17 June 2021
The key to a successful licensed brand
By Callum Jenkinson
Expanding your brand and targeting new audiences through licensing is a great way to build awareness, grow your market, and win new fans. Whether you are launching a new brand, testing a new market, or re-introducing a trusted brand, messaging is key to developing consumer appetite and trust. Effective licensors and brand owners must work closely with their licensees to align key messaging across categories, targeting select demographics and audiences with a streamlined brand identity and purpose.
To support messaging, the relationship between the licensor (usually the brand owner) and licensee is instrumental in defining the overall brand image. The licensor’s role is often in ensuring the authenticity and relatable identity of the brand. They set the standard as to how their brand should be represented and managed, defining its core values, purpose, positioning and the tone of voice with which it should be communicated.
Marketing agencies, creative studios, and public relations teams are instrumental in this process, defining the scope and guidelines for licensees to abide by. This stage is paramount to safeguarding a strong brand identity with touchpoints for licensees to build upon. Without this your brand will not be or remain relatable to your customers.
Identifying and understanding your audience is imperative to the licensing journey. When it comes to those brand fans who have already bought into your brand, choosing products that are an authentic fit will cement loyalty, as well as engage new customers. If a product is a poor fit, it will soon be seen as a sell-out causing customers and fans alike to disengage.
With messaging agreed and products in place, licensor and licensee need to collaborate on branding, packaging, and so on, ensuring that everything aligns with the overarching guidelines to ensure instant recognition and connection with customers.

Experiential
A strong brand identity and messaging can also allow a brand to rollout marketing through experiential executions that bring products together in a single activation. If your brand identity, values, and messaging have been well delivered across product categories, there should be a natural synergy that feels real. Our Polaroid Pop Up Shop at Boxpark is a great example of this, making the products immediately accessible to customers and engaging with them in a fresh way, while showcasing the breadth of the range.
Licensing offers businesses many routes to market and ways to reach customers. At the heart of the process is a clear brand identity and a close relationship between licensor and licensee, ensuring a unified approach that protects both your brand and your customer connections.

Licensing
Licensing offers businesses many routes to market and ways to reach customers. At the heart of the process is a clear brand identity and a close relationship between licensor and licensee, ensuring a unified approach that protects both your brand and your customer connections.
Get in touch to hear about how we can help you to own your brand identity, streamline your messaging and ensure licensing success.