Keynote Speakers and Agenda Announced for Licensing Leadership SummitKeynote Speakers and Agenda Announced for Licensing Leadership Summit

Licensing Leadership Summit, presented by the Global Licensing Group at Informa Markets and the only global conference bringing together C-level executives from the world’s largest players across manufacturing, retail, and brands to discuss, debate, and collaborate on the future of consumer product licensing, today announced leaders from ASOS Ventures/Coded Futures, Google, and JPatton will keynote this year’s virtual event. Taking place October 28 and 29, Licensing Leadership Summit will be the culmination of Festival of Licensing – a four-week, large-scale virtual gathering bringing together the licensing industry to connect, learn, strike deals and do business on an international stage – and will unite global licensing leaders and give them the chance to analyze the events of 2020 and shape the strategic direction of the industry in 2021 and 2022.

Register now for Licensing Leadership Summit to receive the “Early Bird” discount rate here.

Confirmed Keynotes:

The Retail Revolution: Planning Ahead for Digital Disruption

Speaker: Marcus East, Technical Director, Office of the CTO, Google

Overview: How are brands going to need to behave to interact with the retail customer of the future? This keynote will look deeply at customer intimacy in a digital age and will explore how consumer-facing brands and their core audience will be shaped in the next decade.

Revolutionizing Brand Protection

Speaker: Dr. Wes Wang, Chief Scientific Officer, JPatton

Overview: One of the toughest issues for brand licensors and their licensees is the issue of counterfeit products posing as real. It robs revenue for both the licensors and licensees and hurts brand value. In 2019, a new technology became available to help protect brand licensors, licensees and retailers. This technology provides the licensing supply chain with the ability to protect revenue as well as the consumer, without changing anything. This session will explore how utilizing scannable forensic security technology can solve counterfeiting issues.

Time to Play: Supercharging Retail Through Gamification

Speaker: Daniel Bobroff, Co-Founder, ASOS Ventures, and Founder and Chief Executive Officer, Coded Futures

Overview: We have all played our part in how technology has disrupted the traditional world of retail. But in the shadow of the recent pandemic, technology has emerged as retail's savior. And as retailers scramble to accelerate their digital capability, a superpower exists that most know, yet few have mastered. It is the art of gamification. Using game techniques and methodologies, there is an urgent need for retail to deliver compelling digital experiences that are human-focused rather than merely task obsessed. And, as we build the next incarnation of retail theatre, let's make sure to satisfy a new generation of highly creative, multitasking customers, who have simply become impatient with a world that appears too slow. This practical keynote will provide the latest thinking in how gamification is changing the world of retail, across its entire value chain, and reshaping organizations. Learn how to use simple techniques for your customers today, and leverage gamification as the winning effect for your business, culture and bottom line.

Following each keynote, attendees will have the opportunity to tune into an array of sessions covering a wide range of topics, issues and strategic opportunities facing the world of brand licensing such as TikTok, eSports, and gaming to evergreens like museum licensing, as well as hear from industry thought leaders including NPD, MoMA, NFLPA, Funko, YouTube star Blippi, Ryan’s World, Zynga, Nickelodeon, Boots, BBC, and many more via sessions organized into four distinct tracks:

All sessions will be available on-demand throughout both live event days and for four weeks after the conference ends. The full agenda can be viewed here.

“This year, perhaps more than ever, leaders and decision makers from around the world must come together to connect and work toward our future beyond the pandemic,” said Anna Knight, Vice President, Global Licensing Group, Informa Markets. “As 2020 is the first year Licensing Leadership Summit will be held virtually, the event is now more accessible than ever, with more diversity of speakers, and more opportunities to connect and engage with content that in the end, brings us all closer together.”

A snapshot of the agenda is below:

Track 1: Driving Growth through Brand Strategy/Licensing

Different by Design: MoMA’s Modern Approach to Museum Licensing

Speakers: Robin Sayetta, Head of Business Development, Retail, The Museum of Modern Art

The Athlete Influencer Difference

Speakers: Terése Whitehead, Senior Manager of Sponsorship and Operations, NFL Player's Association, Inc.; NFL player TBD

What Do Licensees Want?

Speakers: Connie Chang, Director of Licensing, C-Life Group, and Tonya Kirby, Director of Licensing, Retro Brands

How Games Ate the Licensing World 

Speakers: Chris Petrovic, Senior Vice President and Head of Corporate Strategy, M&A and Business Development, Zynga, Inc.; Shaan Akbar, Digital Media Executive and Consultant

How to Combat the Explosion of Print On-Demand Whack-A-Mole on Social Media

Sponsor: Gold, CounterFind

Speakers: Rachel Aronson, Head of Business Development, CounterFind, and Jamie Gerson, Head of Strategic Partnerships, CounterFind

Thinking Beyond Revenue: A Holistic Licensing Approach in the Post-Normal

Sponsor: Gold, FlowHaven

Speakers: Kalle Törmä, FlowHaven, and Anita Castellar, Chief Executive Officer, FanGirl Consulting and Brand Management

Track 2: Capturing the Consumer

Digital Talent: The Future

Speakers: Greg Goodfried, Head of Digital Talent, UTA; Sid Kaufman, Licensing Agent, UTA; and Stevin John (Blippi), YouTube star

Products as Solutions

Speakers: Lilly Berelovich, President and Chief Creative Officer, Fashion Snoops, and Jenna Guarascio, Director of Content Strategy, Fashion Snoops and Carrera Kurnik, Culture Editor & Consumer Strategist, Fashion Snoops   

Influencers: Are they Delivering on their Brand Promise? 

Speakers: Stone Newman, Chief Revenue Officer, pocket.watch and

Shion Kaji, President, Sunlight Entertainment, Ryan's World

Something Old, Something New: How to Plan for Changing Consumer Behaviors 

Speakers: Joanna Parman, Worldpanel Division, Strategic Insight Director, Worldpanel Plus,Kantar; James Foti, Worldpanel Division, Consumer Insight Director, Entertainment, Kantar; Glen Tooke, Worldpanel Division, Consumer Insight Director, Fashion, Kantar; and Simon Quirk, Worldpanel Division, Business Unit Director, New Channels, Kantar

Licensing and the Toy Industry: A Changing Landscape                                           

Speakers: Juli Lennet, Vice President and Industry Advisor, U.S. Toys, The NPD Group

Track 3: Retail, eCommerce & Tech

I Want it Now!: Using the Fan to Expand Distribution

Speakers: Lauren Winarski, Senior Manager, Brand and Licensing, Funko

Knowledge is Power: Throw Away Your Crystal Ball

Moderator: Marty Malysz, President, Dependable Rights

New Directions at Retail

Screen side chat with Maura Regan, President, Licensing International and Robin Lewis, Founder and Chief Executive Officer, The Robin Report

Track 4: The Future

Finding Opportunity in the Overwhelm: Key Trends in Consumerism 

Speakers: Maxwell Luthy, Evangelist at Large, TrendWatching

COVID-19: What Happens Next?

Speakers: License Global Editorial Team 

YouTube and You: Insights to Drive Retail and Consumer Product Strategies

Speakers: Steve Manners, Vice President, Business Development, WildBrain CPLG and WildBrain Spark, and Jon Gisby, Managing Director, WildBrain Spark

Esports: The Hottest New Licensing Category in Latin America

Speakers: Maca Rotter, President and CEO, La Panaderia and Habacuc Guzmán, Co-Founder & Director, Arena Esports GG

Forging a Sustainable Future      

Speakers: Mart Drake-Knight, Owner, Teemill; Rikesh Desai, Licensing Director, Merchandise and Gaming, BBC Studios; Anita Manju, Senior Licensing Manager, Softlines, BBC Studios; Helena Stopher; Products of Change; and Boots

Licensing Leadership Summit 2020 Sponsors include:

Platinum

Gold

Silver

Register here.