Editor's Letter 7Editor's Letter 7

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Necessity and invention

As we close this issue of License Europe it occurs to me that almost every feature emphasises how important it is, in the face of tough competition, to differentiate your product intelligently. Janine Spencer, our cover interviewee, tells us how understanding how a child's brain develops can help you improve what you offer children in terms of entertainment and toys. In our feature about books we learn that competition has raised the game for publishers of books licensed from TV and film. In the world of motoring we highlight how car brands that can no longer claim safety as a point of difference can turn to licensing to achieve it. Rangeplan tells us how to improve the way we look, to be better in tune with trends. And industry developments we report on include brand-specific online shops and innovative deals from SuperRTL for its Toggo brand. All these efforts to learn and to differentiate become real when manufacturers get to display their products at the toy, gift and other trade fairs we'll be visiting in the first quarter of this year. We hope we'll see lots to inspire us.

We would like to hear from you. You can contact Sam on 01672 871284 or at [email protected]