These games will be included in SmashSwing’s golf entertainment library and will be playable at their licensed venues in Canada, New York and Europe from late summer.

“Asteroids and Centipede will bring a new level of excitement to our giant cinematic screen sizes with multi-player gaming technology,” said SmashSwing CEO TJ Schier.

“These licensed IP brands are the first of many that will allow us to deliver a steady stream of games and tap into iconic, ardent fan bases to drive players into our venues. These collaborations will elevate the user experience and drive repeat visits to SmashSwing locations.”

The partnership was negotiated by Atari’s licensing agent, Beanstalk.

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The collection includes a retro football shirt, full zip jacket and scarf, each featuring a custom-designed Back Home crest and tribute elements inspired by Ozzy’s career.

AVFC Sport and Leisure in the Bullring will also debut a dedicated Ozzy Osbourne memorabilia display later this week, featuring rare artefacts and video content celebrating Ozzy’s legacy.

“I’m thrilled to bring this one-of-a-kind experience to my hometown fans,” said Ozzy Osbourne.

“The Bullring store looks amazing – and having this special merch and some rare items from my career on display makes it all the more personal. It also means a lot to me that we’re giving back to Birmingham charities through this event.”

David Asquith, Vice President of Retail at Aston Villa, added: “We’re proud to partner with Ozzy on this exciting collaboration. It’s a unique celebration of two Birmingham icons and we’re looking forward to welcoming fans from around the world in the days leading up to this landmark concert.”

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As we approach the 50th anniversary of that championship, the Hunt family wanted to both celebrate their father’s life and achievements. We’ve already got deals with Topps/Fanatics, digital partners like Natural Motion Gaming, EA Sports and Hutch, as well as Automobilist for high end prints.

What were some of the key objectives for the style guide?
Tim: We need assets for companies to use and wanted to lean into the wider 70s vibe and general motorsports trend, which is very hot now. James used a three colour stripe from his old school colours on his racing helmet, which is used in the guide and is part of our trademark programme.

Steve, how did you start your engine, as it were, when you got this brief?
Steve McInerny, Founder, Sharp Sharp: I always get as close as possible to the story behind the brand and to its audience. For the James Hunt brand, Tim has been an invaluable source of information about James and the brand as he works closely with the James Hunt Estate – and he also put me onto a very good biography about James by Gerald Donaldson. To understand the fans and what they wear, I’ve also been watching Formula 1: Drive to Survive – it’s addictive! I hope to make it to some motor racing events in the near future too.

I noticed you included Hunt’s old school colours. Can you tell us more about designing authentically and how you achieved this in this style guide?
Steve: Tim was able to get access to James’ original racing helmet and took colour references of the racing colours from that which he passed on to me. This was important as motor racing fans can be very detail oriented. It’s always nice to have a client who knows their way around a Pantone swatch book!

And I always look for a set of core elements which are meaningful to the brand – this comes from the research I do. From there, I can start to have fun and combine them in fresh ways in order to appeal to the audience. The licensing world, to me, is where brands come to play.

Did you have particular product categories in mind when designing the style guide?
Steve: Tim provided guidance on target categories. I aim to know at least a little about a lot of product categories to ensure that we produce the right types of assets for licensees. For key categories such as apparel, I can enlist the help of a specialist associate. To ensure versatility of the assets we produce, simple is often best. This allows for trend-based graphics to be developed on top of these core elements.

Thinking about specific elements, like the fonts you have used, can you talk us through the development and what makes the guide ‘roadworthy’?
Steve: F1 cars, uniforms, billboards and posters of the era provided plenty of inspiration for the typography. And drivers had their blood group on their overalls in case treatment was needed in an unfamiliar hospital. We recreated this as a detail on some of the apparel concepts.

There are lots of legal, quality and cost considerations around the creation and use of assets in brand licensing, that could be an article in itself! I am very mindful of these, and we’re used to developing assets from scratch in order to address these issues.

The world of motor sports is quite a competitive one licensing-wise. How did you ensure the James Hunt guide stood out and was unique in its styling?
Steve: Tim’s brief to capture ‘the smell of engine oil and the roar of the engines’ in the guide was a great prompt, reflecting the jeopardy of 70s F1 racing. Seatbelts only became mandatory in F1 in 1972! James’ effortless casual style is also unique. I alluded to this in the product and packaging concepts by combining untreated materials, such as distressed denim and recycled card, with more premium ones.

Tim, how would you summarise the appeal of James Hunt and the assets you now have available?
Tim: James is part of a select group of F1 champions that have wide appeal beyond the sports main fanbase – much like Ayrton Senna. With a new audience following F1 now, it’s more about the drivers than the cars and that authenticity is important when we target both older and newer consumers. Steve has tried to blend 70s design into the guide to appeal to both a fashion and motorsports market with logos and other icons.

“There’s lots of mileage in terms of the creative possibilities for the brand.”

More generally how do you see the licensing marketplace shaping up for celebrity-led opportunities like this one? Are there examples from, say, music or entertainment that you would point to as ‘best practice’ in this category?
Tim: Senna in F1 and Steve McQueen are both good examples of automotive and fashion icons which we’re inspired by – James was a good looking man after all!

Can you give us some insight into your licensing plans? What are the ‘priority’ categories you are hoping to secure this year?
Tim: We’ve signed a deal for a documentary and are looking at a book for 2026. Product areas for merchandise include high-end collaborations for watches and clothing . We are working with our licensing agent GTL in securing some of these deals plus looking at more collectibles and mass market clothing.

And to wrap up, Steve, if you had to highlight one or two parts of the Guide you are particularly proud of, what would they be?
Steve: As is often the way with style guides, it feels like there’s still lots of mileage in terms of the creative possibilities for the brand. I’m really pleased with the typography. This includes distressed type treatments intended to evoke the speed and vibration of the cars. I used a typeface with a range of widths, which enables letters and words to be stretched horizontally without resorting to adjusting the horizontal scale – a big design no-no in my book. And I had fun putting together an animated sizzle of the guide for the case study, complete with some bespoke AI-assisted sound effects of the F1 cars!

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The collaboration spans custom t-shirt designs and polo designs, as well as new quarter zips, performance hoodies, jackets and hats.

“This partnership enhances our brand’s equity by aligning with a legacy brand that shares our values of boldness, individuality and good times,” said Sunday Swagger Founder Mark Carmona.

“This collaboration isn’t just a logo swap – it’s a storytelling opportunity that lives at the intersection of heritage and modern swagger, allowing both our brands to reach new audiences while staying true to our DNA. It’s our biggest collaboration yet, and we’re excited for all that is in store.”

The Guinness x Sunday Swagger collaboration will be available online at sundayswagger.com, as well as in select stores this spring.

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The collection is a tribute to ‘the women changing the game, both on and off the ice.’

The range spans jackets, t-shirts, sweaters, a jogger, a hoodie and beanies. Check out some of the line below:

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The range spans t-shirts, crewnecks and joggers, with branding spanning vintage designs to graffiti-inspired artwork.

‘We’re beyond excited to welcome Brighton & Hove Albion F.C. to the P/C family,’ said Peace Collective, adding: ‘Known for their relentless passion and fierce commitment, the Seagulls are a perfect fit as we continue to push the boundaries of football culture.’

Peace Collective gives a portion of sales to mental health research, and aims to raise $1,000,000 by 2030. To date, the company has raised $423,439.

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Good place to start! What are the four pillars?
One is delighting core fans. Two is attracting and serving new fans… Three is selling where the fan is, and four is about improving the fan experience. Naturally, licensing is key for all of those, but particularly the second – attracting and serving new fans. So we want to unlock growth by expanding the fandoms we serve. Of course, we’ll continue working with the world’s biggest entertainment IPs from movies and streaming. In the past few years, though, we’ve also started tapping into fandoms from anime, video games, music and sport.

Indeed! And we discussed the rise and rise of anime last time we spoke – people can read that here . Video games we can do separately, perhaps… Shall we chat about music and sport today?
Sounds great! They’re interesting areas because we believe those fandoms represent a huge opportunity for major growth. Is this where you dial in your brother, though, Deej? He’s a huge sport fan, right?

He is! How do you know that?! He’s an enormous sport fan! And he was a remarkable athlete at school: county-champion this, medal-winning that…
Ha! Irritating, isn’t it?

Ha! Oh, my days! Our PE teachers were always yelling at me on the cross-country course: “Come on, Johnson! Your brother would’ve finished by now…” But in terms of two of those pillars – creating an experience and selling where the fan is – can you give me an example of that?
One example that comes to mind is our partnership with America’s National Football League, the NFL. We put a pop-up installation at the stadium of the Kansas City Chiefs… That meant fans could go in and do a Pop! of themselves in the fan colours of the team. This activation is all about creating an experience where the fan is and can easily be rolled out to other stadia. That’s an example of delighting the core fans, selling where the fan is AND improving the fan experience. We plan to do more things like that in Europe, Middle East and Africa as well – watch this space!

Great example! Thanks, Lucy. And bonus points to you for using the word stadia! I appreciate good grammar…
Well, you are a writer! Some bad grammar really annoys me… Confusing fewer with less. Ugh!

There’s a lovely line that illustrates the difference between those. I can’t remember who said it, but it’s to the effect, “If you try to correct my grammar, I will think fewer of you.”
Ha! That’s very good!

So! Looking at 2024, what’s been successful for you?
Some of our top-selling sport items this year have come from elite motor racing teams. As you may know, we have direct licensing deals with teams like Red Bull and Mercedes. And we do individual drivers in Pop! form: Lewis Hamilton, Max Verstappen, George Russell and Sergio Perez spring to mind. Some of the drivers have had photos taken with their Pops too. For example, Lewis Hamilton has his 2014 world-champion edition Pop! That’s available from Mercedes AMG online store.

Then – in music – we’ve seen great success from huge acts… Some old, some new. There’s Queen’s Freddie Mercury in his look from the 1986 Wembley concert – that’s really cool! There’s also a Pop! Range of the major K-Pop act Blackpink. And we saw great sales of Oasis Pops this year following a little story about their reunion…

Ha! Hadn’t heard! But this is the beauty, I suppose, of the Pops… You can be quite nimble, can you not, when news like the Oasis reunion breaks? You can be straight onto that?
Exactly right, Deej. If there’s a major tour announcement, we can ramp up production on existing items. We might also come up with a new product… And we might do a deal that lets us sell exclusively at the stadium, say!

Oh, look at Noel Gallagher with his Union Flag guitar! Ha! Are there any others that come to mind?
Amy Winehouse has done really well, and we had that out prior to the Back to Black movie. We chatted about this last time: sometimes we don’t base our product on a new movie or show, but those things still become major marketing moments. That was the same with Queen: we saw the sales skyrocket when the film Bohemian Rhapsody came out.

Right. I guess that’s partly because Pop! tends to capture iconic looks of iconic people. And I’m curious: do you treat partnerships with sport and music licenses differently? From the large entertainment partnerships, I mean?
To some extent, yes – but mostly around planning. With our major entertainment releases, we can plan two, three, four years ahead. If there’s a major movie or game coming out, for example, the IP owners will be communicating about it with our product-development team in particular. There’s quite a bit of dialogue and quite a lot of notice.

And that’s less true with sport?
Yes. Generally speaking, we tend to take a year or so developing a Pop! We sometimes do it quicker but – in football – a year is two transfer windows. That means that, if we’re planning to bring out a player Pop!, we might find out with only a day’s notice that they’re leaving their current club! So we just have to listen to the rumour mill, find out who’s having conversations with other teams, who’s not happy where they are… Maybe not make a Pop! of them just yet; focus on the players that are staying put for a while!

Just out of interest, Lucy… You say you sometimes have to develop a Pop! more quickly. What’s the fastest you’ve ever turned one around?
I think we got Fortnite out within maybe a four-month period…

Oh! For a second there, I thought you were going to say you did Fortnite in a fortnight! That would’ve been terrific… Just for the publicity!
That would be amazing! Ha! I’d love to be able to say that! But no, it was Fortnite in about four months. Because they’re a hardline product, of course. On top of the design, we’ve got to tool up, we’ve got to create moulds – we’ve got to ship the product in.

And in terms of upcoming sport or music product, do you have a favourite?
Well… I absolutely love Mohamed Salah and Erling Haaland. They’re incredible performers in their sport – and for Funko! I also really loved our Jack Grealish Pop! He posted images of himself with one, and very generously gave his time to fans at a charity event. We made a giant Pop! box for him to stand inside – and wrapped him up in it! Then the fans came into the room and unwrapped it to find him inside the box.

Ha! I won’t make a Jack-in-the-box joke… The fans must have LOVED that!
Can you imagine?! It’s great! We were so grateful to Jack; it was a really sweet thing to do. And another one… I absolutely love Queen – so Freddie Mercury is a huge favourite. We’ve done various versions of Freddie Mercury, but this is our latest. It’s done really well… I love the look of this figure; he’s so cute in that iconic outfit. Of course, I’m far too young to remember the actual Live Aid show at Wembley, Deej…

Yes, of course… I missed it myself actually; I was still doing the school cross-country! So now… Looking at the future, Lucy, is there a particular license you’d like to go after?
There are a couple of football and elite racing licences I’d love us to sign. Hopefully, I’ll be able to share some of those with you in our next roundup. Then, in music, we’ve already got a huge and diverse roster. I’d love it if we could sign Taylor Swift, though. You know, we have to take down a LOT of fake Taylor Swift Funko Pops – so she’s clearly in demand. It would be great to do an official one. And she’s definitely going to be reading this, right?

Let’s say yes! Let’s say she’s an avid Brands Untapped reader! Because I don’t know for a fact that she isn’t… Alright. Let’s wrap this up in the traditional way… What’s the one question I could’ve asked you today but didn’t?
Well, you could’ve asked me more about my burgeoning global role at Funko…

Oh, yes, that’s right! You’ve been promoted – like – four levels since we last spoke!
Ha! No, no, no! Definitely not! In fact, it’s not so much a promotion, it’s more of an increased remit. But it means that – as well as managing EMEA and APAC licensing – I globally manage some key sport licenses. We’ve spoken about some of those, particularly where they’re based in EMEA. But I globally oversee some of our integration with major licensors, particularly from a retail point of view. I also oversee our joint business planning teams in North America, LATAM and AIPAC as well as EMEA.

Gosh! Sounds like you must have some very long days, Lucy. I mean… It’s always ten in the morning somewhere in the world!
Ha! True… But it’s also always six in the evening somewhere… So it’s always time for a glass of something! Ha! But no, it’s great. I’m absolutely loving it.

Fantastic! Well, congratulations on that – and thank you again, Lucy, for joining me.

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BSc x Chupa Chups Protein Water Powders come in Chupa Chups flavours like Watermelon, Orange, Cola and Grape. The BSc x Chupa Chups Soft Protein Bars are available in Strawberry Cream, Choco Vanilla and Vanilla flavours.

“We’re excited to bring the fun flavours of Chupa Chups into a new space,” said Perfetti Van Melle F&B Licensing Manager Carla Fernández-Moreno.

“Partnering with BSc lets us combine our iconic taste with innovative, protein-packed products, offering something unique for both our fans and fitness enthusiasts.”

BSc Founder Greg Young added: “Creating these products was all about bringing the joy of Chupa Chups to a new audience – delicious flavours with a protein boost that fits your active lifestyle.”

BSc CEO Sheree Young continued: “We’re thrilled to bring this collaboration to life – combining the iconic Chupa Chups flavour experience with our much-loved BSc protein formats exudes fun!”

Asembl Managing Director Justin Watson said: “We are excited to be pairing Perfetti Van Melle’s Chupa Chups with BSc for this range of protein water powders and soft protein bars.

“Sure to shake up the nutrition game and be an absolute hit with suckers for protein the BSc x Chupa Chups Protein Water Powders and BSc x Chupa Chups Soft Protein Bars deliciously capture the Chupa Chups experience in a protein packed treat.”

The BSc x Chupa Chups Protein Water Powders and BSc x Chupa Chups Soft Protein Bars launch this month at Chemist Warehouse and Woolworths in Australia.

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The collection launched in lululemon’s Cambridge store earlier this month and features a choice of three print designs: the University’s Red Lion, the University’s shield logo, and a bold Cambridge text print.

The range includes both men’s and women’s styles including lululemon’s popular Scuba Oversized Half-Zip Hoodie, Align High-Rise Pant and Define Jacket.

“We’ve seen an enthusiastic and overwhelmingly positive rection to the co-branded collection,” said Len Dunne, CEO at Curating Cambridge.

“Students have immediately embraced the concept, and tourists will no doubt too.”

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The 20 piece collection will range from $24 to $1500 and was brokered by the 24 Hours of Le Mans’ exclusive licensing agency, IMG.

The Circuit de la Sarthe track map will be featured on some of the clothing designs and accessories, and the range also spans a jersey with Kappa, a ASSC x Le Mans poster by Automobilist and a Spark 1:43-scale model car.

“This project was born out of our passion for endurance racing and the opportunity to be part of arguably the greatest spectacle in all of motorsports,” read a statement from Anti Social Social Club.

“This is the first time the ACO and Le Mans have collaborated with anyone in our space and we are honoured to be chosen to partake in such a prestigious event.”

Stéphane Andriolo, Client and Event Director of the Automobile Club de l’Ouest, added: “We are delighted to offer this exclusive collaboration with Anti Social Social Club just a few hours before the start of the 92nd edition of the 24 Hours of Le Mans.

“This year’s race promises to be historic in terms of sport, with the world’s leading manufacturers lining up on the starting grid. Our brand is known the world over, and this collaboration is perfectly in keeping with that tradition.”

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