Live keynotes & sessions
Keynote - Time to Play: Supercharging Retail Through Gamification
Keynote
We have all played our part in how technology has disrupted the traditional world of retail. But in the shadow of the recent pandemic, technology has emerged as retail's savior. And as retailers scramble to accelerate their digital capability, a superpower exists that most know, yet few have mastered. It is the art of gamification.
Using game techniques and methodologies, there is an urgent need for retail to deliver compelling digital experiences that are human-focused rather than merely task obsessed. And, as we build the next incarnation of retail theatre, let's make sure to satisfy a new generation of highly creative, multitasking customers, who have simply become impatient with a world that appears too slow. This practical keynote will provide the latest thinking in how gamification is changing the world of retail, across its entire value chain, and reshaping organisations. Learn how to use simple techniques for your customers today, and leverage gamification as the winning effect for your business, culture and bottom line.
Ask Me Anything - Session 1
Session
Is all the rich information, case studies and insightful sessions raising questions for you? Come meet the speakers at four distinct “Ask Me Anything” sessions during Licensing Leadership Summit. Join for live sessions during the conference event and get the answers you need on the topics that matter to you.
Keynote - Revolutionizing Brand Protection
Keynote
Live session, available on-demand for four weeks after the event
One of the toughest issues for Brand Licensors and their licensees is the issue of counterfeit products posing as real. It robs revenue for both the Licensors and Licensees and hurts brand value. In 2019, a new technology became available to help protect brand licensors, licensees and retailers. This technology provides the Licensing supply chain with the ability to protect revenue as well as the consumer, without changing anything. This session will explore how utilizing scannable forensic security technology can solve counterfeiting issues.
Ask Me Anything - Session 2
Session
Is all the rich information, case studies and insightful sessions raising questions for you? Come meet the speakers at four distinct “Ask Me Anything” sessions during Licensing Leadership Summit. Join for live sessions during the conference event and get the answers you need on the topics that matter to you.
On-demand sessions (available throughout both live event days)
Different by Design: MoMA’s Modern Approach to Museum Licensing
Session
Available on-demand throughout both live event days
How Games Ate the Licensing World
Session
Available on-demand throughout both live event days
Did you know that the $110B+ video games industry is on track within the next one to two years to generate more revenues worldwide than movies and TV combined?! The meteoric rise of the gaming industry over the last decade has been driven in large part by three main factors: the emergence of the free-to-play business model, smartphones and IP (some of it licensed). If you’re looking for answers on how to get in on the video game action and get more bang for your buck, this session is a must see.
Digital Talent: The Future
Session
Available on-demand throughout both live event days
The Athlete Influencer Difference
Session
Available on-demand throughout both live event days
Social media marketing has brought fans closer to the game and given them access to the most influential athletes in the world. These athletes are living, breathing IP and have the collective ability and reach to shape consumer sentiment. This presentation will examine how athlete influencers leverage their reach and platforms to market products and enhance brand partnerships.
Product as Solutions
Session
Available on-demand throughout both live event days
COVID-19 has transformed consumer priorities, affecting what people want and how they consume. No longer interested in aesthetics alone, success will lie in purposeful products that act as solutions to these new consumer needs. This presentation will focus on 3 key solutions to support brands and retailers in rethinking design as a problem-solving mechanism: Product as protection, product as mood boosters, product as Wellness.
What Do Licensees Want?
Session
Licensees are the lifeblood of the licensing ecosystem. They are the ones that ultimately translate valuable IP into merchandise and services, allowing brand recognition to grow and a property to flourish with consumers around the world. But what do they need to survive and thrive in this new post-Corona world? Hear from executives from best-in-class licensee businesses as they explain what they need to get your brand to shelf.
I Want it Now!: Using the Fan to Expand Distribution
Session
Available on-demand throughout both live event days
Over the past few years, Funko has jumped into acquisition mode, acquiring three very different companies and expanding their digital footprint by using Pop! as an entertainment platform, always with the valued fan at the core of all they do. This session will explore how fans are crucial tools for growth, allowing a company to find new opportunity by leveraging trust equity.
Finding Opportunity in the Overwhelm: Key Trends in Consumerism
Session
Available on-demand throughout both live event days
Maxwell Luthy, Evangelist at Large at the global intelligence firm TrendWatching will dive headfirst into four of the key trends reshaping the consumer landscape in 2020 and the coming years. Max will explore the aftershocks of having the emergency brakes pulled on the global consumer economy, and the bold strategies that are being deployed in new digital arenas. These trends will rewrite the rules in the licensing industry and unlock new opportunities.
Knowledge is Power: Throw Away Your Crystal Ball
Session
This session will be on-demand.
Esports: The Hottest New Licensing Category in Latin America
Session
Available on-demand throughout both live event days
The entertainment and sports ecosystems are evolving, and it would be crazy to think that licensing is not evolving along with them.
With the huge hype around esports, how can we get on the hype train and effectively translate that into amazing results?
Are we familiar with the esports scene? How can we differentiate between classic gaming and esports? Who, when, and where should we focus on?
It is time to jump on the hype train and build the most around a continuously growing scene in order to make the most of it!
How to Combat the Explosion of Print On-Demand Whack-A-Mole on Social Media
Session
With the massive shift and focus on e-commerce due to COVID-19, print-on-demand companies are leveraging social media to target your consumers and fans. This session will focus on 5 ways you can shut counterfeit down quickly to take back control of your brand and clear up the market for licensees to increase their sales.
Licensing and the Toy Industry: A Changing Landscape
Session
This session will be on-demand.
The retail landscape has changed dramatically in 2020 and, while sales in some industries have retracted, the U.S. Toy Industry has experienced record growth. In this session, we will look at the toy industry performance in context with other industries and learn why we are seeing this growth and how it is evolving. You will learn which brands, licenses, categories, and channels were the biggest winners as well as how SVOD is impacting the toy industry. You’ll also get a sneak peak into what toys will be driving sales this holiday season.
How the world’s best brands use trends to succeed
Session
Founder and CEO of Trend Bible, Joanna Feeley, shares best practice on how brands predict change years before it happens. Hear about how they tackle big picture topics (such as racial and gender diversity or sustainability) and weave them into everything from company strategy to product design. Find out how you can take these strategies and apply them to your world to maximise engagement with your future audiences and take away a series of practical tips you can apply to your business today.
COVID-19: What Happens Next?
Session
Available on-demand throughout both live event days
License Global has created an industry-wide insight report that takes a deep dive into how the unique business of brand licensing is specifically and directly impacted by the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic. In this presentation, License Global shares the results from its impartial and unbiased survey that asked questions such as what changes businesses are seeing in their supply chain, how licensing deals are being modified and changed in the current environment, how marketing is shifting, what types of categories and areas of focus will be on everyone’s radar moving forward and more. This presentation and accompanying must-read report is intended to help businesses plan and prepare in a year when year-on-year insight, learnings and key performance indicators have shifted dramatically and draws from License Global’s audience of more than 150,000 licensing professionals.
YouTube and You: Insights to Drive Retail and Consumer Product Strategies
Session
Earlier this year, WildBrain launched an initiative designed to leverage the blended expertise of WildBrain’s established consumer products licensing agency, WildBrain CPLG, and its leading digital network and studio, WildBrain Spark. This session will feature the combined expertise of Steve Manners, Vice President, Business Development, WildBrain CPLG & WildBrain Spark, and Jon Gisby, Managing Director at WildBrain Spark, to discuss how, as the licensing industry becomes increasingly attuned to the potential of YouTube and digital platforms for launching, supporting or reinvigorating IP, the data insights generated can be a valuable aid in driving successful international licensing and retail roll-out strategies.
Thinking Beyond Revenue: A Holistic Licensing Approach in the Post-Normal
Session
Sponsored by:
Available on-demand throughout both live event days
Let’s talk about holistic licensing and how to evaluate the health of your licensed brands. From cocktail commiserators to change agents. Join this lively discussion hosted by two licensing comrades who will shine a light on infamous licensing management “fails” usually kept in the dark. Kalle Torma, Founder and CEO of Flowhaven, and Anita Castellar, Founder and CEO of FanGirl Consulting and Brand Management will recount the licensing woes that brought them together but, more importantly, share how they are reshaping not just the conversation, but the real-world application of proactive licensing management that drives holistic success. As the world recovers from months of lockdown and adjusts to new ways of working, the discussion is more timely than ever and will be rich with advice on maintaining brand health no matter the circumstances. The pair will address management challenges head-on and present actionable, scalable solutions to evaluate and support the greater health of brand licensing programs…and, yes, drive revenue as well.
Something Old, Something New: How to Plan for Changing Consumer Behaviors
Session
This session will be on-demand.
Join our experts as they explore how our shopping patterns have been changed in 2020 as a result of COVID-19. As consumers re-evaluate brand choices and household budgets fall, entirely new behaviors are emerging. Lockdown has certainly accelerated existing trends too, from the rise of digital streaming to the surge to online shopping. But what does this mean for brands now and ongoing? In this session, we’ll investigate the impact this has had on the Entertainment and Fashion markets and how this translates into license growth areas. Looking ahead to Christmas and next year, which trends should be considered in order to understand where the short and longer term licensing opportunities lie?
From Screen to Shelves
Session
ViacomCBS has content available for every age and every screen. Hear a deep dive about how content "travels" and connects with consumers everywhere they are.
UGC Marketplaces and Brand Licensing
Session
This session offers some best practices on how UGC marketplaces can support brand owners as part of a robust ecommerce strategy. Just as the importance of social media influencers has grown for brands in promoting and connecting with fans, fan artists and designers play an increased role in connecting consumers with the merch they love through marketplaces. Listen in as industry leaders share some of their strategies around ecommerce, what criteria they use in evaluating UGC marketplaces, and how it fits into their broader ecommerce licensing plan.
New Directions at Retail
Session
To call this a “tumultuous” year for retailers, suppliers and brands only begins to scratch the surface on how the business is being transformed. Robin Lewis, founder and CEO of the must-read newsletter “The Robin Report,” sits down for a one-on-one talk with Licensing International President Maura Regan to give strategic insights on today’s retail landscape – and tomorrow’s. What changes in consumer shopping habits are temporary, and which are fundamental? What will malls will look like a year from now? 2 years? How will the DTC brand model progress? How can retailers and brands/suppliers better work with one another to build speed and agility to keep up with consumers’ needs/wants?
Forging a Sustainable Future
Session
Available on-demand throughout both live event days
With a global pandemic shining an even brighter spotlight on the impact industries can have on the environment, sustainability has never been so high on the agenda. What steps should licensees and retailers take to adopt an ambitious approach toward a sustainable future for consumers, and how can the industry come together to share best practice? Join participants from BBC Studios, SILC, Teemill and Boots as they deep dive into this topic and discuss how they are working together to shift the sustainability dial.
Where are we now, who are the agents of change and where do we need to go? (BBC Studios)
How should you change and adapt your licensing model to make it more sustainable? (Teemill)
Listening to the consumer and shaping the consumers view on the ethical importance of eco-friendly lines (Boots)
What is the industry doing to come together to share best practice and collaborate on solutions that can help bring more sustainable products to market?
Orchestrating Speed-to-Market: How to Make Everything Hum in Concert
Session
Responding to the pandemic, racial injustice and current events, Sesame Workshop is mobilizing quickly to meet the moment and support the needs of young children and their families. The ever-changing landscape of 2020 has called on companies to continually adjust, and then adjust again, action plans, strategies and, in many cases, basic fundamentals of operation that get topical and practical information, services and products, into the hands of the consumer when they need it most. Join Gabriela Arenas, Vice President of Licensing, North America, Sesame Workshop, as she discusses how the non-profit is pivoting with a speed to market approach to provide Sesame Street resources and content during these challenging times.
The Importance of Licensing To Brand Owners In These Turbulent Times
Session
In these turbulent times, licensing has become more important than ever to brand owners. The worst health crises in over 100 years, a punishing economic collapse, and a renewed reckoning with racial injustice have fundamentally changed the world, including consumer behavior and attitudes that drive business. A new consumer is emerging, demanding that brands take positions on these and other societal, cultural, environmental and political issues of the day. And as brand owners look for paths to remain relevant by communicating to consumers the positions that they are taking, the benefits of licensing should be more apparent than ever before. In this session, Michael Stone, Co-founder and Chairman of Beanstalk, 2019 Inductee into the Licensing International Hall of Fame and author of The Power of Licensing: Harnessing Brand Equity, will share his thoughts on how consumer attitudes and behaviors have, in 2020, changed at a pace that we could not have imagined a year ago, the imperative for brand owners to respond to these new consumer requirements with purpose and action, and the role that licensing can play as an important component of a brand owner’s strategy to reach consumers with their message.