New Insights About Children’s Brand Preferences

With Black Friday and the holiday season quickly approaching, holiday shopping is top of mind for many consumers. Many shoppers will be searching for gifts for the children in their lives. An interesting study recently shed some light on the most popular brands among young girls and boys. 

Kidscreen recently reported on a new study called “Young Love”, conducted by the research firm Smarty Pants, that revealed some interesting insights about brand preferences among young girls. According to Smarty Pants, young girls are being drawn to brands like Lego and Batman that traditionally have been targeted to young boys. Smarty Pants asked a group of children ages six to twelve along with their mothers to rank 250 brands and Lego was the highest ranked brand among the girls in the study. The next highest ranking brands among the girls were Batman, Superman, and Cartoon Network. 

This study has interesting implications for brand marketing strategies for children’s products. At The Joester Loria Group, we see how true this study really is with Annoying Orange, considered by most a traditional boys brand.  However, we are finding that many girls and juniors are also big fans of the brand and are purchasing consumer products as well.

2012 Licensing Trends

The June issue of Royaltie$ Magazine featured an article about the latest trends in the licensing business. Debra Joester, our president and CEO, is quoted in the article.

Some of the key trends highlighted in the article are:
*A focus on South America, Asia and “New Europe” as key territories for growth opportunities. China and Brazil in particular show great growth potential.
*A shift away from brick and mortar as a key distribution channel and a growing focus on online retail opportunities.
*The growing importance of retail exclusives to incentivize shoppers to purchase.
*New categories as brand licensing inspiration including apps, YouTube and young adult novels.
*The growing importance of “niche” licensing properties that are targeted at a very specific demographic that can turn into long-term sustainable brand licensing programs.

At The Joester Loria Group we have observed some of these trends firsthand. In particular, our client Annoying Orange, has proven that a YouTube series can be the basis for a successful brand licensing program.

Read the full “Trends in Licensing 2012” article on the Royaltie$ website.

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.

Annoying Orange Wraps Up Toy Fair With More Media Attention

Toy Fair is always an important source of new trends and toys can be the centerpiece of many licensing programs. The 109th Annual American International Toy Fair ended February 16th with the most notable trend being online apps transforming into physical toys.

Annoying Orange is said to be a notable force in what Newsweek is calling “the year of the app.” We look forward to sharing more about this license soon.