The creeping influence of video game brands on the floor of the New York Toy Fair hints at the emergence of a new powerhouse player in licensing. What's more, the branded toys and games emerging from this space have broad appeal to both children and adults. Retail sales of licensed merchandise based on video game/interactive/online-based properties amounted to $61 million in … [Read more...] about The Rise of Video Games
Trade Shows
Spotlight: Kids’ Tech Toys
We had the chance to attend the Kids’ & Family Tech Expo in New York, where attendees showed off the latest in tech innovations to hit the toy shelves. The name of the game is STREAM, and to be more specific, programming and engineering. But while many toys were meant for a younger set, the price point was relatively high—targeting the pure-play offerings topping … [Read more...] about Spotlight: Kids’ Tech Toys
Spotlight: K-Food in America
By Karina Masolova, karina@plainlanguagemedia.com While Korean food (K-food) is just a small part of the speciality foods industry, it's the touchpoint for many questions about branding, such as: What does it take to market an entire industry? A country? American retail sales of specialty foods reached $99 billion in 2016, and make up 15% of all retail food sales, according … [Read more...] about Spotlight: K-Food in America
What’s So Special About Food?
By Karina Masolova The Summer Fancy Food Show at New York City's Jacob Javits welcomed 2,600 exhibitors from around the world last month. While Turkey was the partner country this year, the floor welcomed exhibitors ranging from classic importers like Italy, France, and Greece to Asian countries like Japan, Korea, and India to smaller countries like Costa Rica and Latvia … [Read more...] about What’s So Special About Food?
A Budding Business
The 4th Annual Cannabis World Congress & Business Exposition in NY took place last week, and the buzz is substantially dimmer. Compared to last year, the crowd was more sophisticated, knowledgeable, and connected. But as the cannabis industry becomes more settled, it's also becoming clear that (consumer products) licensing is not going to be a significant player anytime … [Read more...] about A Budding Business
Who’s News
Sony Pictures Entertainment’s consumer products division is establishing a Shanghai-based licensing office with Sabrina Gu leading direct deals in the territory as Director Consumer Products China. Gu continues to dual-report to Joseph Liao, CMO Beijing, and Jamie Stevens, EVP Worldwide Consumer Products. Disney Chairman & CEO Robert Iger resigns from the White House … [Read more...] about Who’s News
Licensing Expo: Focus, Digital & More
To TLL's North American readers, welcome back from your long holiday weekend. This last week we saw 5,000 brands at the 2017 Licensing Expo in Las Vegas. Perhaps because of the date shift—the show landed a month earlier this year—there was noticeably less foot traffic on the floor for all three days. Every year, I get asked, "What were the top brands?" The answer this year the … [Read more...] about Licensing Expo: Focus, Digital & More
New Shows, Owners and Opportunities
TLL will be at Licensing Expo in Vegas at booth #G-65! Schedule an appointment by emailing us—our booth, or yours? Be sure to stop by and save on these to-be-released reports: 2017 Licensing Data Book 2017 Royalty Report 2017 Licensing Data Bank 2017 Licensing Letter Sourcebook Licensing Letter Sourcebook Online You'll also have the chance to enter our drawing and win a … [Read more...] about New Shows, Owners and Opportunities
Toy Fair 2017: Shrink Rays, Traditional Play & Robotics
To all those who attended North American Intl. Toy Fair in New York—hope you had a great show! This year was bigger than ever, with expanded floor space for new exhibitors and packed crowds during the weekend. The Toy Industry Association (TIA) reported that 1,126 total exhibitors from 31 countries were in attendance this year, with 103 new faces. This last year ended with a … [Read more...] about Toy Fair 2017: Shrink Rays, Traditional Play & Robotics
CES Highlights
Some of the most interesting innovations to come out of CES 2017 embrace this year's top each trends—including voice-activated AI assistants (Amazon's Alexa takes the lead based on the number of products using the tech), self-driving cars, even bigger and thinner display screens (including TVs whose width is just under 4 mm and curved screens on laptops), and robots. Mattel … [Read more...] about CES Highlights