We caught up with Richard Pink, Managing Director of Pink Key Consulting to pick his brains on best-practise when running a licensed promotion:

Top ten tips for running a licensed promotion

 1. Make sure you don’t just look at potential fees – positive brand exposure can get you noticed and invigorate your whole programme.

2. Make creative suggestions on possible promotional mechanics and be prepared to sell the benefits of licensing, as well as your brand

3. Do the research on your potential partner – look at previous promotional activity for clues about what they are trying to achieve

4. Look for partners who have complementary commercial objectives, brand values and target demographics

5. Meet face-to-face to establish whether you can work together in partnership

6. Write everything down and make sure everyone knows their responsibilities – get a contract in place

7. Be creative with your brand to help your partner achieve their commercial objectives – but don’t let your brand be overwhelmed

8. Make sure everyone understands the milestones and the approval process

9. Meet face-to-face on a regular basis to ensure that any issues are dealt with efficiently

10. Enter your campaign for the ‘Best Marketing Communication Campaign’ in the Licensing Awards!!

Savvy advertising agencies, promotional marketing executives and sales promotion agencies are harnessing the power of licensing well-known brands and characters for their promotional campaigns.

From washing powder to spectacles and health clubs to cereals, TV and book characters are being used by switched-on sales promotion executives to stimulate consumer demand and boost product sales.

Licensing has been referred to as the killer application in the promotional mix whether it’s used in advertising campaigns or in-store. There is no better way to connect with the consumer and attract attention to a particular product than to partner with a brand or character owner. Brands and characters have a special place in the hearts and minds of consumers. They are instantly recognisable and have enormous brand equity.

The number of sales promotion executives attending BLE has doubled in the last two years. Hundreds of promotional deals have been struck there over the past 10 years. There is no better place to find the right brand or character for your sales promotion or advertising campaign than at Brand Licensing Europe.