by The Bloom Report | 21 Nov 2023
Industry Commentary, Op-Ed
Highlights of longer article below...
In the world of consumer goods, including toys and games, companies utilize branded, private label, and/or licensed guides for product development and packaging. Branded guides are crafted in-house, private label brands belong to retailers, and licensors have their own guides. To illustrate the distinctions, let me draw on examples from brands I've worked with in the past.
Take "Just My Style," a tween brand created by the designers at my former workplace. Products bearing this brand would be presented to retailers by the sales team, and upon approval, the retailers would stock the items. Now, let’s take Creatology. This is a private label brand for the arts and crafts retailer, Michael’s. When you visit the store, you may notice similar products with different packaging, including well-known brands alongside the retailer's private label. Retailers often commission external companies to create products under their private label.
Finally, we have licensed guides. Licensed guides are distributed to companies with licensing agreements, wherein companies pay the licensor for the rights to use the license. The licensor provides a guide to these companies, either as a PDF or through a portal with downloadable assets. Some licensors update their guides seasonally or yearly, while others have less frequent changes.
Branded guides are more straightforward in application. An art director or designer usually develops the brand's look, incorporating elements like logos, colors, fonts, phrases, patterns, and illustrations. Assets created for the brand are then applied to various products and packaging.
With licensed guides, the assets are already created which means there’s more time to focus on how to best utilize the assets. However, the process of getting a file ready for printing or molding could be a long one. Some licensors can take three weeks or longer to approve a first-round submission. If the licensor asks for changes, those changes need to be made and a new submission must be provided. Often times a file will go through three or more rounds of submissions before getting final approval.
Here are some do's and don'ts when working with licensing guides:
Do’s:
Don’ts:
In any working partnership, there's a learning curve. These do's and don'ts are insights I've gained from my experience as a designer in various consumer goods companies. Keep in mind that your experience may differ, but the key takeaway is to follow the rules set by the licensor diligently.
More detailed version...
In the world of consumer goods, including toys and games, companies utilize branded, private label, and/ or licensed guides for product development and packaging. Branded guides are crafted in-house, private label brands belong to retailers, and licensors have their own guides. To illustrate the distinctions, let me draw on examples from brands I've worked with in the past.
“Just My Style” is a tween brand that designers at my former workplace created. We would design products under this brand and then the sales team would pitch the products to retailers. If a retailer approves them, they’ll carry the products. When you walk into a store, you can find several similar products but under different brands. Mixed in with these brands, is the retailer’s own private label brand. For example, Michael’s, the arts and crafts store, carries brands that are more well known, like Crayola and Cra-Z-Art, but they also have their own brand called Creatology. Retailers will many times ask outside companies to come up with products for them using their private label brand.
Now, let's dive into licensed guides. Private label and licensed guides go fairly hand in hand so I’ll be sticking with just licensing guides from this point on. A licensor is a company like Disney. Licensors distribute their guides to companies that have licensing agreements with them, wherein companies pay the licensor for the rights to use the license. The licensor will either send out a pdf or have a portal that these companies can log into to view their updated guides. Some licensors change their guides every year, or even a couple times a year for different seasons or holidays. Others can go several years without changing out their guide.
Branded guides are more straightforward in application. An art director or designer develops the brand's look, incorporating elements like logos, colors, fonts, phrases, patterns, and illustrations. Assets created for the brand are then applied to various products and packaging. If there's time, the artwork for a branded guide will be made from scratch, but if time is of the essence, companies will utilize stock sites which the designers have access to. The designer will download images and modify them to make them different. Once a brand is created, the assets are then applied to various products and packaging.
Licensor guides involve more steps before a file is ready for printing or molding. On the plus side, licensing guides have their assets already created. It's then up to the designer to layout the assets in a way that works for the product. For a 3D molded product, the designer can usually pick a character from the guide and give it dimension. Designers can also create their own artwork that embellishes the product while fitting in with the aesthetic of the licensed guide. So there's still plenty of room for creativity with licensing guides. The tricky part, however, is getting approval. Some licensors allow more freedom than others when it comes to how their artwork is used. Others have very strict rules. And some approvals take longer than others.
Here are some do's and don'ts when working with licensing guides:
Do’s:
Don’ts:
In any working partnership, there's a learning curve. These do's and don'ts are insights I've gained from my experience as a designer in various consumer goods companies. Keep in mind that your experience may differ, but the key takeaway is to follow the rules set by the licensor diligently.
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