Brand Licensing in 2015: A Year in Review

From an increased focus on building 360-degree franchises to a host of major executive moves, here's the news that shaped 2015.

Last year was marked by a series of shifts in leadership among several of the world's top licensors including Disney Consumer Products, Iconix, Sanrio, Warner Bros. Consumer Products and more.

Meanwhile, the much-awaited return of Star Wars to the silver screen turned out to be exactly as big of a deal as everyone thought it would be, providing a road map for the successful exploitation of an evergreen franchise. And Disney wasn't the only major licensor to focus on building out its core franchises in 2015, with other content creators following similar models to success (think Universal's reboot of the Jurassic Park brand and Warner Bros.' plans for the DC Comics properties).

On the toy front, Shopkins reigned. Sales of Moose Toys' line of collectible, shopping-themed figurines topped $100 million in the U.S. and Canada alone in 2015. As a result, licensees around the world lined up to get on board, creating extensions that ranged from edible food products to apparel.

Movers and Shakers

2015 was a year of executive shake-ups for the world's major licensors, starting at the top with Disney Consumer Products. In May, Leslie Ferraro moved from her position as executive vice president of the Walt Disney Parks and Resorts division to lead Disney Consumer Products, filling the role left vacant by Bob Chapek who took over as chairman of the Parks and Resorts division earlier in the year. (Former Parks and Resorts chairman Thomas Staggs was made chief operating officer of the Walt Disney Company earlier that same month.)

Then, just a month after Ferraro's promotion, the Walt Disney Company announced plans to combine its consumer products and interactive media divisions into one comprehensive unit, Disney Consumer Products and Interactive Media, in order to maximize efficiencies. The new division is being run jointly by Ferraro and Disney Interactive president Jimmy Pitaro.

Here are just a few of the other major executive moves of 2015:

Focus on Franchises

Driven by the need to maintain a 24/7 presence, licensors increasingly looked not just to build brands, but to build franchises.

A key example of this is Disney's work with the Star Wars brand, which came to fruition at the end of 2015. Expectations were high for the return of one of the most beloved film franchises of all time, and Disney did not disappoint as Episode VII: The Force Awakens barreled past the $1 billion mark at the box office faster than any other in film in history.

And that's only the beginning. The studio plans to release a new Star Wars film every year from now until 2020 in addition to efforts in other arenas including television, live events and, of course, a wide array of consumer products.

While Star Wars stole the show later in the year, other major franchises made headlines earlier in 2015, particularly at the summer box office. Marvel's Avengers: Age of Ultron continued to prove the power of the superhero genre, bringing in $1.4 billion worldwide, while Universal's reboot of the Jurassic Park franchise, Jurassic World, topped both domestic and international charts with $1.6 billion in box office sales worldwide. Universal had two other major franchises hit it big last summer, as well–Furious 7 and Minions, both of which have proved their staying power through several box office seasons and successful, long-standing consumer products programs.

In a similar strategy to Disney, Warner Bros. also plans to keep theaters well stocked with DC Comics content for the foreseeable future. The studio is planning 10 films between now and 2020, the first of which will be Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice this March. This is in addition to other DC content including TV shows, shorts and games, as well new animation content for other evergreen franchises including "Looney Tunes" and "Scooby-Doo" and new attractions and content for the Harry Potter brand. And all of this entertainment will be supported by global licensing initiatives from the company's more than 3,700 active licensees.

Of course franchises aren't the sole purview of the studios. Nickelodeon named Chris Viscardi to the newly created role of senior vice president of content development in its Franchise Properties division, to oversee the creative direction of its key brands such as "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles," "SpongeBob SquarePants" and "Dora the Explorer."

Meanwhile, Hasbro, which has already seen great success translating its classic toy franchises into entertainment mainstays (think "My Little Pony" and Transformers), announced a new partnership with Paramount in December to bring five more of its brands to the big screen–G.I. Joe, Micronauts, Visionaries, M.A.S.K. and ROM.

In a similar move, video game company Activision Blizzard launched its own in-house studio to create film and television content based on its library of properties including "Skylanders" and "Call of Duty."

Clearly, the new M.O. for successful licensors in today's fast-paced market is the proliferation across genres, formats and product categories of a few, key evergreen brands.

The Year's Biggest Buys

Perhaps the biggest acquisition of the year was Sequential Brands Group's purchase of Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia, which brought together the world's No. 35 and No. 55 licensors (according to License! Global's annual Top 150 Global Licensors report). MSLO will add a new vertical to Sequential's platform that is expected to generate approximately $4 billion in annual global retail sales.

In 2015, Sequential also bought the apparel brand Joe's and took a 62.5 percent majority stake in the Jessica Simpson brand from the Camuto Group.

The apparel sector was rife with ownership changes in 2015. Saban added to its burgeoning portfolio of lifestyle brands when it bought the Australian surf brand Piping Hot in March, Cherokee acquired the casual lifestyle brand Everyday California and Authentic Brands Group bought the American fashion label Jones New York.

In a completely different sector, gaming company Activision bought "Candy Crush" creator King Digital Entertainment for a staggering $5.9 billion. With the acquisition, Activision Blizzard, the No. 107 largest licensor in the world, has taken a foothold in the mobile gaming space. The new, combined company's portfolio will include two of the top five highest-grossing mobile games in the U.S. ("Candy Crush Saga" and "Candy Crush Soda Saga"), the world's most successful console game franchise ("Call of Duty") and the world's most successful personal computing franchise ("World of Warcraft"). Then in early January, Activision bought Major League Gaming, which develops live gaming events. The purchase not only adds live streaming capabilities to Activision's roster, but also furthers the company's plans "to create the ESPN of e-sports," according to Bobby Kotick, chief executive officer, Activision Blizzard.

Other Big Moments from 2015: