BBC Worldwide at Brand Licensing Europe

Company Name

BBC Worldwide

Company Description

BBC Worldwide is the commercial arm of the BBC with the mission to create, acquire and develop media content and brands, ranging from Teletubbies to Top Gear and Doctor Who, around the world in order to maximise the value of the BBC’s assets. A key objective for BBC Worldwide is to license their brands to manufacturers and retailers for product development.

Event

Brand Licensing Europe, Olympia, London

Event Description

Brand Licensing Europe, organised by Advanstar Communications UK, is the leading pan-European event dedicated to licensing and brand extension. The event, held annually attracts in excess of 4,000 high quality retailers, licensees, manufacturers, distributors and sales promotion agents from all over Europe.

Objectives

Richard Hollis, head of UK licensing at BBC Worldwide explains, “The objective of attending Brand Licensing Europe was to launch four new impact brands, Tronji, Dirtgirl World, Wibbly Pig and Zingzillas for 2010/2011 in addition to promoting our household products including 3^rd & Bird!, In The Night Garden and Strictly Come Dancing, to the key retail buyers. It’s a confined industry so it’s important to be at its centre.”

Event Strategy

BBC Worldwide have attended the show every year since it began in 1998 and consider it to be a critical part of its business plans.

Hollis comments, “Anybody who’s anybody attends .The organisers put together packages that make it easy to come en masse. The interaction with retailers is invaluable. It is really important for buyers and retailers to have direct contact with us. Meeting buyers, retailers and manufacturers all in once place speeds up the process rapidly. It would take weeks to do the whole process elsewhere.”

Prior to exhibiting at the show Hollis and his team do lots of preparation, identifying who is attending and lining up key meetings. In addition, all their marketing materials are refreshed especially for the show.

Hollis explains, “the organisers offer tailored solutions to exhibitors, such as the opportunity to hold theatre style presentations to pre-selected attendees. There is also the opportunity to take on extra sponsorship around the venue, such as a sponsored retail lounge. We chose to sponsor signage around the event and bags which gave us extra standout.”

Results

The interaction with retailers is invaluable but the actual deals made at the meetings and presentations are the most important.

Quote on success

Hollis sums up, “Whilst we can’t measure the success of events, the truth is that we couldn’t do our job as well without them. Certainly you can see a response to live events right before your eyes in a way you can’t with other media. The event is unmissable.”

“Every year thousands of new licensees are on the lookout for the next character or image to front their products. Brand Licensing Europe, as a key fixture in the licensing calendar, attracts visitors from over 60 countries and offers brands the platform to tap into this lucrative market. BBC Worldwide’s perennial presence at the show is a great example from many of top brands that use the show to provide cut-through for their sales and marketing campaign.”