Licensing facts unraveled

The first session of Brand Licensing India 2010 kickstarted with Martin Brochstein, Sr. VP-Industry Relations and Information, LIMA, USA, speaking  on “Brand Licensing in India: An overview” in which three prominent dignitaries of the trade,  Michelle Minieri, President, Bradford Licensing, USA; Rajiv Sangari, CEO, Spacetoon India; and Marc Mikulich, VP-Brand Mgt and International Rights, Wiley Professional Trade Group, US   expressed and shared their views. Brochstein gave an account of LIMA, with statistics of 1100 members in 30 countries. He also elaborated on demographic trends that support Brand Licensing in India. Following suit shortly, Michelle Minieri elaborated on understanding the role of agents, the must-do checklists for prospective licensees like company background, category and industry analysis, viability, distribution capabilities, etc. Rajiv Sangari cited main reasons of its low take off in India like piracy, 94 per cent share of unorganised retail and Bollywood fixation, etc. Marc Mikulich talked about Wiley’s published title series ‘For Dummies’ next.

In the second session, Safir Anand, IP Partner, Anand and Anand; and Chander Lall, IP Partner, Chander M Lall discussed key legal aspects of license agreement for licensees and licensors for a good negotiation.  Also, what is IP right and how they can add value to a licensing business, piracy in Bollywood, owner of IP, scope of issues, trademark, divisibility of copyright, design and pattern, identification of intellectual property, etc were other topics that came up in the discussion. Shortly, Kelvyn Gardner, MD, LIMA,UK joined the band wagon and shared his views  on trust involved in licensing agreement in matters like financial, protection, and importance of boosting awareness, etc. He also discussed the importance of drafting licensing agreement and stressed on careful reading of the agreement.

In third session, which was on royalties, risks and advanced financial know how, Kelvyn Gardner    discussed on the benchmarks for fixing royalty rates and current trends, key elements of license agreements, royalty as percentage of sales, audit, royalty rates, etc.

Rob Ridder, Partner, Bradford spoke on legal points involved in licensing relationship and also the importance of reading contract properly from beginning till signing of the contract.

 The fourth session was on Brand Partnership where Atulit Saxena, COO, Future Brands spoke on brand licensing, consumer insights, brand licensing solution-partnership.  He also cited case study of McNoe in terms of their products Axe, Set up and Wild Stone, Secret Temptation, etc. He concluded with example of Sachin Tendulkar who has been licensed for Sach Soaps, Sach Toothpaste, etc as a case of “Brand Extension”.

The topic for the fifth session, “Behind the Scenes”, started with Brochstein explaining how international licensors should approach and structure their business in emerging market like India.  Anurag Rajpal, VP-Apparels, Spencer’s Retail defined and analysed a brand for its licensing worth, while emphasising on creation of licensing brands with well thought out diverse product lines. He discussed in detail, what is brand licensing? What are the admired brands? What are the great products, what are the categories: whether it is apparel, fragrance, toys, etc. The discussion extended to ways of generating new revenue streams and process of licensing, how it works, mismatched expectation, the logic behind, etc. Chandan Savera, Head-Retail, Creative Portico joined him as he explained in details licensing of characters like Barbie, Hanaah Montana and Pooh, and shared the enormous unexplored   scope lying there.

In the last session of the day, Atulit Saxena initiated licensing facts and the private label opportunity by speaking about licensing of foreign brand category in India. He talked about their best selling brand Shruti.  Anurag Rajpal compared brands versus private labels while laying emphasis on the fact that even if a brand sells more than private label, still private label has value space and brands and private labels coexist. Joining in the discussion, Gardner discussed private label opportunities which are not just in the interest of a big brands but equally lucrative for small and mid-sized retailers.     

DAY 2

First session began with a discussion on the future of sports licensing in India where Brochstein spoke on global business of sports licensing. Here he defined sports licensing as about passion and fashion, category of merchandise in sports, growing popularity in India, business models that would work. He also discussed multi level licensing, collegiate licensing and games that are big internationally and hence lucrative for licensing.

In the discussion, he was joined by Sangeet Shirodkar, Business Director, The Right Picture who spoke on sports licensing properties and the importance of choosing a consistent brand for licensing in respect to cricket.

Next in line was Anand Dhand, Head-Sales and Distribution, Nokia Tej who spoke about Nokia Tej and its usefulness for SMBs.  Partnered with Sify, the technology reduces paper work and manual error. He said that they presently have 1000 subscribers and the subscription rate is 500 per month.

In the following session, Rajpal spoke on the importance of Licensing Style wherein he also discussed how some brands fail but keep coming back and the reasons of their failure. He also gave examples of Dockers that made two unsuccessful entries but still seeking a third entry in India. He gave examples of other brands also. Following him, Brochstein discussed the motivation for licensing, ie, enhancing visibility, extending brand’s equity, entering new categories with knowledgeable licenses and create new revenue stream. He cited case study of JEEP.

Next topic was Entertainment Licensing wherein Gardner shared that except in India, entertainment holds 50 per cent share in rest of the world. In Europe and UK, entertainment licensing continues to outperform. He cited shares of some popular characters, such as Ben 10 having 6.3 per cent; Star Wars, 6.7 per cent; pre-school products enjoy a share of 25 per cent, licensed merchandise for 5-8 years is 27 per cent and for 9-14 years it is 13 per cent in categories of toys, videos, videogames, footwear, school stationeries, etc.  Brochstein asserted that the business of future, entertainment holds 50 per cent share in rest of the world except India where licensing rules fashion.

This session was followed by talks on Corporate Licensing in which Minieri discussed best practices involved in Llcensing agreement like taking a background check/overview, whether it is private or public ltd company, number of years in business, continual update, etc. Gardner joined in and Mikulich of Wiley Professional Trade Group talked about Wiley’s published title series ‘For Dummies’ wherein he discussed the licensing of the title and its various aspects.

The last in the list of conclusion was Celebrity License, where Brochstein   shared that the celebrity image must justify a brand. And Minieri talked in depth giving example of Marylin Monroe whose account they are handling.  Shirodkar joined her while giving insights into Indian celebrity licensing, why some brands fail and what do licensees expect out of celebrity licenses. Also, an example cited was “Why Sachin Tendulkar is a popular property?”

A very interesting topic discussed was the advantages and disadvantages of licensing dead and alive celebrities.  The speakers gave an interesting insight into how a brand can get affected due to personal traits like behaviour and problems.