A Letter from London: Brand Licensing Europe is 25

Licensing Expo 2024. Wow! Now that’s what I call a trade show. There were 12,000 international attendees, 5,000 brands, 106 new exhibitors, an incredible 35% uplift in retailers – domestic and international – the stats just go on. Las Vegas, you were awesome. And so, dear reader, are you, however you were there: as a brand, retailer, manufacturer, speaker, partner or one of the team. Thank you for making this year’s Licensing Expo one to remember.

Our goal for Licensing Expo 2024 was – as it always is – to provide the global licensing ecosystem critical opportunities to find new partners, spot trends and discover innovation. And we did this by bringing in new visitors, thanks to an elevated experience and improved education, while continuing to attract the same amazingly high-quality visitors who attended in 2023. For three full days, the booths were consistently busy and, by 10 a.m. on Day One, the grapevine was buzzing with news that deals were already being done.

The post-show feedback has been phenomenal, too. Exhibitors have told us Licensing Expo “exceeded our expectations,” and that they had “over 300 meetings in three days.” One exhibitor even said, “I don’t think you can be successful in the licensing industry and not be at Licensing Expo.” What a high!

And now we look forward to Brand Licensing Europe, which is mere weeks away.

But first, a very brief history lesson. On Sept. 21, 1999, Brand & License London was born. There were 50 exhibitors and fewer than 2,000 visitors in a hotel. At the time, the global licensing industry was valued at $113 billion, and Wallace and Gromit were fueling sales of an eccentric U.K. instant dessert called Angel Delight.

Soon after, the event was renamed Brand Licensing London before it transitioned to Brand Licensing Europe, and it moved to the Business Design Centre, Earls Court and Olympia before settling in to ExCeL in 2019. The industry is now worth over $356 billion.

This means that 2024 is BLE’s 25th birthday and we’re here to celebrate the heck out of it. Yes, we are proud that BLE has reached its Silver Jubilee (particularly given the challenges that have been thrown at us in recent years) and we will – of course – be hosting a birthday party on the first night of the show so add that to your calendar now – 5 p.m. on Tuesday, Sept. 24, on the show floor.

For any product to be successful, it needs to understand its customers and deliver solutions tailored precisely to them. And not as a one-off exercise; there needs to be a continuous feedback loop so the product can evolve in line with those customers’ needs. That’s the secret to BLE’s success: over the last 25 years we have evolved the event in line with the needs of retailers, manufacturers and brands. And not just to help them in business now, but to provide them with insight into the trends and innovation driving the European licensing industry over the next two, three, four years.

But the show aside … what we really want is for this milestone to be a celebration of the European licensing community, a retrospective on how the industry has evolved and a chance to honor the individuals, companies and brands all over Europe that have grown to shine in line with the show.

So, this is a personal request from me to you to – please share your BLE memories from the last 25 years with me at [email protected]. Your anecdotes, your successes, your photos and your videos. Who – in your eyes – has made the European licensing industry what it is today? Who merits a tip of the hat and some well-deserved recognition?

I can’t wait to receive your stories and memories.

You can still register for your free ticket to Brand Licensing Europe 2024, here.

This story was taken from the August 2024 issue of License Global. Read the full issue here ...