It’s the season to be jolly!

The popular Christmas song, “It’s the most wonderful time of the year” could be an anthem for the licensing industry as the season of goodwill presents plentiful opportunities across a range of products and categories that will set tills ringing and bring cheer to customers and retailers.

It also follows close on the heels of Black Friday and Halloween, two other dates on the calendar that boost sales. Throughout the year, major sporting events, film and TV releases, and major music industry events are all key drivers for growing revenue from licensed products. Importantly, these help to create stronger links with consumers.

But there is no doubt that Christmas is the big one, especially for toys, a category that is a blessing for licensing. Every year brings with it new ‘must haves’ as well as popular favourites. Toys with movie tie-ins usually do extremely well so products linked to Barbie and The Little Mermaid are expected to be in big demand.

Iconic Santa

“Everyone is a fan of something,” is the tagline that Funko Pop uses on its website. Which is why the company sells a wide range of collectible figures, many of which are based on characters from Star Wars, the Marvel universe, Harry Potter and various other movies.

There’s also a Coca-Cola Santa Funko Pop figure. The Coca-Cola Santa with his distinctive red suit and ‘ho-ho-ho’ cheeriness is how the world generally sees Father Christmas. This iconic image was designed by artist Haddon Sundblom and first appeared in Coca-Cola’s Christmas advertising in 1931. The company has used it in the holiday season ever since. This year Corgi, known for its British and North American toy vehicle models, has licensed the image to use on its range of model trucks.

Another great example is Lego as it continues to be high on the present buying list as working with a range of licensors enables it to keep the brand innovative and exciting. A potential top seller for this year is the Millennium Falcon Holiday Diorama.

Lego has also recognised that adults like to build things and offers a range to keep the older model builder occupied. It includes the Star Wars -The Mandalorian Helmet, Transformers Optimus Prime and Sonic the Hedgehog – Green Hill Zone.

Rise of the Christmas sweater

A more surprising holiday season hit is the ugly Christmas sweater. Once the subject of  mockery – think of the Grinch and his ‘Ho, Ho, Ho’ sweater – it has grown
in popularity and the licensing industry has woken up to the potential.

Now consumers can take advantage of a phenomenal choice of ugly Christmas sweaters emblazoned with their favourite characters. The company BoxLunch has 240 licensed holiday sweaters and t-shirts. Vanilla Underground has a license for the Elf movie Christmas Sweater, with the famous quote from the film, “Santa, OMG, I know him,” while clothing retailer H&M has sweaters, t-shirts, and sweatshirts featuring The Grinch.

These are just a few examples.

Christmas sweaters, ugly or otherwise, seem to have become a holiday season essential – some companies even have “Wear your Christmas sweater to Work” days. But essentially, they are meant to be fun and then the festive season is a time of joy and laughter…

As Christmas comes but once a year, it’s important for licensors and licensees to capitalize on what can be a lucrative business arrangement. Then, when the decorations come down, there’s next year’s seasonal events to look to!

In the meantime Happy Holidays from all of us at Dependable Solutions.