Oyo Sportstoys, FBF Originals and EA Sports are the winners of NFL Players Inc.'s inaugural Licensees of the Year Awards in the Hardlines, Apparel and Digital categories, respectively.
NFLPI, the licensing and marketing arm of the NFL Players Association, launched the awards program to honor the most successful and creative NFLPI licensees that demonstrated the best use of group player rights within the past year.
A judging panel comprised of NFLPI executives took into account the number of unique players featured within the licensees’ product lines, the marketing and promotional activations that featured players throughout the year, exceptional creativity and innovation in product development and the companies’ positive stewardship of the players’ intellectual property, as well as the range of distribution and growth in annual financial performance.
“Through some great ingenuity, innovation and diligence, these companies captured the spirit and personalities of the players in unique licensed products," says Steve Scebelo, vice president of licensing and business development, NFLPI. "Their achievements over the year were so different, better and special that we felt it was worthy to recognize them and thank them for delivering on that opportunity. We have so many partners whose results have soared beyond expectations, and Oyo Sportstoys, FBF Originals and EA Sports in particular have set a high bar for all our licensees to aspire to win next year’s NFLPI Licensees of the Year awards.”
Hardlines winner Oyo Sports creates building block minifigures with the likenesses of NFL players; Apparel winner FBF Originals manufactures premium sock and footwear products; and EA Sports, winner in the Digital category, products top-selling video games and apps including "Madden NFL" and "Madden Ultimate Team."
NFLPI is ranked No. 46 among licensors worldwide, according to License! Global's exclusive Top 150 Global Licensors report and recently announced its top player sales for fiscal year 2015, based on total overall sales of all licensed products from online and traditional retail outlets as reported by more than 80 NFLPI licensees.