20 February 2019
Over the past decade, business enterprises have been playing an active role in advancing their corporate social responsibility level, from simply motivating staff engagement in environment protection, charity work and fundraising to incorporating their impact goals into business strategies. Long Wise Inc. Ltd., after being designated as HeArt Panda’s sole licensor in Asia last year, sets out a plan to launch licensed merchandise and a string of public art exhibitions for the mainland’s community-engaged brand – an initiative to scale up its art licensing business while making impact.
HeArt Panda, the mainland brand revolving around the theme of love and care, was founded after a massive earthquake struck Sichuan in 2008. At that time, a group of artists visited the quake-stricken Wenchuan where they witnessed an injured but brave panda survived the disaster. An idea of collective arts project then crossed their mind that a range of stylized sculptures modelled on the injured panda were crafted. The collaborative action gained strong social approval while drawing wider attention and care to the post-disaster zone. Since then, HeArt Panda’s three-dimensional sculptures borne out of collective art-making efforts have become the theme of a series of public art exhibitions in many countries and regions. In 2018, HeArt Panda signed up its participation at Hong Kong International Licensing Show where a tie-up with Long Wise was eventually concluded, as the licensing agency was attracted to the art brand’s theme on social inclusiveness.
Highly Merchandisable
How to pick art brands with commercial potential? Long Wise’s managing director Priscilla Wong factors in her emotional connection with the artwork. “HeArt Panda articulating social inclusiveness and community love based on diversity can deliver a positive message to the youth of modern day. Championing inclusiveness and diversity is part of the global trend. I am confident that HeArt Panda would be well-embraced by the general public. The company is amongst the pioneers in art licensing segment. Its Vincent van Gogh collection licensed by the Van Gogh Museum in Holland is well-known to the market.
Acting as Asia’s sole licensing agency on behalf of HeArt Panda, Long Wise immediately puts myriad projects in the pipeline. “Through cooperation with Design Council Hong Kong, the council will kick-start the roving exhibitions for HeArt Panda across the Greater Bay Zone. The council takes the step to engage ten Hong Kong designers to create their own unique little pandas as exhibits,” says Wong, adding that one of Long Wise’s licensees is on the way to launch HeArt Panda’s hair care product line for children.
Licensing Matchmaking
Art licensing is generally in form of merchandised items or out-of-home entertainment. Wong underlines that the variety of licensed arts products when it comes to commercialization. “Taking our Van Gogh collection for example, Long Wise has enriched its merchandise mix from backpacks, apparel, ceramics, watches, sports shoes, bedding items, notebooks to many other categories. We have even run Van Gogh-themed restaurants at 1881 Heritage in Hong Kong and elsewhere in Shanghai and Guangzhou. The Shenzhen shop has been opened in Jan 2019.”
On the back of its highly successful Van Gogh Collection, Long Wise has managed to strike several partnerships with overseas museums which help consolidate its expertise in the field of art licensing. During its annual participation at Hong Kong International Licensing Show, Long Wise as the established agency in the sector always get traffic from mainland museums which look to cooperation. XYL MoMA, Jinsha Site Museum, Chengdu Huazhen Tibetan and Qiang Culture Museum have already tied up their partnerships with the company through the show. “Right now, commoditizing intellectual property rights of museum exhibits with a modern twist appeal to young consumers who have a preference for products rich in cultural context.”
“Looking ahead this year, an array of Leonardo3 Museum-licensed merchandise will be rolled out to celebrate the 500th anniversary of Leonardo da Vinci’s departure. Besides, we are looking forward to collaborating with living artists of today so that they can participate in our product design while having more interactions with consumers through publicity campaigns and workshops. Our art education products for young kids will also be commercially available soon. This line of products is intended to train young kids’ right brain through colour sensitivity enhancement. In my view, opportunities and risks co-exist in whatever global economic circumstances.”
