Feld Entertainment is a world leader in live family entertainment bringing countless smiles to more than 30 million people in 75 countries and 6 continents. Established brands include Monster Jam, Monster Energy Supercross, Disney on Ice, Disney LIVE!, Marvel Universe LIVE!, Sesame Street Live!, and DreamWorks Trolls The Experience. Each of their nearly 5,000 shows a year bring a tradition of passion, inspiration, innovation, and astonishing detail to life.
Challenge:
In licensing, a lot of companies, at some point, are faced with the tough decision of whether to incorporate an automated software system for their licensing operation. A few years ago, Feld Entertainment was in that position. According to Jeff Bialosky of Feld Entertainment, he stated, “we (Feld) had already outgrown a manual system. It was obvious we couldn’t supply our licensees with needed assets, an organized method of attaining those assets, and submitting and approving those assets.” They were using an internally created website for approvals, which had no way of tracking who visited the site or how often. They were also using an outdated style guide. Those methods proved to be inefficient. It was challenges, such as these, when Jeff Bialosky realized the need for “organization around a growing base of licensees making thousands of products.” To simply put it, they needed an organized method for approvals, asset management, and royalty tracking.
DSI’s Solution:
For Feld, choosing DSI in early 2018 came down to a few basic principles. According to Jeff, “like any partner you choose, you have to have a level of comfort and a cultural DNA compatibility. In the end you have to be competitive on the pricing, but, more importantly, they have to understand your business, and have similar customers in their portfolio. It comes down to the people. You (DSI) did a good job. We felt comfortable with you and your staff.” In the last year since implementing the DRM system, Feld has used the system to address all their needs. Style Guides have had a complete makeover from the outdated system they previously used. The approval process has been revamped to the point where it is much easier to monitor and track each step. Most importantly, DRM has made the day to day maintenance of licensing much easier on everyone. As time progresses, they are incorporating more and more functions from DRM into their daily business. Once they start to get more comfortable with system the next step is to implement the forecasting feature.
Benefits:
Having an automated system while streamlining processes has proven to be a huge benefit for the Feld Entertainment Team. One of the main goals was to speed up the time it took to approve products. That was accomplished. What they didn’t know was the effect DRM was going to have on their company as a whole. Many users commented on how user friendly the system was and how pulling up contract terms is quick and easy. When Jeff was asked how DRM has benefited their business, he made the comment, “mentally, it improved the organization of the department and provided much more transparency internally and externally. It was a smooth transition into using it.” Over the course of the last year DRM has had such a positive impact that Feld Entertainment realized they needed more users because everyone wants to use it! That’s a good problem to have.