Licence for success

The Brand Licensing and Merchandising Show, organised by License India, commenced on a spirited note welcoming the attendees to the realm of licensing & merchandising with the Conference Chairperson, Mr Martin Brochstein, SVP - Industry Relations & Information, LIMA sharing his views on  - ‘Is your brand licensing material’. Mr Martin gave a broad global overview of the licensing industry including the top merchandise categories, the business size of the licensing industry and its growth prospect.

Day 1

The first day also saw the enlightening and the very engaging presentation by Ms Roshini Bakshi, Vice President, Licensing & Merchandising, Publishing, Retail, The Walt Disney Company (India) and Mr Devendra Chawla, Head-Private Brands, Future Group. The presentation caught the rapt attention from the audience for its dual perspectives analysed from the angle of a licensor, represented by Ms Bakshi, and a licensee that Mr Chawla represented. The success of Future Group’s Tasty Treat product categories through licensing fascinated the delegates present there and also prompted them to hurl questions to the speakers to know more about the inside story.  The session ended with an interesting interaction among media, delegates and speakers.

In the second half, the conference was graced by some well known names in the licensing industry that include Mr Rajiv Sangari, CEO, Spacetoon India; Mr Samir Bangara, COO, Indiagames; and Ms Sunita Kapur, Head-Licensed Products Division, Sterling Publishers Pvt Ltd. The session covers the potential of licensing and how one can empower a brand through this business tool. It touched upon the issues like licensor-licensee relationship, the role of a licensing agent, the variations in royalty rates and innovation in selecting licensing partners keeping in mind the varied product categories.

Day 2

The second day of the conference dealt with specific topics like character, fashion, corporate, sports, retail and licensing. The day kicked off with a presentation by Mr Ashish Kulkarni, CEO, Big Animation. In this visually appealing session the attendees came to know about the making of Little Krishna, the home grown character which has made its mark globally. The power of character is once again underlined by the licensing deals it has snapped across various categories including agarbattis and car accessories.  .

This was followed by the session on Fashion Licensing presented by industry experts - Mr Rahul Gambhir, Director-Licensing, Tommy Hilfiger; Mr Abhinav Kumar, COO, Brand Concepts Pvt Ltd; and Mr Anurag Rajpal, VP-Apparel Brands, Spencer’s Retail Ltd who upheld the issue of true partnership between a licensor and licensee that goes beyond royalty and minimum guarantee to chalk out a successful business plan.

The essentials about Corporate Licensing were exclusively discussed by Mr Brochstein, followed by a discussion on how licensing agents are facilitating licensing deals by Ms Dwijorani Senjam, Director, Extend Brands. Ms Deepa Thomas, Senior Manager, Corporate Communications & Pop Culture made the last presentation, which was fraught with interesting facts and figures, and key pointers that comprise sports licensing. She also spoke about the role of e-commerce in this context.

A brief delegates-speakers interaction with Mr Brochstein over tea concluded the two-day Brand Licensing and Merchandising Show 2010 equipping the attendees with the updated knowledge in licensing and merchandising industry.