Images of Entertainment Industry Characters Are in High Demand

Toy Russia - September 2014

Licensing World Russia Exhibition represents the sophisticated side of licensing inner workings – add a popular brand to your product, and you end up with a product that sells well.

Today, children prefer to play with licensed toys. Visit Licensing World Russia Exhibition and learn how to use successful brands to promote your products.

You will find media characters that have long become children’s heroes at the Licensing World Russia Exhibition, which will open its doors on September 16-18 2014 at the CROCUS EXPO. For a long time now manufacturers of children’s products all over the world have been successfully using images of popular characters and recognizable brands to create products for children. The licensing market for popular characters from animation, media and digital industries is growing rapidly. “No name” products are receding into the background.

Children represent the most rewarding target market for licensed products. A modern child learns about the world from modern communication media, the most important among them being the Internet, television and cinema. Children’s desire to emulate characters from cartoons, movies and the gaming industry are an important argument for buying a product with the image of a favorite character.

As a group, popular children’s brands mostly originate in the animation and digital industries. In addition, the market for licensed product for children (i.e., toys, school supplies, clothes, confectionary and food products, cosmetics and printed materials) is divided into segments for girls and boys of different ages. Boys prefer all sorts of super-heroes, while girls like princesses, fairies, and funny, cute characters.

Among the Licensing World Russia participants, there are quite a few companies that offer brands that are sought-after and quite popular among children, and consequently among their parents.

Nickelodeon Viacom Consumer Products, the exhibition’s title sponsor, is one of the leading licensors in Russia, Ukraine, the Baltic States and the CIS counties. Among other partners, there are such leading manufacturers of licensed goods as Gulliver Trading House, Mattel, Lego, Simba Toys, Rosman, Panini, Konfitreyd, Cotton Club, Burger King, McDonalds, and many others. Russia’s leading retailers, such as Detsky Mir, Korablik, Smyk, Deti, Karusel, Ashan, Tvoy Dom, Metro and others offer more than 2000 items of licensed products, including such brands as SpongeBob SquarePants, Ninja Turtles, Dora the Explorer, Bubble Guppies, Team Umizoomi, South Park, Beavis and Butt-head, Jackass, MTV, and others. One of the key undertakings of Nickelodeon Viacom Consumer Products is organizing sweeping retail marketing campaigns to raise brand awareness among the target audience and increasing the sales of licensed products.

The Riki Group, official partner of the Licensing World Russia Exhibition, represents animation brands Smeshariki; Smeshariki: The Beginning; Smeshariki-2: Legend of the Golden Dragon; Smeshariki. PINCODE; Malyshariki; The Fixies; Qumi-Qumi; Skazki-Poteshki; Belka & Strelka, and Tvidi.ru in the Russian market. The Riki Group is the master licensee for Nickelodeon Viacom Consumer Products; the Riki Group also works with more than 60 licensees that produce more than 4200 items in diverse retail categories. Among other things, it created a franchise network under the Smeshariki brand, with 50 retail locations and other entertainment centers in Russia.

A licensed brand enhances product offering through its emotional and social attributes. A familiar image gives the customer a sense of comfort, an opportunity to feel like he or she belongs to a select few. Experts believe that Russia will see more children born in the next few years (according to the Russian Federal State Statistics Service, population growth in 2013 was 13.2%); wealth will grow, too, so the Russian licensing market will be steadily expanding. You can influence the choices of potential customers to your advantage by partnering with companies that hold rights for the use of popular characters images. We invite all interested manufacturers of children’s goods to visit the Licensing World Russia Exhibition on September 16-18 2014 at CROCUS EXPO, Pavilion 2, Hall 6. Learn how to create new merchandize on the basis of a successful brand, or use a popular character image in your promotional activities. Branded products are more expensive that their “no name” analogues, but they sell better!

Many Russian companies in the children’s goods industry have been successfully working with licensing during the last few years. First and foremost, we should mention the Grand Toys Group of Companies, the official licensee of the Disney Company, as well as other branded goods, such as Ninja Turtles, Smeshariki, Belka & Strelka, Masha and the Bear, The Fixies, Maya the Bee, Angry Birds, and Soyuzmultfilm. “Autoprofi” Company manufactures children’s car seats and organizers with the leased Smeshariki brand. MTK “Alisa” holds a portfolio of goods under license from Angry Birds, Disney, Cut the Rope, Hello Kitty, Winx, SpongeBob, and Monster High. VV-Toys, a Russian manufacturer of toy cars, represents licensing of automobile brands, such as Lamborghini, AvtoVAZ [Volzhsky Automobile Plant], PAZ [Pavlovsk Bus Plant], Ural [Automotive Plant], and GAZ [Gorky Automobile Plant] .

As for the publishing business, the following companies are actively working with licenses: Rosman (Masha and the Bear, The Smurfs, Dora the Explorer, Soyuzmultfilm, Peppa Pig, Monster High, Disney); The Egmont Group Russia (Masha and the Bear, Smeshariki, Luntik); ACT (Masha and the Bear, Talking Friends, The Orb Factory, Clementoni, Dragon Toys, and Tangle.)

The Gulliver & Co. trading house has developed a new project called “Oxford” – it manufactures writing and school supplies under the brand names of the Nickelodeon Viacom Consumer Products (Dora the Explorer, Ninja Turtles.) “Misteria Zvuka” manufactures a wide variety of products under the “Melnitsa” brands (The Barboskins, The Three Bogatyrs, Luntik), as well as watches and jewelry for girls (Dora the Explorer, Masha and the Bear). CJSC “Step Puzzle” is the Russian leader in manufacturing puzzles and children’s educational games (Disney, Soyuzmultfilm, Hasbro, and The Fixies.) “Centrum”, a manufacturer of children’s goods for crafts, school and office, leases such brands as Smeshariki, SpongeBob, Monster High, Angry Birds, The Fixies, and Dora the Explorer.

Building a business based on licensing allows the licensee to avoid major initial investments in research, development, design and product promotion, since popular brands ensure product recognition. More than that, when a licensee company offers a line of licensed products and enjoys the support of the license holder, it often promotes retail interest towards the company, which, in turn, opens up possible new distribution channels.

A 3-day business program, including Licensing University;
Retail Center: two Business to Business dedicated to licensing in today’s retail business;
Popular characters parade

Professional visitors may use our online registration and receive a free E-TICKET today by going to: www.licensingworld.ru/conf2014/e-ticket/