I'll not bore you with the details of the Licensing Expo from Las Vegas that was held June 14-16 at the Mandalay Bay Convention Centre in Las Vegas, hey I wasn't even there... and its pretty routine standard licensing stuff, but the idea behind big licenses, like Disney & Star Wars basically franchising themselves out to other big brands got me thinking about the current licenses and licenses I'd like to see in the future. Mainly Lego!
In 1999, Lego was a brand that sold sets based around their own brands, the City range, etc, Lego was struggling somewhat to break back into the top tens of the toy market, it was selling product but couldn't grow market share. That was until the licensing juggernaut of Star Wars and particularly Star Wars Episode I took off.
Now, I am a massive Star Wars fan, and in 1999 when the long awaited Phantom Menace movie came out, we knew, as fans that it meant an onslaught of new toys and collectables, little did we know that Lucas sold his sole on this movie and Licenced Star Wars and the Phantom Menace logo and imagery to all and sundry. You name it it had a Star Wars product, promotion and official licence.
You could, just on this movie alone, base an entire collecting craze, which some people did. I know i have a load of Episode I rubbish cluttering my loft!! (Including empty crisp packets, cereal cartons, and drinks cans).
This licensing push for the Star Wars brand landed at Lego's door and it was perhaps they who of all of the other manufacturers and retailers have reaped most from that one movie and the licensing of the Star Wars name. Many manufacturers and companies jumped at the chance to have Star Wars emblazoned on their product and paid over the odds, and produced way too much product, Lucas and Lucasfilm were laughing all the way to the bank while it broke some of these companies and they ended up folding or being bought out. Lucas even realised by the time Attack of the Clones arrived in 2002 that even he'd overdone the marketing in 1999...and held back.
Now the licensing of Star Wars on Lego was a different matter. Lego had never entered the licensed product arena before, but it must have known that the potential was there for a super range, that would not only stretch over the Phantom Menace in 1999, but also to the promised two prequel sequels that Lucas had penciled in over the next 6 years. It also saw potential in the other movies, made between 1977 and 1983, which were especially in 1999 still massive. So Lego went ahead and signed up with Star Wars. We'll never know how much they paid or what monies were promised, but I bet Lego don't care. The launch of Star Wars Episode I Lego coupled with the Midnight Madness events that triggered fans buying anything star wars in 1999 was a major success and Star Wars Lego sets sold in their millions. Fans could buy all the Scenes and characters from Episode I and cleverly from the previous three movies. Name a character and you could buy the minifigure in a nice little set, from Jabba to Boba, they were all there.
Once the success of this range had been sealed, Lego embarked on its most prosperous period, and its still in it. Lego has not looked back and has since licensed the following: Batman, Spiderman, Cars 2, Winnie The Pooh, Pirates of the Caribbean, Harry Potter, Speed Racer, Indiana Jones, Prince of Persia, Avatar - the Last Airbender, Thomas the Tank Engine, Spongebob Squarepants, and probably a few more I've missed. Most of these licenses stretch to several movies including 7/8 Harry Potters, and the product range is ultimately endless. Star Wars is in Series 3 of the clones wars Cartoon series and is still racking in the cash. Some licenses don't fair as well, as i think the Prince of Persia & Avatar ranges may have been less successful, but that's down to the movie, and these were probably the only real duds.
The Cars 2 licence will be massive and don't expect to see these sets around for long once the movie takes off this month.
Last year Lego also launched its own kind of License in its Ninjago brand, this is one brand that Lego is keen to push and ensure it doesn't lose focus on its own products. Its revamped its City range, and has relaunched (so to speak) its Space range in conjunction with NASA. The Ninjago range is really taken off and its down to the collectable nature of the product and different aspects, linked with trading cards, battles and gaming.
And its obviously no surprise that the minifigure range, now in series 4 has been so successful, another own brand, its been based upon the collectable aspect of the licenced ranges, whereby fans and collectors pay premium prices on the secondary market for just the licensed minifigures! I don't think we'll see individual licenced minifigures on sale, Lego is doing just fine thank you with its own series of minifigures. It sells the licenced magnets range and these are very popular.
So what's next for Lego and its licences. Star Wars was an inspired link up, other have been less so, Harry Potter in the early years lends itself to Lego, but the latter movies getting darker have tended to not fit as well with the fun aspect of Lego.
What would I like to see from Lego, well obviously a James Bond range. The next movie is number 23 in the series, so there is plenty of material to work with. There are hundreds of great and eccentric characters, loads and loads of vehicles, playsets and locations - imagine Scaramaga's Island Lair as a play set! (imagine a three nippled Lego minifigure!) There are so many options. Whether Bond is a licence that has approached Lego, its uncertain, whether if it did it would fit in with Lego's ideals, of Child friendliness. I think so, well up to movie 21... Other licences have been mentioned before, including The Simpsons, with so many characters, yellow being the original skin tone of Lego figures, its a great fit. There are many movie franchises out there, X-Men, Marvel etc, Some tend to go the glowingly popular Mega Bloks brand, including Halo and Iron Man. It is possible that they have different values to those of Lego. Some jump ship and go to Lego from Mega.
Lego now knows what its doing and can pick and choose, some licences obviously have failed to be a success as expected, but others have been so successful that a whole secondary market exists just to feed the collectors. Lego now has managed to integrate a large range of Licences and probably has more on its plate now than ever before, but its own core range is still strong, its diversifying into real collectors items with its Architecture range, and larger scaled Licenced products. The £300 Death Star Lego toy was out of the reach of most kids and parents!!
Lego isn't alone in reaping the rewards of licenced products, but as a stand alone brand it has probably benefited most from its tie ins. Licenses come and go, Cars 2 is everywhere, from Scalextric to Leappad. Disney are the kings of licenses.
I wonder if a brand like Playmobil is ever interested in Licensing. So far its kept clear, and is producing an ever growing range of popular toys, and has its own in house ranges, like its Agents series just launched, but I'm sure it could benefit from a licence tie in, it might be that Lego has sole licence rights at certain types of product - and whether Lego and Playmobil fall under the same categorisation I'm not sure. The Mega Bloks brand is challenging, as is the new player on the block, Character Building, with its Doctor Who & HM Forces ranges. Lego is not under threat, and in fact is perhaps the template for development of licences within this type of market. Brands like Barbie and Hornby (Scalextric) are heavily involved in Licences, with new ranges of Dolls featuring popular girl brands and bands, and sets of trains and slot racing moving even further into the realms of Licenced product, which has seen the behemoth of Star Wars place down a marker. See my previous post on news of Star Wars Scalextric
Let me know what you think, and what licences Lego or others should go into.
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