Page 14 - Toy&Hobby Magazine Aug-Oct 2020
P. 14

 ROUNDTABLE
LICENSING IN 2020
 “We are benefitting from some of the tailwinds that go with being in categories that shoppers are focused on.”
A busy and competitive licensing landscape also requires a greater level of ‘out of the box’ thinking for brand opportunities –
something we as a brand licensing agent thrive on!
What other challenges are there in the licensing industry?
KERRYN: The overarching challenge across the global licensing industry is our dependency on the health of the general
merchandise sector at retail, which has been under pressure worldwide.
Challenges in the retail sector means
that only the licensees able to meet retailers’ increasing demands and tighter margins will survive and thrive.
A challenge in children’s entertainment is the fragmentation of media. With so many ways for consumers to now watch video content, it is getting harder than ever to build sufficient awareness to launch new licensing and merchandising programs.
What are the opportunities in the licensing industry?
KERRYN: Local and global opportunities greatly exist for iconic and nostalgic brands like May Gibbs and Blinky
Bill – brands that Australians have
grown up with and are excited to share with their next generations. These brands have great licensing power locally and due to their celebrated Australiana significance, have very
real opportunities in the global market across multiple retail categories.
There is also huge demand for digital and gaming brands. Gaming is now the largest overall segment in entertainment, exceeding film and TV.
We are seeing great success with contemporary digital and gaming brands such as Minecraft, Xbox, Sonic and emoji, as well as nostalgic arcade classics like Pac- man and Space Invaders.
CLAIRE: We are connecting with the super fans of iconic series such as Star Trek, South Park and SpongeBob SquarePants and see this trend continuing to grow at retail.
Our preschool powerhouse portfolio continues to deliver new franchises such
as the upcoming launch of Blue’s Clues & You!, Blaze and the Monster Machines and Butterbean’s Café to complement our paw- some PAW Patrol.
What are the trends in 2020?
CLAIRE: We are seeing a resurgence in licensing programs from older,
classic content available on streaming sites. The recent release of the Avatar content library on Netflix has driven a renewed interest for the franchise among nostalgic audiences while also reaching a new generation of kids.
KERRYN: Due to COVID-19, we have seen a surge in demand for books, games, puzzles, arts and crafts as families skew to more family at home activities. Digital and gaming is a very strong emerging segment at retail. ❉
  14 TOY & HOBBY RETAILER AUGUST / SEPTEMBER / OCTOBER 2020
 








































































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