By Karina Masolova Last week, licensing agency Beanstalk officially announced the appointment of Allison Ames as its CEO, expanding her current responsibilities as President. She succeeds Michael Stone, who will actively serve as Chairman, advising and promoting the company. Ames spoke with TLL to discuss Beanstalk's plans for the future and the latest trends hitting the … [Read more...] about The New Face of Beanstalk
Articles
The State of Estates
By Karina Masolova They may be dead, but they're not gone. Estate licensing, for deceased celebrities who would fall under the celebrities category in life, made up 2.3% of all licensing revenue in 2014. After gaining 1.3% in 2013, estate-based sales fell 1.0% in 2014 to $2.25 billion. Retail success in was largely limited to a couple of dominant properties, notably Marilyn … [Read more...] about The State of Estates
Visions of the Future from Stream Con
By Karina Masolova This Halloween weekend, New York saw its first digital content and creator convention, Stream Con NYC. The East Coast alternative to VidCon welcomed thousands of digital content fans, creators and professionals as they negotiated the future of branding and content consumption—and, of course, the implications for licensing. Celebrities from social media, and … [Read more...] about Visions of the Future from Stream Con
Licensee Accusation: Asics Deliberately Tried to Drive Us Out of Business
By Glenn S. Demby, Esq. What Happened: Asics gave Windsor Financial Group, LLC, financing and exclusive rights to open and operate 13 Asics stores, including flagships in Boston and New York. The deal was supposed to run for 20 years but a couple of years in, Asics terminated the agreement. As a result, Windsor had to close the stores and eat the millions of dollars it had … [Read more...] about Licensee Accusation: Asics Deliberately Tried to Drive Us Out of Business
Licensed Sales Fuel Explosive Growth at Sequential Brands
By Glenn S. Demby, Esq. Sequential Brands had showed third quarter (Q3) sales for the ages, more than doubling year-over-year revenues from $10 million to $23 million. Because Sequential's business model centers on acquiring and then licensing out brands, almost all of this money is royalty income. Here's a performance breakdown based on CEO Yehuda Shmidman's conference call … [Read more...] about Licensed Sales Fuel Explosive Growth at Sequential Brands
Who’s News
Viacom International Media Networks’ VP Intl. Brand Management Charlotte Castillo has been promoted to SVP Brand Management & Creative for Nickelodeon and Viacom Consumer Products (NVCP). Seth Marks, former SVP Merchandising & Strategic Sourcing for Overstock.com, has joined Kmart as Head Strategic Merchandising. Jarrod Weber has been promoted to EVP Fashion at … [Read more...] about Who’s News
Mattel, Hasbro see Q3 Retail Sales Split Along Gender Lines
By Karina Masolova Reported third quarter (3Q) sales from toy giants Hasbro and Mattel exhibited an interesting break along gender lines, with boys' toys outperforming girls' amidst depressed worldwide sales thanks to unfavorable exchange rates. More gender balance may be on the way, however, with the girls' market expected to get a boost from the first interactive Barbie doll … [Read more...] about Mattel, Hasbro see Q3 Retail Sales Split Along Gender Lines
Star Wars Demonstrates Power of Franchises for Licensing, Theaters
By Marcy Magiera As this story was being written and The Licensing Letter’s semi-annual chart of movies with licensing potential compiled, Star Wars: The Force Awakens was breaking advance ticket sales records two months ahead of its Dec. 18 opening. Online ticketing sites Fandango and MovieTickets.com reportedly crashed for some users under the heavy traffic when tickets went … [Read more...] about Star Wars Demonstrates Power of Franchises for Licensing, Theaters
WestJet Plane Takes “Frozen” to New Heights
Last week, WestJet rolled out a very special airplane, a Boeing 737 featuring images from "Frozen" on the fuselage, overhead bins, headrests and even bathroom mirrors. The Canadian airline actually launched its first Disney-themed plane two years ago. But the licensing of super brand "Frozen" takes the WestJet/Disney collaboration to another level. While it might be the most … [Read more...] about WestJet Plane Takes “Frozen” to New Heights
Brand Announcements from BLE
By Karina Masolova This year's Brand Licensing Europe (BLE) was bigger than ever, with over 300 exhibitors from 69 countries descending on London to showcase 2,500 brands. Click here to see some of the newly available and assigned brands announced at the show. From the Big Screen Dominating the exhibitor space were entertainment brands with film extensions: Disney showcased … [Read more...] about Brand Announcements from BLE