Hasbro, eOne, Crunchyroll and Chupa Chups are the latest mega brands to be confirmed for the Festival of Licensing Live Stage during the event’s opening week (Oct. 6-8, 2020), which is powered by Brand Licensing Europe. Festival of Licensing is a month-long virtual celebration of the global licensed consumer product industry that will bring together the world’s most powerful brands for four weeks to do business, strike deals, network, learn and so much more.
Fifty live keynotes, presentations and on-demand sessions have been confirmed to-date for Festival of Licensing, which runs Oct. 6-29 and incorporates three curated regional events for the world’s largest licensed consumer product markets – Europe, Asia and the Americas – and culminates with the global C-suite and executive-level virtual conference, Licensing Leadership Summit.
New content for the Live Stage, sponsored by Crunchyroll:
- Tuesday, Oct. 6, 2020 at 12:40 pm BST: Creative agency Tela Italia, WildBrain CPLG Lifestyle and Perfetti Van Melle will join forces for the presentation “Chupa Chups: The Secret to Keeping Art Stories Sweet,” which looks into the creative energy behind Chupa Chups’ licensing success, and the importance of design as a tool for reinforcing brand relevance and uniqueness.
- Tuesday, Oct. 6, 2020 at 3 pm BST: Senior executives from Hasbro + eOne, including Global Consumer Products General Manager and Senior Vice President Casey Collins, will present “Fuelling Franchises Together.”
- Wednesday, Oct. 7 at 3 pm BST: “Anime: The Inescapable Hit of Licensing – Powered by Crunchyroll” will show how anime licenses are powerful, audience-driving brands that offer sustainability in a crowded market. Crunchyroll speakers include Joellen Ferrer, Vice President, Global Communications and Corporate Marketing; Terry Li, Head of 360 and General Manager, Games; John Leonhardt, Head of Consumer Products; John Easum, Head of EMEA; and Waell Oueslati, Director of Acquisitions and Licensing, EMEA.
New content available to view on-demand beginning Oct. 6 includes:
- Yasuo Miyakawa, who has the enviable title of Chief PAC-MAN Officer and CEO of Bandai Namco Entertainment, presents “Nurturing a Legend: 40 Years of PAC-MAN.”
- Hussein Khalid, Director of the Information Technology Department, Sanrio, and Greg Holtzman, Marketing Director, Brainbase, are collaborating for “Why Sanrio Partnered with Brainbase to Streamline their Global Licensing Business.”
New content available to view on-demand beginning Oct. 20 (week 4, Licensing Leadership Summit) includes:
- Executives from Jazwares, Extreme Concepts, IHL Apparel Group, Best Accessory Group and The Brand Liaison take a broad look at the licensing landscape and unique business terms in light of COVID-19 in the session, “What do Licensees Want?”.
- Stephen Glockenmeier, Vice President, Marketing, Corporate Brand Licensing and Consumer Channels, American Red Cross, and Stu Seltzer, President, The Seltzer Licensing Group, investigate charity brand licensing and the importance of brand purpose to consumers with a deep dive case study.
- Sesame Workshop is mobilizing quickly to respond to the pandemic, racial injustice and current events to support the needs of young children and their families, adjusting continually as 2020 evolves. In the talk, “Orchestrating Speed-to-Market: How to Make Everything Hum in Concert,” Gabriela Arenas, Vice President, Licensing, North America, Sesame Workshop, will discuss how the non-profit is pivoting its speed-to-market approach to provide Sesame Street resources during these challenging times.
A series of sessions curated by industry trade association and Festival of Licensing partner Licensing International will also be available to view on-demand during all three regional weeks, include:
“What You Need to Know to do Business In…” series
15- to 20-minute on-demand sessions covering information on market size, local licensing and retail trends, business practices and much more for France, Russia, Germany, China, Japan, India, Brazil and Mexico.
“Basics of Licensing” series
Licensing 101 on-demand sessions available to view in local languages: French, Russian, German, Chinese, Japanese, Spanish, Portuguese and English.
“We are so excited to have such incredible brands, campaigns, products and individuals on the Festival of Licensing content program. The depth and breadth of topics being covered in-region and being made available globally is just phenomenal. What’s more, we still have three hugely inspirational keynote speakers to announce,” said Anna Knight, Vice President, Licensing, Informa Markets.