How Much Is A Good Idea Worth? Brand Authorization Drives The $160 Billion Market

With the popularity of Kung Fu Panda, the T-shirts and slippers of Lioney in Hong Kong Street Castle have become popular because they have the image of a simple but clever panda. This is the temptation and business opportunity of patent licensing. ?
How can good ideas and brands be distributed throughout the marketing network through authorization? How do SMEs become authorized agents? The Hong Kong International Patent Licensing Exhibition hosted by the Hong Kong Trade Development Council aims to build this platform. In the three-day exhibition, 130 enterprises from 11 countries and regions participated in the exhibition, displaying more than 300 brands and authorized projects, covering film and television entertainment, fashion clothing, sports, art and design, corporate brands, etc. These may be some inspiration for the brand operation and expansion of Zhejiang enterprises.
Case: Good creativity drives a big industry
At the end of last month, the first 52 episodes of the animated film "Legend of the Dragon's Veins - Stories of Ancient Chinese Scientists" created by Hangzhou animation enterprises had premiered on the Children's Channel of CCTV. Although the film has just been broadcast, the "Dragon Prince" and "Dragon Beibei" in the film have many fans. As early as January, the "Dragon Prince" series of spring and summer children's clothes were listed in more than 300 stores in 8 provinces, including Zhejiang and Jiangsu, with sales exceeding 30 million yuan.
Although this figure is far from Disney's authorized product retail market share of 27 billion dollars a year, and the scope of influence is limited to China, it is an important step for Hangzhou, the animation capital. Cartoon character licensing has always played an important role in the patent licensing industry, with licensed products accounting for nearly half of the total amount of the industry. The special Hong Kong Original Characters Museum of the exhibition launched Hong Kong "native" original cartoon characters, which attracted many visitors' attention.
"Now the number of original things in mainland China is also increasing, which is a good phenomenon, and means that a new industrial chain will emerge." Charles Riotto, president of the International Licensing Industry Association, also heard about Hangzhou's creation of the animation city. "The most important thing is that cartoon characters are creative, not only attractive locally, but also internationally." He suggested that cartoon characters must have stories behind them. After laying the foundation, we can expand our influence through international licensing exhibitions in London, New York, Hong Kong and other places, so as to gradually develop authorized agents.
Inspiration: How Zhejiang Enterprises Promote to Authorized Operators
In recent years, sports related patent licensing projects have become increasingly popular, but for Zhejiang enterprises that are good at production, they often share limited processing fees. How to promote to the list of sports brand patent authorized operators? The example of Hong Kong Guantian Brand Management Co., Ltd. may have some enlightenment. The company was founded in 2004, and its scale is not large, but it has won the brand authorization and distribution of many clubs and leagues in the fierce competition. For example, the earliest Club of Rome, and the authorization of China Mainland and Hong Kong for the 2008 European Cup, which is very popular at the moment.
"The key to the secret is professionalism." Huang Wenhui, the head of the company, said that he had been engaged in football retail business for more than 10 years before, and he was quite proficient in the procedures in this regard, which was valued by the partners.
"In fact, Zhejiang has advantages in manufacturing. If we increase the ability of original design, turn the advantages of OEM into ODM, and control certain channels, we will be closer to the authorized operators." Huang Wenhui said that some of the company's hats and T-shirts are produced in Zhejiang.
Opportunity: the average annual growth rate of brand licensing market is 17%
While international patent licensing enterprises enter the mainland market, the mainland enterprises have also begun to go global. At this year's International Patent Exhibition, mainland enterprises set up a brand zone for the first time. Seven enterprises brought the latest works, including the Magic Brush Animation Production Co., Ltd. from Hangzhou.
"The patent licensing market in the mainland is developing rapidly, and Hong Kong is an ideal platform, which is very meaningful for promoting the original animation brand in the mainland." The staff of Shenbi Animation said that during the exhibition, many exhibitors expressed interest in their works, and they look forward to more opportunities to appear and promote in the future.
"Now more and more people are paying attention to brands, which is a good opportunity for brand licensing and agency." Zhou Qiliang, Assistant President of Hong Kong Trade and Development Council, said that patent licensing is a marketing tool, and can help manufacturing enterprises upgrade and transform to the upstream of the value chain. Zhejiang is home to many small and medium-sized production enterprises, but due to the rise of raw materials and other factors, the production advantage is gradually lost. "OEM production is not a long-term solution and cannot attract partners for a long time." Peter Shi, CEO of Litong "Anti" Doucheng (Asia), said that it is a development trend for enterprises to improve their brands by authorization, so as to increase their market share.
Globally, brand licensing has become a $160 billion industry. In the United States, products licensed by various brands account for 1/3 of the retail market; In Japan, the purchase and sale of intellectual property rights of cartoon images accounted for more than half of the annual cartoon consumption. According to the statistics of the International Licensing Industry Association, the mainland of China is the fastest growing licensing product market in the world. In 2005, the total market value reached US $1.1 billion, with an average annual growth of 17%, and it has become the second largest licensing market in Asia.