Licensees are the lifeline of the licensing ecosystem. They are the ones that ultimately translate valuable IP into merchandise and services, allowing brand recognition to grow and a property to flourish with consumers around the world. But what do they need to thrive in the ever-changing consumer landscape? 

In the latest installment of “License Global Live,” Amanda Cioletti, event and content director, licensing, Informa Markets, is joined by Valentin Ortiz, chief executive officer, STOR, and Jeremy Orriss, licensing director, Difuzed, to focus specifically on the EMEA region. 

Through exploring the latest trends, the panel gave exclusive insight into what it takes to bring a brand to shelf in Europe and how things have especially shifted during these unprecedented times. 

“At the moment [the industry] is on a rocky period because every time there is a new launch [clients] expect big money for it, but the reality is it’s not going to happen overnight because we have production issues and everything else, and the opportunity may disappear,” says Orriss. “We can negotiate different parts of the contract that actually rewards success if we work together to make it a success. That’s something where I think the industry must look very carefully, because I still talk to people where [they say] ‘your minimum guarantee should be 75% of your projection. Do you not know how this works?’ and that’s just so old-fashioned and gone from the real world.” 

The new licensing world sees a lot more guess work as to what properties will be worth creating a merchandise line for, with some companies opting to become the brand owner of their own property.  

“I think a successful relationship is based on information of novelties and marketing activation, information about the brand’s retail activation that the licensor is going to provide to us,” says Ortiz. “Of course, what is most important to me is to understand how the conditions of the contract are being maintained across the duration of the [deal] with the licensor.” 

Want to learn more? You can still check out this webinar on-demand by clicking here.