Introduction to new article

Every brandowner with ambition pictures their logo glowing high over London, Paris, Munich, Milan, and other glamorous skylines. Those few brands that arise to conquer multiple territories are typically forced to retrench to their HQ and, for economic reasons, homogenise their now pan-European product development, advertising and marketing, cutting back unnecessary local variations to create a European Masterbrand with an identical look and feel across vast swathes of multifarious geography. This carefully honed intellectual property is now a precious asset ready to become the focus of a conversation about licensing.  

If you are the licensing agency summoned to a corporate HQ to talk about how licensing can extend a European Masterbrand into new categories, maintain trademark registrations, block competition, fill holes in the product/territory portfolio and generate revenue; prepare yourself for the Herculean task of regional exhibitions, multilingual stakeholders, differing brand positioning and punishing travel arrangements.  When you land in yet another new country for a 3 day trade show, don’t forget to say to yourself:

Ich Bin Ein Brand Licenser

look out for the full article soon...