Licensing Magazine interviewed Guillem Rey, Managing Director at Caravanserai, to find out more about the agency, the IPs and the future plans.
Caravanserai is a well-known licensing agency. In which areas are your present efforts concentrated?
It’s been almost 5 years since we started this new adventure called Caravanserai using all the experience the team had in the industry, so we are proud to say that this is now a unique licensing agent stablished and recognized all over the world as a professional, flexible, active and trusted company managing some of the greatest brands and characters creating a very special link between final consumers, licensees and brand owners.
Which brands are you focusing on the most at the moment?
The properties we manage are an example of long-lasting success. Most of them are one property companies, like Miffy, Little Prince, Sophie la Girafe, Nelly Jelly, and this is the best way to secure fast and effective response and full dedication.
Little Prince and Popeye are the two best examples to explain how licensing will always be a response to a specific request. Little Prince with 80 years and Popeye with 95 years, are a very good response to today’s needs. Little Prince is a major event with Lello in Portugal, a luxury designed IWC watch, an apparel line with Cortefiel and Calzedonia, a musical in Barcelona for 10 years, a personalized room in the Sofitel group or a Barrado plush just to name a few. And now, together with Mediawan a new animated TV show.
Popeye and Olive have become one of the top fashion worldwide icons with Zara, Pull & Bear, Iceberg, A la Garçonne, H&M, just to mention a few but also partnering with Funko on toys, Funidelia with costumes, MGA online games, etc.
Miffy and Peter Rabbit started as a book, long time ago but now are icons for different generations of people who are happy to have their beloved characters close to them. Miffy is now partnering with Tommy HiIfiger, Mulberry, Baccarat, Zeeman, WomenSecret, Safta and Stor, good examples of the versatility of these unique characters.
At Caravanserai we keep our eyes open to new trends, new opportunities, and new needs and that’s why we have recently added and presented at BLE new Ips: Nelly Jelly is the Nº1 book ever published and has become the most successful licensing program in Lithuania.
Cuphead started as a game and now has become a new top property worldwide, present at Lefties, Famosa, Grupo Erik, or Stor among others. Rebel Girls, a new concept of women property empowered by icons of sport, history, politics, etc… is now allowing us to access a massive world of strong women.
5’ crafts, Baby Zoo, have more views than any other platform and represents the new way of having fun and enjoying through a screen. The Soul is the very best platform to access new generations.
What made BLE so significant to you? Will you be attending any other trade events this autumn?
I’ve personally been visiting London on autumn attending BLE for the last 14 years, so it has become not only a tradition for us but also the place to be in October for the whole licensing community. BLE has been able to become the key moment for European licensees, so the place to have both the best licensors and best licensees on one table is London and we take all the advantage of it during three intense days. Las Vegas, Nuremberg, Hong Kong, Paris, Madrid and Bologna are usually the trades related to licensing that the Caravanserai team is attending every year.
What are your plans for the coming year?
BLE this year has been crowded, very intense and productive and we expect to share some exciting news regarding agreements and new IPs very soon so we can be prepared the best possible way for the days to come in a challenging but full of opportunities period. Stay tuned for news as I’m sure 2024 will be our very best year so far!
