A tribute to Sir Thomas Crapper

A tribute to Sir Thomas Crapper

A sanitary saviour

His bowl shall never overflow

The empire’s gratitude

Is expressed in moments of relief.

A collective sigh of

Pleasure and comfort

On the great leveller

The throne of peasants

An unsavoury treat.

An engineering miracle

Makes inconvenience disappear

Leaving the unspoken unsmelt

Recycling in its purest sense

With a lavish flourish

And sleeves of running water.

A sudden change in history

An unacknowledged chapter

Unchampioned, uncelebrated

Relegated to a footnote

Of cataclysmic improvements

A daily ablution

Taken for granted

Like breathing

But its absence

Plunges civilisation

Back into the dark ages.

Sarah Haywood, wedding designer

Golden Goose are delighted to announce their appointment by Sarah Haywood, the UK's leading wedding designer, to develop a licensing strategy. More on this story as it happens....

top 10 things i say in meetings

If you're in a meeting with me, please feel to play meeting bingo. Just shout bingo if you hear any five of the following phrases:

1) Any product consists of product, identity and distribution, but these are multiples so if you don't have distribution, you have nothing.

2) Any sales that are made by the brand are the icing on the cake

3) We're not looking to set royalty rates so high that the product doesn't sell

4) You have to offer value for royalty

5) Licensing is a quick quick, slow slow business

6) Licensing is another propeller in the water, just make sure it's facing the right way

7) The brand is the theme park, the product is the souvenir

8) Licensing is a win-win business

9) As an agency, we're like the first licensee

10) We like to put your entire licensing programme in a box that includes everything a licensee needs.

ready for brand licensing

After much chopping up of board, the stand for brand licensing is finally ready. If you're coming, please drop by and pick up a copy of the licensor benchmarking exercise.

report from top drawer

Just back from visiting Top Drawer where once again, the in-show desire to buy something made me walk away with another useless object. The show's two enduring trends are:

1) really really retro things - not just bagpuss and the clangers now but really old things like metal boxes, air mail lettters, old school games, and pre-war toys seem to be the inspiration for a large range of products

2) eco eco eco - sustainability. boxes made of rolles up paper, ceramic paper coffee cups

3) union jack - an idea that seems to have spread like wild-fire... if you do an object, make one with an alternatively coloured union jack.

4) another take - objects are no longer just objects, they're decorative. A candlestick can also be a radio. A bag can be a cassette... it's all about quirky talking points... that phillipe starck has a lot to answer for!

licensing show

Well, work now starts in all seriousness for the licensing show at the end of the month!

http://www.brandlicensing.eu/

Latest article

This article was recently published in the brand and sports licensing source book. I think i need a new photo though.