How often do we hear this term in
life. IS it the right fit? Well never has a term meant more to success in
Brand Licensing than “The Right Fit”.
The marriage of the right brand with the right product category with the
right Licensee in the right channels at the right price. All must be “right” to
achieve a successful licensed product entry for your brand. But how do you as a brand owner insure that
all is “right” with the world for your licensed property. One word:
RESEARCH.
If you want to have a successful
licensing program one where your brand is the right fit for every product category
you enter, you need to take the time, have the discipline and invest the money
to conduct both primary and secondary market research on the product categories
that you are considering licensing your brand into. You also need to invest in brand perception research
upfront to understand what your brand means to target customers through the
attributes it elicits and the awareness it has.
Once you understand what your
brand attributes are, you can engage in fielding Brand Extension Research to
understand if the people in the market to purchase in a prospective product category
give your brand “permission” to enter that category. By that I mean that your research needs to
uncover whether the target customer would 1) consider your brand when purchasing
a product in the category and 2) actually purchase your brand over the
competitive brands in that category. By checking in with the actual “in-market” customers
through research, you gain an understanding of whether your brand will “fit”
well in that prospective licensing category.
Once you answer the brand fit
question, you can use the many sources out there of secondary industry research
to answer questions like market size & growth rate, royalty rates and
market share to prioritize what licensing categories and what licensees to go
after first and how to negotiate the best royalty rates and minimums possible. And your research results will also help you
sell the best potential licensees out there on why they want your brand on
their product. Why? Because you can
prove it fits!
If you are unsure of how to
tackle either primary or secondary market research in product extension categories,
then consider getting help from a reasonably priced brand licensing firm like
mine, Brandar
Consulting, LLC
Insure your success by spending
the time and money to do the research to find the RIGHT FIT for your brand in a
licensed product category. The cost of
this research will pay itself back ten-fold by drastically increasing your
probability of success. You get only one
chance to build a great licensing program; don’t squander it.
Mike Slusar
Managing Director & Owner
Brandar Consulting, LLC
“Helping Brands Reach for The Stars”
email: mike@brandar.com
http://www.brandar.com/
copyright © 2014 Brandar Consulting, LLC All Rights Reserved
Managing Director & Owner
Brandar Consulting, LLC
“Helping Brands Reach for The Stars”
email: mike@brandar.com
http://www.brandar.com/
copyright © 2014 Brandar Consulting, LLC All Rights Reserved