Hong Kong to Welcome Annual Licensing Show

The Hong Kong International Licensing Show will take place Jan. 8-10, 2018.

The 16th edition of the HKTDC Hong Kong International Licensing Show will take place Jan. 8-10 at the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre. This year's event will feature top global licensors and agents exhibiting in Hong Kong for the first time.

The importance of Hong Kong as a hub for the global licensing business can be seen through its centralized location and ease of doing business with the Chinese mainland, as well as its strength as the top destination in all of Asia to establish copyright protection for brands.

This year, Global Brands Group, the world's largest licensing agency, is bringing its top brands to China including Coca-Cola, Hershey's, FLOWER Love the Way you look (Drew Barrymore's brand), Crocs, Peanuts, Peter Rabbit/Beatrix Potter, Paddington Bear and Twentieth Century Fox, to name a few.

IMG, the world's second largest licensing agency with $8 billion-plus in retail sales, according to License Global's annual Top 20 Global Licensing Agents report, is exhibiting with such global brands as Yamaha, Playboy, National Geographic, Ducati, Cosmopolitan, Volkswagen and Arnold Palmer.

LMCA, a top 10 global licensing agency will bring to Hong Kong such hot brands as "Plants vs Zombies," "Need for Speed," "Oddbods," Mr. Bean, Duckin Pop, Sugar & Babe and Misteez.

In addition to these top global agents, visitors to Hong Kong Licensing Show can expect to see global kids' entertainment licensor Nickelodeon feature its major TV franchises such as "Paw Patrol," "SpongeBob SquarePants," "Dora the Explorer," "Shimmer and Shine," "Blaze and the Monster Machines" and "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles."

Another major licensor that will be represented at HKTDC is Warner Bros., the mega studio behind Wonder Woman, Justice League, Superman vs. Batman, DC Comics' "DC Super Hero Girls," "Looney Tunes," Harry Potter, "Scooby-Doo," "Tom and Jerry" and many other renowned properties.

The size and scope of the licensing market in Asia continues to grow. According to the International Licensing Industry Merchandisers' Association's annual Global Licensing Survey, the Asia-Pacific region accounts for 12.7 percent of the worldwide licensing market. Given the huge population in this region and the rapid development of consumer economic and e-commerce infrastructures, LIMA estimates that the Asian licensing share will continue to grow over time.

In Mainland China, 41 percent of sales now come from online purchases–the highest for any country in the world. A clear shift occurred in Alibaba's China strategy in 2016 from a traditional transactional e-commerce platform to being much more content-driven and focused on experiential social engagement, such as live streaming and virtual reality. As a result of this strategic shift, the LIMA survey found that Alibaba has experienced strengthened overall user acquisition and customer engagement. In fact, this year's Alibaba Group Holding Singles' Day generated a record ¥168.2 billion ($25.3 billion) in sales, as the e-commerce giant worked with more traditional retailers to market to shoppers from at least 225 countries and regions. Tmall is now the No. 1 e-commerce site in the world with more than 450 million customers.