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Optimism for licensing: Russia's Cheburashka collection. |
Suppliers made a calculated move to refocus market strategies at Licensing Asia 2009, held at the Tokyo Big Sight Exhibition Center. There was grumbling about the world economic slowdown, but this was mitigated by cautious optimism regarding Japan's short-term economic performance prospects, and new potential for licensing to stimulate markets.
Exhibitors included licensors and various licensing agents representing animation and other characters, brands, corporate trademarks, and a wide range of properties from the sports and entertainment world. The show attracted 9,684 visitors, up from 8,904 in 2008.
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| Apple Kingdom characters. |
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Hong Kong's presence was represented by a HKTDC booth featuring strong examples of the territory’s intellectual properties and OEM production.
Apple Kingdom, established in 2006, is a Hong Kong supplier specialising in the design of animation characters. Lazy puppy Dobi and his kitten friend Pilot are stars of the Apple Kingdom cartoon series, CatDog Forever.
Also represented was G One, another cartoon licensing company; popular Moody Caddy plush toys by Simon Chung were present; and there were examples of OEM products co-ordinated through Hong Kong companies.
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Moody Caddy. |
The strategy was to showcase Hong Kong products and collect information from visitors who might be interested in them, in order to later pass contacts to respective Hong Kong designers and suppliers.
The booth also promoted and distributed applications for the Hong Kong International Licensing Show, set for 11 to 13 January at the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre.
Animation has multiplier effect
Among the show's licensing property subcategories, animation and cartoon characters were by far the most numerous. Any of these characters can become plush toys, aimed at children and teen-to-twenties Japanese females.
But they can also be licensed to appear on consumer goods, from packaged food items such as cookies and canned beverages, to housewares such as cutlery and crockery, lunch boxes and refrigerator magnets.
Animation and cartoon characters were also widely seen in Japanese fashion, commonly adopted on T-shirts and hats, and also personal accessories ranging from umbrellas to handbags, key and mobile phone fobs and cleaners.
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| Cartoon characters numerous. |
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Crossovers to clothes, as with Felix the Cat. |
Crossover was evident in the premium incentives market, as a number of new, inexpensively priced sales promotion goods were married with traditional and pop culture intellectual properties.
Reflecting the refocusing of market strategies, one trend was towards higher-value promotional goods. In the past many of the premium incentives were priced at US$0.10 to US$0.50 or thereabouts, but now there's a significant range of items costing five to 10 times that amount.
One buyer explained this was due to a strategic shift from saturation promotion with cheap giveaways to more focused campaigns targeting specific demographic groups and/or a company's current customers.
Whether making bottle openers or windbreakers, the winning character licensing formula involves matching a likeable, trendy property with a useful, novel product. That's not as simple as it sounds, given the Japanese market's sophisticated "cuteness" aesthetic and demanding utility criteria.
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| Watanabe with Cheburashka. |
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"Cuteness has to be simple, and most importantly, it has to appeal to women," said Yuto Watanabe, whose company was exclusively representing Cheburashka, a Russian character that evolved from a children's book published in 1966.
Cheburashka is immensely popular in Japan these days, in part because of his rich and intriguing back story. For example, in his seminal 1969 stop-action short animation film, Cheburashka emerges from his forest home after finding and eating a crate of oranges that cause him to fall asleep.
Among the countless Cheburashka goods on display at Licensing Asia were crates of plush oranges - an accessory apparently aimed at the obsessive collector who wants everything.
On the utility side, many of the goods, particularly the premium incentives, continued to either address daily use or support Japan's ubiquitous electronic gadget culture.
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| Marvel a huge licence. |
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Loufrani: unmistakable smile. |
The big character players such as Dick Bruna, Marvel and Sony were all at the fair. As was Nicolas Loufrani, the son of the inventor of the world's most recognisable cuteness icon, the "smiley face".
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Smiling straps. |
Loufrani's company was showing a series of smiley-face-themed mobile phone straps designed to represent the identities of dozens of different Japanese cities. This was an example of a well-tailored market strategy, given the Japanese propensity to purchase souvenirs when travelling, even on day trips.
Revising "cuteness" and other categories
However secure the big properties may be, many visitors also showed significant interest in smaller exhibitors who had developed or secured a character that was trendy in the here and now.
Some of the students exhibiting in the Creator's Gallery also attracted the sort of attention that could lead to a development deal - a reminder that cuteness is always reinventing itself.
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| Kouchi: eco-licence is a useful find. |
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Of course, not everything on offer at the fair banked on cuteness. Entertainment and sports properties were well represented - less so the traditional sports such as sumo, with more emphasis was on baseball and martial arts, and trendy or youth-oriented sports and leisure activities such as snowboarding and surfing.
"Regarding trends in Japan," said sales promotion goods buyer Koji Kouchi. "I think it's still very good to find original designed 'eco-goods', because consumers like that sort of product. Even if the price is a little bit higher, it's worth it."
On the technology side, Eyes, Japan showcased its cutting-edge 3D video monitors and shutter glasses, a developing product which promises to open up all sorts of licensing opportunities.
The 2009 Character Databank Brand Licensing Award went to Sanrio Far East for its work with the 12-flavour Spanish lollipop brand Chupa Chups. Sanrio Far East has taken the cute and colourful brand in dizzying new directions - last year sales rose to more than one million Chupa Chups bath balls.
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| Bath balls. |
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Poop characters. |
Other properties and products on display ranged from colourful "poop" characters to girly "Lolita" images, as well as Polynesian Tiki and Andy Warhol's soup cans and other classical or contemporary art iconography.
While a lot has changed since the bubble era of the 1980s, the Japanese market is still receptive to products that communicate culture and prestige.
Andrews Creative Inc was one of the founding members of the Licensing Asia show, and has been in business for over 20 years. The company represents marquee properties such as the royal palaces of the UK.
"Our licensees can use, for example, the palaces' individual crests, even the Queen's crest, which you can see at any of the palaces," explained Representative Brian Gregory. "In the majority of our licensing with Japanese companies, the goods are manufactured in Japan, but they can be produced for example in a factory in China. Our contracts specify who the manufacturer is going to be, because we have to have control over the brand and the name and images."
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| Warhol and tiki items. |
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Gregory: control over brand. |
Andrews Creative contracts are based either on production or sales, generally with a minimum guarantee paid in advance. If sales exceed that minimum, running royalties apply.
While the Andrews Creative properties may seem suited to the upscale consumer, the Japanese market can turn things round in unexpected ways.
Gregory reports his company's most popular properties in Japan this year are the logos and images of the Royal Mail, which have been picked up by mega clothing retailer Uniqlo for use on teen-to-twenties T-shirts and other casual clothing.
from special correspondent Monty DiPietro, Tokyo
