Brand Licensing Trend: Apps as Inspiration

Forbes recently published an interesting article that explores the growing trend of brand licensing programs inspired by digital properties and apps. The article highlights the growing importance of mobile applications in the licensing business and notes the shift away from television programs and movies as the most popular sources of inspiration for successful brand licensing programs.

The article also describes the importance of timing when it comes to building a licensing program around a digital property. The article suggests that the licensed merchandise needs to be available at the height of the mobile app or digital property’s popularity.

At The Joester Loria Group, we have witnessed the power of digital properties firsthand, building the licensing program for The Collective’s Annoying Orange. Annoying Orange began as a popular YouTube series, has grown into digital phenomenon with over 1 billion downloads, and most recently, has become a highly rated television series airing on Cartoon Network. Licensed product was introduced in Fall 2011 and licensing is expanding across categories and retailers to meet consumer demand. USA Today’s June 25th article about Annoying Orange provided interesting detail about the extraordinary success of Annoying Orange.

The Joester Loria Group Accepts Best Art and Design License for Navigate’s Very Hungry Caterpillar Gardening Products

The World Of Eric Carle range of The Very Hungry Caterpillar gardening products, designed and manufactured by UK licensee Navigate, has been awarded the Best Art and Design Licensee at this year’s International Licensing Excellence Awards. Eric Carle’s iconic art is featured on the beautifully crafted gardening product. The gardening range is part of a multi-category collection of licensed product including toys, games, apparel and home décor sold in the United Kingdom under the World of Eric Carle licensing program managed worldwide by The Joester Loria Group.

The Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle is a beloved story that has sold 33 million copies worldwide. The title was recently cited as the #1 most read children’s book in England. For The Joester Loria Group, a highlight of Licensing Expo 2012 was accepting this award for Best Art and Design Licensee on behalf of Navigate and the World of Eric Carle. We look forward to sharing more news about The World Of Eric Carle soon, and want to thank LIMA for recognizing Navigate’s licensing program with this award.

Annoying Orange in the News!

A story on Annoying Orange was featured in today’s USA Today in the Life section. See clip below.

The story was also posted online.
See link here: http://www.usatoday.com/life/television/news/story/2012-06-25/annoying-orange-cartoon-network/55797260/1

USA Today discusses the sensation of the property and the strong TV reception it is now getting and includes strong quotes from property creator Dane Boe, Rob Scorcher at Cartoon Network and Gary Binkow.

Licensing Expo 2012

Last week was one of the licensing industry’s most important annual events, Licensing Expo 2012. The show was held in Las Vegas, Nevada where professionals ranging from licensors to retailers met to show the latest trends, products, properties and exciting developments.

The Joester Loria Group hosted the first ever licensing summit for The World of Eric Carle, where retailers, publishers, agents and licensees from 4 continents were in attendance. Initiatives for continued global growth include new style guides, retail alliances, and the introduction of museum quality collectibles based on the art of Eric Carle. Plans for the 45th anniversary of The Very Hungry Caterpillar in 2014 are also underway.

For Annoying Orange, JLG hosted a screening of the first two 11 minute episodes of the new TV series, which airs on Cartoon Network. The screening came as news arrived that the premier episode had won its time slot on Monday, at 8.30 pm and delivered outstanding ratings and an audience of 2.6 viewers. The success of the series has solidified the enormous buzz around the property.

Poppy Cat, currently a top rated pre-school series on Sprout, was also buoyed by good news. The series was selected to air on the NBC kids block on Saturday mornings beginning July 2012. In the UK, Poppy Cat product hits major retailers this holiday season.

Kellogg’s unveiled its revamped licensing program under the management of newly appointed Joester Loria Group at the show. Fueled by great assets including iconic characters, unparalleled brand power, vintage archives, anniversaries such as Pop Tarts 50th in 2014 and flavor profiles for potential food extensions, Kellogg offers exceptional licensing and brand extending opportunities.

The Joester Loria group previewed Dew Tour action sports gear including skateboards for the first time at Licensing Show. Dew Tour, the world’s largest action sports event, will introduce branded sporting goods by Ballard for action sports enthusiasts in 2012 with apparel to follow in 2013.

Pepsi brands licensing for Pepsi, Diet Pepsi, Sobe, Mountain Dew, and Aquafina continues to grow with new categories, licensees and retail initiatives.

Additionally, the Joester Loria Group highlighted exciting new Discovery Commerce initiatives. For River Monsters, a robust collection of fishing rods & reels and apparel; For Discovery Expedition, luggage by Delsey and a range outdoor gear and for Animal Planet, a growing line of pet product. Animal Planet pet treats and wet grooming round up the fastest growing brand in pet products.

JLG also unveiled exciting licensing plans for Oxford University, the world’s most prestigious educational institution, and presentedthe extraordinary creative assets developed from Oxford’s vast archives.

We enjoyed meeting so many of you at Licensing Expo, and look forward to more trade shows and networking events in the near future.

Here are a few photos from the World Of Eric Carle section of our booth:

The Joester Loria Group in the News: aNb Media



aNb Media recently caught up with our Executive Vice President and COO, Joanne Loria, to find out what the recent happenings are over at The Joester Loria Group including the new licensing program we are working on for our newest client, the Kellogg Company.

In the article, Joanne highlights the programs we are creating for a variety of Kellogg Company brands including: Special K’s health and wellness-focused licensing program, Pop Tart’s quirky, fun and pop culture inspired program, and a focus on treat-making for Rice Krispies’. Joanne also offers insights about the consumer demographics and retail partners we will target for each of the brands in Kelloggs’ vast portfolio of brands.

Joanne also discusses the role that nostalgia will play in these licensing programs as. We plan to tap into their rich archive of iconic characters including Tony the Tiger, Snap, Crackle and Pop, Toucan Sam and The Keebler Elves. In addition, we plan to celebrate the 50th anniversary of Toucan Sam in 2013 and Pop Tart’s 50th anniversary in 2014 with a special collection of products for each brand.

Read the full aNb Media article. 


We look forward to sharing more news about the Kellogg Company licensing plans in the coming months.

2012 Licensing Industry Report Recap

Marketing Daily recently posted an informative recap of LIMA’s 2012 Licensing Industry Report. The article highlighted the significant growth of brand licensing and trademark sales over the past year, with character–branded merchandise making up a prominent section of consumer sales.

Here at The Joester Loria Group, we are thrilled to hear this news and strongly agree with the report’s acknowledgment of the growth of digital properties. Our client Annoying Orange fits into this category. We recently posted about the Annoying Orange branded fruit snacks and television series.

The article touches upon how there has been a shift in attitude, and now companies are realizing the benefits of allowing licensing agencies to expand their brand on their behalf.

For more information about how licensing can be beneficial to a brand, visit our Licensing 101 section on our website.

For the full article “Brand Licensing Regaining Its Breath” on Marketing Daily visit Media Post.

Pepsi Partners with Twitter for “Live For Now Music” Program

Pepsi announced an interesting new social media marketing partnership with Twitter last week. As part of its “Live For Now Music” program, Pepsi will use the social network to offer free music downloads to its Twitter followers who use the hashtag #PepsiMusicNow. Pepsi will also use Twitter to announce special pop up concerts. Additionally, the brand will share videos about musical artists and the top trending music news as part of its year-long partnership with Twitter.

Pepsi has connected with fans through pop culture music for generations.  Many marketing campaigns featured world-class artists such as Ray Charles, Brittney Spears, Beyoncé, and most recently Nikki Minaj.  We are celebrating some of these classic collaborations through our licensed apparel programs including the most recent collection in which Pepsi partnered with the Ray Charles estate in celebration of the 20th anniversary of the Ray Charles/Pepsi campaign most notably remembered by the tagline “You got the right one, baby –  Uh Huh”.

This new partnership with Twitter is a great example of using social media to add value to a fully-integrated marketing campaign.

Check out Mashable’s full post about this new partnership.

A Sweet Event For Entenmann’s

Last Friday, June 1, the Joester Loria Group celebrated National Donut Day with our client Entenmann’s at a special event at Madison Square Park, New York City.

National Donut Day was originally founded by The Salvation Army in 1938 to honor the “Donut Lassies” who served treats to soldiers during World War I. To celebrate the 75th anniversary of Donut Day, Entenmanns donated $25,000 to the Salvation Army. Mayor Michael Bloomberg signed a proclamation letter honoring the 75th anniversary and Entenmanns created custom-baked 1-foot donuts displayed in the largest Entenmanns box ever made. The Entenmann’s Big Book of Baking was also on hand at the event and Kathleen Robbins, Entenmanns Master Baker, entertained the crowd with live cooking demonstrations. Free donuts and coffee were provided from 9am-1pm! Of course, it doesn’t have to be National Donut day to enjoy great donuts and coffee. Entenmann’s flavored coffee makes every morning a delicious treat!

The Joester Loria Group was thrilled to participate in this sweet event. Here are some photos we took:

Countdown to Licensing Expo

There are only eleven more days until the licensing industry’s biggest annual gathering, Licensing Expo; more than 400 exhibitors, 5000 brands, 600 licensing agents and 90 countries will be represented at the event this year.

Everyone at The Joester Loria Group is looking forward to a very productive show. We will be showcasing our diverse clients and some new opportunities including:

·New clients Kelloggs, The World of Eric Carle, and Oxford University
·The keynote address from Kathy Ireland, supermodel turned licensing industry mogul. The Joester Loria Group is consultant to Moretz Marketing for a number of categories being developed for Kathy Ireland Worldwide under Moretz’s agreement for kiWW.
·The impact of television broadcast reach for Annoying Orange, launching on Cartoon Network in June, and Poppy Cat, part of NBC Saturday Morning Kids Block beginning July.
·The LIMA Awards Ceremony and Opening Night Party.

We are looking forward to seeing everyone there!

For complete details visit the Licensing Expo website.

For more information about The Joester Loria Group’s nominated licensing programs visit: http://joesterloriagroup.com/blog/annual-lima-international-licensing-excellence-awards-nominees-announced/