Delivering diversity and engagement

Promotional licensing is the next big thing in marketing. Brands in India are undoubtedly recognising the value that licensed properties bring to their product(s) both in terms of appeal and product sales. Promotional licensing did collapse but has gained a resurgence of interest since few years. A potential promotional licensing programme not only helps you gain a new promotional partner, but also valuable marketing experience, which implies saving precious time/money while you hone your marketing focus.

Upbeat about the market situation, Gaurav Brar, Director, Cartoon Network Enterprises, South Asia, Turner, informs,  “One in every three consumer promotions in the market today is launched with a popular character and does extremely well in driving sales.”

Setting it apart

India is fast establishing itself as a strong potential market in the future world of licensing and promotional licensing is one of the first active portfolios in India. Promotional licensing can be tailored to organically match the brands and property/film’s theme, thus opening out a whole range of marketing opportunity. In the midst of a brain storming session with an industry expert, I understood that the concept of promotional licensing is based on a ‘quick entry and quick exit’ format.

Sandeep Dahiya, Senior Vice President-Consumer Products & Communications, Viacom 18 Media Private Limited, explains it in a layman’s language: The most exciting part of the promotional licensing deal for a consumer is that they receive a character/brand-based product that’s exciting and comes free with another product.

Susmita Singh Deo, Head-Marketing & Communication, Dream Theatre Pvt Ltd, shares her understanding of the USP of a promotional licensing deal and says that it allows licensees to leverage brand attributes and therefore create both incremental revenue and a positive brand rub-off for their brands in a very short period of time. “Promotional licensing is a high performance delivery model for licensees, where you see the impact immediately,” says Deo. From a long term aspect, it brings great value to the licensee as properties are seen as having similar attributes as the licensed brands, reflecting the same values, be it WWE, Superman, Tom and Jerry, Power Rangers or Ben 10.

International licensing industry expert, Martin Brochstein, SVP-Industry Relations and Information, LIMA, says, “What sets apart promotional licensing with a product license is that promotional licensing could be used tactically by brands to do a quick promotion without committing themselves to product and packaging innovation. Promotional licensing also allows a brand to capitalise on the ‘recency’ factor and buzz around the movie or TV animation character.”

What makes Promotional Licensing click in India

Promotional licensing has proved its dynamism over the last 2-3 years in the country and the reasons that could be cited are many – growing popularity of kids’ characters, increasing pester power of kids, learning from the developed markets and finally, success of many promotional licensing programmes of Indian companies and India-based MNCs. Dahiya comments, “Today, more and more companies, especially FMCGs,  targeting the kids, are trying to have a sustained 12-month promotional licensing calendar and that speaks for the success of promotional licensing in India.”

Deo says, “Promotional licensing is strategically important from an India perspective. We have seen it go from strength to strength in the last 10 years.” Devendra Chawla, President - Food & FMCG, Future Group, opines, “Consumer goods brands are now increasingly using movie tie-in to promote their brands and riding the visibility that studios invest in before and during the movie release. These products range from toys and apparels to school utilities and food products. In the last one year, we’ve also seen popular classic and TV animation characters being increasingly used for promotional licensing.”

The journey so far

Way back in 2002, Cartoon Network and Cadbury India had announced a one-year promotional license agreement where the first promotion was toon mug offer. A 500 gram Bournvita pack came with a mug featuring some of the best loved Cartoon Network characters, according to an official press release. Toon buffs got a choice of over six toon mugs, including The Powerpuff Girls, The Flintstones, Scooby-Doo, Johnny Bravo, Dexter and Tom & Jerry. The Bournvita promotion was supported by television commercials and in-store advertising. Today, Cartoon Network has licensing deals with FMCG brands like Nutrine Confectionary Company Limited, United Biscuits Pvt Ltd, Cadburys and Wrigleys, and QSR, YUM! Restaurants.

Deo shares her experience and says, “We have had some great successes with Tom and Jerry from our Warner Bros portfolio with brands like Kissan, Horlicks and Kelloggs to name a few and have many more promotions lined up for the future across all the brands we represent.”

Dahiya cites the most recent example, where Nick had a promotional licensing deal with McDonald’s for SpongeBob SquarePants Happy Meal. It was executed in over 120 outlets and kids could receive any of the seven exciting SpongeBob SquarePants products on ordering a Happy Meal. “The whole scheme received such a great response that McDonald’s has already signed another such deal with SpongeBob SquarePants for 2012 as well,” he says.

“The categories, which are doing very well as far as promotional licensing is concerned, include QSR, breakfast cereals, personal care and telecom,” says Divya Pathak, Director-Marketing, SPE Films India. Deo adds that success across categories depends on the brand fits and the execution of the promotions. She says categories like biscuits, candies, malted food drinks and cereals work well with respect to promotions.

Chawla points out that prominent shampoo brands have been using promotional licensing to drive growth and market shares. Besides this, toys, stationery and apparels are poised to see immense growth. It is understood that categories are being added every year as the promotional license concept is gaining momentum.

Samar Qureshi, Director, Fast Trax Food Pvt Ltd says, “Many forms of promotional licensing exist; amongst which sports licensing, entertainment licensing, brand licensing and celebrity licensing are the ones that have gained momentum and are going to be the growth engines for marketing and advertising in the times to come.”

Making the consumers happy

Deo says that they have received excellent feedback from both licensees and consumers. “The proof lies in the majority of our licensees coming back to us for creating more and more promotions,” she says. Dahiya says, “The response has been great and the fact that more and more companies are doing it today is a testimony of the same. Every consumer loves freebies and if that freebie happens to be an exciting product (that you normally won’t get in the market), it makes it even more exciting.”

“Promotional licensing has also opened up a new paradigm in the way products are marketed to the consumers and the response has been phenomenal,” comments Chawla.

It goes without saying that an emerging and promising segment is movies. Fast Trax’s association with Hollywood movie ‘Tintin’ has given them a lot of appreciation as Tintin is a family brand. “We all have grown up reading Tintin and by doing such a promotion, we were able to serve a larger set of customers,” says Qureshi.

“Customers felt happy and proud to see Fast Trax’s association with Tintin, which provided us with an opportunity to target differing market demands. While we built upon the existing customer base, the association also harnessed an overall tremendous response from children, youth, parents and families alike,” Qureshi further adds.

Experience and expectations

Considering the excitement, thrill and freshness – which are the constant demands from today’s young generation – coupled with the advent of promotional licensing, there is a new dawn for the advertisers and the marketers.

“If a brand is careful in choosing the right premia options (with good media amplification) and the right platform to have an interface with the customer, the probability of success would be higher,” confirms Chawla.

“Our association with Hockey World Cup, Commonwealth Games, IPL and now a Hollywood movie on Tintin showcases the versatility of Fast Trax in adapting to differing market scenarios. Each of these experiences was varied, differing, yet thoroughly gratifying and allowed us to build upon the existing knowledge base that we have developed,” adds Qureshi.

Over the last few years, the Indian licensing industry has undergone a lot of change and witnessed varied activities. As companies compete for a market share, the trend of movie-tie ups is likely to gain ground to differentiate their offerings.

Pathak opines, “Sony Pictures is seeing fabulous growth in promotional licensing as brands see the value that films bring to their product(s). We are in the process of working on some great promotions for our upcoming films like ‘Men in Black 3’, ‘The Amazing Spider Man’, ‘Skyfall (Bond 23)’, ‘Total Recall’ and others. India is just opening out to promotional licensing – the evolving consumer demands it.”