The Licensing Letter

Disney

In & Around 34th Street

By: Karina Masolova, karina@plainlanguagemedia.com I try to trek down to 34th St. Herald Square, in central New York City, every once in a while. As we enter the holiday shopping season, there were some interesting licensed retail activities in and around town. The newest addition to Herald Square is the Build a Bear Workshop. The central attraction is the retailer's three … [Read more...] about In & Around 34th Street

Entertainment/Character Roundup

Disney's Star Wars will see a new film trilogy from The Last Jedi frontman Rian Johnson, separate from the episodic Skywalker saga. The media giant is also planning a new live-action Star Wars TV series for its SVOD service to launch in 2019. Also headed to SVOD are original TV series adaptations of Pixar’s Monsters Inc., Disney Channel’s High School Musical franchise, and … [Read more...] about Entertainment/Character Roundup

New Film & Media

Hasbro signs a new 5 year exclusive deal for movie and television development with Paramount. The development will be done by Hasbro’s newly organized Allspark Pictures and Allspark Animation, with Paramount distributing the films and TV series developed. The two companies have previously collaborated on five Transformers and two G.I. Joe films. Fox Animation acquires the … [Read more...] about New Film & Media

Experiential & Social Activations

Hasbro and Cityneon bring interactive exhibition Transformers Autobot Alliance to China in December 2017. The launch follows years of R&D—the walk-through exhibit is the first of its kind to showcase the larger-than-life robots, as well as special effects, reflex tests, virtual reality, motion sensing, and other features surrounding the Transformers brand. It will debut in … [Read more...] about Experiential & Social Activations

Looking Back: A History of the $100M+ Entertainment/Character Brand List

By Karina Masolova, karina@plainlanguagemedia.com As we update our annual list of entertainment/character properties that generate over $100 million in licensed retail sales in the U.S./Canada, let's take a moment to look back through the history of the list and its major trends. Namely: The $100 million club is getting bigger, and The immense staying power of brands … [Read more...] about Looking Back: A History of the $100M+ Entertainment/Character Brand List

Who’s News — 10/10/2017

Disney's new President Business Operations EMEA is Rebecca Campbell, based in London. She replaces Diego Lerner, who is moving to Argentina and takes up an unspecified international role at the company. In the U.S., Disney Channel hires Dina Hillier as VP Original Series. Universal Brand Development welcomes Ben Braun as CFO to manage the financial planning and analytics team, … [Read more...] about Who’s News — 10/10/2017

A(nother) Note on Disney

Updated: 10/13/2017 By Karina Masolova, karina@plainlanguagemedia.com If we were to define one trend of consumer products licensing in the last decade or so, it's Disney's unparalled dominance. TLL estimates that Disney accounts for roughly half of all entertainment/character brand-based licensed retail sales in the U.S./Canada, and a slightly larger share worldwide (less than … [Read more...] about A(nother) Note on Disney

Who’s News — 10/2/2017

Walt Disney Intl. appoints Rebecca Campbell to serve as President of its EMEA business. Alpha Group expands into Latin America with the new appointment of Jose Antonio Espinoza as Head of Latin America operations. Tracy Griffiths joins Golden Bear as a Licensing Consultant. Spin Master-owned Toca Boca's CEO, Bjorn Jeffery, steps down. The Stockholm-based children’s mobile … [Read more...] about Who’s News — 10/2/2017

The Future of Ecommerce is In-store

By Karina Masolova, karina@plainlanguagemedia.com With traditional retail business models crashing down, and ecommerce on the rise, retailers will need the power of brands to thrive. Two dominant trends emerge when looking at the future of retail: retail-tainment and omnichannel. Despite the rise of ecommerce, shoppers still prefer to see, touch, and experience products. … [Read more...] about The Future of Ecommerce is In-store