Licensing Magazine was Media Partner of the last edition of the India Licensing Virtual Expo which was held last August 28th in digital format. LM interviewed Gaurav Marya to learn about the future scenarios of the Indian licensing market
1. When and how was the License India conceptualised?
License India was started in the year 2006 to bring together Brand owners (Licensees) to meet with prospective licensees to explore business partnerships. At that time, the whole concept of how Licensing as a way to offer a convenient way for product extension to brands both in Home market and global markets was fairly new to India.
Since its Inception License India has helped Global Brands to grow in India by partnering with Licensees and also helped Indian brandsto target a non core market of products and services by using its goodwill and consumer recall to create a sizeable opportunity.
Bradford License India our agency business was formed in 2009 to further our goal. Bradford License India has been marked as India’s first end to end licensing solution provider, formed with the objective to increase awareness and support the growth of licensing in the country.
2. What is the objective of License India?
India is one of the largest consumer markets in the world. In 2005, when the organized retail was just finding feet in the country – the larger challenge was that India was short of brands that could be offered to consumers and not just that but India was always a fragmented market and was difficult for any one brand to grow fast in India and capture the large opportunity.
At such a time License India played the role of a demand generator and for the first 10 years it played a pivotal role to build partnerships through Brand Licensing. License India has facilitated Brand owners, investors and enablers to come together to form alliances for new
With digitization being the business enabler, LicenseIndia.com is the digital platform that helps licensing fraternity to learn, network and transact through a single platform.
License India is an exclusive brand licensing media & exhibition vertical of Franchise India Group. It is India’s first licensing media services company formed with the objective to increase awareness and support the growth of licensing in the country. Alongside media division, License India organizes business-to-business licensing shows encapsulating conferences, workshops, expositions, and awards, under Brand Licensing India, and India Licensing Expo. License India excels in the licensing space with its strategic and knowledge-based verticals.
3. What is the current status of the India marketplace and where can licensing fit in?
Currently, India is one of the fastest growing consumer economies of the world with amongst the youngest populations at an average age of 29 years. Bollywood and sports has a massive following in the country. Hollywood movies are a rage and OTT platforms and series have become very popular off late. Gaming has also been growing rapidly. Social media builds rapid awareness and Ecommerce helps in faster gratification of demand. With growing aspirations and affluence, there is tremendous demand for Branded products & services spread across the country, which requires brands to create new and contemporary Lines of products and services. Brand Licensing accords faster rollout to the brands with a financial commitment from the Licensee partner.
4. Do Licensing Expos act as an informative platform to the young Indian market? How has the journey been from the 1st India licensing Expo in 2017 to the 4th one in 2020?
India Licensing Expo is India’s largest brand licensing platform, unraveling the opportunities, exposure, and growth in licensing in India besides sharing the knowledge and recognizing the pioneers in the industry.
The expo Started in the year 2017 in Mumbai with 30 brands and about 700 attendees and was also supported by CEO of Leading Fashion Retailers like Reliance Brands ,Arvind Brands ,Madura garments ,Myntra amongst others.
The show has grown 100 % year on year and in the year 2019 there were 100 + brands and 3000 attendees who visited the Expo and knowledge platforms.
I firmly believe that information dissemination and deal making are 2 vital aspects of the Business Expo. Expos play a big role in generating excitement in the business fraternity and also get deals done. The India License Expo has been the single most medium for generating licensing interest in India and has also acted as conversion platform.
The event includes a conference lead by global thought leaders, exclusive master class for limited 50 Professionals and Business People discovering licensing intricacies. The event concludes with an awards night celebrating and recognizing the industry. Bollywood actor’svisits, Fashion Designers, Celebritychefs, corporate CEO’s and Character Parades bring the glamour and entertainment to the floor of the show.
In 2020, due to pandemic, License India came up with India Licensing Virtual Expo. This time the show was organized virtually where brand owners, licensee’s manufacturers, distributors and agents came together to collaborate and build business relations.
Overall, It is a dedicated hub for industry business across diverse verticals like cinema, music, corporate, fashion, character, and sports licensing, all under one roof.
5. How many virtual exhibitors were on board for the event and who were they?
India Licensing Virtual Expo consisted of 30 exhibitors from different categories of the licensing industry and about 4100 people joined the show virtually. In the sports segment, there were UEFA and Manchester City, while Green gold animation with their ChotaBheem and You need character with Cricket Pang were from Entertainment. Also, the fashion category included Naeem Khan, Perry Ellis International, Alberto Toressi and Marie Claire Paris. And Baileys and Medusa were from Food and Beverages amongst others.
Apart from these, we also had renowned brands like emoji company GmbH, Yale University, CTI Solutions Inc, Thomas Edison and WWF and Bradford License India with a host of the brands with their agency.
6. Can you tell us more on what happened on August 28th at the India Licensing Expo,in terms of Conference?
At the conference, Global Brand Licensors, Licensees, Animation, marketing, content, entertainment and fashion lifestyle professionals came together to share trends, insights, disruptive ideas that’s shaping the Indian Licensing Industry. The conference started with the India Opportunity Keynote introduced by me as Chairman & Founder, Franchise India Group & License India.
Global thought leaders including Patti Becker, CEO & Founder, Becker Associates LLC, Daniel Hammond, Head of licensing, UEFA Club competitions, Richard Pink, Managing Director, Pink Key Licensing, Miriam Camara Gallardo, Licensing head, emoji company GmbH, Roopali Srivastava, Director – Conservation Products, WWF – India, Kaori Kurobe, General Manager, CAA-GBG Japan spoke about the Licensing market and cross border Licensing liaison opportunities.
The License India Expo was hosted on a Virtual event platform 6 connex where people did virtual meetings at the booths and discovered brand offerings. The day Long event had people hooked on it for 3-4 hours average stay time.
