By Gary Symons
TLL Editor in Chief
Forty-five years ago, when Luis Salazar founded Compañía Panamericana de Licencias (CPL), the licensing industry in Latin America barely existed.
In fact, Salazar says for the big brands from North America, Europe and Japan, licensing in Latin America was an afterthought, and barely registered at the corporate head office.
“It has changed a lot through the years,” Salazar says. “At the beginning, nobody cared much about Latin America, right? The main studios, they didn’t care and they didn’t have much trust in the Latin American market because the sales were too tiny, less than one per cent of their (licensing) revenue.
“In those days we just sent the deals to the United States or Japan or Europe, they approved the deal, and that was it,” Salazar recalled. “But now the business has changed a lot, it has grown, and now there are millions of dollars involved, so it has become extremely professional and often a very competitive and difficult business.”
Today, as CPL celebrates its 45th anniversary, the world’s largest brands work actively in the region, which boasts a vibrant and fast-growing licensing sector. A lot of that activity goes through CPL, the largest agency in Latin America, with offices in 12 countries, and licensed sales revenues in excess of $650 million (Retail Price), putting CPL firmly among the top 22 licensing agencies in the world.
From Happy Meals to Licensing Giant: The CPL Story
CPL is a trusted partner for some of the world’s top brands, with a particularly strong presence in entertainment and gaming, with clients like Warner Bros. Discovery, SEGA of America, MGA Entertainment, Paul Frank, and Ubisoft, among many others.
For Salazar, the key to long-term growth is about trust and always being upfront and honest.
“Our goal is not to just get clients, but to form long-term partnerships,” Salazar said. “We literally have clients from 45 years ago, and I am very proud to say that we don’t lose clients. We keep our clients because we see ourselves as their true partners, and because we always tell them the truth, no matter what.
“The way we look at this business is, we only earn money if we help our clients earn money, so whatever is best for our partners is always our first priority.”
Salazar and his company CPL were the early pioneers in Latin American licensing. Originally, Salazar was a major investor and owner of restaurants in QSR (Quick Service Restaurants), and his first exposure to licensing was through Happy Meals programs. The savvy Peruvian entrepreneur quickly saw the much broader potential for licensing in Latin America.
“We really started with these packages for kids,” he said. “I started manufacturing the products for the QSR business, both for my own QSRs and also to supply the other QSRs, and I found out very quickly that I have to buy the rights for it, because of course those brands belong to other companies.
“So, I started with that, and after we had a lot of success in Peru, we moved to other countries, and now we are in the whole of Latin America.”
Compañía Panamericana de Licencias is now the leading Peruvian and Latin American promotional and licensing agency headquartered in Lima, with over 45 years of experience in the Latin American market.
The One Stop Licensing Shop for Latin America
Importantly, CPL has also built out a wide range of service that takes them beyond the scope of being just a licensing agency. Founded in 1980, CPL has established itself as a key player in the advertising services industry, specializing in comprehensive marketing advisory services, including the design of promotional campaigns and the granting of rights for the use of characters on brands and products. In particular, CPL is a leader in BTL (Below The Line) marketing, helping promote their clients in innovative ways, rather than just traditional advertising.
CPL also maintains a local presence in all of the markets in Latin America, offering a 360-degree service that encompasses the creation of promotional campaigns, production of promotional elements, and development of licensed products for retail and publishing sectors. The company’s expertise lies in licensing, promotions, publishing, retail, marketing, and production, catering to a diverse clientele seeking to enhance their brand presence through strategic licensing partnerships.
Salazar’s vision for the company was to build the best licensing agency in the region, and the two key elements were to offer all of the services his clients require, and to have those services available in any country in Latin America.
“For the licensor, it’s very important to have someone working with them who can cover the entire territory,” Salazar said. “For them, it makes it very easy, because if they want to extend a license to multiple countries, they already have someone who can handle that challenge, and who is an expert in that country.
“Not only that, but we make sure that we have all the experts that the licensor needs to operate in each of those countries,” he adds. “We have people in finance, people in marketing, people in brand insurance, specialists in retail, in collections, in analysis, and every other aspect that touches on the licensing business. Our people are fundamental for the growth of the business and I want to thank all of them for their continued support. All of this is very good for the licensors who want to expand into other markets.
“We are the one-stop shop that can get anything done, anywhere you want to go.”
Unlike the United States, which is a massive market but has essentially one set of laws regarding licensing, the Latin American market is large but broken up into many countries, each with their own laws and their own home brands or retail networks.
Salazar says some brands enter the market without realizing how complex it can be to expand into multiple countries at the same time. Many of those companies end up coming to CPL once they hit roadblocks they didn’t anticipate.
“This is especially true of smaller or medium-sized companies who may have somewhat limited resources, but even for the very large companies, it is very difficult to manage licensing programs across all of Latin America, and to do so properly would require a massive investment in experienced people,” Salazar said. “I know this, because quite often companies will try to hire my staff!
“The truth people need to really understand to succeed in Latin America is that every single country is completely different from the other,” he explained. “Yes, most of us speak Spanish, and Portuguese in Brazil, but beyond that every country has its own culture, its own history, its retail networks, and its own laws.”
Salazar stresses that a cookie cutter approach doesn’t work in Latin America, and that success requires local people who know how to get things done and how to successfully launch a new product.
“Take Brazil as an example,” he said. “It is a huge market, but even within Brazil you have different laws for the different areas.
“For example, if you are working in Sao Paulo, you have to pay taxes for the city of Sao Paulo, and if you are in Rio de Janeiro or in Brasilia there are different laws, so you need an expert.
“Even the importation taxes are different for the different cities, right? There are many rules that you have to work through, and the only way to do that is with local people who really know and understand the market, and so all of our team members in Brazil are Brazilians.”
Salazar also says a key strategy for CPL is to work well with others. While the company has its own divisions working in marketing, design, legal, and more, Salazar says that as a businessman himself, he recognizes companies often have partners they are comfortable working with.
For that reason, Salazar says CPL doesn’t pressure their clients to, for example, adopt their licensing or design team, but will instead work happily with whatever team their client is already working with. In fact, CPL goes to great lengths to maintain positive relationships with all of the lawyers, marketing and PR agencies, and licensing agencies across the region.
“We are a big company, yes, but we are not trying to take everyone’s business away, year is no,” Salazar says. “The other companies who work in this area know we are an ethical company, and we work with them all the time. We work with Ping Solutions, Marketing Store, Max Marketing, all the premium companies in Latin America, and it’s all about what is best for our client; that’s what we do.”
The approach has been a great success for CPL and its partners, as revenue continues to soar.
From 2022 to 2023 the company’s revenue skyrocketed by 72%, and kept climbing the following year with 48% growth in 2024. Salazar says this isn’t just a one-off, but rather a trend based on the company’s expansion plans, and its reputation in the market.
“Sure, when you see those numbers you think, holy cow! That’s a lot!,” Salazar said. “But part of this is due to some consolidation in the market during COVID, when companies realized they needed more help, and turned to us as the company with the most boots on the ground all over Latin America.”
The other aspect of growth for CPL comes from the company’s constant quest for innovation, and its ability to keep a sharp eye on trends.
Salazar saw there would be high growth in sports, video games, and location-based and we’re looking at organizing video game competitions in Latin America.
With an aggressive plan for growth, CPL is also focused right now on winning new clients and partners. CPL will be at Licensing Expo this year, working to find the right partners for licensing campaigns in Latin America.
“It may seem very difficult for companies who have not done it before, but with the right partner, like CPL, expanding your brand into Latin America can be a very lucrative move for the right brands,” Salazar says. “I would really encourage brands who are thinking about this to contact us, and we will tell them honestly whether that makes sense for them, and how best to proceed.”
Licensors or licensees interested in working on licensing programs in Latin America can contact CPL by visiting its website: www.cpl.com.pe