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Licensing Int’l 2004

Jun 8, 2004

Jacob K. Javits Center, NY, NY

This year’s Licensing 2004 International kicked off with an exciting showcase of the power of licensing with “Licensing with Style”, a unique, runway-style presentation that translates concept into reality. The emcee for the

event was Finola Hughes, who is also the host of Style Network’s “How do I look?”.

The purpose? To reflect the the impact of today’s popular cultural icons wit the hottest licensing apparel and accessories that are helping to drive retail sales in today’s highly competitive marketplace. It has been estimated that revenues generated by licensing apparel and accessories generated somewhere in the neighborhood of $25.5 billion in retail sales.

Some of the players that were there were high-profile brands as Coca-Cola, Campbell Soup, DIC Entertainment, Mattel, MGA Entertainment, Nickelodeon, and many more. There was even a great press conference at 10:00am in the morning. Elizabeth Waiksinsin, the show’s director, expressed quite succinctly that the showcase will “put the spotlight on the end results,” and that this is “our way to illustrate the impact of licensing in our everyday lives and how it has transformed simple brand identification into a lifestyle statement.” That’s exactly what it did.

She further stated that “The sophisticated multi-billion dollar, worldwide business of licensing captures the spirit of brands in new and unique products that truly6 reflect the essence, look and feel that brands convey, bringing a little bit of spice and a whole lot of distinction to today’s apparel and accessories marketplace.”

Coca-Cola featured the Coca-Cola Clothing Collection, blending the elements of vintage-retro with clean and sophisticated trends to present stylish, fun and nostalgically novel men’s and women’s casual wear. Campbell Soup featured very trendy junior and men’s apparel, men and women’s cycle, along with hot accessories such as bags, bracelets, watches and hats.

DIC Entertainment highlighted everybody’s favorite little redhead, Strawberry Shortcake, with a new fall collection from Children’s Apparel Network, which featured hooded tops and skirts in embroidered French Terry, raglan T’s with denim bottoms and terry jog suits, trimmed in satin.

Statistically, 80% of last year’s exhibitors initialized and finalized deals at the site of the show, and 82% of have returned this year, to be joined by 200 new exhibitors, which included NASCAR, Bennetton, Yamaha, Save the Children Foundation, United States Mint, Build-A-Bear Workshop and more.

Given the size of the crowd at the show, it is quite probable that their expectations of an excess of 20,000 attendees from over 70 countries around the globe actually came to the show. There were 5,700 properties in categories ranging from corporate brands and trademarks to entertainment/character, publishing, art and design, not-for-profit and more.

Attendees were also able to get new insights into the lucrative licensing business through the comprehensive LICENSING University seminar program, which featured123 new sessions. There were some high-profile consumer brands that were also at the show, including McDonalds, Procter & Gamble, Jeep, H.J. Heinz, Kelloggs, Ford, Mattel, and many others.

Statistically, the LIMA sponsored report indicates that there was only a slight decrease (0.4%) over last year—with $5.8 Billion worth of royalty payments. Also the largest licensing market in the industry is still entertainment and character licensing. Trademarks and brands are right up next, followed by fashion categories.

All in all, the licensing industry has proven itself to remain stable despite today’s faulty economy, according to Charles Riotto, President of LIMA. This is quite impressive when you consider that the consumer confidence index was extremely low and there was no breakout hit film to spark the entertainment category.

“Overall, the outlook for 2004 looks brighter,” said Mr. Riotto. “The consumer confidence index is higher now, and already there are promising signs from the entertainment arena with great news about the new blockbuster films with great licensing potential coming out of Hollywood later this year and in 2005.”

One of the highlights of the show was the new “Hound Dog”, the most adorable stuffed pooch, complete with a black and white striped shirt (jailhouse), and blue suede shoes (self explanatory), reminiscing Elvis’s classic hits, “You Ain’t Nothing’ but a Hound Dog,” “Jailhouse Rock.” and “Blue Suede Shoes.”

This was a great show, and should remind everyone that not everything these days, businesswise, is slow. Anyone wishing more information on the Licensing 2004 may visit their website, at http://www.licensing.org.

Lidia Vita and Betty Coker are known as "The Dynamic Duo". The reason or this is they both work well hand-in-hand. They will cover trade shows, e.g. World Famous ENK shows, Fame shows, computer technology expos, gift shows and other trade shows and expos to educate you folks on how you can attend them, and give you exclusive, in-depth interviews with the vendors and the people behind these trade shows and the new products on the market. They will also educate you about different cultures and festivities. If you are interested in having the dynamic duo write about your festival or trade show, or have any comments or suggestions for them, please feel free to email them at dynamicduo@hadofnyc.org, or telephone them at our hotline, at (718) 507-7616 between the hours 8:00am and 8:00pm Monday through Friday.