• Brand Licensing Europe 6-8 October 2026, Excel London
• From today, registered attendees can search the Exhibitor List, Brand Directory, send meeting requests and plan their calendars by adding in conference sessions and networking events

Brand Licensing Europe’s powerful, free online Event Planner is now live. From today, registered visitors can use the AI-driven platform to discover brands, connect with exhibitors, request meetings, receive tailored recommendations, and add conference sessions and networking events to their calendars.

BLE is the European epicentre for the business of licensing, brand extension and collaborations, bringing together thousands of the world’s biggest brands – Bluey, Pokémon, Barcelona FC, Natural History Museum, Le Petit Prince, Coca-Cola, LEGO and so much more – to meet thousands of leading retailers and manufacturers, including Primark, Marks & Spencer, Inditex, C&A, H&M, Dunelm, El Corte Inglés, Tesco and Lidl.

The Event Planner helps BLE’s 11,000+ annual attendees maximise their return on investment. Over 6,100 meetings were booked through the planner last year with clear evidence indicating attendees who register early and use the tool to pre-plan their visit enjoy the most rewarding experience at BLE.

A host of new features has been added to the Event Planner for 2026 to simplify and speed up search and further improve brand discoverability.

• The new Super Search bar allows users to search across people, brands, exhibitors and content in one place, making it far easier to find specific brand owners, with results matched to individual visitor profiles.
• Saved Search: visitors can now set up daily or weekly email alerts highlighting when new people who meet their BLE goals join the platform.
• Recommendation Engine: The Recommendation Engine recommends people, brands and exhibitors to users based on their registration form responses. New for this year: the engine will learn how users are using the platform and make further, highly tailored recommendations. For example, if they search for sports, the engine will push more people and brands from this sector.
• New and exclusively for visitors – the To-do list lets visitors save lists of people, brands and exhibitors they’d like to chat to, but may not have the time or confidence to commit to a 30-minute meeting.

BLE attendees can access the online Event Planner and start requesting meetings by registering for one of several pass types:

• The Standard Pass (free before 5th October, £30 after): includes 20 credits to arrange meetings with exhibitors.
• The Explorer Pass (£295) for brands, retailers and manufacturers: includes 50 credits to arrange meetings with exhibitors.
• The Networking Pass (£1,295): includes 100 credits to arrange meetings with exhibitors and 25 credits to meet fellow visitors.
• The Service Provider+ Pass (£395): Includes 50 credits to arrange meetings with exhibitors.

BLE takes place 6-8 October at Excel London and, with three months still to go, almost 250 exhibitors and thousands of brands are already confirmed and 2026 is expected to be BLE’s biggest ever.

“We’ve been attending BLE for many years, and the online event planner has become an essential part of our preparation. It helps us manage leads efficiently, organise our schedule in advance, and maximise the value of our time at the event. It’s a crucial tool for making BLE as productive as possible.”
Nuno Menezes, FC Porto Head of Brand Licensing & Product Development at FC Porto

“As relative newcomers to BLE (2026 will only be our third year), I must say the online meeting planner was invaluable for us to maximise our efficiency. It helped us to connect, communicate, and organise, overcoming any sense that we might have a steep learning curve at the start of our BLE journey. I can’t imagine the event without it, to say nothing of the build-up phase or the post-event follow up period.”
Craig Bendle, Product Licensing Manager, British Museum

“The Event Planner is invaluable for attendees and exhibitors,” said BLE event director Ella Haynes. “Engagement has increased year on year since we first introduced the platform, and we know from customer feedback that the ability to connect pre-show is a game changer for ROI.

“It’s exciting that, despite starting as a much-needed meeting booking function, the planner has evolved to be so much more than that – this year, attendees will have the ability to add agenda items to their calendars, block out time for browsing the show, check the route and time it’ll take to walk from meeting to meeting, and add exhibitors to their ‘to do lists’.”

A reminder BLE’s Call for Speakers is open until 31 July. Interested applicants are invited to find out more at https://www.brandlicensing.eu/about/call-for-speakers/ and complete the online form.

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 License Global
License Global, a part of the Global Licensing Group, is the leading publication for the brand licensing industry, delivering award-winning editorial content, including news, trends, analysis and special reports about the global consumer product and retail marketplace. Through its magazine, website, daily e-newsletter, webinars, videos and event publications, License Global reaches more than 150,000 executives and professionals in all major markets. The magazine also serves as the official publication for the sector’s trade events, which include Licensing Expo, Brand Licensing Europe and Licensing Expo Shanghai.

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 Shanghai, License Global magazine, licenseglobal.com and License Global Daily E-News. Global Licensing Group events are sponsored by Licensing International.

About Licensing International     
Licensing International is the leading trade organization for the $389+ billion global brand licensing industry. Licensing International’s mission is to foster the growth and expansion of brand 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, more than 1,200 Licensing International member companies in over 40 countries enjoy access to an array of benefits, including extensive educational programming and worldwide networking events. Visit www.LicensingInternational.org for more information.