As promised yesterday – and in answer to some questions I’ve since had about it – some initial reactions to my first time at Brand Licensing Europe
- The stands were in the main pretty impressive. Maybe not quite on the scale of a Gamescom or E3 in pure scale, but there was definitely a lot of care put into making an impact
- More importantly IMO, bar few heavily “gatekeepered” megacorps , the stands were effective in giving access to actual decision makers, and allowing serendipitous chance meetings to take place
- Decent amount of drop-in meeting space available, either on the show floor or in the Excel lobby / café area The official online meeting service was not great though… could use it to schedule with exhibitors, but not with other attendees..?
- LOTS of kids’ character IP around. Definitely the dominant story, ahead of big gaming brands and sports/football teams maybe coming in a distant third.
- Very European, less UK-centric than I had maybe expected. This is a good thing as any IP that wants to transition successfully to games needs some kind of international profile.
- A lot of licencing discussion seems quite short-term/rapid-turnaround in focus. Totally get it for doing branded t-shirts, lunchboxes etc but it was interesting to me that the game dev timeline seemed quite daunting to many. (This is where some #Roblox folks pile into the comments to tell me they can rock it up in 2 weeks..? )
- There is still I believe a lack of understanding of both the huge opportunity of video games for licenced IP, but also of the risks of just jumping into the first partnership that shows up. Games have a “high ceiling and low floor” in terms of both revenue and brand impact, so the strategy for entering this area your be well-thought through & data-driven
- The knee-jerk reaction for minimum guarantees is still prevalent with many, and I believe its destroying value for both studios and IP owners. There is a lot of risk and cost in making a good game, and demanding a cash sum up front just to use the IP is going to ensure lots of games never get made, and lots of IP remains underused. Put skin in the game folks, support the creative vision, market together effectively and then share the lovely revenue that arises. Remember…100% of nothing is….nothing!
- The vibe was good, very upbeat. Maybe all the characters wandering around in costume was part of it? Also, it was notable by contrast with games/tech events how there was an approx. 50:50 male/female split in attendees. Great to see – and shows we have ways to go to get better
representation.
- Oh did I mention it was FREE? As I see the ticket prices for many expos & networking events stampede their way into 4 figures (!), its great to see that a good show can be put on like this and not skin the attendees for it!
Just did the one day in the end, felt that was enough to get a sense of it. Definitely one for the calendar though – will be back next year!
Chris Bain
