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.
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