We’ve just put a bow on a yet another decade for the licensing industry. There have been lots of surprises – for one thing, did you know what an influencer was ten years ago? And what exactly would you have made of the notion of “unboxing”? Now, as we flip the calendar to 2020, here are some developments we’ll be watching in the year ahead, and perhaps well beyond that.

*The ongoing mainstreaming and organization (in a business sense) of eSports. The numbers surrounding eSports media rights and sponsorship deals are enormous, but relative to that, the market for licensed merchandise is still in a developmental stage. Various models are being tried – Is it about the individual players? Teams? Is it totally eCommerce-based, or is there a brick-and-mortar business? Will it follow a centralized structure a la the major U.S. sports leagues, as Activision envisions? Traditional sports/collegiate licensing is a $34 billion merchandising business globally; how high might eSports soar?

*Retail pop-up activations and stores-within-stores will continue to drive footfall and become increasingly innovative

*Digital native brands will venture beyond their own core category via co-branding and licensing. Most, if not all, of those brands are opening a limited number of physical stores to supplement their online selling, and branching out in co-brands and licensing is a next logical step.

*Selling directly to the consumer will become imperative for most brands as traditional retail consolidates and stores (whether physical or eCommerce) allot more space to their own private labels. But this is more than just a defensive move to parry those macro forces. It also gives the brand owner or manufacturer the power to test products, and to accumulate their own data to react more quickly to market forces and plan future courses of action.

*Print-on-demand (POD) will increasingly become the vehicle to address a range of consumer and business goals, such as quick response, personalization and sustainability, among others. As an example of quick response, look no further than The Child (known to one and all as Baby Yoda); printed products could be rushed to market once it was unveiled, while toys are still on preorder.

*Experiential licensing will become a must. Survey data overwhelmingly points to consumers’ desire to “live the brand,” and marketers’ desire to let them do it. Some iterations are stunts rather than traditional licensing – take for example, the Taco Bell Hotel – but iterations such as theme park rides, play areas, Nerf Challenge, Fear The Walking Dead Survival escape room, Ferrari Land, etc. will continue to grow within the licensing mix.

*Increasingly creative collaborations, often between unexpected partners, will continue to drive interest across brands and categories, particularly with celebrities.

*We’ll begin to see more experimentation with interactive shopping within gaming and content platforms, although the experience will still be rudimentary.

*Influencers 3.0. The business model around influencer marketing will become more strategic and targeted, as metrics become more sophisticated; brands differentiate between what works and what doesn’t; and the influencers themselves continue to try to become brands.

(Make sure to mark your calendar for our free January 22 webinar, “The Next Stage in the Influencer Revolution and What It Could Mean for You,” featuring Gil Eyal and Steve Zeitchick of influencer platform HYPR.)

*Particularly in North America, established brands will continue to enter the Cannabis and CBD space, helping new companies in this fledgling industry stand out from the ever-growing crowd; licensing will be an important vehicle for these partnerships

*“Sustainability” continues to develop within many merchandise categories (though there’s no common definition of what that actually means), and brand owners will put more of an emphasis on environmental impact as they seek licensees and sign agreements.

*Much in the way that sustainability drove interest in 2019, brands will look to spotlight their wellness positioning in 2020

These are just a few of the topics that we at Licensing International will be paying attention to as we develop educational programming and content around the world, such as webinars, Licensing U at Licensing Expo, local informational and networking events, and our Coursework in Licensing Studies (CLS) curriculum in the year ahead, so stay tuned. And as always, reach out to us with your thoughts and suggestions anytime at info@licensing.org.