License Global 2020 Holiday Gift Guide

This year in licensing has, in short, observed the rise and fall of certain categories during lockdown.

Product popularity shifted across the board as a result of new trends in consumer behavior – often dictated by differing regional pandemic measures – as life took a turn for the unexpected. With cinematic releases and big-ticket productions grinding to a halt, major titles found their way directly to the living room as families streamed, gamed – both in the traditional and digital sense – and consumed content with a voracious appetite from the U.S. to the U.K.; meaning toys, board games, stationery, crafts, video games and apparel saw huge success as families spent more time together.

The explosion of e-commerce acted as the national economy’s saving grace after the global health crisis halted consumption revenues by $3.8 trillion across the world (source: Sydney University). Amazon, already a global powerhouse of e-commerce, broke its own stride during the global lockdown measures, as activity rose 40 percent in the three months leading to June 30, its strongest year-over-year growth (source: BBC) and running a profit of $88.6 billion (£67.9 billion). Now, with Black Friday and Cyber Monday building buzz – even with e-commerce websites across the board surpassing Black Friday traffic every day in April 2020 (source: edesk) – and the holidays on the horizon, Amazon has launched its predictions for the top toys selling this Christmas in its annual Toys We Love List.

Among this list of 25 must-have toys are insights into the products, television shows, kids’ series, movies and games that have kept us sane during a maddening year, including licensed LEGO build kits with “Super Mario Bros.” and “Star Wars: The Mandalorian;” STEM learning sets such as National Geographic’s Earth Science Kit and Crayola’s Light Up Tracing Pad; the renewal of classic properties with Beyblade’s Burst Rise Hypersphere Battle Sets; board games such as “Ravensburger Marvel Villainous” or puzzles such as “Star Wars: The Mandalorian” The Child 500-piece set; and play sets from “PJ Masks,” “Blues Clues & You!” L.O.L. Surprise!, “Bluey” and more…

READ MORE IN THE LATEST ISSUE OF LICENSE GLOBAL MAGAZINE!