Commitment

Happy New Year.  My first post of 2014 has to do with that big “C” word Commitment.   We often hear about the fear of commitment, but I want to talk today about the lack of commitment and how that impacts brand licensing.    More and more I have been finding that the biggest difference between long term licensing success and failure is a lack of 100% commitment by the Licensor to their licensing program.   Everyone loves the idea of licensing their brand, building more and new brand equity and, of course, making more money off their trademark.   But taking the idea from concept to actual business success takes more than just deciding that your firm wants to license its brand marks.  Even if you make the effort to hire an agent and start prospecting for licensees, are you committed to brand licensing?    If you find some prospects and sign some licensing deals, are you committed to brand licensing?   If you create an annual licensing plan every year and sign a few more licensees, are you committed to brand licensing? 

 

True Brand Licensing success resides in 100% commitment to your Brand Licensing Program over a sustained period of time.    I have seen clients say they want to start or revive a faltering licensing program, spend tens of thousands of dollars on research and planning and then fail to get management commitment to pull the trigger on a new licensing program.    Worse yet, I have also seen Brand Licensing Directors succeed in getting approval for their new licensing programs from upper management, only to find out that that support was just lukewarm and that their management had no intent of actually signing deals, let alone supporting licensing agreements once they were signed.    IF YOUR ORGANIZATION WANTS TO BE SUCCESSFUL AT BRAND LICENSING, YOU NEED 100% COMMITMENT FROM THE ENTIRE ORGANIZATION TO YOUR LICENSING PROGRAM OVER THE LONG TERM.

 

What is 100% commitment?  It is a commitment to the discipline needed to be successful at Brand Licensing.  You have to be committed to doing an annual licensing plan and soliciting an annual budget.  You need to be committed to getting new deals signed in a timely fashion once they are brought to you.  You then need to be committed to having the right organization in place at all times to support your deals.  Once deals are signed you have to be committed to supporting and managing the Licensees to success every step of the way: from timely product development approvals, product approvals, marketing approvals to ongoing quality control inspections.   You must align your entire company around delivering this.  You have to be committed to integrating your licensee with the rest of your licensing program and your core business, particularly at retailers.  You need to be committed to gaining the commitment of your core business towards supporting your licensing program.  You need to be focused on getting your core business managers and your licensees working together on cross marketing all branded products.   You need to be committed to reselling the merits of your licensing program internally at your company every year, every month, every day, every minute because that is how often the winds of change occur in corporate environments.    Commitment to Brand Licensing has to be earned every day from your Upper Management no matter who they are and it is your job as Brand Licensing Director to make that happen with your planning, with your effort and with your actions.  Brand Licensing can’t be a side show to your organization because it runs the risk of being a passing fancy.  Put simply, there must be organizational commitment to Brand Licensing as a major initiative in your firm’s Brand Management Mix on an ongoing basis. Embrace making the Commitment happen and if you need help in making this happen consider contacting my firm Brandar Consulting.