Thomas Crapper and Half Moon Bay

Half Moon Bay to Launch Thomas Crapper Merchandise at Spring Fair

Historic bathroom brand launches fun gift range

Award-winning giftware company Half Moon Bay have signed a two year deal with Thomas Crapper & Co to launch a range of merchandise including toothbrush holders, mugs, and even an emergency plumbing kit (complete with rubber duck!) for the UK retail market.

The brand, launched by the eponymous plumber at the height of the British Empire in 1861, introduced plumbed bathrooms and luxury bathroom fittings to the world – and picked up a number of Royal Warrants along the way. It opened the first ever bathroom showroom, on King’s Road in Chelsea, and made sanitaryware fashionable and aspirational.

This new range of merchandise is both fun and practical with four ply toilet paper printed with humorous sayings one of the products expected to do well as consumers look for interesting and innovative gifts bearing the iconic Thomas Crapper logo.

Adam Bass, director of Golden Goose (Thomas Crapper’s licensing agency) said: “Thomas Crapper is a world renowned brand name that is ripe for development. The merchandise launch is the first step in the roll out of some very exciting plans for 2011.”

‘We are very excited to launch this new gift range, it truly offers something unique to the market. The history of the brand taps into the current demand for nostalgic yet fun gift products,’ said Ashley McCracken, Senior Product Manager for Half Moon Bay.

Thomas Crapper continued as a family business from its Victorian roots until the mid-1960s when it was taken over by a rival firm. Today, it is a privately owned, independent company producing the finest British Made authentic bathroom sanitaryware, fittings and accessories.

Branding 3.0

Hi and happy new year. 2010 was certainly interesting and, as in other years, I've taken the liberty of writing an article about new media's changes and their effects on branding, it's presumptuously called BRANDING 3.0.

Please let me know if you'd like a copy and I'll send you one. Otherwise it will be published in the latest edition of Innova

Great expectations...

Can't say too much but big announcement planned for Thomas Crapper day - January 27th 2011. Happy new year to everyone.

Watch a Typical Day in New York City.....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uyaj2P-dSi8&feature=player_embedded#

Interesting Licensing

http://www.brandchannel.com/home/post/2010/10/27/Zippo-Fragrance.aspx

Golden Goose Stand at the Brand Licensing Show 2010

Thank you to those of you who visited us.

The first registered trademark

Well with a name like mine, what else was i going to do?

http://www.ipo.gov.uk/tm/t-find/t-find-number?detailsrequested=C&trademark=1

check out NYC video

1 minute 31 seconds - NYPD

1 minute 41 seconds - Taxi cab

Clearly, iconic images, 54 million views so far!

Start spreading the news...

http://www.licensing.biz/news/5616/Golden-Goose-takes-bite-out-of-Big-Apple

Ode to Italy

Italy is to England

what colour is to grey.

Suspicion, mistrust and inhibition

give way to passion, thunder, exotic emotions,

shoes, leather, luxury and lace.

A modest vulnerability

bursting buttons with pulchritude,

an epic conquering history

rich in Roman tragedy and gods,

bountifully spreading lore and progress

from delicacy laden sacks.

The peasant's simple fare

raw, authentic, uncultivated

the marching foundations

for this modern supremacy,

sustaining noble ideas

with rustic flavours and textures.

The taste of the street

history and hot dust combined

as the world flows past

pollinating the atmosphere

with a fine layer of flour.

new client coming soon

So good they named it twice....

Pizza and Pasta Research

This is what 6 hours of researching the pizza and pasta market looks like...

Gamechanger

Just thought i'd share a new word from the lexicon of management speak... i suppose you could call the Iphone a gamechanger in mobile communications...

the end of google?

Google has copied Bing... in a case of the tail wagging the dog, someone within Google has fearfully decided that they need a left hand nav, after the search results... single handedly undoing the founding principle of the company - don't clutter the screen... why copy your imitator unless you've run out of ideas...is this the beginning of the end?

licensing.biz profile

Nice profile on Licensing.biz....

lifespans and volcanos

The average ant lives for approximately 90 days. By my reckoning that makes a 4 hour picnic last about 0.18% of an ant's life. If you take the average human lifespan of 75 years and calculate the same percentage you come to around 49 days... by that reckoning, if the Volcano is to humans what a picnic is to ants, it should be safe to fly over Europe again by June 3rd

RAC Publishing

Veloce Publishing Ltd becomes RAC’s publishing partner

Leading British automotive publisher, Veloce Publishing, is delighted to announce that it has teamed up with one of Britain's oldest and most esteemed motoring organisations, RAC, to produce books carrying the RAC brand.

The first fruits of the new relationship will appear in the Summer of 2010 in the form of -

"Electric Cars - The future is now"
Are electric cars a feasible alternative to conventionally powered cars? Here's a comprehensive guide - aimed squarely at the man and woman in the street - to the cars you can buy now, and what the future holds, priced at £12.99

"The Efficient Driver's Handbook"
With fuel prices at record levels, here's a timely guide to fuel efficient driving techniques and car choice, priced at £9.99

"Roads with a view - - England's greatest views and how to find them by road"
A beautifully produced large format hardback featuring 44 breathtaking views, and how to get to them by road. Priced at £24.99

Many more books are in the pipeline, including technical books based on RAC's extensive automotive experience and data.

Rod Grainger, Publisher at Veloce, says: "This is a really exciting development for our company. It's a prestigious association with a hugely respected organisation which not only marks a coming of age for Veloce, but presents a huge range of potential publications which can be created in association with RAC

Article about licensing for leading brands

Have just finished an article about licensing for leading brands... please mail me if you'd like a copy.

Intro to latest article due for publication in October

With the world cup now over and the Olympics looming on the sporting horizon, perhaps it’s time to ask ourselves, “what’s the big deal about being number one?” Why the fascination with winning? Like a lot of British people I’ve got a soft spot for the underdog, the heroic failure who cares more about the taking part. And yet, from a straight licensing point of view, sales of the Eddie the Eagle T-shirts are unlikely to eclipse Bode Miller’s Alpine Skiing for PlayStation 2. So perhaps the reason for the obsession with winning is most obvious in the world of business – to the victor go the spoils.

In their legendary book ‘The 22 Immutable laws of marketing’ marketing legends Jack Trout and Al Ries explain that “The main rule is to be number one…the second [man to arrive on the moon] will not be remembered. Being number one is not always possible and certainly not always easy. Number one will need to look ahead to continue its strategy but will also have to look back, to verify what the followers will do. It is difficult to stay number one.”

For many brands leadership is a valuable positioning statement, and for good reason according to David Aaker in Brand Leadership: “Leadership… can inspire employees and partners by setting a high brand aspiration level… for many customers a leadership brand provides reassurance…implies quality...and/or innovation that translates into solid functional benefits.“

But the most direct relationship between leadership and the bottom line is indicated by a piece of research by British marketing scientist Andrew Ehrenberg which suggests that customer loyalty is proportional to market penetration. From this, Jean Noel Kapferer concludes that ‘it is difficult to generate increased loyalty in the long term without also increasing market penetration … the future of a brand thus depends on its … ongoing ability to attract new customers in order to increase its market penetration and in the meantime demonstrate its relevance to a changing world.“

Restating this in more simplistic terms, an increase in market penetration achieves a double whammy driving new customer acquisition and growing existing customer loyalty. Most licensors get very excited about the first part of this sentence - ‘wow’ they say, ‘New customers! New revenue! New business! New profit!’ failing to appreciate the importance of the second part.

For a leading brand licensing will only every generate a minute fraction of the value that would be achieved by a growth in market share, so why do it? what’s the attraction? You might as well ask Roger Federer what’s the appeal of winning another grand slam title? Surely you’ve won enough Roger, why keep doing the training, the work, the effort. After making the obligatory references to Switzerland his family, and his sponsors, Roger would probably reply – “I’ve made all the effort to get here, to be the best in the world, and now I want to make the most of it while I can, before my crown inevitably falls I want to win everything I can. And that’s the essence of my brand.”

Poor world cup licensees

One thought that occurred to me as I strolled the halls at Spring Fair last week was the unfortunate plight of any licensee selling World Cup Merchandise. Has the sudden change in England Captain destroyed the hopes of the calendar, tablecloth and flag manufacturers? Someone needs to send his agent a bill for lost earnings!

Tori Spelling and Thomas Crapper, an obvious connection

"Tori Spelling And Dean McDermott Celebrate Thomas Crapper Day" - now there's a headline I didn't think I'd ever see...other coverage was on Newsnight, Sunday Breakfast, Radio 2 drivetime & Radio 4.

Thomas Crapper Day

Yes, it's official, all over the world people are celebrating Thomas Crapper Dayhttp://news10now.com/cny-news-1013-content/top_stories/494419/corning-celebrates-thomas-crapper-day

New Apple on the branch?

really looking forward to the new Apple product coming out shortly... apparently retailers have them in store but aren't allowed to open the box on pain of being sued.... talk about tantalising....

http://www.macrumors.com/

Golden Goose takes on Crapper

Golden Goose takes on Crapper

Heritage bathroom brand Thomas Crapper set for category extension

Brand consultancy Golden Goose has signed heritage bathroom brand Thomas Crapper & Co for an exclusive 3 year licensing deal covering the UK, USA, and other International territories.

The brand, launched by the eponymous plumber at the height of the British Empire in 1861, introduced plumbed bathrooms and luxury bathroom fittings to the world – and picked up a number of Royal Warrants along the way. It opened the first ever bathroom showroom, on King’s Road in Chelsea, and made sanitaryware fashionable and aspirational.

Now Thomas Crapper is set to launch across a range of consumer products from toiletries and gifts to bathroom accessories and paper goods. The deal covers a range of IP assets including the brand’s decorative finishes archive, advertising archive as well as the iconic logo and registered trademark.

Golden Goose director Adam Bass said: “Thomas Crapper is a world renowned brand name that has very little presence outside of the sanitaryware business where it is sold through a small number of top end suppliers. The brand is ripe for development and we are already talking to a number of potential licensees.”

Bass says: “The brand name itself will enable us to come up with some great creative concepts that will be fun and firmly tongue in cheek.”

Thomas Crapper continued as a family business from its Victorian roots until the mid-1960s when it was taken over and later fell out of use. Today, it is owned by historian and collector of antique bathroom fittings Simon Kirby. The firm is now based in Stratford-upon-Avon from where it supplies its authentic heritage bathroom sanitaryware, fittings and accessories.

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.

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.

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!