Milano Licensing Day introduces Pop Culture Connections, where pop culture, contemporary marketing and licensing meet.
The upcoming 2025 edition of Milano Licensing Day will open with POP CULTURE CONNECTIONS on 17 September: a new talk-driven event exploring the intersection between pop culture and contemporary marketing to warm up the audience for the one-day-only licensing marketplace on 18 September.
Pop culture content spreads from cinema and TV series to art, fashion, comics, gaming and publishing. and multiplies through social media, shaping languages, consumption and collective imagination.
Brands in all categories and tiers, from luxury to mass market, are increasingly leveraging pop culture references to boost engagement and sales using new techniques such as:
– ‘collaborations’
– ‘nostalgia marketing’
– ‘kidult’
– ‘fandom’
– ‘scarcity management’.
These and many more concepts are resonating with a new breed of consumers.
Much of the content known as ‘pop culture’ is based on intellectual properties such as characters, stories, and trademarks. From this perspective, Pop Culture Connections is the event that takes licensing to the next level, reaching a broader audience.
Taking place in Milan on 17 September, this B2B event will explore the intersection of pop culture, marketing and licensing, and will serve as the opening event for Milano Licensing Day the day after.
This first edition will feature talks, panels, case studies, and exclusive insights. The programme, which is still in progress, will include:
The programme, which is still in progress, will include:
–The Kidult Conference, organised by BVA Doxa and MLD Entertainment.
The 12 Kidult Tribes mapped onto Gen Z, Millennials and Gen X, with Cristina Liverani (Ipsos Doxa).
-From Niche to Mainstream: When Collecting Invades the Mass Market
Case studies of pop contaminations in loyalty programmes in Japan and Korea, and how the Italian market is beginning to respond.
With Giampaolo Alfonso / Ilaria Rossi of Jakala.
– Pop Icons in Collaborations:
A showcase of collaborative projects with Universal’s Felix the Cat and Fast & Furious, and Millimages’ Molang, assigned to SDA Bocconi MAFED 2025 Master’s students. With Prof. Stefania Saviolo, SDA Bocconi Business School.
Supported by Jakala, Millimages and Universal, the event aims to expand the licensing business ecosystem and welcomes IP owners, brand managers, marketing and communication professionals, retail buyers, fashion designers, and business, culture and sociology journalists.
Pop Culture Connections is produced by MLD Entertainment, the company behind successful B2B events such as Milano Licensing Day, the K Marketing Forum (in partnership with BVA Doxa), and Brand Jam: Meet the Unexpected.
For more information, email evento@milanolicensingday.it.
Milano Licensing Day introduces Pop Culture Connections, where pop culture, contemporary marketing, and licensing converge.
