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.

Quarterly newsletter

http://tiny.cc/DcypQ

Benchmarking exercise gets off to a flyer

We now have a number of companies expressing an interest in the benchmarking exercise including;

Hewlett Packard

Church Dwight

Xerox

LaCoste

General Electric

Watch this space

Corporate Licensing Benchmarking Exercise

Announcing the opening of a new initiative. Ever since Golden Goose started up we've been looking into how marketing departments can harness licensing as a way to build brands and grow revenue. It seems that, in the current climate, more and more brandowners are waking up to the opportunities to exploit their Intellectual Property through third-party agreements.

To help paint a picture of the current marketing resources going into licensing, we're now looking for companies to participate in a Licensor Benchmarking Exercise. To participate in the exercise that we are planning to complete before the end of September 2009, please join the associated Linked In group

Donnington Park BTCC Day out

some thoughts on cars

My car is a second home

it moves me to drive

this portable roadside life

through ever changing scenes

played out in temporary domesticity

My car is the way i am

organised, meticulous

a well-oiled sense of continuous pride. 

Passengers respect my code

as I pilot them to a fixed point. 

My car is an office

delivering lectures, conferences, and sales

a workhorse steed

shining up the motorway

gallantly troving the distances

between failure and success. 

My car is a source of knowledge

of mysterious parts

greater than the sum of the whole. 

A creature that responds to

wrench, drench, dabble and tweak

with torque and turbo

and increased know-how. 

My car is a necessary evil

putting personal needs above

community, planet, and nature. 

I can reduce consumption

and collateral damage

but can't stop shopping, school runs and outings.

My car is a fantasy and a weapon of death

a journey that last a lifetime

beginning with a single spark

a miracle of modern engineering

the mixed blessing 

of human ingenuity, 

The source of the question and the answer.

Golden Goose appointed by RAC

We are delighted to announce that Golden Goose has been appointed by The RAC to manage their licensing programme. Work is underway to take this already successful licensing programme to the next level. For more information about the RAC visit: www.rac.co.uk

Metaphors for licensing No. 231: IP rag and bone man

Cycling to work this fine spring morning i saw a 'rag and bone man', which is someone who picks up old valuables and then sells them, realising value that was previously unknown. Now i know this is probably stretching it but it occurred to me that i do roughly the same thing only with intellectual property....

Brand immersion at the London Fire Brigade

Very enlightening work.....

banks

All I can say is, that if I was currently running a bank, I would pull all advertising immediately. 

New client

Golden Goose is delighted to announce our appointment by the London Fire Brigade to develop and execute a licensing strategy. We look forward to working with them to deliver successful products in a wide range of categories.

the perfect gift this valentines

Obviously, the perfect gift this valentine's day is a charm bracelet from www.page3diamonds.com, only £99 for a silver bracelet and four diamond and ruby set charms. What else would your page 3 dream girl want?

Happy 2009

According to some people, today is the most depressing day of the year so far. You're far away from the Christmas holidays for them to be a distant memory, and still another 12 days from payday. Still, it could be worse - you could be a retailer. Times are tough for our distributor friends and we should feel some sympathy - how are we going to sell all our licensed products if we don't have anywhere to sell them. Step forward brands with an alternative distribution channel, your time has come!!!

front page news

The Page 3 Calendar is on the front page of today's newspaper and covered all over the www.thesun.co.uk

new page3idol game ready to launch

Double G have now signed the license to develop a Page 3 game based on the legendary Page 3 idol competition.

launch of page 3 diamonds

Here's Danni and Nikkala modelling the range...

listen again and again

the piece on brand licensing starts about 15 minutes in.

you and yours

Check out you and yours at 12.15 tomorrow for a live broadcast about brand licensing.

300 members in 3 months

Our linked in group now has 300 members which is not bad since it only launched 3 months ago!

Go pickles!

Harry Ramsden's pickles outperforming average pickle sales in Tesco

Brand licensing on Linkedin

Our brand licensing group on linked in has now passed 200 members, with approximately 10 joining every day. Click on the logo to join

Page 3 Jewellery

Golden Goose have now secured a deal for manufacturer UJT to produce a range of Page 3 jewellery which will be distributed throughout the UK in Harvey & Thomson.

licensing curses

number 1: the curse of the new buyer

And here comes September

And yes, as predicted, people are coming back from holiday, people are going away, this could last until the end of the month.

meanwhile, analogy for slowness number 3246: working in licensing is like steering a glacier

French holidays and the Prisoner's dilemma

I was talking to my brother about the French and their unanimous August summer holiday and he said it reminded him of The Prisoner's dilemma:

Two suspects are arrested by the police. The police have insufficient evidence for a conviction, and, having separated both prisoners, visit each of them to offer the same deal. If one testifies ("defects") for the prosecution against the other and the other remains silent, the betrayer goes free and the silent accomplice receives the full 10-year sentence. If both remain silent, both prisoners are sentenced to only six months in jail for a minor charge. If each betrays the other, each receives a five-year sentence. Each prisoner must choose to betray the other or to remain silent. Each one is assured that the other would not know about the betrayal before the end of the investigation. How should the prisoners act?

The classical prisoner's dilemma can be summarized thus:
Both stay silent: Each serves 6 months
Prisoner B Betrays: Prisoner A gets 10 years and Prisoner B goes free
Prisoner A Betrays: Prisoner A goes free and Prisoner B get 10 years
Both betray: Each serves 5 years

The parallel with the summer holiday is this: if we all go away for August, nobody missed anything, nothing really happens, we all have a lovely holiday.

Some of us go away for August and some of us stay behind: some of us have a lovely holiday but worry about missing work, and some of us find work impossible because nobody's around.

None of us go away for August: we all get to carry on working efficiently.

On this basis, i think i prefer the French style vacations in option 1

Brand licensing on Linkedin

There are now 67 members of the brandlicensing group on Linked In. That may not sound like a lot but it's quite exciting for such a niche sector.

If you'd like to join, click on the link: http://www.linkedin.com/e/gis/73938/3C4DD7708EBB

spy club agenda

These are the headings from my 7 year old son's spy meeting agenda:

spy meeting:

urgent meeting
secret agent club
morning spy club
replace captains
mission (double)
people*
problems of spys
spy on
secret spys
bosses
computer spy information
players
secret players
members
secret nightclub
secret agent
real spy information

just how many layers of reality does a 7 year old work on?

waiting...

Patience is a virtue but it never got anything done!

a dystopian reality (2)

It occurred to me when I was in Boots. There were automated check outs beeping out in their androgynous, metallic proto-feminine voice and the subjugated masses apologetically scrabbled about with buttons, coins, bags, products and scanners. The following question came in to my head: "Did the IT specialists who invested in these new super-efficient tills, even remotely consider the possibility that investing the same money in humans might yield better results?"

Later in the day, a colleague expressed his concern about understanding the street signs in Tokyo (he's off for 3 weeks the lucky &$^%$) and one bright technofile in the office piped up "wouldn't it be great if you could just send a picture of street signs via your mobile phone and you automatically got a translation?"

On hearing this I went into rant mode. Something along the lines of: "Why do people automatically think that technology is the solution to every question? Wouldn't it be more satisfying to learn a little Japanese rather than create a technological solution that probably won't work? Why do all problems only seem to have a technological solution? Yada yada yada "

My frustration is that, rather like a chemical high, any investment in technology only ever achieves a short-term improvement in service and then disappoints as the initial buzz of an upgrade is superseded by the drudgery of constantly necessary updates, tweaks, refinements, and additional investment that is never budgeted for in the first round of finance.

Nevertheless, the yearn for the buzz achieved by technological advantage (which stems perhaps from an evolutionary adrenaline rush when we realise that we have better munitia than our enemies) is never satisfied. Humans are complicated, we yearn for personal attention which makes us incredibly likely to find ways to break technology, or to work outside it. In addition, technology manufacturers need to make a profit so they make best-fit, off-the-peg products that don't actually fit anyone.

Perhaps in the early days of the technological revolution, change was what we needed to move away from the blunt force, unskilled, soul destroying labour we had created. The challenge now though seems to be to apply the usability, and service led mentality of a programmer, but to incorporate a role for humanity to play into the business plan.

To finish where I started, why couldn't Boots invest in a system that lets people scan as you go around the store? Perhaps that way you could call a sales assistant to advise you and he could scan your goods and take payment, like a restaurant? That would be an upgrade for humans as well as machines...

a dystopian reality

Films like the Matrix and Terminator depict a dystopian future where technology dominates humanity with its superior processing power. The Terminator is a robot that can instantly learn how to drive any vehicle, use any weapon or recognise any face. This daunting feat lurks in the imagination of some techno-geek and is far from reality.

The real dystopia of technology is that it never fully delivers on its promise. Like the Terminator, it will always be something we imagine working. The reality is that technology raises up our hopes promising solutions and advancement and then dashes them with crashes and complexity making us feel vulnerable and dependent.

outsource?

One company i work with has just outsourced its outsourcing department... heaven help them

intro to latest article...

So you’re sitting in your office looking at the jars of product in the exhibition display cabinet. You know you’ve got a great brand with huge awareness and masses of customer affection. You’ve probably got a 50 year history of advertising and in your reception area is a specially sleeved copy of The Superbrands Book from 1994. Suddenly, after hours of scratching your head about ways to generate revenue and build customer awareness, in a blinding moment of inspiration, you stand up at your desk and, as if the light has suddenly dawned on you shout ‘Eureka! Licensing’ startling your embattled P.A. But before you can spread the word across the whole of your organisation, think carefully. What steps should you take to embark on the road to licensing enlightenment? When should you present your ideas to the board? Why might it be a good idea to retire at this point in your illustrious career? How come this part of the introduction has more questions than answers? Don’t worry dear reader, this road is well trodden and all will become clear.

more to come in the next edition of the Brand Licensing Source Book

interesting fact number 3256

In 1800 there were 6 million people living in England. Now there are 58 million. No wonder we all work in virtual space these days.

a new sport?

How long before carrying the olympic torch past rioting protesters becomes an Olympic sport...

from facebook to linkedin

Just as fluctuating shares in one company affect the entire industry sector, so it is with the internet. The success of Facebook now looks like a shooting star compared to the slow steady burn of linkedin. Whilst Facebook was for fun ,and advertising driven; linkedin is for business and charges for heavy use.

The main benefit of Facebook's success for linkedin is the proof of attractiveness of social networks, and the increase of users who have broken through the fear of trust barrier. I can see a future where email's blocked unless it comes from a trusted source (just like phonecalls are now) and linkedin provides a viable form of spam police. Where you are available to people because someone you trust introduces you.

Apparently Bill Gates has deleted his Facebook entry and joined Linkedin, what else do you need to know...

Top 10 ways to make a licensing deal go with a zing

1) Get everyone behind the licensing strategy - from the top to the bottom
2) Give the product an enormous PR and marketing launch
3) Support the product all the way into retail
4) Feature the product on all branded marketing
5) make the product look the same as the branded product
6) make sure the legals don't get in the way of renewals
7) incentivize success, don't punish it
8) celebrate success
9) be generous, not mean spirited
10) deliver on the brand promise

how to screw up a licensing deal?

Top 10 Surefire ways to screw up a licensing deal:

1) heavy handed lawyers
2) poor chemistry
3) failure to have a strategy approved at the highest level
4) someone leaves the company
5) noone asked a retailer if they'd stock the product
6) someone gets ill
7) the company is sold
8) the brand goes into melt down
9) too many agents closing on the deal
10) slow approval process

anyone got any others?

the downside of risk / reward fee structures

The worst thing about earning a share of a deal that may or may not happen is when, at the cusp of signature, something goes wrong. In the case of two deals that have recently floundered, one fell apart when the other side's negotiator was put on 9 month's gardening leave, and the other has given up the ghost after the other side fell tragically ill.

As the man in the middle there's no greater feeling of powerlessness than watching one half of the puzzle dissolve into mush. From now on I resolve to only work with healthy people who can never be fired!

From hall 5 to hall 20 and back again

Yes, it's www.Springfair.com, where the world unites under one roof to celebrate another year of ranging and stock updating. The paradox is that we crave both variety and stability, which means that buyers have to look for something that is both recognisable and new.

Best part of Spring Fair: seeing mass innovation both good and bad

Worst part of Spring Fair: definitely the awful (and creepy) life-size, robot singing Santa Claus's - i have to tiptoe past them... brrrrrrr

If you're there on Monday and Tuesday then we probably have an appointment already!

fun with lawyers

Why do lawyers spend months sitting on a contract and then send it back with enough red ink for it to virtually unrecognisable. Do they honestly think this is conducive to reaching an agreement?

product of the year

Definitely one of the most succesful licensing programmes around is Product of the Year. This global organisation is instantly recognisable for its ability to generate cash out of brandowners' desires to win awards. At a ceremony that resembles the Oscars (think Air Freshener instead of Brad Pitt), P&G, Unilever, SC Johnson, Nestle and L'Oreal divide up the rights to use the red quadrangle on their products for another 12 months - paying a hefty £75k for the privilege.

This is textbook marketing judo as these branding collosi are thrown by a flyweight with leverage.

how much is your bottleneck?

A bottleneck in the wrong place can be lethal. If an artery clogs the heart can stop working and you die. So too in organisations - how much work is not even attempted because of the slow progress of existing projects. Inefficiency will kill opportunity every time mainly because, as humans, we lose interest if we're ignored.

With licensing, as with any project that requires continuous buy-in, it's all about striking while the iron is hot (or in most cases, luke warm). If the flow of deals is constrained by legal and administrative chin stroking, then there are deals that will either go stagnant or not be attempted purely because the box-tickers pens move slowly.

Many companies use administrative stagnation as a failsafe, protecting the company from bad ideas by creating obstacles so that only really persistent ideas survive. This creates a protectionist state where the idea-killers rule and the frustrated persistent entrepreneur moves on to the next project.

Effective management is about supporting the taking of calculated risks, not maintaining the status quo.

NPD and Viagra!

Never throw away R&D, even if it flops. “Remember, Viagra was a cardiac drug that failed,” notes Julie Hennessy, clinical professor of marketing at Northwestern’s Kellogg School of Management. “But for some reason, people didn’t want to return their samples.”

let's get one thing straight

Well, 2008 certainly opens up a whole new set of rhyming opportunities.... great, straight, fate, mate... but mostly the year opens with a refreshing sense of foreboding rather than the usual optimism. With an American credit crunch, threatening to wipe millions of dollars off anything that moves, there's a sense that the current economic climate is distinctly stormy. What a great name though, the credit crunch... a fabulously doom-laden moniker.

In tough times, brands tend to polarise around either mass or luxury, which is going to make things difficult for products clinging to the magnetic middle and offering 'massclusivity.' More, no doubt much more, on this in the weeks to come

greetings of the season

Well another year passes by and it ends on a strong note... I only have promises and intuition to base this on but 2008 feels like it's going to be a strong contender for year of the year.

Best wishes to everyone and happy shopping

ingredients of a great brand licensing consultancy

15% advertising agency
10% design agency
15% sales team
10% retail sales team
5% law firm
10% brand consultancy
5% strategic consultancy
5% accountancy firm
25% licensing agency

a long term waiting game

Waiting to finalise an agency agreement is a test of nerve. Whilst the work has been done and the business case is proven, there's always time for the lawyers to make a mess of things. Better to hang the 'gone fishing' sign on the door and wait until someone notices you're not there than go mad jumping up and down with impatience. From now on, there's going to be an unappointed fee and an appointed fee, and you can guess which one will be higher.

call centre website loop

When websites stop working they refer you to the call centre they replaced which start with a telephone message referring you to the website... does this just happen in order to upset me?

from the internet to the smarternet

So, i'm trying to buy a train ticket from Paddington to Bracknell and the consumer experience is kind of bleuch. There's no help line any more because they want me to use their on-line system, but the on-line system is kind of rubbish. It's slow, i can buy but i have to enter my details, remember login, push the buttons and what am i, some kind of administrator? Sure, the internet means i don't have to talk to anyone who might be inefficient, but what if i'm busy, do i have to pay someone to do this for me?

Given the fact that updating a website is expensive, i can see the case for a smart piece of software that stores all my online requests and carries them out for me - i'd like to say to my computer - book me a theatre ticket next Thursday and have it come back to me with availability and booking times so that all i have to do is make the decision. Basically i want the internet to be more and more like a concierge service rather than something where i have to do all the work.... and i can see that being the future because more and more purchasing is coming online and whilst there might be some excitement left for the huge swathe of late adopters, the rest of us are bored watching little blue circles rotate and questioning the speed of broadband.

My experience with software generally is that anything that works is pushed to the limit and anything that doesn't is seen as redundant and abused. There's zero consumer satisfaction. So why not develop a user interface that does the searching and purchasing for you from a local level... you could even charge participating services a fee for the privilege - in fact with affiliate marketing, the business model already exists....

Watch your PC - i would expect it to be ready to take vague orders within about 6 months....

another great quote

Was re-reading Strategic Brand Management by Jean Noel-Kapferer - favourite quote so far:

“the order in which intermediate extensions are made affects consumer reaction to the final extension.”

old and new media

When you look at websites like lastfm.com which allows sharing of opinions and the ability to load a playlist that is increasingly personalised, it’s clear that music and indeed all media is becoming ‘pull’ rather than ‘push’.

At the moment we can segment our media choices by choosing a channel that reflects our demographic and lifestyle. However, given the wide range of choices and pre-recorded media, it’s often hard to know what to watch / listen to. The next generation will be amazed that we turn on the radio / television and listen to whatever is on at the time, rather than something that is specifically personalised just for us.

This need for personalisation is leading to the development of pre-personalised content. Amazon and lastfm.com’s content offer you a – ‘people who liked that, also like this’ model but how long will it be before media adopts the same model as products, matching the content to the usage occasion so that digital music becomes the very real personalised soundtrack to your life.

I can see banner advertisements being used to sell music download and other media very shortly.

preview of latest article

Whose brand is it anyway?
How the struggle for control of innovation can cause brand-damaging extensions

Before retailer consolidation and media fragmentation, manufacturers had the luxury of launching a new brand when they wanted to test an innovation. With the cost of launching new brands now virtually prohibitive, innovations are constantly being incorporated into ever-extending Superbrands. Whilst some brand extensions are brand-positive and others brand-negative, not extending is no longer an option. To protect their core revenue streams and expand into new markets, companies must ensure manufacturing and brand management teams work together to produce new products that enhance the brand, rather than simply trading on the brand’s reputation.

The core ingredients for successful brand extensions are generally agreed to be 'Fit' and 'Leverage' - fit being the appropriateness of the new category and leverage being the brand values applied to the new product[1]. In some cases though, the branding is the leverage. Some of the easiest brand extension opportunities can create successful brand extensions that trade solely on the brand, leading to the gradual (and in some cases sudden) degradation of the entire brand.

Brand extensions can be manufacturing-led: incorporating new features and inventions and adding them to the brand’s product range, or marketing-led: pivoting on one of the brand’s axes of authority and outsourcing some or all of the manufacturing, marketing and sales. Only clear communication and understanding between the teams responsible for product and brand innovation can ensure that new products deliver real added brand value, rather than the fool’s gold of brand damaging success.

More on this later.....

[1] Edward M.Tauber, Tauber Research, Brand Equity & Advertising, edited by David.A.Aaker & Alexanrder L.Biel Chapter 20, p313

ideas for articles that need writing

the contrast between brandowners and manufacturers?
key ingredients of a licensing programme?
what makes a brand licensable?

pouff.... another Porsche disappears from the driveway

There's nothing quite like sitting on a big licensing contract. The deal's done, the royalties are waiting to come in and everyone's looking forward to spending the money. The Porsche is on the driveway, the mortgage is paid off. Expensive holidays and a life of luxury are tantalisingly within reach. And then, pouff, with a phone call, the mirage turns into sand and 2 years of hard graft and nose-to-grindstone, hand-to-mouth existence reappear on the horizon, the Porsche turns into black plastic bin liners heaped on the driveway and the mortgage weighs heavily on your shoulders again.

latest brand extension

It's not all about being the middle-man, sometimes I even have time to create my own brand extensions... in this case little baby emma who was born in less time than it takes to negotiate and sign a pickle contract

big market opportunity - the www

Whereas the big opportunity in the 90's was the world wide web, the big opportunity in the 00's is the world wide waste

brand licensing show news

It's so easy to get caught up in the excitment of the brand licensing show. Last year it took me about 2 months to get back to work instead of wafting in the haze of imagined deals that might one day happen. this time it's back to the grindstone....but the show was fun with a feeling of knowing everyone who's anyone

ok then

Well, yes. Sometimes life in a brand licensing agency is just a seamless stream of meetings with multi-million pound brands.

half the job

half the job of any consultant is to figure out why he was appointed in the first place....

when it all goes right

I guess it's only when things go right that you find out what you're made of, how solid your foundations are, and if you've really learnt anything useful. We're at that stage now and it's the shallow breathing, palpitating heart moments that make life frightening / exciting.... don't look down...

well here we go....

Just booked the brand licensing show for the second year running... now the serious work begins...

http://www.brandlicensingexpo.com/brandlicensing/v42/index.cvn

you'll find me on stand 642 but don't expect me to have any hair left...

top 10 learnings in business

1) you will have good years and bad years, over time you will learn the difference
2) get paid
3) when things are going well, it's time to invest to avoid competition
4) take time to consider, especially when you're in a hurry
5) don't sent emails that you spend more than 1 hour composing until the next day
6) get paid
7) put money aside for a rainy day
8) build up passive income
9) turn your tacit learnings into explicit learnings
10) celebrate your wins

why licensing is like sex

Yes, licensing is like sex. Honestly. Here's the latest article on the subject as published in brand licensing sports book... also check out Brand channel from 13/08 for paper of the week on Branding 2.0

the last post

How long does it take to get a licensing contract signed?

well that depends where you start from? If you have the approval of the board, a suitable licensee, agreed heads of terms and the outline of a standard contract you'll be lucky if you can do it in less than 3 months.

'3 months!' I hear you exclaim...' even after all the preparation'. Yes that's right, a minimum of 3 months. In fact this is the most tortuous process known to man. It's like playing volleyball on a huge court. the ball comes to your side, you look at it, pass it to the lawyer, he looks at it, passes it back to you, you look at his look at it, pass it back to him, he looks at your look at his look passes it back to you and then eventually, you pass it back to the other side who go through the whole thing on their side.... ultimately it becomes a waitathon with both sides trying to outdo each other in affecting to care as little as possible to not give away their negotiating position over points so moot you could bury them in a time capsule under the new channel tunnel station at Kings Cross.

Then, if by some miracle both sides ever ultimately agree you can bet your bottom dollar the post will take another 2 weeks before someone somewhere actually has both sides signed in their hands... then the work starts. Meanwhile everyone's been paid - the lawyers, the negotiators, everyone - oh except for the licensing consultancy, did i forget to mention them?

another quote, another book

"Brand innovation is brand management. The brand is only as good as its last three or four ideas. All of brand marketing should be treated as an innovation project. Forget the brand 'essence' - in a few years' time it may be different as a result of these new innovations. A brand is like a person it needs to evolve to stay interesting. It should be coherent - each new idea should make sense and be brilliant in its own terms - but not consistent (in the sense of endless dull repetition of the same old formula). "
John Grant - The Brand Innovation Manifesto

born in the UK

Within Europe, the UK is the most suitable country in which to commence a sequential rollout strategy for major new product introductions. In the UK, the segment of innovators (early adopters) is 24% compared with only 15% in France and 9% in Spain. Among all large European countries, the UK is the only country that is not hurt by the fact that the product has not been introduced elsewhere.
Private Label Strategy, How to Meet the Store Brand Strategy
Harvard Business School Press

when to call a licensing consultancy

a) after you've just signed away the rights to your brand?
b) before doing any licensing?
c) when you think you might have the opportunity to do some licensing?

big news on the way

Frustratingly still waiting for contracts to be signed before i can officially announce the conclusion of some fairly major licensing activity over the past 6 months - at the moment this blog is like watching ink dry

are my products underwater?

No, this is not an allegorical question, flooding in the North East means there's a very real chance that there's a warehouse somewhere with some very expensive licensed products bobbing around

my favourite new quote

"Far too many marketing people confuse brand share with brand loyalty. And far too many assume they are managing an enduring classic when actually they are presiding over an accident waiting to happen. This is a mistake that is all too easily exposed when somebody else does the brand innovation your category had been crying out for and leaves you for dust"
John Grant
Brand Innovation Manifesto

These St. Luke's guys are really fascinating!!!

emotionally drained

Suffering from completion-of-protracted-negotiation-syndrome. What am I going to worry about for the next 6 months!

statistic of the day

"Product innovation is perhaps the most obvious way companies try to stay 'ever new'. The importance of product innovation is paramount. In categories where there is a less product innovation, private label penetration is typically 56% higher than those categories where there is more active product innovation. "
Michele Blake
Winning Strategies for Brand Loyalty

website rewrite

Have spent the past 2 days working to upgrade the Golden Goose website - mostly textual changes. Amazing how much has happened since the text was last rewritten. Any comments welcome: www.goldengoose.uk.com

paper on brand loyalty

There's probably an article in 'how brand licensing increases brand loyalty', just haven't had time to write it yet. In the meantime here are some conclusions from an excellent paper on the subject by Michele Blake:

Brand loyalty is increasingly earned by building intensity of desire.

Some industry commentators propose that there is only one measure really worth tracking and that is – how many of a company’s customers would actively recommend their products to others.

True loyalty increasingly requires companies to think about creating desire and involving emotion. But consumers are increasingly uninterested in developing relationships with brands.

Today, in developed markets at least, consumers are quite literally spoilt for choice, leading to “choice paralysis,” and making people less satisfied with the choices they do eventually make. Also consumers feel stressed trying to regain control over their schedules: they just have less time for brands.

In addition, they are generally more resistant to marketing and advertising. This is partly a protective response to the sheer volume of advertising messages to whichthey are exposed and partly due to their increasing cynicism about those messages.They trust less, having had that trust abused in the past.

Income polarization is contributing to polarization in shopping habits, causing brands to lose out to more premium options on the one hand and consumers’ price shopping on the other.

Private label also threatens loyalty as consumers are tempted away from branded products to private label equivalents with their price competitiveness, improved quality, increased innovation, and shelf space advantages.

Consumers are also increasingly substituting takeaway meals and eating out for food and drink bought in supermarkets and prepared at home.

Finally, the retail environment is now a key arena for brand and promotional messages delivered to consumers at the crucial moment at shelf-front when the final brand choice is made, meaning loyalty is in the balance until the very last moment a shopper puts an item in their basket.

Building loyalty is also about innovations in marketing. One trend is streamlined portfolios, where often it is the umbrella brands, rather than the individual products that are promoted – often via a ‘lighthouse’ idea, making the brand stand for something above and beyond product. For example, successful brands are taking positions reflecting current trends for increased corporate responsibility (e.g.Fairtrade, organic production, health and wellness and so on).

Canned, frozen and chilled foods suffer the lowest consumer loyalty.

Private label is the greatest threat to loyalty, followed by unplanned shopping as consumers are tempted away by lower price private label alternatives and/ or are influenced to buy another brand (or private label) at the shelf front. Loyalty towards private label economy and standard ranges will slip in the future.

66.0% and 58.3% of respondents rate innovation and premiumization respectively,as ‘very good for’ or ‘best for’ brand loyalty, whilst improving product experienceand generating positive word-of-mouth are the most effective strategies inpromoting brand loyalty.

It is true today and will continue to be true that customers will only remain loyal to brands – assuming they have more than one available choice – if those brands continue to meet their expectations, their needs and wants. Increasingly aware of their greater range of options and better informed about those options, customers are becoming more demanding and generally less loyal, so companies have to work harder than ever to achieve even the same levels of loyalty.

The most successful companies focus on that brand or those brands where the company has the best chance for success, fully committing the organization – from the most senior levels down – to the chosen brand(s) and their customers.

To engender greater loyalty, companies will want to explore how they could more holistically solve the customer’s ‘problem’ through innovation. The most successful brands go beyond practical benefits to deliver an idea that the customer can buy into.

See the full paper here

valuable quote

The mechanics for a successful launch are simple, but often forgotten, says Dave Woodward, ex-P&G now head of Heinz UK & Ireland - "You need to gain distribution, stimulate trial, stimulate repeat purchasing and finally encourage multi-purchases and long-term loyalty"

Why Brand Licensing is like sex.

Licensing is like sex. With good sex, all the effort leads to deep satisfaction with both sides enjoying the moment. Bad sex leaves one side feeling dominant and the other feeling cheap, dirty and used. Ugly sex, on the other hand, leaves both sides mystified why it happened with noone wanting to talk about it any more.

Whilst there are plenty of guides to sex, there aren’t that many devoted to licensing. In fact in the guides to marketing and branding I’ve come across there’s usually several chapters about brand extension but rarely more than a cursory paragraph or two about licensing as a way of executing a brand extension. Licensing seems to generally be considered by marketing gurus as either a low-key, unimportant activity or a dirty little secret.

To read the rest of this article, you'll have to wait until the September edition of the Brand & Sport Licensing source book...

intriguing signage

Have to admit to being a bit of an addict when it comes to weird public information signage and couldn't resist taking a picture of this one. Whilst travelling recently I came across this one which begs the question: How many people were alarmed by noisy flushing before the need to print this became a priority?

holiday blues

As I predicted to the wife on the return from holiday, Tuesday is the cruellest day after the excitement of being back at the desk is over and the afternoon is the time when the blues are most likely to strike.

So here's the news of the blues most definitely arriving, there's a lovely sunny day outside though - perhaps that's the antidote....

latest brand licensing newsletter

Yes, once again a quarter comes to an end queuing up another flurry of royalty reminders and reports. For the latest exciting brand extensions, see the newsletter

negotiation workshops

Note: If you're about to go on a negotiation workshop, do not read this.


The red black game that all negotiation workshops use involves splitting the group into two teams, and getting both sides to try and achieve the maximum score by having them announce a vote of red or black. If one team votes red and the other one black then the red team wins 5 points and the black team 0, but if both teams vote red, then they both get 10 points. So after 10 rounds the score is announced and one team usually wins. At this point the facilitator will announce that both sides have lost because the aim was to achieve the maximum score which would have meant both teams voting red consistently.

As the dust settles, and the 'yes buts' get aired, it gradually dawns on the group that the purpose of negotiation is to work towards a common goal rather than get one up on an opponent.

been a while

Been a while since the last post. Mainly because i've been flat out whilst also having the entire house virtually knocked down and rebuilt. The cost of the building work is far outweighed by the inconvenience. Having nowhere to live and feeling like a refugee is uncomfortable enough for one person, never mind a family of four.

Delighted by my first legitimate comment after 4 years of blogging - a true reward for all the hard work.

Am about to launch Harry Ramsden's Deep Fat Fryers - with the Oil, Batter Mix and baking tray you may never need a fish and chip shop again.

The other hot topic is Heston Blumenthal who i met for the first time on Friday. Very modest and unassuming, almost bashful actually.

More to come no doubt....

Product is go....

Well, this is it. After 3 years of hard slog and continually raised and dashed hopes it all comes down to about 6 skus in Tesco. Ironic that after all the blood, sweat and tears my first mainstream product is an anti-perspirant.

spring fair news

back from Springfair and finally after several years of doing this job it was gratifying to actually see some products on display that i'd had a hand in over the years. Not only that but a positive response to new client - jean-pierre got.

The only downside of spring fair was the fact that they'd moved all the halls around. While I was running from one side of the show to the other for a meeting - a quick 10 minutes hike - i happened to glance the front page of show daily which read 'new layout a success'.

Considering everyone looked completely lost and most of the exhibitors i spoke to were severely pee'd off, I'd have to say that they were taking a small liberty with the truth.

Back and in the thick of it now....

had a meeting in town on day of snow and three of us arrived at 9.00 sharp - client never showed up!!!

it's a number game

Licensing can occasionally be like prospecting for gold. If you know where to look, and you're very lucky, you might just find the motherlode.....just don't forget to stake your claim in all the excitement....

strange old start to the year

Well it's definitely 2007 and if i had to guess i'd say this is going to be a really weird and off the wall year. Whilst it seems ominously calm and i'm doing my best not to agonise whilst, once again, waiting for more tectonic plates to roll into gear. Business is firmly established now (four years in and counting) and so the thinking is more mature, and yet at the same time i'm sure the next barrier is the biggest one yet - yes it's time to take on the animal that is the retail buyer.

Up till now my only experience has convinced me that these people were best avoided... but now i'm afraid the time has come to take on this next challenge.... wish me luck...

reflections on 2006, forecast for 2007

So 2006 draws to a close. On a personal note and despite physical evidence to the contrary, i hit 40 this year. With a cultural past very much routed in the previous millenium I can't help feeling slightly outmoded. Phenomena such as Myspace, Second Life, You Tube, and the vast wave of other websites that us over 20s haven't heard of, mean that if you're age 14-16 you spend on average 2 hours less time watching television than us 'experienced' consumers.

What does this mean? Well, age tends to kick the legs away from previously laid cultural foundations. I can't help smiling when I hear Chris Moyles quoting Derek Jamieson with his 'Do they mean us impersonation' and then suddenly remembering that most of his audience won't get the cultural reference.

So as my generation goes slowly past its sell by date, the longed for certainties of life start to fade into a distant memory.

What does this tell us about 2006? Well for me, the next 2-3 years are when the new decade will start defining itself. If the 80s were about powerdressing and greed, the 90s were caring and revolutionary, what will the 00s be about? The dawn of the green age? The audience generated content age? CCTV on demand? Probably the farthest reaching cultural event of our time is 9/11 and the London bombings, I think and hope that we're going to experience a serious backlash against the war in Iraq and the fascistic state in some way shape or form.

In London I'd expect the run up to the Olympics to be the start of a clearly defined generational push back against the voice of authority. If you combine the flashmobbing trend with a political agenda, you might get something interesting....perhaps towards the end of the year.

Of course the transition from Blair to Brown to Cameron will also have a huge impact on the country, so expect this to have a long-lasting impact. (If Blair does in fact go...)

So my reflection and forecast are that our long-lasting cultural foundations will be even more quickly eroded but new foundations will be laid. What's the impact of all of this on the brand licensing front? Well, it's use it or lose it for any brand that has spent millions over the past 5 decades building a brand through mass market advertising. Brand Equity is just one more cultural phenomenon like Humphries, Pick up a Penguin, You only get an OO with Typhoo and all the other dreadful slogans that you'll instantly remember but the new generation never heard, not even once.

Considering that the sort of advertising that we put up with as 9 year olds is no longer legal and that our children now get their media fix from DVD's Mobile, PSPs and other games, and you have a recipe for brand degradation unless you can reach the new audience of consumers. Advertising can't reach them so you better make sure your product does....What would happen if a whole generation stopped eating Heinz tomato ketchup? Surely no amount of advertising could build the current brand loyalty? Distribution is king.... if you're not out there, you're nowhere.... so get your brand going on or see it gone....in 06/07 and beyond

a mobile week

Covered about 1,000 miles driving from London to Leeds, South Yorkshire and Scunthorpe and then back to London on what was probably the foggiest day of the year. Helpfully, every so often there were signs saying Fog, so i didn't think it was part of an ensuing alien invasion.....

Anyway, here's a great link to the latest Tipping Sprung Survey of brand extensions... more amazing things that exist for no obvious reason....http://pdfserver.emediawire.com/pdfdownload/493223/pr.pdf

AAAAAAARGGGGGGGGGH

Only onomatopaeic words can describe the feeling of losing four and a half hours of work because your computer suddenly crashes. Now my work is sullied by the recollection of the pain of losing that initial inspiration.... gutted

Oops there goes another food manufacturer

Don't blink or you might miss Premier Foods acquiring another company. To think that the year started with Quorn, Hovis, and OXO all under separate management is to recognise that Premier are hoovering up underexploited brands. The city certainly approves of the strategy and, as someone who positively encourages brand extension, i'm hardly likely to criticise. The only gripe from my point of view is fewer potential clients.

How long before there's an outsourced brand management department in every VC fund's portfolio?

yet more observations about marketing

I have subscribed to marketing magazine for the past 2 years and also subscribe to the on-line version. Other sources of research include the FT and The Grocer as well as some less well known places.

In today's marketing magazine there are two apparently unrelated pieces on pages 2 and 3. One is about the website 'second life' which is a virtual world with about 1.2M members. Apparently advertisers are buying space and investing in appearing within this virtual community. On the other page there's a picture of the recent Vauxhall Astra campaign of cars in incredibly daring stunts.

What these two pieces have in common is a divergence of opinion about marketing. In the on-line world, advertising is measurable, monitorable and can be easily marked against ROI. If I advertise on second life and 300,000 of its members see my campaign and 30,000 look for more information and 3,000 click onto my landing page and 300 make an enquiry and 30 buy something, well that's good isn't it? My £30,000 bought me 30 customers. Provided i make more than £1,000 per client i should keep spending money.

The Vauxhall Astra campaign is the opposite. How many times have i seen these flying cars? What do i think about the advertisment? Am i more likely to buy an Astra at some point in the near future? Has my opinion changed about Vauxhall and Astra since seeing the ad repetitively? These are the great unknowns of mass marketing.

What's interesting about the increasing trend towards spending marketing budgets online is the failure to appreciate the need to reach beyond the core market. This non-buying, non-receptive mass receives a far more complex message than the 299,970 people who didn't click on the banner advertisement on second life. Maybe they receive messages that reach into the future, that one day, when Vauxhall actually produce a product that goes beyond the astra and truely hits the customer sweet spot, there will be an understanding that this brand cares about them and their needs even if they only just got round to meeting them.

In other, fewer, words - mass marketing is branding, on-line advertising isn't. In this context, branding is selling to people who don't want your product on the basis that at some point in the future, they will want your brand.

When i used to sell advertising and my customers complained it didn't work i'd say, "yes, but think about the branding." I guess this is what i meant...

an odd day

A day of offering free general purpose advice to a wide range of people including: relationship difficulties website, pornographic magazine looking to extend, children's educational brand, and finishing with something rather curious... an unsolicited enquiry.. a very varied menu

the worst sensation in the world

Possibly the worst sensation in the world is when, after months of elaborate work and great endeavour you realise you've actually built your own booby trap.

dancing round the maypole

If your company is like mine calling it an organisation is probably an abuse of the word. Most companies are like a maypole.

Speaking as someone who works in licensing, I start working for the marketing department. Someone recognises that there's a thing called licensing and they'd like to know more. Once the marketing department gets excited, legal get involved and then accounts, production and anyone else who wants a say.

The various departments all spin round the brand and the more involved i get with them, the less power they have, until eventually if things progress far enough the whole thing ends up logjammed around the all-powerful, immovable centre.

the show must go on..

Well, yes we exhibited at brand licensing and yes it was, I think, a success. But on what level can success be judged? Answer:

did you actually manage to get a nice looking stand up?

yes
did you actually have people come to the stand who expressed an interest in it?

yes

so that's that then really isn't it. except of course the conclusion is 'once you've done it one year, you probably have to be there next year' and thereafter.....

word 1.0 was probably a lot of fun to create, not sure about word 6.0... feeling very tired suddenly, most probably just need a lie down....

New website

Have just launched a new website called brandlicensing.co.uk intended as a forum for all things brand and licensing related. There are so many articles by licensing consultancies calling for licensing to be treated as part of a marketing programme, why not set up a website devoted to introducing wannabe brands to agencies.... that's the theory anyway.

My ulterior motive is that it gives me somewhere to advertise inexpensively but then i've always said businesses need to be an elipse with two foci that are complimentary. Actually I haven't always said that but it seems to make sense now

Latest extensions

Here come da’ mouse
Mickey Mouse is a reformed character. In a dramatically inspired turnaround he’s gone from fast food to fast fruit and you can now find Mickey and friends on products aligned with the cause of healthy eating.
In US store Kroger’s Mickey Mouse himself will appear in the role of chef and farmer in store signs, and will give the thumbs up on nutritional labels. This strategy is being rolled out throughout Europe with Mickey endorsed fruit and vegetables in with Tesco, Carrefour and Metro.
Not to miss out, Nickelodeon channel announced it would extend the licensing of Dora the Explorer, SpongeBob SquarePants and other characters to packaged apples, pears, cherries and organic edamame beans, following a deal last year to use the characters on spinach, baby carrots and clementines.


Oi Paul, on yer bike
Fashion designer Paul Smith is delighted to be working with legendary Derby based bicycle makers Mercian. Paul has chosen two styles of bike, a Mercian Track and a Tour bike, which he has personalised.

An avid cycling fan, Paul Smith fell into fashion aged 17 after a cycling accident and now he’s gone full circle. Bikes will be available from Paul Smith shops from November 2006.

Ze smell of orange
In a fantastically inspired piece of innovation, marmalade manufacturer Duerrs present ‘l’eau de marmalade’ a £24.99 bottle of marmalade inspired perfume. More of a newsmaking promotion to celebrate 125 years of production this great example of limited edition brand extension is a PR coup.
What’s next, Marmite deodorant?

Dairylea Cheese
In a great example of ingredient extension Dairylea are moving into slices of cheddar rather than the not-quite-identifiable product known as Dairylea.


Another dynamic move from Sainsburys
In a move long awaited by bored vegetarians, Sainsbury's is launching a range of ready meals catchily entitled ‘Designed not just for Vegetarians’ featuring 21 meals using pulses, meat substitutes and vegetables.
The products contain essential amino acids, which a vegetarian diet can lack. Products include Sweet Potato and Goats Cheese Burgers, Yorkshire Pudding with Cumberland Sausage, Vegetable Malaysian Curry with Noodles, and Bean Casserole with Herb Dumplings, and no animals were harmed in the process.

From books to blenders
Boots is introducing a range of baby-food equipment and ingredients aimed at first-time mums who want to cook for their babies but lack the time. The ‘Make Your Own’ line is backed by Annabel Karmel the author of 14 books on nutrition and cooking for babies
The range will initially comprise of nine equipment and ingredient products from covered food-cube trays for freezing baby food to an electric hand blender. Mother’s no longer have to choose between health and convenience apparently.

Magazine style interiors
Livingetc has become the latest magazine to extend its brand into consumer goods, with the launch of a branded interior accessories and furniture range. The products have been produced in partnership with Bliss, which holds the licence for the Nigella Lawson range of homewares. What next, Loaded interiors with The Jo Guest designer dining table?

More playboy to play with….
Playboy, the company synonymous with 'bunny girls' and top-shelf magazines, is to launch a range of make-up in the UK positioned as a high-end colour-cosmetics line and targeting 16- to 30-year-olds, it will comprise more than 90 products. The range, which will be manufactured and distributed by US company High Maintenance, will be priced between £10 and £22. Products include Hollywood Nights Eye Shadow, Hef's Favorite Lip Gloss, Calendar Girl Lipstick and First Blush. But strangely not Sticky Centrefold.

Call me Bubbles darling
From the Hertfordshire countryside to the high st, health resort Champney’s is planning some bizarre extensions following on from their success in toiletries in Sainsburys. A champney’s ready meal anyone? The taste of Patchouli oil coupled with something???? In another example of new luxury marketing, Champney’s are also planning some high st. spas. We wish them much luck and hope they don’t end up massaging the numbers to make the investment worthwhile

If you want even stranger product ideas, check out: http://www.strangenewproducts.com/

From here to Luxuria

Somehow managed to get myself invited to Luxuria. Will make a change from recent trade shows which have included Autumn Fair and Plasa. Somewhat random searching for licensees up and down the aisles of huge trade shows somewhat surprisingly yields success.

I have perfected the art of zoning in on opportunities using my intuition - or at least that's what it feels like until I get back to the office. It's always exciting to meet potential contacts rather than make random phone calls.