• Entries open now until 5pm, 26 August
• BLE, 20-22 September, ExCeL London

18 July 2022

Entries open today for Brand Licensing Europe’s Kelvyn Gardner License This! competition, which boosts the profile of new brands, illustrators, inventors and product designers and helps them to successfully break into the $300 billion global licensing market.

Entrants are invited to enter one of three categories.

The first two are aimed at unlicensed brands and properties – often with a focus on illustration, publishing or animation – who are keen to secure a licensing deal or agency representation. They are:

• Kelvyn Gardner License This! Character & Animation
• Kelvyn Gardner License This! Brand & Design

When judging, the panel looks for new creative concepts, which have the potential to inspire multiple product categories. The winners receive a free exhibition stand at BLE 2023. This year, 2021 winners Sophie Jonas-Hill with Tea for Tattoo, and Joel Mercer with SeedFolk will return to the show as exhibitors.

Sophie Jonas-Hill: ‘Winning Licence This! has been literally life changing for me and my business – it’s amazing! I had just graduated from an MA and was starting from scratch in a new career, and I’d never really considered licensing or how it worked: now I’ve met industry heavyweights and already signed a deal with Trademark Products Ltd and HMV.

“I’ve had the best advice and guidance you really couldn’t buy from all the panel, who have introduced me to so many new contacts and opportunities I wouldn’t have had a clue about otherwise, I’ve learned so much so fast! I nearly didn’t enter as I thought I wasn’t established enough to get through, but everyone has been so excited by my art and brands, it’s been really positive and supportive, and I feel like I’m doing my best work ever! If you’re not sure if you should enter – don’t be! It might take you further than you could imagine too!’”

Additionally, student designers and inventors are invited to enter a third award category, which made its successful debut in 2021, for the first time:

• Product Design in partnership with Mojo Nation

From 2022, the Product Design category will open to students from further education or university level to enter. Working alongside local universities and schools, students will be competing with one another to showcase innovation in toy design.

BLE will partner with award-winning animation studio Aardman once again and students will be asked to use the studio’s world-renowned Wallace & Gromit IP as inspiration. Applicants will be asked to submit concepts based around the following entry guidelines:

• Concept must be a Wallace & Gromit branded toy with an emphasis on STEM Learning
• Entry must focus on technology and engineering, which are strong themes from the Wallace & Gromit adventures
• Careful consideration must be given to sustainable materials and manufacturing processes
• The toy must have an RRP below £30

“We are so excited to be able to open to doors to students, not only to highlight the best in innovation and fresh concepts but also to give a platform to new talent into the licensing industry,”  Anna Knight, SVP, Licensing, Informa Markets.

Last year, entrants to this category were asked to design concepts for desk accessories based around Aardman’s Morph IP. The winner was Wayne Lindsay from Imaginnovation.

Last year’s winner Wayne Lindsay said: “The famous phrase, ‘It’s the taking part that counts’, is so true when it comes to the License This! competition. Having the opportunity to present your ideas to highly respected industry professionals is an invaluable way to begin making a name in the brand licensing space. I would highly recommend entering the competition and investing as much creative energy as you possibly can since the results are directly connected to the effort, regardless of who wins.

“For me, winning the Product Design category represented so much more than the chance to develop a concept with Aardman and Start Licensing – which of course is amazing – it genuinely fuels creative confidence, and it has opened up lots of other conversations and potential projects. I especially encourage entrants to listen carefully to the questions and feedback from the judges, across all categories, as you just learn so much and the commendation is so beneficial. It reminds me of something I heard just recently: ‘A pat on the back can propel someone a long way.’”

All three categories are asked to take sustainability into consideration and the finalists will pitch to the judges in a live final at BLE on Thursday 22nd September.

For media information:
Charlie Le Rougetel at BIGTOP
charlie@bigtop-pr.co.uk
07736 330676

Bonnie Simpson at BIGTOP
bonnie@bigtop-pr.co.uk

About Brand Licensing Europe
Launched in 1998, Brand Licensing Europe is the only pan-European annual event dedicated to licensing and brand extension. The London event features over 2,500 brands and more than 7,500 licensees, manufacturers, retailers, distributors, and licensing agents. Brand Licensing Europe is a part of the Global Licensing Group at Informa Markets, the licensing industry’s leading trade show organiser and media partner. Its mission is to provide licensing opportunities around the world by bringing brands and products together.

About Global Licensing Group
The Global Licensing Group at Informa Markets is the licensing industry’s leading tradeshow organizer and media partner. Its mission is to provide licensing opportunities around the world by bringing brands and products together. The following events and information products are produced for the licensing industry by the Global Licensing Group at Informa Markets: Licensing Expo, Brand Licensing Europe, Licensing Expo Japan, Licensing Expo Shanghai, The Licensing Leadership Summit, License Global magazine, License Global Daily E-News and The Licensing Mixtape podcast. Global Licensing Group events are sponsored by Licensing International.

About Licensing International
Licensing International is the leading trade organization for the global licensing industry. Licensing International’s mission is to foster the growth and expansion of licensing around the world, raise the level of professionalism for licensing practitioners, and create greater awareness of the benefits of licensing to the business community at large. Founded in 1985, Licensing International members in over 40 countries enjoy access to an array of benefits, including extensive educational programming and worldwide networking events. Visit LicensingInternational.org for more information and to utilize licensing’s definitive online resource.

About Mojo Nation
Mojo Nation is the home of Mojo Nation and Brands Untapped. Mojo Nation covers the world of toy and game design, hosting conferences, awards and pitching events for inventors. Brands Untapped is a platform for the licensing industry, focusing on the creativity and design behind brand extensions and collaborations across every industry, from Haribo sneakers to Bond-flavoured popcorn.

About Aardman
Aardman, an employee-owned company, is based in Bristol (UK) and co-founded in 1976 by Peter Lord and David Sproxton, is an independent and multi-Academy Award® and BAFTA® award winning studio. It produces feature films, series, advertising, games and interactive entertainment – current animated productions include 2021 holiday specials Robin Robin and Shaun the Sheep: The Flight Before Christmas, CGI series Lloyd of the Flies, a new stop motion series for preschoolers The Very Small Creatures, feature length sequel Chicken Run: Dawn of the Nugget and a brand new Wallace & Gromit film for 2024.

Its productions are global in appeal, novel, entertaining, brilliantly characterised and full of charm reflecting the unique talent, energy and personal commitment of the Aardman team. The studio’s work – which includes the creation of much-loved characters including Wallace & Gromit, Shaun the Sheep, Timmy Time and Morph – is often imitated, and yet the company continues to lead the field producing a rare brand of visually stunning content for cinema, broadcasters, digital platforms and live experiences around the world. Recent celebrated projects include the ‘visually astonishing’ (Guardian), BAFTA® nominated console game, 11-11: Memories Retold, the four-times Gold Cannes Lions-winning StorySign app, AR experience Wallace & Gromit: The Big Fix up – and innovative attractions for both the domestic and international market, including a 4D theatre attraction at Efteling in the Netherlands.

The studio runs the Aardman Academy which has a commitment to nurturing talent by delivering excellence in film and animation training and mentoring. The Aardman Academy offers a variety of courses from intensive one-day workshops teaching production skills and storyboarding, to comprehensive twelve-week courses for professionals in craft based subjects from model making to animation.

In November 2018 it became an Employee Owned Organisation, to ensure Aardman remains independent and to secure the creative legacy and culture of the company for many decades to come. www.aardman.com