well. Crafting company Build Your Own aka Paper Engine went a step further – the stand was constructed from cardboard which fits in well with the product ethos.
Finally, I think it is a good moment to acknowledge Rainbow Productions’ contribution to the marketing of licensing and licensed brands. Rainbow Productions operate officially licensed costume characters and events like Toy Fair are very busy ones. It manages the appearances of a number of characters at the show on behalf of brand owners and licensees. This includes a costume character parade. The costumes bring IP alive in a really effective way and in the context of a show like the Toy Fair create some great PR and photo opportunities. This works in the context of the show and the toy trade, but often beyond the core market into consumer PR. Rainbow Productions is a great example of a licensee that has become a category expert and events like Toy Fair show how good it is at its job. Licensing needs companies like Rainbow Productions to project licensing in a professional and positive way. An added bonus for me was that the costumes provided me with some fun ‘people watching’ photo opportunities. This helped break up three days at the Toy Fair – only between meetings of course!
Three trade shows to start the year – more to come – hopefully I will see a fair few of you at the NEC for Spring Fair next week which I hope will be another great showcase for licensing and licensed products. And good for the step count!
Ian Downes runs Start Licensing, an independent brand licensing agency. His X handle is @startlicensing and on Instagram he is @iandownesphotos – he would welcome your suggestions for what to look out for.
