The Licensing Letter

Articles

Martha Goes to the Dogs

Martha Stewart Living Omnipedia released a new line of natural dog treats exclusively at Petsmart. The Martha Stewart Pets Treat shop line is available in five flavors and was supposedly inspired by the biscuits the duchess of the domestic makes for her own pooches. … [Read more...] about Martha Goes to the Dogs

Online & Value Channels Grow Share of Licensed Product Sales

Sales of licensed retail products in the e-commerce channel accelerated in 2014, while most other retail channels continued in a characteristically steady vein, gaining or losing just a fraction of one percentage point in market share, according to TLL's Annual Licensing Business Survey. While the changes in market share changes are mostly very small, the dollars involved are … [Read more...] about Online & Value Channels Grow Share of Licensed Product Sales

Taco Bell Licensing Crunch

Taco Bell has become a hot bed of food licensing and co-branding featuring Snapple Lemonade Freeze (Dr Pepper Snapple Group), Starburst Strawberry Freeze (Wm. Wrigley Jr.), in addition to Doritos Locos Tacos and the Cap’n Crunch Delights, basically a doughnut hole covered with Quaker Oats Co.’s Cap’n Crunch Berries cereal and filled with “milk” icing (PepsiCo). Nation’s … [Read more...] about Taco Bell Licensing Crunch

Class Action Lawsuit Against Facebook

A federal judge in California said a lawsuit by hundreds of thousands of parents nationwide against Facebook could go forward as a class action. The suit contends that Facebook let kids use their parents’ credit and debit cards to buy the virtual currency Facebook credits and violated California law by citing its “all sales are final” policy in refusing refunds to parents who … [Read more...] about Class Action Lawsuit Against Facebook

MLB & Majestic Re-up

Continuing a partnership that started in 1982, Majestic Athletic will remain the uniform licensee of Major League Baseball Properties through 2019 with exclusive rights to design, produce and distribute on-field uniforms, authentic collection apparel, replica jerseys and other men’s and women’s fan apparel for all 30 MLB teams. MLB jersey sales were strong in 2014, despite the … [Read more...] about MLB & Majestic Re-up

Adidas to Give Up NBA Sponsorship

After 11 years of being the official apparel sponsor of the NBA, Adidas announced that it will not seek to renew its status after the 2016–2017 season. According to several reports, the announcement came about a week after the League told Adidas that it would open the bidding to other brands like Nike and Under Armour. Result: Renewing the license would have likely cost … [Read more...] about Adidas to Give Up NBA Sponsorship

Avengers Campaign Targets Fashion, Health

Disney Consumer Products announced what it’s calling one of “its biggest ever licensing programs” around the new Avengers: Age of Ultron film and offshoot programming; and given Disney’s track record, that’s no idle boast. The licensing program includes a push into what the studio considers high-potential categories, including female fashion and items intended to foster active … [Read more...] about Avengers Campaign Targets Fashion, Health

Sega Expands Sonic Boom

Sega of America unveiled a host of new licensing and promotional deals involving its Sonic Boom game property, including: World Tech Toys for remote- controlled helicopters; Bulls I Toy for erasers, stickers, trading cards and other novelties; teNeues Publishing Group for wall calendars; Rubie’s Costume for costumes; Bakery Crafts/Jack Guttman for cake decoration kits. … [Read more...] about Sega Expands Sonic Boom

Bad Year for Angry Birds

Rovio Entertainment, creator of Angry Birds, saw its consumer product licensing revenues fall from €71.3 million in 2013 to €41.4 million in 2014, according to company financial reports. Disappointing Angry Birds’ licensed goods sales took down not only Rovio but the entire video games/interactive/online property type category, which fell 4% in U.S. and Canada, according to … [Read more...] about Bad Year for Angry Birds