Brand Partners
Meredith Schwartz -- Gifts and Dec, 1/1/2012 2:00:00 AM
As many a major vendor (and overworked rep) has discovered, a massive line of thousands of SKUs can be hard for retailers to shop intelligently, to make a statement rather than a mishmosh. Fortunately, licensing offers one solution, by creating a brand-within-a-brand. By providing a consistent look across SKUs and even categories, licensing effectively creates a premade cross-merchandised display, or even store-within-a-store, for buyers if they choose.
Of course it's still possible to treat licensed art as one would any design and group it with other offerings in the same category, style or color family - especially if the licensing artist doesn't yet have strong name recognition.
Creating a Brand Across Vendors
Similarly, retailers trying to assemble a coherent merchandise mix from many smaller vendors' offerings can find licensing a lifeline. If multiple vendors license from the same artist, even if they're not using the same image, it can create a unifying aesthetic by ensuring a compatible color palette and themes.
New licensed every day gift product from lovethislife will include wall plaques, ornaments, jewelry, frames and mugs. Roman. 630.705.4600. |
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Emily Green licensed products include imagination mats (shown) and melamine dinnerware. $10. C.R. Gibson. 800.243.6004. |
Double Wall Ceramic Travel Mugs with silicone lid come in Betty Boop, Audrey Hepburn and Elvis Presley designs. 12 oz. $13.99. Vandor. 800.755.5966. |
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Red Hot Cinnamon Apple M&Ms brand candle. 18 oz. $14.99. Star Candle Co. |
Hello Kitty Pop-Up Notepad, Desktop Notes, Box Notes, Sticky Notes Portfolios and Note Card Portfolios are available exclusively in the specialty market. $6.99-$9.99. Up With Paper. 800.852.7677. |
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A store that carries products from several of an artist's licensees, or has a significant selection from one licensee, can also invite the artist to do a demonstration and/or signing at the store, reinforcing the branding as well as creating event excitement.
Licensing Reduces Risk
Particularly in a tough economy, manufacturers are always looking to reduce the risk of having to spend money on making, shipping and promoting items that won't sell. (And of course retailers are also looking to avoid buying items they'll have to mark down, or even donate, to move off the shelves.)
While no item is completely risk free, licensing designs from an artist and/or brand with an established track record and a pre-existing appeal to the core audience increases the chance that the product will find its market and sell through.
Managing that risk makes it easier for manufacturers to afford to take a chance somewhere else, such as a new item or material. For example GKI/ Bethlehem Lighting is combining its innovative new Luminara flameless candle technology with designs by well-known artist Jim Shore, whose look hearkens back to traditional folk crafts and whose work has a strong consumer following.
New Names Bring Freshness
Licensing art by relative unknowns, in comparison, may not reduce risk, but it gives manufacturers an easy and effective way to add a new look and feel to keep from getting stale.
British brand Me to You inked a licensing agreement to bring Tatty Teddy to the USA. Douglas. 800.992.9002. |
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Art by Jane Shasky will appear on flags. Carson Home Accents. 800.888.1918. |
The Living Life series was designed by Lisa Kaus. Magnet Works. 800.866.3121. |
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Tropical Snapper pillow is by Suzanne Nichol. 18"x18". $48-$56. Peking Handicraft. 800.872.6888. |
For example, 141-year-old C.R. Gibson is conducting a refocusing effort, which capitalizes on its history of licensing success. In addition to expanding the offerings of its current licensing partnerships and in-house brands such as Lolita, Kelly Rae Roberts, etc., the company is teaming up with a slate of artists whose work will enhance its "house of brands" in new and different ways across major lifestyle categories, including Cid Pear, Dena Designs, Michael Healy, Emily Green, Jill McDonald, Susan Winget and Jessie Steele.
Licensing Appeals to Emotions
While most of the licensing in the specialty gift business is focused primarily on artists from Susan Winget to Thomas Kinkade, a non-trivial niche features images and names of entertainment icons and even other commercial products. From Betty Boop to Marilyn Monroe to the Grateful Dead, licensing such luminaries lends the emotional attachment we feel toward the individuals to otherwise functional items like mugs. Even a brand such as Coke can tap into nostalgia.
Since the core audience for the gift industry remains Baby Boomers, brands and entertainers from their young adulthood remain the licensing gift that keeps on giving - particularly since reruns and DVDs have made the younger generations almost as familiar with those classics.
However as Gen X and Y become buying forces to reckon with, licenses that appeal to nostalgia for the more recent past shouldn't be ignored. While up-to-the-minute licenses are usually more the province of the mass market - due in part to their rapid obsolesce - cherry picking properties licensed to specialty-focused vendors is worth considering if you think they'll have staying power.
We would love your feedback!
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