The European Union is the latest political/economic structure designed to create a single common market among the continent’s nations.

For the licensing community, its legal and regulatory framework affects sourcing, contracts, supply relationships and a host of other operational and financial aspects of doing business in Europe.

Common, but different
Want to sign a deal for exclusive SpongeBob rights for France, the same as you might for the U.S. or Brazil? Not so fast, given companies’ rights to ship across borders within the EU.

But as much as the EU created an economic monolith, it’s still a collection of disparate cultures and languages, and its children have wildly divergent interests and favorites. Taking a trip through the most recent sets of Brand Trends’ Kidz Global reports assembled for Licensing International shows how much kids’ tastes and preferences vary.

A European strategy?
It’s an important reality to be considered, for instance, by a licensee attempting to craft a “European” strategy for kids’ properties: “Europe” may be a single market politically and economically, but kids’ preferences may owe more to cultural and local media factors.

For example, as shown in the graphic above, in France, the five most-cited cartoon properties among kids in April were Paw Patrol, Miraculous, Peppa Pig, Frozen and The Loud House. In Germany, on the other hand, the top properties were Frozen, Tom & Jerry, Mickey Mouse, Paw Patrol and SpongeBob SquarePants.  Move on to Italy, and the list is Masha the Bear, Bing Bunny, Peppa Pig, Mickey Mouse and Frozen. (The online polling involves unaided recall among kids or, for the youngest age segments, their parents.)

Older kids, more universal preferences
One interesting pattern: The older the age segment, the more universal their likes. The three most-mentioned properties of all sorts among kids ages 10-14 in both Italy and France were identical: Nike, Adidas and Harry Potter. In Germany, the list was Harry Potter, Lego and Star Wars; Nike was fourth, Adidas eighth.

Brand Trends reports on 42 countries around the world, with breakdowns by type of license, age and gender, are free to Licensing International members. More information can be found here.