We take a closer look at the 11 big winners in the hotly contested category.
The winners of the 11 product categories at The Licensing Awards covered a variety of big names – from LEGO, through to Barbie 60th anniversary dress-up and Friends homewares.
The first award in the category was Best Licensed Toys or Games Range (sponsored by The Walt Disney Company). Harry Potter Wizarding World from LEGO was victorious, with the award collected by Stephen Wanigesekara, senior manager at LEGO.
Stephen commented: “This is brilliant. It’s an honour to work on such a great brand.”
Best Licensed Paper Products or Stationery Range (sponsored by Boat Rocker Studios) was won by the Disney Faces Collection from UK Greetings.
UK Greetings’ creative director, Ben Whittington, said: “It’s going to be great to take this back to the studio for the whole team.”
The Snowman Confectionery Collection from Rose Confectionery picked up Best Licensed Food or Drink Range (sponsored by Rainbow Productions). “This is fantastic,” said Carl Richardson from Rose Marketing. “We’ve been a bridesmaid many times, but now we’re the bride!”
Moving on, Best Licensed Dress-up or Partyware Range (sponsored by Beano Studios) was won by Smiffys for its Barbie 60th Anniversary Set.
“We are thrilled to have won this year’s award,” said Dominique Peckett, director of Smiffys. “It’s been a great collaboration with Mattel and they have been fantastic to work with. It was great to work on something a little bit different to what’s already on the market. A big shout out to Barbie and Mattel!”
Tania Bines, sales and merchandise director for Paul Dennicci, was “over the moon” to win Best Licensed Preschool Apparel Range (0-5) (sponsored by Nickelodeon) with its Peter Rabbit Collection for M&Co.
Tania said: “It’s all thanks to our amazing design team, who are incredibly creative and really excelled themselves with this collection. It’s an absolute honour to win again this year.”
After scooping an award in the Retail category, Clarks found itself back on the stage to collect Best Licensed Children’s Apparel Range (sponsored by Hasbro) for its National Geographic Footwear Collection.
“It’s fantastic to do the double,” said Gemma Green, marketing manager for kids at Clarks. “There was such great competition in the category so I’m really happy to win.”
Moving on to Best Licensed Adult Apparel Range (sponsored by Dependable Solutions) and the Hello Kitty Collection from ASOS and Sanrio was victorious.
Martina Longueira, senior marketing manager at Sanrio, told Source: “We’re so happy that the collection resonated with consumers.”
Signature Gifts bounded onto the stage to collect Best Licensed Written, Listening or Learning Range (sponsored by TLP) for its Toy Story Personalised Collection.
Tim Porter, creative director at Signature Gifts, said: “It was such a competitive field; it was amazing to be nominated and we are over the moon to win.”
The team from Difuzed were overjoyed to collect Best Licensed Giftware Range (sponsored by Penguin Ventures) for its Mary Poppins Accessories. Gilbert El Kalaani, ceo of Difuzed, said: “I am so proud of what the team has created and there is more to come.”
The penultimate award in the Product category was Best Licensed Home Décor, Tableware or Housewares Range (sponsored by Spring Fair and Autumn Fair) which was awarded to Pyramid International for its Friends homewares.
“Friends has been phenomenal for us; it is a true evergreen and we are overjoyed to win,” said Mordy Benaiah, licensing director at Pyramid International.
The final award in this category was The Innovation Award (sponsored by Cartoon Network). The Harry Potter Invisibility Cloak from Wow Stuff certainly didn’t do a disappearing act, with ceo Richard North and his team taking to the stage.
“I am beyond pleased,” enthused Richard. “It’s an impressive process behind the scenes of these awards and, knowing that, this means more than probably any other award we’ve won.”
You can view all the Product category winners in the gallery below:
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