Brand Licensing Europe Hosts Licensing for Retail Seminar and Workshop

Brand Licensing Europe’s Retail Mentoring Programme culminated in London on Friday, Sept. 6, with the penultimate step in the programme, the Retail Seminar and Workshop.  

Delegates included groups from Asda George, Card Factory, Character.com, DFS, Fat Face, HMV, Iceland, John Lewis, Marks & Spencer, Moonpig, My 1st Years, New Look, Next, Sainsbury’s, Tesco, The Entertainer, The Works, Truffle Shuffle, Vanilla Underground and Very Group.   

Retail at Brand Licensing Europe  

Brand Licensing Europe (BLE, Sept. 24-26, ExCeL, London) will bring retailers and manufacturers new to licensing together to access a host of specially curated content in and around the Retail Lounge in partnership with Care Bears for 2024.  

Retail-dedicated content at BLE 2024 includes a session on the future of retail featuring speakers from RWS Global, CAMP and Primark, as well as special events for retail badge holders, including the Retail Mentoring Programme 2025 drop-in session and Retail Happy Hour partnership with Care Bears, both of which take place on Day 2 of the show. See the full BLE 2024 content agenda here.  

“With BLE turning 25, it shows the strength of our community and the value of our partners to be able to introduce initiatives like the Retail Mentoring Programme to prepare retailers for the event and integrate more retail brands into the show,” says Laura Freedman-Dagg, head, retail, Informa Markets’ Global Licensing Group. “The retailers joined us for Licensing for Retail Day in March, attended workshops and host days with some best-in-class brand owners and agents, and now we’re celebrating the penultimate phase before Brand Licensing Europe.” 

The Retail Mentoring Seminar and Workshop  

Following the welcome breakfast and networking, Keith Pashley, licensing industry specialist and RMP Programme manager, and Laura Freedman-Dagg, head, retail, Global Licensing Group welcomed delegates. Freedman-Dagg set the scene for the day before Steve Manners, U.K. managing director, head, global marketing, Licensing International, provided an overview of the Programme’s retail membership alongside key statistics from the Licensing International Global Survey.      

The first licensing workshop of the day saw Claire Potter, founder and chief executive officer, Metrostar, and Damian Treece, senior licensing manager, Bravado put delegates through their paces with an introduction to licensing, asking delegates to build brand licensing and extension programmes for Glastonbury Festival, Diddly Squat Farm Shop, Kodak, London Zoo, The Spice Girls, Tony’s Chocolonely and Zoom.   

Ben Roberts, content director, License Global, then took to the stage to provide a state of the nation for the brand licensing market. The leading categories for brand owners and representatives in 2025 – according to data compiled by License Global from the Top Global Licensing Agents and Top Global Licensors reports – were fashion (apparel), food and beverage, toys and games, footwear and location-based entertainment.

Roberts also asked delegates to participate in a “knowledge exchange” through a live survey, resulting in a snapshot of retail trends highlighting that 69% of retailers attending the event plan to increase their brand licensing efforts in the next 12 months, with buying focus leaning toward movies, music, lifestyle, fashion, streaming and video games. Retailers also highlighted the power of “Bluey” for the previous 12 months’ activity and the coming year.

Aysha Kidwai, retail and brand consultant, then highlighted what retail should be looking for from its licensing business. “Think about what’s happening with category dynamics, think about brand dynamics – it can be big brands or brands that nobody speaks about – finding the right brand is about finding something that works with your mission, that’s when you can create magic,” says Kidwai. “Then it’s about how you deliver that, how you’re democratizing that to your customers, how you promote that in-store and mark it out online. It’s all part of the step-by-step process of understanding who you are and what your brand can’t achieve to bring in the right brands.” Kidwai outlined how brand licensing can offer variety to retailers, disrupt, create extensive event campaigns, allow retailers to enter new segments, create points of difference and add theatre to significant moments.   

“The Traitors” fans in the room then got to find out how a licensed programme is built and how it can be extended across its fan base, from Jason Easy, vice president, licensing, All3Media ahead of the third series of the reality TV show. “In the U.K., ‘The Traitors’ was the number one brand on all streaming platforms, it’s the No. 1 format globally, and this year it became one of the biggest shows on the planet. We’re looking to develop the licensing programme further. There are key themes to the brand that allow us to unlock new opportunities, such as fashion, whether that’s Claudia’s wardrobe or costumes, food and beverage as the Faithfuls and Traitors meet over breakfast, huge opportunities for experiences and automotive, such as the Land Rovers featured on the show.”  

Ian Wickham, co-founder, Licensing Link, presented a session, Licensing the Blank Canvas, from the perspective of the Van Gogh Museum, speaking about how storytelling and narrative can deliver something more than a product. Spotlighting that 55% of consumers who love a brand story are willing to purchase while over 30% of Gen Z will buy from brands that align with their beliefs, building a bigger picture of where and why consumers engage with specific brands.   

“We’ve got some great artwork and archives to work with, but it’s not just about slapping some sunflowers on product; we want to disrupt, create something new and work with the art, not just replicate it,” says Wickham. “Authenticity is essential to brand strategy; it encourages trust and deeper engagement but aligning that with a brand story is essential. Brand story and authenticity are key for the Van Gogh Museum.”   

The Retail Mentoring Seminar & Workshop culminated in drinks and networking between retailers as Retail Mentoring Programme attendees celebrated the completion of the course ahead of Brand Licensing Europe.  

Register for your free ticket to Band Licensing Europe.