For many in the licensing business, it truly was Licensing Week, with meetings and licensor summits (and a LIMA charity bike ride!) getting underway on Sunday — the jumping off point for five days of deal-making, networking, educational programs, renewing old acquaintances and making new ones.

Of course, given the breadth of the licensing business and the variety of properties displayed in the 400 booths on the show floor and in countless meeting rooms at Mandalay Bay, there was no single theme to Licensing Expo 2017. But if there was one overarching topic of conversation during five days in Las Vegas, it was “retail” — how everyone in the licensing supply chain needs to keep up with and constantly adapt to a constantly evolving retail landscape, with consolidation of brick-and-mortar stores, a rising tide of e-commerce, and waves of data that need to be absorbed and acted upon.

As Cole Gahagan, Chief Commerce Officer of sports licensing powerhouse Fanatics Inc. said in his Opening Keynote: “You have to be three steps ahead of the fan, and you need good data and analytics…. It is not just the speed to market and having product available for constant demand, it is really about being able say, ‘I know your behavior, and I also know what you bought before,’ so I am going to personalize the message.”

It’s a souped-up, targeted variation on the long-standing imperative to maximize business by having “the right product, at the right price, at the right time, in the right place.”

Here are just a few of the developments at and around Licensing Expo 2017. (Others were reported on last week in Inside Licensing.)

Hasbro Readying Broad Licensing Program for Nerf

Hasbro is readying a broad licensing program for Nerf, hitting categories ranging from bikes and skateboards to vitamin supplements, energy drinks, food and apparel, says Hasbro’s Simon Waters. Hasbro displayed “Nerf Nation” concept products in a separate room off the floor at Licensing Expo.

“We are a billion dollar blaster brand and we believe there is a ton of demand in the market place for Nerf lifestyle because it crosses the boundary of sports, action, adventure, humor and entertainment,” says Waters.

While Nerf typically isn’t viewed as an entertainment brand, Hasbro has “millions of hours” of consumer-generated content. The licensed line will initially be “boys oriented,” says Waters.

“If you think about it, as boys and girls start to grow out of the core Nerf category, it is a great opportunity for us to bridge that lifestyle before they age up to older brands,” says Waters.

Hasbro currently has Nerf licenses with Gramercy Products for pet products and Hauck for ride-ons. The first licensed products from a new wave are expected to arrive in spring 2018.

“We know we have the permission to expand into other products and categories, and our research told us that kids want this and want it more than ever,” says Waters. Hasbro will continue designing and manufacturing its core Nerf products and rely solely on licensees to expand into other categories.

Meanwhile, Hasbro is readying a broader licensing program for the more family-oriented Transformer movie spin-off Bumblebee, which is due from Paramount in June 2018. “It is our most family-oriented feature ever” in Transformers series and “I think it will open more age categories for us to be in,” says Waters.  “We have an incredibly strong adult and tween business” with Transformers and “this will enable us to go younger and broader” with a character that adds humor and entertainment, says Waters.

The film will enable Hasbro expand its licensed categories for Transformers to all ages, says Waters. “The fact that Bumblebee is yellow and black gives us a different color palette to play with” and Hasbro will work with fashion designers on apparel lines, says Waters.

Contact: Simon Waters, General Manager and SVP Entertainment and Consumer Products, 818-478-4804, simon.waters@hasbro.com

Seltzer Launches Consulting Arm

The Seltzer Licensing Group launches a new suite of services as part of its consulting business. The Alchemy Method provides brand analytics, valuation, assessment and development as well as retail entry strategy. The effort is being headed by Ricky Yoselevitz, VP Strategy and Business Development, and Chuck Africa, Director of Marketing Insights.

Contacts: Seltzer Licensing Group, Ricky Yoselevitz, VP Strategy and Business Development, 212-244-5548, ricky@seltzerlicensing.com

Out of the Blue Revamping Colorforms Plans

Out of the Blue revamped its Colorforms line, winnowing down the number of licenses to about 10 from 50, while moving to have licensee Kahootz Toys handle sourcing for the products, says Out of the Blue’s Samantha Freeman.

Colorforms is continuing with licenses for Peppa Pig, PJ Masks, Daniel Tiger’s Neighborhood, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Barbie, Paw Patrol Despicable Me, Holly Hobbie, and Peanuts. Kahootz signed to develop retro-style Colorforms products under Holly Hobbie and Peanut licenses.

Out of the Blue acquired Colorforms in 2014 and launched product the following year. “We really believe in the brand and it was really aggressive for us to be on the manufacturing and TV production side,” says Freeman, whose company handles production for “Daniel Tiger’s Neighborhood” and other series. “We decided to go back to a more traditional model where we focus on the content, style guide and approvals, and license out the manufacturing. It is not like we did badly the first time around but when you are not a toy company you have to scale up to a certain amount” of revenue “to cover everything. We were moving but not enough to get there.”

Contact: Out of the Blue, Samantha Freeman, Managing Dir., 212-762-0266 x333, sam@outofthebluenyc.com

Jakks Expects First Content from Studio Joint Venture in 2019

Jakks Pacific’s China-based Studio JP joint venture expects to deliver its first content by 2019, potentially giving the toymaker a new avenue for licensing, Jakks’ Tara Hefter tells us. Jakks will have merchandising rights and jointly own the content with Meisheng Cultural and Creative Corp.’s Rising Anime animation unit. Within Studio JP, headed by Jakks’ Ed Rodriguez, Jakks is handling script and character development, while Rising is responsible for the animation and production. Studio JP was formed last fall.

Contact: Jakks Pacific, Tara Hefter, SVP Global Licensing, 310-463-7562, thefter@jakks.net.

ThreeSixty Readying FAO Schwarz Licensing Program

ThreeSixty Group is targeting apparel, food, costumes and other lifestyle categories for an FAO Schwarz licensing effort as it seeks to cash in on the acquisition of the brand from Toys R Us last fall, says ThreeSixty’ Adam Gromfin.

In addition, the company is readying 400-1,500-square-foot FAO pop-up locations for department stores in New York and California starting in September, says Gromfin, who declined to identify the retailers involved. “It makes sense since most department store chains add toys for the holiday season and this would give the FAO brand new exposure,” he says.

ThirtySixty will develop and source some FAO Schwarz products including toys, outdoor products and plush, and is ending distribution of the brand at Toys R Us, says Gromfin. Toys R Us, which acquired FAO Schwarz in 2009, carried FAO products for several years. “We aren’t going to sell FAO through mass retailers; we are going to try to limit it to department stores and specialty chains,” says Gromfin. FAO Schwarz’s flagship location in New York closed in 2015.

Contact: ThreeSixty Group/MerchSource, Adam Gromfin, Pres., 949-900-8675, adam@thethreesixtygroup.com

Frisk Mint-Scented Face Masks Expand Distribution in Japan

Perfetti van Melle’s Frisk mints will take on a different form at FamilyMart’s more than 10,000 convenience stores in Japan this fall. Licensee Suzuran will launch its Frisk-scented face masks, expanding distribution that started last year at Japan Railway stores. Frisk also will be part of co-branded t-shirts bring produced by Itochu Holdings that will feature Sanrio characters, including Little Twin Stars, Hello Kitty and others. Sanrio is a licensing agent for Perfetti in Japan.

Perfetti is expanding its licensing efforts beyond its high profile labels such as Chupa Chups and Airheads. For example, it’s bringing its Brooklyn chewing gum brand with its Brooklyn Bridge logo to licensing in Italy. It also is launching the Smints mint and gum brand for licensing thoughout Europe. “We started with the most international brands to seek the most opportunity and this extends the program into more local markets because the other business is getting more mature,” said Perfetti’s Christine Cool.

Contact: Christine Cool, Licensing Area Mgr., +34 937 739 316, Christine.cool@es.pvmgrp.com

GameStop Paints Bright Collectibles Picture

The global collectibles business is increasing by $1.5 billion annually and will hit $16 billion by 2019, GameStop’s Tony Bartel told analysts.

During the same period, GameStop is forecasting that its ThinkGeek collectibles business, which includes stores and ecommerce, will hit $1 billion by 2019, up from $650 -$700 million this year. The growth is being driven by gaming and entertainment IP, with 60% of the revenue coming from IP that has been available for 30 years or more, including Star Wars, Batman, Spiderman, Star Trek and Pokemon, Bartel said.

“With IP launches occurring on a near-weekly basis, we’re finding that collectibles provides us a consistent revenue stream and traffic driver in our stores and to our websites,” Bartel said.

There is overlap between the collectible and gaming customers, with about half of GameStop’s 53 million PowerUp Rewards member buying collectibles, Bartel said. Customers are spending more on collectibles than videogames, Bartel said. And those buying collectibles are loyal to their brands, with 82% planning to make another purchase within that franchise, Bartel said.

As a result, GameStop doubled the space dedicated to collectibles in its 3,902 U.S. stores and expanded ThinkGeek to 29 freestanding locations, adding nine in Q1 ended April 29. Outside the U.S., collectibles occupy about 20-30% of space in the 1,998 GameStop stores, with plans to increase that to 50%, GameStop officials said. GameStop also has 66 Zing Pop Culture collectibles stores outside the U.S. GameStop’s Q1 collectibles sales rose 39.1% to $114.5 million on strong sales of Pokemon-related products.

Meanwhile, Time Warner’s proposed $85 billion merger with AT&T, could further expand GameStop’s collectible business, Bartel said. The chain has “strong relationships” with Time Warner for collectibles and AT&T through the branded AT&T wireless stores it operates as part of the Tech Brands business, Bartel said. While Time Warner shareholders approved the merger in February, it remains under review by the Justice Department. “If this occurs, we would work with both parties to expand licensed products throughout our entire company,” Bartel said.

Overall, GameStop’s Q1 net income slipped to $59 million from $65.8 million as it took a $7.3 million charge for closing wireless stores. Its Q1 revenue rose 3.8% to $2 billion on a 2.3% gain in same-store sales, with those in the U.S. declining 2.4%, while international increased 17.1%.

GameStop’s hardware business increased 24.6%, driven by Nintendo’s Switch, which remains in short supply. Most Switch products it receives are presold before reaching the chain’s warehouse. GameStop is selling six software titles with each Switch unit, he said.

Contact: GameStop, Tony Bartel, Chief Operating Officer, 817-424-2000