Talking all things BLE with Anna Clarke and Laura Freedman Dagg
Total Licensing sits down with Anna Clarke, SVP, Global Licensing Group, and Laura Freedman Dagg, Head of Retail, to look ahead to this year’s BLE – and why the show is a crucial date in the licensing calendar
How are things looking for BLE this year?
Anna: They are looking good. We’ve already got a very busy show floor with some amazing new exhibitors and excellent representation across categories and geographies. Plus, some exciting new content and the introduction of a new theatre. It’s going to be another great year for the show.
How’s the retail buyer attendance looking?
Laura: I don’t want to give too much away but we are super-confident about retail attendance this year. We’ve had three solid years of growth so are expecting an element of natural growth and some decent retention.
Generally, retail is 15% of the audience overall. They include retailers who are regular attendees of the show (they understand licensing, are involved full time and invited by exhibitors) and, for these, our priority is on making sure they have a brilliant experience and, ideally, bring along their category colleagues who may not know the show as well. It’s equally important for us to bring in designers, marketers and product developers who get a great deal from the trend spotting and education on offer.
Beyond those retailers, there are others who have either never attended before, have attended but maybe missed a couple of years, or they may be from a country we’re focusing on. That’s where most of our effort goes, driving fresh new attendance year after year. Having said that, registration is open and looks good.
How about international recognition of BLE? Do you have any more diverse markets coming in?
Laura: We’ve seen this grow over the last few years. We’ve always had representation outside of the UK, and that is starting to feel more significant. This year I’m expecting, and aiming for, a much stronger European presence outside the UK among retail attendees.
Obviously, we’ve just had our third France Licensing Day, which is a lovely feeder event, plus our reputation has been building and people are starting to understand BLE is a truly European show. This year our focus is on the E in BLE – Europe – and we are really doubling down on that.
Exhibitors are inviting more of their European retail partners, which is great. And we survey our exhibitors to find out where their priorities lie retail-wise – this information becomes the basis of our outreach target list. If there are exhibitors reading this who haven’t yet done that survey, I’d recommend they do so ASAP. It’ll be in your inbox or contact me directly and I’ll send you the link.
We’re confident the likes of H&M, Inditex and UK retailers with international distribution will attend. We’ve already seen a considerable toy presence – Dreamland has registered – and I think we’ll see a big group from Pep in South Africa.
There’s an element of natural growth and excitement from international audiences. They really appreciate the benefits of attending BLE, and my hunch is they are going to be more visible.
The online Event Planner is also now live, and this helps us provide a ‘white glove’ experience to VIP retailers because we have insight into what and who they are interested in meeting. The brand directory is so useful because they can browse a list filtered to their requirements and see exactly who reps what. Lack of clarity on who to talk to is a pain point we’ve worked very hard to alleviate.
Last year was a record-breaking show. Are you predicting more records to be broken this year?
Anna: Last year was special because it was our biggest ever AND our 25th birthday. It also came off the back of a very challenging couple of years where we’ve had several factors impact the event outside of our control. It was wonderful to run a show which showed the potential we have been building towards for all of these years.
Breaking records is not what we sit down to do. We don’t want to bring volume in for the sake of it. That has never been our goal. It’s fundamentally about a quality audience of attendees AND exhibitors and our number one objective every year is making sure we deliver return on investment for our exhibitors and return on time (and investment) for our attendees who take significant time out of their schedules to attend.
How many exhibitors are you looking for this year? Roughly similar levels.
Anna: Yes – somewhere between 250 and 300 is what we’re expecting at this stage. We are seeing excellent retention level from those who exhibited last year which is always a good indicator. And we’ve got some really interesting new exhibitors this year – from all categories and geographies.
What about Asian representation. Do you find that more in Vegas or at BLE or a mixture of both?
Anna: I would say it depends on the industry and market forces / growth trajectories from year to year. Often Vegas will see more concentration from Asia as it’s a globally focused show, and BLE’s is catering to pan European deals and distribution. We do have exhibitors like KOCCA, Kodansha, Bandai Namco etc. and key personnel from attending companies too. We are also partnering much more with our Informa colleagues who run Licensing Expo Shanghai, so expect to see this presence grow over the next few years.
Any activations or highlights that you can share?
Anna: Yes, of course. We are co-creating activations with several of our exhibitors from a major sporting activation to catering and networking areas and lounges – more to come but expect a range of experiences and brands. We are also bringing the Networking Hub to BLE – a brand new theatre which launched at Licensing Expo in May – and caters towards a mixture of practical sessions on how to do business in European territories for example, alongside some brand new networking sessions that worked so well in Vegas. We’ll make sure it’s more suitable for our European community but I’m excited to see it succeed in a different location.
As Laura said, we ‘re really leaning into the E of BLE, which means making sure BLE is very representative of everything going on in Europe from content to culture, from exhibitors to attendees.
It’s worth mentioning, too, that there is now an electronic travel authorisation visa that many people from outside the UK will need to apply for to travel to BLE. It’s really easy, quick and affordable and my advice is to apply early. We have a lot of information about this on the BLE website. It’s essentially the same as if you’re going to the US and you have to apply for an ESTA.
Tell us how you can help people new to the show?
Anna: I think if you take a new visitor, it kind of depends on whether they’re new, but already have quite sizeable knowledge of licensing, in which case it’s more about making sure they make the most of the Event Planner (for meetings and content scheduling) and we get across to them the importance of planning. The Event Planner is already open actually and we’ve made lots of improvements from new filters to help with search, and incorporating wayfinding to help plan your route from meetings to meetings.
For those that are new to the show and new to the industry, we’re encouraging everyone to do the Licensing Unlocked programme prior to coming to the event – it’s 8 modules of which the first is free and then there’s a small charge to complete the course. At the event we still do 101 sessions explaining the industry and tours of the show and they’re definitely suited to going to some of the networking sessions in the Networking Hub.
If it’s retail, it doesn’t matter whether they’re seasoned, new, or somewhere in the middle. Laura’s there to help engage with those retailers but also help them understand how to make the most of the show depending on their needs. Exhibitors are handheld by their account manager and Naomi, who works in our customer success team. And we’re always trying to improve the tools that they can use to make the most of the show. All that remains in place.
How are you finding the climate we are living in, in particular the elephant in the room…. tariffs?
Anna: I can’t say what will happen because things are changing quite rapidly day to day, week to week, but I do know what we saw in Vegas, and it didn’t dominate the conversation as much as people thought it would. Licensing is very pragmatic and it’s an industry formed on relationships. So, a lot of the conversations were about ‘how are we going to get through this? How are we going to figure it out together? How will this affect our future partnership and what can we do to support each other?’
It also really showed the importance of face-to-face events and gathering for working through these challenges, and the strength in being able to talk to so many people about their creative solutions and approaches. IF, and it’s a big if, there is a need for specific content at the show when it comes around, we’ll make sure it’s programmed, but for me, the camaraderie and community that BLE brings to so many people is the most important factor to navigate the current climate.
You’ve had to navigate some challenges in the past – COVID, The Queen’s funeral, the fire at the Novotel, floods and more…
Anna: How can we forget it? I think that’s what makes you strong as a team; that you can weather any challenge. And we all love this industry. I suppose that links to what we were saying about the licensing industry’s partnership model and creative solutions.t. Each thing that happens adds to experience – COVID led into the Queen’s funeral, which led to threatened train and Tube strikes… We’re so used to expecting curveballs now; the world is changing constantly. It’s a matter of working together and doing our best for an industry and people we care so much about.
So, what are the highlights?
Anna: We’ve announced our day one keynote – Mattel with Amazon MGM Studios talking about Masters of the Universe. There’s so much buzz around this IP now. This keynote will be different to previous ones and talk about the whole process of bringing back the franchise from start to finish including the very important creative process
The second keynote is about the ‘E’ in Europe and it’s a panel talking about economic, cultural and retail trends across Europe. We’re also going to hear from a very prominent retailer in Europe, which is really exciting. We will have an economist, a trend expert and a major global agent. On the first day, we will also have a trend session including valuable data with a focus on Europe.
How is your brand sector? Is that growing every year?
Anna: Yes, it definitely grows. We’re seeing an upsurge in heritage, some new sports coming in, and the corporate brand category itself has grown significantly.
Laura: Can I just add that I get more questions from retailers on the brand side than I do on the entertainment side. There seems to be more curiosity around the brand side. And because of the education we’ve done over the years, it’s really starting to land now. So, now a lot of those retailers that we educated three years ago through the mentoring programme or by helping them put their meetings in place, have moved into new roles and now they understand, ‘oh, I can talk to a museum. I could do something with a car brand. Or I’m interested in F1. How do I access that?’
Finally, from me – a big thank you to Cloudco, who are sponsoring the Retail Lounge once again.
