Growing a Legacy: Insights From King Features

Carla Silva, senior vice president, general manager, global head, licensing, King Features, talks with License Global about her journey to licensing and what’s next for some of King Features’ iconic brands.

Silva has been working in character licensing for over two decades. She began her career at United Media, where she served as the right hand to the senior vice president, international licensing. Silva then became senior vice president, marketing and retail, at Iconix Brand Group. She joined Hearst in 2016 as the head of King Features’ licensing program before being elevated to senior vice president, general manager, head of global licensing, earlier this year.

Carla Silva, King Features.

Surprisingly, Silva’s career didn’t begin in licensing. One of her first jobs was as a flight attendant, during which time she had the opportunity to travel the world and meet new people, while attending college.

“When that era was over, I wanted to pursue a career that still connected me with people while putting my knowledge of global cultures and trends to good use,” says Silva. “When I had the chance to join United Media as a sales associate in international licensing, it felt like a step in the right direction. And each year I spend in the industry only reinforces that decision and makes me want to be more involved. Today, in addition to my leadership role at Hearst, I also serve on the board of directors for the Licensing International Foundation and am a member of Women in Toys, who nominated me for a Wonder Woman award in 2020. Internally at Hearst, I serve as a HearstLab Scout, engaging with and supporting women-led startups, volunteer as a mentor and have become a certified Hearst Change Agent.”

Related:10 Minutes With … King Features Syndicate on Growing Legendary Brands

Through the last two decades, Silva has seen numerous changes in the licensing industry.

“Today we have started seeing video games emerge as the next leading platform of entertainment in line with and sometimes surpassing traditional media like film and TV, with influencers and their content on TikTok also gaining traction. In addition, anime has grown to be a global, pop culture phenomenon in recent years. The marketplace is no longer dominated by a few leading  key brands and retailers. Making, selling and distributing products and services has become much more accessible, so we see a continual stream of new players in the market, who pop up, perform and then are overshadowed by the next big thing. There are more niche consumers and more ways for them to attain the products they want, so as licensors, we must be a lot nimbler and more attentive to market trends than ever before.”

Related:Popeye the Sailor Man Celebrates 95 Years

Silva says that while years ago, collectibles were a loss leader with a small section at retail, today key retailers have a section dedicated to the collectible category and the product target has shifted — adults now celebrate their fandom by displaying their collectibles in their office or their home.

“King Features has stayed ahead of this shift by continuously expanding our brands' presence within the collectibles space, so today our collectibles business is very strong,” she says. “Finally, AI is transforming the character licensing industry by offering innovative solutions for social content creation, marketing and consumer engagement. By leveraging AI, we are finding faster ways to evaluate analytics, identify market trends and create interactive and immersive experiences.”

Beaster x Popeye.

Many of King Features’ intellectual properties have been around for generations. This year, Popeye turned 95 and Flash Gordon turned 90. While nostalgia is often key to a brand’s popularity, brands must also stay relevant to new generations.

“Brands like Popeye and Flash Gordon have won the hearts of fans for decades with core values that have earned them permanent places in American pop-culture history,” says Silva. “Over the decades, they have influenced fashion, arcade games, video games, collectibles, motion pictures and series on TV and radio. Nostalgia provides a sense of comfort to people when times are tough, so we look for opportunities to keep that connection strong. Whether securing a new partnership or releasing a new trend guide, we focus on maintaining our brands’ core attributes to ensure what we license resonates with fans.”

Related:Rude Cosmetics Releases Olive Oyl-Inspired Make-Up and Skincare Line

Keeping brands fresh sometimes means branching out deals into new and unexpected areas. In the last few years, Silva and her team have been seeing a trend toward classic brands reinventing themselves for new audiences, and they’ve been actively working and pursuing new opportunities for King Features' evergreen brands.

Mad Cave Flash Gordon.

“For example, we've made significant advancements in their portfolio across several major categories, including gaming, promotions, publishing, location-based entertainment and consumables,” she shares. “Flash Gordon has named Mad Cave its first master publisher. They will be releasing the first original content for the brand in the U.S. this summer, with 17 titles rolling out in 2024/2025. The Phantom is growing in the gaming space, with Art of Play launching a console game (PS4/5 and Nintendo Switch) in December and a casino game from Aristocrat dropping later this fall. Both properties have entertainment in development, a live-action film with Taika Waititi on board to direct with Fox/Disney and a live-action TV series for The Phantom with Universal Content Productions. We are also expanding our creative libraries for each, having just launched first-ever trend guides for each brand.”

Sky x Moomin coming this fall.

“It has also been very exciting to see the expansion of our represented brand, Moomin, in the U.S. market,” continues Silva. “Barnes & Noble is now carrying the books at more than 260 stores and selling the product online. New publishing products are in the works, and we’ve seen the brand gain traction with U.S. partners having recently announced a wide range of new deals from HBA to home, collectibles, stationery, apparel and more.”

Olive Oyl, another popular King Feature IP, predates both Flash Gordon and her pal, Popeye. Olive Oyl made her debut in 1919 and has seen licensing deals in several categories, especially in apparel and food. But fans can expect to see her branching out into new areas as well.

“We just launched our first HBA collection for Olive Oyl with Rude Cosmetics,” says Silva. “When we find a partner who ‘gets’ our brand as well as they do, it’s exciting to see the result. Rude understands Olive Oyl at her core, and they have brought her to life through an amazing line of makeup as skincare products. In proof of how well the two brands connected, we saw a 74% increase in Olive Oyl’s social following, and the campaign earned more than 3 million impressions.”

It was recently announced in VOGUE, that Popeye will make a guest appearance in Coach’s winter 2024 collection. Silva says the product from that collaboration is stunning.

The upcoming Art of Cuphead Show book.

“The consumer response around the announcement has been extremely positive, so I can’t wait to see how they react once the product hits shelves later this year,” she says. “We have a big partnership in the sports space coming up later this year, as well as a milestone event celebrating Popeye’s 95th planned for Q4, but I can’t release the details yet. And we have some gaming news in the works, as well as new publishing for Cuphead. I’m also very excited to be launching Popeye’s e-commerce program, similar to Instagram shopping, in China. We’ve reviewed over 1100 concepts for the shop so far, and the approvals keep coming. The licensing business keeps evolving and it’s crucial to stay nimble, creative and to think outside of the box. We’re looking forward to new collaborations, consumables programs and growth in the gaming space. We remain Popeye Strong.”

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