What was your biggest concern about entering licensing?
Our biggest concern was the fact that we wouldn’t have the time necessary to invest in outreaching to – and building relationships with – licensors. We also had concerns about the upfront commitments and negotiation process.

You’re working with Born to License on your licensing journey. How have they helped make this a smooth process?
Born to License is helping us in every step of the process. They help us finding the right licenses, reaching out to them, negotiating and more. It allows us to focus on other areas of the business – and relax knowing that licensing projects are progressing smoothly and professionally.

Has anything surprised you about licensing so far?
It’s more accessible than we thought. We originally planned to wait another year before getting into licensing, but when we met David of Born to License, we understood that they would make it much easier and quicker for us to get into it… So we decided to start right away.

What do you feel is the key to successful creative collaborations between a company like yours and a brand owner?
The key to a successful collaboration in my opinion is an alignment in vision and values. It’s important for the two brands to share the values that customers connect with, reinforcing each other at the same time. Open and transparent communication is also very important to ensure the process goes smoothly.

Last question… How do you fuel your creativity? What inspires you?
Travelling. Being in different environments always brings fresh perspectives and ideas for me. The more I expose myself to different experiences, the more “pieces of puzzles” I can gather that can then be rearranged to create new ideas.

Good answer! Thanks again Benjamin.

The post Benjamin Hogue on bringing brands to Bandou appeared first on Brands Untapped.

Ha! So, toys won you over?
Yes! I loved the kids’ brands, the playful nature of it and I learnt a hell of lot during my time at Disney. I moved around a lot… I did girls’ toys, boys’ toys, outdoor toys and then moved onto stationery. Then my licensing journey really opened up when I joined Cartoon Network, working in brand assurance. I worked across most categories – softlines, hardlines, FMCG, marketing… I learnt a lot about bringing brands into products.

“Creative and commercial strategies should be intertwined from the very start of the process.”

Then I worked for a licensing agency called TLC, working on brands like The Gruffalo, Coca-Cola and Peanuts. That bridged a gap between licensee and licensor and gave me a thorough understanding of both areas. After that, I worked on the licensee side at EXG Pro – back when they were a start-up. I was there for nearly six years, creating amazing products and working with lots of different brands. With it being a start-up, I wore many different hats – it was a great experience being on the manufacturing side again.

Then David reached out – and I’d met David many moons ago during my time at Cartoon Network. We always stayed in touch then this job popped up and I couldn’t be more excited to have joined Born to License. The role brings all of the past 17 years’ worth of experience together, while still enabling me to learn a lot. It’s brilliant.

Yes, and your role is Head of Product Development. Not all agencies have this kind of capability in-house – what benefits does having a product development person in-house give an agency?
I’ve been at agencies in the past where sales lead the process, and as such, a lot of your time is spent ‘paper pushing’. In those instances, it’s largely focused on ticking boxes from a style guide. Don’t flip the character… Only use these Pantones… The difference with Born to License is that we’re giving licensees that are new to licensing real insights into why things will or won’t work. And having worked on all sides, I can give that advice.

Our clients are very established in their fields but most have never done licensing before. And we give a really good service to clients in helping them navigate this world, while also ensuring we create great product.

Yes, you’re not just there to help them get a deal, you’re there to help them create great product.
Exactly. And because I’ve been on their side of things before, I understand the challenges and opportunities in ways that I didn’t fully grasp when I worked solely in brand assurance. And it even extends to packaging and helping ensure their licensed range stands apart from their core ranges.

The other thing we’re doing is bringing new blood into the industry. That’s really important and ultimately benefits the wider industry – not just Born to License, our licensees and the brands they’re working with.

Born to License has 10 clients now, right?
Actually, we’ve now got 13. The number is growing quickly!

Ah! Brilliant! And these licensees span multiple sectors. What do you feel is key to successful creative collaborations between brand owners and licensees?
You’ve got to respect the brand you’re working on. Some new licensees don’t realise how much goes into crafting a licensed product. It’s not just about picking an asset and putting it on a product – the industry has evolved past brand-slapping. These products need to be authentic to the brands they’re licensing. There needs to be transparent conversations between the licensor and the licensee from an early stage, and that’s something I’m always eager to facilitate. Essentially, both sides need to listen to each other – and to me!

“We’re bringing new blood into the industry – that’s important and benefits the wider industry.”

Ha! Well on that, do you feel the role of product developers is respected enough in the licensing industry? Do they get the credit they deserve?
No! The industry is getting better at celebrating their creatives, but there’s still work to be done! And these areas – product development, brand assurance – are so niche… I think I know most people who this type of role. Legends like SEGA’s Sam Byard or Toikido’s Lucy Pearce… Look, the commercial side of things obviously matters, but without being true to brands or without great product, there won’t be sales.

Creative and commercial strategies should be intertwined from the very start of the process. David is a dream to work with because he’s a creative champion and is always keen to get my thoughts and take them on board. And sometimes, the licensee wants to do a product or a brand that we know won’t work, and we’re able to share insights and advice that a sales team may have not thought about. It’s a different perspective and an equally valid one. I’ve been lucky to work with plenty of commercial people who respected creative and product developers, and sought their opinion on things.

Jenna, this has been great. To wrap up, how do you stay inspired?
By having a genuine interest in the brands. When I see licensed product – and it’s good –I find that exciting. I’m always looking out for product – or exciting opportunities to build product. I see it everywhere.

Thanks again Jenna!

The post Jenna Chalkley – Head of Product Development at Born to License – on authenticity, creativity and collaboration appeared first on Brands Untapped.

Will, it’s great to meet you. You’re teaming up with Born to License to enter the licensing business. Why was now the right time for your company to take this step?
Now is the perfect time for licensing due to the explosion of media accessibility across TV, computers and phones. The abundance of content today presents a unique opportunity for Crazy Deuce Studios to expand into various brands and demographics. Licensing allows us to tap into this vast landscape, reaching a wider audience and enhancing our business growth.

How has working with Born to License make this jump smoother?
Born to License has been instrumental in smoothing the transition to licensing. They highlighted crucial aspects I hadn’t considered and provided invaluable support in getting Crazy Deuce Studios up and running. Their expertise and guidance have been key assets in our licensing journey.

Did you have any worries about entering licensing?
My biggest concern was effectively communicating the product’s benefits to both the licensor and the customer, ensuring they understand how it all comes together and the value it brings.

“We are excited to introduce a collectible card game that captures the nostalgia and excitement of past and current pop culture.”

What is something that’s surprised you about your licensing journey to date?
I’ve been pleasantly surprised by how much licensors care about their brands. They prioritise smart and respectful representation over quick profits. This dedication to brand integrity is something I greatly admire.

Now – I know this isn’t announced yet – so without saying anything you’re not allowed to, what should we expect from this collaboration that Born to License has helped put together with you?
We are excited to introduce a new collectible card game that captures the nostalgia and excitement of both past and current pop culture. This innovative game promises to offer a unique and engaging experience for fans.

What do you feel is the key to successful creative collaborations between a company like yours and a brand owner?
Successful creative collaborations hinge on clear communication. Both parties must understand and articulate their goals and ideas effectively. When there’s a shared vision and open dialogue, the collaboration is set for success

How do you fuel your creativity? What inspires you?
I fuel my creativity through various means, particularly music. Taking walks while listening to music often sparks new ideas for me. A melody or rhythm can inspire a creative breakthrough, and I’ll immerse myself in that song as the idea develops. My inspiration comes from a desire to leave a positive legacy. I aim to create something that brings joy and nostalgia to people while building a company where employees love to work and achieve their own dreams.

A nice note to end on. Thanks William. And good luck with the game launch.

The post Crazy Deuce Studios’ William Danz on his excitement – and concerns – about entering the licensing industry appeared first on Brands Untapped.

Makes sense. And why did Care Bears feel a neat fit for your business?
They have a great sense of humour and it’s a nostalgic brand that’s important to an age group that is our target market. They were also flexible, creative and supportive throughout the design process.

Good to hear. Did you have any worries about licensing before embarking on the journey?
The upfront commitment was a concern, since we were new to licensing… But we believe it was worth the investment to work with brands that could amplify our energy and appeal to new audiences.

How did Born to License help you navigate this new area?
We were not familiar with the licensing landscape at all, so they were crucial in developing a long-term strategy for partnering and helping us negotiate a deal that was positive for both sides.

“We want to be able to partner with brands that could help us reach new audiences.”

Product development-wise, how was this experience different from your non-licensed creative process?
It is always difficult to add further checks and approvals to a creative process, but a licensed partner has already spent countless hours and dollars to build a brand with a large amount of already curated creative assets. So, while approvals are necessary, the actual design process was quicker to produce a polished finished product that we know resonates with the audience.

Looking ahead, what other sorts of brands do you see yourselves working with down the road?
We have a lot on our wish list. It would be amazing to work with Universal, Disney, Mattel or Nintendo!

A great wish-list! Now, last question, what fuels your creativity? What inspires you?
Brands that go in the opposite direction to the rest of their industry. We have been selling love with hate for decades. It’s always exciting to see a brand do the unexpected!

Jac, thanks again!

The post Jac Griffin takes us inside Steven Singer Jewelers’ first licensed launch – a Care Bears Gold Dipped Rose appeared first on Brands Untapped.

Vincent thought it would be a great idea to mix cosplay with swimwear. Jasmine, a well-known cosplay influencer known as @CutiepieSensei, created “beach episode” designs of her favourite characters to test the appeal on her social media. After online trolls said swimwear couldn’t be cosplay, the two decided to build a brand based on the idea to prove the naysayers wrong. While the designs can be utilised for cosplay, the main focus was to create a premium pop culture fashion line designed with everyone in mind.

Vincent, Jasmine, it’s great to catch up. You’re working with the team at Born to License to enter the world of licensing. Why was now the right time for this? What do you feel it can do for your business?
Now is the right time for licensing because we’ve proven our product and built an audience of ‘true-fans’. We’ve proven that customers desire unique, ethical and high-quality clothing. We feel that licensing would not only help to propel our business and grow our audience, but also show the world that our vision and passion is legitimate and has an official ‘stamp’ of approval.

Did you have any concerns about entering licensing?
Our biggest concern about entering licensing was our vision and ethos being distorted due to corporate objectives and processes. Our vision is to truly merge the high-quality, premium fashion world with the wonderful world of pop-culture. There is a difference between the label of ‘merchandise’ and ‘fashion’ when it comes to clothing. As a small brand that’s enthusiastic about creating partnerships in the licensing space, we also worry about making mistakes as a new entry to this space.

How has Born to License helped make this jump smoother?
Born to License has been an amazing partner to work with! They have a large network and help us tremendously by connecting us with licensors, advocating for our brand and vision, as well as just guiding us every step of the way. We are thankful for Born to License and look forward to a hopefully long-lasting and growing partnership.

Is there anything that’s surprised you about your licensing journey to date?
We’ve been surprised at how many licensors will not work with businesses that have not had a license before. It draws similarities to searching for a career. You need experience to get experience, which makes your first career impactful to your entire career. In the same way, we feel that our first licensing partnership will be pivotal for all licensing partnerships moving forward.

Without saying anything that you can’t say, what should we expect from this licensed collaboration that Born to License has helped put together with you?
Our upcoming collaboration is something many of our fans have asked for and are looking forward to. We continually seek to grow our brand’s presence in the anime community and we believe our upcoming partnership will be the perfect opportunity to bridge anime merchandise with innovative, fashionable designs. Overall, we are excited to bring something new to this audience.

Nicely teased! Now, what do you feel is the key to successful creative collaborations between a company like yours and a brand owner?
We feel that the key to any collaboration is honest communication, the ability to offer something new, and mutual respect and passion for a brand.

Guys, this has been fun. One last question, how do you fuel your creativity?
First and foremost, we are inspired by all the creative media we’ve grown up enjoying and still enjoy today! Our combined backgrounds in costume design, game design, manufacturing, and technology help us to look at fashion from a very different perspective than the typical clothing brand. Bringing the combined passions from all of these fields helps to fuel our creativity as well. Lastly, positive feedback from our customer base continues to inspire and fuel us.

Fantastic! And good luck with your licensing debut!

The post Fira X Wear’s Vincent and Jasmine James on embracing licensing with Born to License appeared first on Brands Untapped.

Last year was a tough one and it prompted me to take a big step back and look at the business to see what else we could do to make cashflow more consistent and diversify the business. Because I have a relatively high profile in the licensing industry, when people research licensing online, they often come across me… Over the years, people come to us asking for help outside of the advertising space and we’ve always said no. It was getting to the point where we were getting 10 to 15 emails a day from people asking for help!

It became clear that I could solve two problems at the same time… I could help all these people that wanted our help, while diversifying the business and addressing my consistency concern with the advertising side of our business. So we set up Born to License and announced it to the industry earlier this year, on January 1st.

Fantastic. Can you talk me through some of the key aims and services for Born to License?
Well, there are some interesting comparisons with the Born Licensing part of the business. There, we work with advertising agencies who mostly don’t understand licensing and who need a lot of hand holding. We’re taking that very successful template and applying that to all other categories. We’ve signed 11 clients and have a few contracts out there now to sign more. My goal was to sign 10 by the end of 2024 to prove the model works, so to hit that within our first five months was great – it’s showed itself to be a business I can scale.

“All of the pain points associated with working with new companies is absorbed by us.”

The other nice thing is that we’re helping to grow the licensing industry, but these licensees that we’re working with were really struggling to get their foot in the door. They didn’t know who to contact or what to say. You can’t just send an email asking to have a certain character in a certain category. Every licensor is under-resourced and inundated with requests for licensing. You need to approach them in a certain way that gives them all the information they need to understand that it’s an opportunity they should be involved with. We can do that – we have great relationships with licensors. When we send an email or make a call, that email or call gets returned, because we don’t reach out to licensors unless we truly believe in the opportunity.

Are licensees coming to you with a firm idea of what they want to do in licensing?
Most of the time they come to us with a licence in mind. We’ll talk about that, but most will be suggesting the biggest, hottest brand of the moment… And these are licensees that have never done licensing before. We often have to explain that some licences are more difficult to get than others… With the very in-demand brands, you have to demonstrate that you understand licensing and can launch licensed products without any problems. So we’ll work to understand their consumers, their timing and their budget. Then based on that information, we’ll suggest properties that we believe is best for both parties – similar to how we’ll answer a brief on the advertising side.

And by working with companies new to licensing, you’re growing the pool of licensees engaging in our industry – something that will ultimately benefit lots of licensors.
Look at Funko. Their first licensed product was an Austin Powers bobblehead. If that deal hadn’t of worked, who knows if Funko would’ve gone on to become such a big player in licensing. If they had a bad experience with that first deal, they might’ve been put off licensing forever. Funko is such an important part of the licensing industry today – and that all rested on that first experience of licensing… That’s what we’re trying to with Born to License – we want to find the next Funko. Who’s the next company to have enormous impact in licensing and benefit the entire industry…

Are brand owners generally excited at the prospect of working with a company that’s totally new to licensing?
No.

Oh!
No! Most of the licensors we work with aren’t excited to work with companies new to licensing – and some have flat out rules to say they won’t work with companies that haven’t licensed things before. Those ones will say: “Come back us once they’ve launched their first licensed product and we’ll reassess things.”

This is what we want to clearly communicate to the licensing world. When we bring a new licensee to you, all of the pain points associated with working with new companies is absorbed by us. We manage the entire process. We present a proposal with forecasts, timings, SKU lists – everything a licensor needs to make a decision. There’s no back-and-forth with the licensee.

“The plan is to create strong business models that help grow our industry.”

We help with the licensing agreement to ensure the licensee understands all of the terms and understands the CMF needs to be paid and what that means. And once the contract is signed, we have Jenna Chalkley – our Head of Product Development – who is there throughout that entire stage, helping with approvals and making sure things go as smoothly as possible. We also help them with the royalty reporting, the CMF reporting, marketing commitment reporting… Anything that comes up, we help with and absorb that pain so licensors don’t experience any hand holding.

Smart! You mention Jenna there, and we have an interview with her coming next week. What edge does having a product development person in-house give an agency?
When I set up Born to License, I wanted to replicate the success we have with Born Licensing as much as possible. We are involved throughout that entire process with ad agencies to make things as smooth as possible, and we wanted to also do that here with Born to License. I wasn’t interested in just connecting two parties and then step out of the process. I don’t believe that’s a recipe for long-term success.

There are some really great licensing consultants out there doing similar work to us and I wanted us to have a real point of difference. Having Jenna on board gives us that and enables us to support the entire process. And it means we can have conversations about what to launch next. We can be ahead of the curve and position brand ideas for future launches… We want all of our clients to have a strong, long term licensing strategy. We want licensing to become a big part of their business for a long time. We don’t want clients that just dabble in licensing.

What sorts of categories are your current roster of clients working in?
The clients we’ve signed are pretty broad. Our licensees are in apparel, jewellery, gaming – both digital and board games. We have homewares clients… We’re not selective about the categories but we are selective about the clients. We want to make sure they’re serious about licensing and have suitable budgets to accommodate licensing.

We get a lot of companies come to us and they’re in their first or second year of sales and things are going quite well… It still might be too risky for a company like that to take on licensing. We encourage companies to keep building their business and customer base, so they can properly consider licensing when the time is right.

So our decisions aren’t focused on categories… It comes down to: Who is this company? How successful are they? How serious are they about licensing? How realistic are they about timings and affordability?

Great insights there, thank you. The first product to launch from one of your clients was the Care Bears gold-dipped rose from Steven Singer Jewelers. Is this launch indicative of what you want to be doing with clients?
Yes, and that was a process. They didn’t come to us saying: “We want a Care Bears license.” They came to us wanting to do licensing and they had a few ideas in mind. We had to work through the feasibility of what they wanted to do. The Care Bears team are amazing to work with and it was absolutely the right brand for Steven Singer Jewelers to work with as their first licensed launch. We know that will open doors to other licensors and we’re in the process of finalising their next license – there will be a new licensed rose coming later this year, which is very exciting.

But that project was exactly how we want to work with our clients. We really got to understand their product, their consumers and their appetite for licensing – and then found the perfect property for them to start with.

Great stuff. Now, I spoke to you last week about your aims for Born Licensing when that launched 10 years ago. What are your aims for Born to License? When do you want this business to be in 10 years?
Well, one of the key consistencies between launching Born Licensing and now launching Born to License is a focus on delivering incremental revenue to the licensing industry. It’s always been our focus and that will never change. If there are other ways to continue to diversify and deliver on that aim, I’ll certainly explore that.

The plan is to create strong business models that help grow our industry. I’m really passionate about licensing and the opportunities that our industry has given me… I’ve been in this industry since I was 20 years old and it means a lot to me – the people mean a lot to me. It’s the best industry that you can work in, full of people that are passionate, smart, creative… Just generally great people to be around.

I want to continue seeing the industry grow, innovate and be strong enough to let us all continue to do what we love to do.

Perfect note to end on. Thanks again David.

The post “We want to find the next Funko”: David Born on helping companies enter the world of licensing with Born to License appeared first on Brands Untapped.

I wanted us to become the leader in this back then and we certainly have. We’ve had four of our campaigns recognised at the global Licensing Awards. That’s been great. Looking back over the last 10 years, the quality of work that we’ve done and the hype around the campaigns we’ve worked on has met my expectations in terms of what I wanted to achieve.

What did those early days of the agency look like? Did you hit the ground running?
Well, it actually took a while… I don’t think our first campaign went live for 18 months. The next one went live a year later. It was a slow start and I don’t think I realised how challenging it would be to get started. I remember the launch of the MoneySuperMarket campaign with Skeletor and He-Man dancing to Dirty Dancing – that was the moment when I saw the real power of what I was doing.

In what sense?
Up until that point, I was having to pound the pavements and kick down ad agency’s doors to convince them that working with characters was a powerful strategy that would be beneficial. Once that campaign went live, everyone accepted my meeting requests! Ad agencies were desperate to talk to me about this campaign because it was so successful… The campaign became my elevator pitch. I’d mention that to people in licensing or advertising and they’d grasp exactly what we do.

Since then we’ve had a number of high profile campaigns… The Direct Line campaign with Robocop, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and Bumblebee – that was really successful. We had the Buddy the Elf campaign with Asda which won Christmas in 2022. There’s been a lot of others along the way.

What were some of the misconceptions that ad agencies had about using characters back when you were starting out?
One of the biggest challenges was that they didn’t have the relationships. If they wanted to work with a character, they didn’t know who to speak with or they’d get passed around a licensor… And ad agencies need to work quickly. In the last 24 hours, we’ve had seven agencies come to us with briefs – and they need quick answers on feasibilities. They need to be able to move onto another idea quick if something isn’t feasible, so they need quick answers and immediate guidance. If it’s going to take three or four weeks to find the right person at a licensor to speak with, the idea is likely already gone.

So relationships was the big one, but ad agencies also didn’t understand the fundamentals of how it all works in terms of how licensing deals are structured or what parameters they need to work with. The amount of times an agency has said to us: “If we get the licence, can we do whatever we want with the character?” They didn’t understand how much work is involved and what the process is… That’s still the case with some agencies today, but we’ve done a good job in helping agencies grasp the benefits of licensed characters, as well as how much time and budget they need to be allocating to licensing.

“Any character can be placed in an unusual setting, but they need to react to that setting in an authentic way.”

I wanted to dive into the benefits of using characters above using real celebrities. Over the last 10 years, we’ve seen plenty of celebrities get called out for bad behaviour, or ‘cancelled’. Has this aligned neatly with the argument to embrace characters instead?
Yes. We’re always comparing characters to celebrities and always encouraging ad agencies to consider characters more. We did a study a few years ago called ‘A Case for Characters’ that reviewed thousands of ads and calculated how many included a character and how many included a celebrity. We found that fictional characters only appeared in 1.1% of UK advertising, compared to celebrities, sports stars and musicians who collectively appeared in 14.5% of UK advertising. It’s still the same today.

We’re trying to educate the ad industry about the power of characters and how they can be more powerful than celebrities when used in the right way. They don’t come with any of the risk associated with celebrities. You don’t need to worry about characters showing up to a shoot late, or having unreasonable demands, or dying unexpectedly, or getting caught doing cocaine, or cheating on their spouse, or drink driving, or posting something controversial on Twitter… Characters aren’t going to do any of those things! With celebrities, you never know… Characters are easier to work with and you know what you’re buying.

Great point. Now, what do you see as being key to successful creative collaborations between ad agencies and licensors?
It needs to be truly authentic. We see a lot of draft scripts that feature a character doing something that’s not natural to them. They never go down well with a licensor and when they reject that, it actually does the advertiser a favour, because the advertiser doesn’t want a campaign that’ll annoy fans.

Any character can be placed in an unusual setting, but they need to react to that setting in an authentic way. We’ve seen Skeletor and He-Man dance to Dirty Dancing! That sounds like it would be unnatural for those characters, but there were things we added to the script to make it feel authentic. We’ve seen Robocop come to the rescue for an office that has had belongings stolen from it. The idea of him doing that feels unusual, but again, the way we did the script made it feel authentic to the character. When we get a script, we ask: Where is the character? How are they behaving? Does it feel authentic?

Great examples. Diving into the Skeletor and He-Man MoneySuperMarket ad for a moment… How did that one come about?
Well, everyone remembers Skeletor and He-Man dancing to Dirty Dancing, but what people don’t remember is a campaign that launched six months prior to that… It focused on Skeletor dancing down a British street to Fame and ended with He-Man saying: “Skeletor, you’re so MoneySuperMarket!” That was an amazing production that was really well received. It gave everyone involved the confidence that the Dirty Dancing ad would be a high level production.

What was interesting with this one is that we had Mattel involved – as Masters of the Universe is their IP – but we also had Lionsgate involved for Dirty Dancing. So two licenses needed to be signed and two licensors needed to approve all of the material. There were elements in the original script that had to change… A lot of that was about ensuring characters behaved authentically.

For example, one moment in the ad sees He-Man spin Skeletor around. In order to demonstrate He-Man’s strength, you see him spin Skeletor into the bathroom wall. That wasn’t in the original script. It was something Mattel asked for to remind audiences of He-Man’s strength and it turned out to be a memorable moment in the ad.

Did you have a sense it was going to resonate in the striking way that it did?
The Fame ad was very successful and people were talking about it in the ad industry, but the Dirty Dancing one truly went viral. I remember being at a friend’s house for dinner when it went live and I did my tradition of taking a photo of myself in front of the TV during the ad’s debut. Then I went back to dinner and didn’t think about it. Then I got a message from the agency saying: ‘Have a look at Twitter!’ There were three trending hashtags about the ad. The next day we discovered that MoneySuperMarket – in terms of mentions on Twitter – went from 100 mentions a day to 36,000 mentions an hour.

Wow.
It completely blew up. The thing that made me realise the virality of it was that my partner’s mum – who lives in Brazil – sent me a message saying: ‘Have you seen this?’ and it was the ad. She didn’t know I worked on it and MoneySuperMarket only has a presence in the UK… It was a UK only ad and it had somehow made it to my mother-in-law in Brazil. It turns out that it made it onto Brazilian news, so that’s how she knew about it. All in all, it had around 26 million views in the first 24 hours. It was crazy.

And then I imagine the next question is ‘What’s next?’…
Yes, and we then did the amazing Action Man campaign, where he dances to CeCe Peniston’s Finally.

Fantastic. And who was the ad agency for those?
Mother London.

Great work. And what sectors tend to work best for these kinds of ads?
Boring brands in boring categories… Things like financial services… Insurance. Those areas have to come up with very creative advertising because it’s a very competitive space and the product is boring. No-one wants to think about buying insurance!

We want to see more advertisers do fresh campaigns with characters – and embrace campaigns that can build over a three, four, five-year period. That said, the world changes so quickly these days and brands change advertising agencies, so it can sometimes be a challenge to keep an advertising theme going for multiple years. But using a character in a campaign over a longer period will always be more successful than a quick in-and-out campaign.

You mention ad agencies needing to work fast. How long do these projects usually take, from script to airing?
There’s a lot of variables. It depends on the licensor and how quickly they work. Some work fast and some are notoriously slow – and the same is true on the licensee side with advertisers. Some have very long processes and a long list of stakeholders. It also depends on the scope of the campaign. Will it have a 60 or 90 second hero spot with a lot of other material? Or will it be a 30 second spot? Or maybe there’s no moving media? We’re working on a campaign in New Zealand at the moment that’s just billboards. That will be a lot faster to execute.

With the big campaigns, six months can be tough… 12 months is good! Again, it all depends. With our Buddy the Elf campaign with Asda, we started that conversation in the March and the campaign launched in the November.

I wanted to also dig into your process. How much is your creativity fuelled by specific briefs? Or are you always generally thinking of how certain brands could benefit certain campaigns?
The more of our work the advertising industry sees, the more they trust us enough to bring us into the process at a very early stage. They’ll come to us with a brief, the type of character they’re looking for and an early script featuring that character. Then they’ll say: “But, if we can find a similar character, that would be great.” They’ll give us their budget, their timing and we’ll get to know their creative team. We’ll work with them on the best idea – and the most feasible idea.

The Direct Line is a great example of that. The first script we saw didn’t mention Robocop, the Turtles or Transformers. They were interested in other characters that just weren’t feasible from a creative standpoint or from a budget standpoint. We took their brief and then presented them with around 150 characters that we felt we suitable.

Wow! 150.
Yeah! That list really helped us crystallise what they were looking for, and then we thinned that list down to a top 50. Then we reduced it down to the top 10 and that’s when we went and had conversations with the licensors to gauge feasibility. The three that fell perfectly into place were Donatello, Bumblebee and Robocop. That’s typical of our process with agencies. Our goal is to always keep the creative intact, even if we have to change what they originally had in mind character-wise.

Has the advertising industry changed over the last 10 years in any ways that have impacted Born Licensing?
It used to all be about the big TV ad, whereas now, with digital advertising, there’s a lot more content needed. They’ll still want the TV ad, but they’ll also want 25 social media videos or 10 five second YouTube ads. Sometimes we’ll sign a license and instead of 30 to 40 pieces of material, we’re now seeing 100 or 200 pieces on content. One discussion we’re in at the moment looks like it might involve 1000 pieces of material… That is indicative of the amount of content companies feel they need in order to hit every consumer where they are – on social, online, on TV, on radio, in-store, in print, via newsletters… It makes for a lot more work than it used to.

David this has been great. Before we wrap up… We’ve spoken about some of the big campaigns you’ve worked on since Born launched. Is there a somewhat underrated campaign – or one that people maybe won’t be as familiar with – that still holds a special place in your portfolio?
There’s a few… One was our first Super Bowl campaign. That was for Facebook and it used thematic elements from Rocky. It had Sylvester Stallone on the Rocky stairs – that was really exciting for us because we’d never done a Super Bowl ad before.

Another that comes to mind is a British Airways campaign we did with Winnie the Pooh. Working with such an iconic brand was really great to be involved with, particularly for their special centenary campaign.

One other I’d love to mention is a US one – more and more of our business comes from North America these days. It was with GEICO and Angry Birds. What was interesting with this is that the Angry Birds team saw a spike in downloads for the game while the campaign was out. We’re very focused on delivering incremental revenue to the licensors we work with – and the licensing industry as a whole – but we do realise that our campaigns deliver more than just a license fee… They deliver a halo effect for brands that have a lot of indirect revenue associated with them.

Rovio enjoyed a spike in downloads during that campaign and that would’ve had indirect revenue benefits for them as well. The same goes for our Skeletor and He-Man campaign – retailers were putting out more Masters of the Universe product than they usually would. When our Action Man campaign launched, there was a spike in sales of Action Man action figures. There are lots of benefits like this for licensors that lend their IP to advertising campaigns.

Great point to end on. Thanks again David. And congrats again on 10 years of Born Licensing.

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