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Day One - The Screenings
Boat Rocker - Penguin Ventures - Futurum Kids
Start Licensing - Aardman - The Point 1888
Retail Monster - SEGA - DeA Planeta - TeamGB
Metrostar Media
Day Two - The Screenings
Mattel - Acamar Films - Jazwares - The Point 1888
LMI - Batersea Dogs & Cats Home - Moonbug
IMG - Bulldog Licensing - Activision Blizzard - DSM
“The Brands Retail UK Conferences are a fantastic opportunity to present key brands to both licensees and retailers. IMG are delighted to be able to be involved and look forward to future events” - Adam Steel - Senior Licensing Director - Ent & Gaming
Scroll Down to Read the Winter 23 Conference Review
Day One
18th
Opening Speech and Updates
It was great to be back at the Wellcome Collection Museum - we couldn't recommend them highly enough. Luckily we dodged any Rail Strikes but the weather was cold enough to sabotage some tracks with frost so we had to start a little later than planned. Although most people were happy to be in the warm with a coffee.
My opening speech had some announcements on the growth of the conference. Retention rate is well over 90% and with more retailers finding out about the conference, I see Brands Retail becoming a big event in the next couple of years.
I asked everyone to put their hands up if they were based north of London. As I predicted more than two thirds of the audience are so I delighted them all - especially the ones coming down from the far north that I am looking at Birmingham as a base for our Summer 23 conference. The lucky ones in the audience were given the details in advance of anyone else - this next one will make a lot of Retailers very happy i think!.
Ryan Beaird - CEO Brands Retail UK
Day Two
19th
The Mattel Presentation
'Jon Spalding' - Mattel's new UK Head of Consumer Products for the UK introduced his new team to the audience. A really nice way to kick off their presentation. Mattel focused on their marketing timelines and showed us some behind the scenes production sizzles on their wonderful evergreen IP 'Thomas and Friends'.
The audience was given some He-Man and 'Monster High' updates and statistics around the brand which are huge.
Then we saw a glimpse into Barbie and especially the new movie. we obviously won't give anything away but this look fantastic and I bet Jon and his team are looking forward to that product range coming out.
Jon Spalding - Head of Consumer Products UK & EMEA
Day One
18th
TeamGB Sports Keynote Interview
We were lucky enough to have an Olympic Gold Medallist open Brands Retail Winter 2023. Beth Shriever won the gold for BMX at the Tokyo Olympics and has her sights set on Paris in 24, and her fireside chat was a great way to kick us off.
Paul Ellis TeamGB's 'Head of Retail' played us Beth's Gold medal run - you could hear a pin drop. Beth then gave an overview of different stages of the run and made the audience laugh with some hilarious anecdotes. Beth said she wanted to be on 'I'm a Celebrity' when she comes back from Paris next year but won't eat some of the Bush Tucker trials. Good luck Beth from Brands Retail UK - at the Olympics and in the jungle!.
Beth Shriever - BMX Tokyo 2020 - Gold Medallist
Day Two
19th
The Acamar Films Bing Presentation
Bing is now becoming a UK evergreen property and one that the team at Acamar Films should be proud of.
We won't be giving too much away as Acamar's presentation was very much built around statistics and their IP's core values. They had some great statistics from the BBC to share with the audience and gave a great 2023 timeline for their partners and the retailers in the audience.
Natalie Harvey - Executive Director of Sales
Day One
18th
TeamGB Licensing Paris Olympics Program
Beth was a tough act to follow for Paul Ellis TeamGB's head of Retail. The sizzle below shows us the history of TeamGB and our incredible athletes so well - merchandise does help filter back into helping the athletes so please do go out and buy some TeamGB merchandise.
And after seeing TeamGB's new style guide and brand refresh ideas for the first time they are going to be great products.
Paul Ellis - Head of Licensing and Retail
Day Two
19th
The Squishmallows Presentation
Zahara Gul is Jazwares Licensing Manager who focused on their huge global success 'Squishmallows'. A natural born presenter her speech focused on the key statistics of the last 6 months and their 2023 marketing plans for the IP.
There was a lot of focus on their social media campaigns which clearly gets the brand out there to the market place which is great to see.
Zahara Gul - Senior Licensing Manager
Day One
18th
The Boat Rocker Presentation
The lovely Emmanuelle Cadet 'Boat Rocker's' Licensing Director for EMEA, UK and AUS showed us some updates on their lovely IP 'Dino Ranch'.
Retail activations were a key part of their presentation for the IP and some great examples of what can be done.
We also saw their live action series - TNS (The Next Step). TNS has some bug numbers on CBBC, Netflix, Spotify and Youtube and it is great to see a property like this gaining huge traction with wonderful spin off merchandise that compliment the series.
Emmanuelle Cadet - Licensing Director (UK, AUS, EMEA)
Day Two
19th
The Point 1888. Day Two Presentation
We are delighted the Point 1888 are taking part - they have grown so rapidly and offer a great service to their clients. Day Two they focused more on their commercial and lifestyle brands with The Repair Shop, HRP and Moomins being given a showing. The Repair Shop is such a great show and The Point alongside their partners are creating some clever complimentary products to back the show.
HRP is an institution - with some many Royal Palaces the footfall for these heritage sites will be attractive to any licensee. As for Moomin it is always 'on' and they have some lovely retail pop-ups going on for the IP - Thank you The Point 1888.
Hannah Redler - Director of Retail & Sport
Day One
18th
The Futurum Kids Presentation
We met Francis Fitzpatrick CEO of Futurum Kids out in Cannes at MIPJunior and loved his stories of how he setup Futurum Kids. They have been developing a lovely new show called Paddles which looks like it has some great pre-sales in the market already.
Francis has been in the TV industry for years and used his time to tell us some stories of success, failures and some nice gems. He has written a book - only the audience will get that joke though.
We look forward to hearing more about Paddles in the future.
Francis Fitzpatrick - CEO
Day Two
19th
The IMG and Lionsgate Presentation
It was great to see Adam Steel who has only been in his new role at IMG for a few months. IMG have a huge roster of IP's they could choose for expanding into consumer products.
They showed us a great kids and adult non dialogue animated show called 'Booba'. It has some huge figures attached to it so well worth a a look. We could go into details about the many IP's IMG and Lionsgate presented - very diverse and all with great statistics behind them.
Adam Steel - Senior Licensing Director - Ent / Gaming
Day One
18th
The Retail Monster Presentation
Liesa Dornan VP of International licensing showed us some great IP's including Crayola, Cry Babies and a fun comedy animated series called Monster Loving Maniacs.
Retail Monster showed us a new IP they have just signed called 'Pudgy Penguins'. An NFT brand that has technology connected into the merchandise that Retail Monster are developing with them. We would like to tell you more but sadly we can't. Thanks to Liesa and Retail Monster for takinng part.
Liesa Dornan - VP International Licensing
Day Two
19th
The Battersea Dogs & Cats Home Presentation
Battersea Dogs and Cats home are our charity that we donate a speaking slot to. Battersea for us is a great cause and Warren and the team at the Point 1888 have developed a beautiful range of merchandise to help the charity. Remember every time you buy a product from Battersea those funds go into helping rehabilitate, train and re-home neglected animals.
Thanks Warren for coming along and showing the audience all the wonderful products you have worked on.
Warren Traeger - Licensing Manager
Day One
18th
The Penguin Ventures Presentation
Penguin Ventures have some of our nations most loved brands - Peter Rabbit and The Snowman are evergreen and celebrate Easter and Christmas.
David and his team came along to show the audience their style guides, updates and marketing plans for these two key IP's.
We also were shown Flower Fairies and the potential that IP has - the team in Penguin built the social programs themselves and the numbers look great. Well done and thank you Penguin Ventures.
David Sprei - Commercial Director
Day Two
19th
The Moonbug Entertainment Presentation
We worked with Flavio Cortes to deliver something special for Moonbug Entertainments presentation. Blippi their huge educational and fun live action character came and told us about their live shows which are huge around the world.
Moonbug are huge in terms of reach, and their statistics proved to us that is the case. We would love to tell you how big - but trust us their reach on digital platforms is enormous.
Flavio focused on some new IP's and their potential as well - the audience were frantically taking notes as they packed in a lot of content, marketing updates and IP showcases. Thank you Moonbug! and thank you Blippi as well.
Flavio Cortes - Senior Licensing Manager and Blippi
Day One
18th
The Aardman Presentation
Chicken Run 'Dawn of the Nugget' the movie and Wallace and Gromit were the two key properties that Aardman and their agent Start Licensing shared with the audience.
We would love to tell you more but sorry you had to be there... so here is a nice quote from Ian Downes MD of Start Licensing.
"We were delighted to showcase Wallace & Gromit and Chicken Run alongside Aardman. We felt that this was a great opportunity to deliver our message in a focussed way to an audience we want to engage with. I am pleased to say our presentation was well received and it has already sparked positive conversations. A cracking day all round."
Ian Downes - Start Licensing & Rob Goodchild - Aardman
Day Two
19th
The Activision Presentation
Victoria Justice and Franca Bernativicius came and gave us some great updates on Activision Blizzard King's portfolio.
The reach and size of the IP's Activision have in their portfolio is huge. The audience got key statistics and marketing updates which we would love to share with you but I'm afraid we can't.
Victoria Justice - Director Consumer Products
Day One
18th
The Point 1888. Day One Presentation
The Point 1888. team shared with us a wonderful IP 'Super Sema' which looks great.
Style guides were key to this presentation as we saw the iconic British brand 'Sindy' and the product ranges that are being developed by Team Point 1888.
Lastly we got to see something new that is being worked on 'Toad and Friends' from HoHo Entertainment. We grew up with Wind in the Willows and the first viewing on this current day re-working of this classic IP looks fantastic. Def one to watch out for!.
Hannah Redler - co-founder - spotlight 1888
Day Two
19th
The ZAG Miraculous Presentation
Miraculous - Zag's IP has some incredible numbers attached and an IP with so much content to back up any consumer product program.
Rob Corney 'Bulldogs' MD who represents the brand in the UK gave the audience their style guides and Luca Bonnechhi from ZAG backed them up with what the content plans were.
It is a fast paced action female led character brand and has some great licensing and toy partners attached.
Luca Bonecchi - ZAG & Rob Corney - Bulldog Licensing
Day One
18th
The Milo Fourth Wall DeA Planeta Presentation
We first saw Milo by Fourth Wall Creative at our Summer 22 conference and DeA Planeta cam back to give us some updates on the show and share with us some news since the summer.
It is a great show and travels well around the world. Here is their lovely promo video to tell you more... over to you Milo!.
Antonella Ceraso - Intl Consumer Products Director
Day Two
19th
The LMI Presentation
One of our industry veterans Andrew Maconie came to tell us about some of their Classic British Motorcycle brands and also gave us an insight into how they work with the Space Archives and can access assets from NASA.
It was a great mix of IP's from LMI and Andrew certainly opened the eyes of the audience to the potential in all the brands he presented.
Andrew Maconie - Managing Director
Day One
18th
The Metrostar Media Presentation
A great addition to our line up was Metrostar Media who shared with us their IP's Lucozade, Ribena and Elmer the Elephant.
These iconic brands have some great consumer product extensions by Claire and her team at Metrostar. Claire delivered a great presentation with some wonderful insights into what they have planned for the IP at retail.
Claire Potter - Managing Director
Day Two
19th
The Fabacus Presentation
We want to thank Fabacus for supporting Brands Retail UK conference. It has been great to watch their progress last year and the audience can see the potential for the technology they have.
We had Activision and ASDA on a panel giving the audience insight into their experiences of working with Fabacus.
Thank you Fabacus for a highlight presentation!.
Jonathan Baker - EVP Licensing
Day One
18th
The SEGA Presentation
It was great SEGA came back to give us more of an in-depth look at their huge iconic IP - Sonic.
Jason Rice the UK Licensing Director gave the audience the marketing plans and key dates for Sonic which showed us some plans they have which we would love to share with you but sadly can't.
Thanks to SEGA for supporting us again!.
Jason Rice - Director of Licensing
Day Two
19th
The Digital Sports Mgmt. Presentation
Nicky Stanton DSM's commercial director gave the audience an insight into the potential of e-sports. The numbers are huge around e-influencers and we felt the audience now have a better understanding of the potential for consumer products for this category.
We have included DSM's video to explain the potential to all of you.
Nicky Stanton - Head of Commercial
Day One
18th
The Retail Buyers Panel
Our review of the Retail Buyers panel is currently being written by our Retail Editorial and Moderator Julia Redman and will be available shortly.
The Retail Buyers Panel - ASDA - Character.com - Boots
Day Two
19th
The Power of E-Sports Panel by YMU
To finish off YMU the talent division of the now merged DSM and YMU organised a panel of e-sports commentators for the audience.
Brandon Smith and Alia Harvey two huge FIFA sports commentators gave us an insight into the size of the business. Leon Marlow the commercial director for YMU also backed up the panel with supporting facts and figures for e-sports.
It was a great way to end because the future is e-sports and for the audience to go away and think about this demographic more and why supporting merchandise would make them lots of money we felt it was a great end to what was a great conference. We look forward to more next time in the Summer!.
Leon Harlow - Commercial Director (right)
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