“Absolutely delighted”, “tremendous”, “incredibly proud”, “honoured”, “thrilled” just some of the feedback from the over the moon winners of The Licensing Awards 2024.
The winners of The Licensing Awards 2024 are floating towards the weekend on the back of their victories on Tuesday (10 September) – with many sharing their initial joy at winning with LicensingSource.net.
Gary Williamson, director of pop culture, UK & Europe at HMV – which picked up Best Retailer of Adult Licensed Products – commented: “I cannot begin to say how pleased and amazed we are with winning this award this year. We put a lot of time, energy and dedication into what we do, so we are very happy this is being recognised by the industry we all love. An amazing night and an amazing award – I could not be any happier.”
Staying with retail, and Primark picked up the accolade for Best Retailer of Kids’ Licensed Products. “We’re absolutely delighted to have been named Best Retailer of Kids Licensed Products. This award reflects the passion and dedication of our amazing teams, who continue to innovate our product ranges to surprise and delight our customers,” Sarah Jackson, director of licensing, told LicensingSource.net.
“We’re also thrilled to be recognised for our Barbie The Movie collection – a great reminder of last year’s ‘pink summer’. We’re excited to keep building on this momentum and want to thank our fantastic licence partners for all of their support.”
The winner of The Radar Award was cardfactory, with chief commercial officer, Adam Dury, commenting: “To receive our first ever licensing award means a tremendous amount to all of the cardfactory team. We are all very proud of our licensed ranges and love being part of such a fabulous industry whereby we can develop such amazing products.”
Emma Weber, senior director, marketing and licensing (UK) at Vivid Goliath, took to the stage to collect Best Licensed Toys or Games Range for The Traitors: The Board Game. She commented: “We were absolutely delighted that the Traitors Board Game was awarded best in class across the toys and games category and wanted to thank the judges, our retail partners and All3 for being ‘faithful’ and supporting the game.
“It’s been a fantastic journey seeing stellar ratings of this groundbreaking TV format translate into the game becoming a top seller success story – and with series three around the corner, we are heading into an even stronger second Christmas season.”
Mattel was a big winner on the night – picking up four of the prestigious awards. Ruth Henriquez, head of licensing, publishing and LBE, Mattel EMEA, said: “We’re honoured to have been recognised at The Licensing Awards with four incredible wins. This recognition means a great deal to Mattel and to all the teams that have worked so hard to bring to life our brands in exciting new ways. Winning awards like Best Licensed Retail Marketing Initiative and Best Licensed Adult Apparel or Accessories Range highlights the innovation and creativity that our teams and partners have put into building collaborations that resonate globally.”
Best Licensed Paper Products or Stationery Range was awarded to the Crayola Kraft Range from Hunter Price International. Ben Cornwall, sales director for stationery and creative play at Hunter Price International, said: “This award truly means more than anyone will ever know to the whole business! We are incredibly proud to receive this award, for our debut collection to be recognised by the most respected leaders in our industry is the biggest reward you can get.
“We are grateful to build something really special with Crayola, and we’re only just getting started with our long-term partnership together. Huge thanks to The Licensing Awards and all the support we’ve had – an honour recognising the hard work and creativity from our entire team.”
Rob Spindley, Crayola licensing director, EMEA, added: “This award further recognises the outstanding partnership we’ve developed with Hunter Price and our joint reputation as leaders to deliver exceptional quality and style to delight our consumers.”
The team at Blues Group was celebrating having picked up Best Licensed Preschool Apparel or Accessories Range for its Peppa Pig x Natural History Museum Collection for F&F at Tesco.
Allie Wilson, sales director at Blue Group, commented: “We are thrilled to receive the award and it is a true honour to be recognised by the licensing industry. It was a brilliant collaboration to work on with some of the best in class teams. We at Blues Group have worked really hard to elevate and delight our customers with our design service and amazing portfolio of IPs. It’s great to see the hard work pay off with our retailers and with that, the business grow in line with this demand. With more property signings and new product categories, the next 12 months looks very exciting.”
Richard North, president at WOW! Stuff, made note of the stringent judging process that all of the finalists go through, having picked up The Innovation Award for its Real FX Disney Stitch Puppet.
He commented: “I was once invited to be one of over 30 judges at The Licensing Awards. It was the most thorough process. I was left with nothing but respect. So over the years when Wow! Stuff has won awards, it’s the Licensing Awards that have been the most precious. I know what the judges went through to arrive at their decisions, so every winner is deserved and that’s when I’m most proud of our team.”
Rikesh Desai, consumer products EMEA at Netflix, said that its award for Best Licensed Live Event for Stranger Things: The First Shadow Theatrical Production, reflected the dedication of the entire team.
“We are incredibly proud and honoured to be recognised by the industry,” he said. “This achievement reflects the hard work, creativity and dedication of our entire team. We extend our heartfelt thanks to everyone who supported us and made this event a true success.”
The winners in the Property categories were just as effusive. Caroline Mickler collected the award for Best Music or Celebrity Licensed Property for The Beatles, commenting: “We were absolutely thrilled that The Beatles won for Best Music or Celebrity Licensed Property. It’s wonderful for us, together with Apple Corps and our fantastic licensees to be recognised by our peers and we are very grateful to all those who voted.”
Meanwhile, Silvia Figini, coo, Sanrio – EMEA, India and Oceania, Mr Men – Worldwide, said that winning Best Classic Property with Hello Kitty made 2024 “even more special”.
She commented: “This prize comes as an additional gift to the celebration of Hello Kitty’s 50th anniversary. We couldn’t be happier and prouder of this achievement and of everyone who has supported us over these five thrilling decades – from our partners and licensees to Sanrio’s staff around the world.”
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