That old saying describes the challenge that’s been facing licensing agencies for years now: in a competitive marketplace, successful agencies are regularly not just shifting gears, but adding gears, as consumers, retailers, marketers and brands move at ever-increasing speed.

There are as many strategies as there are agencies. Many add services or develop specialties. Others have been taking equity stakes in (or outright ownership of) brands or in at least one case, a retailer.

At the same time, companies from outside the traditional licensing agency world – i.e. advertising agencies and law firms – have been establishing beachheads in the business, whether by buying existing agencies outright or importing new talent and starting their own in-house efforts.

Here are just a few examples:

• The Wildflower Group has morphed the agency into a specialty eCommerce management arm for brands such as Discovery.
• Once a traditional art and design licensing agency, Jewel Branding has been on a diversification path, including acquisition of the Rachael Hale brand and the launch of content management system Artonomo as a free-standing venture.
• Brand Central is in the fifth year of its Brand Central Insights trend intelligence offering.
• London-based law firm, Mishcon de Reya, begat MDR Brand Management, created to address the growing complexity that brand owners face in the global marketplace, recognizing increasing overlap among legal, creative, commercial, regulatory and digital considerations.
• To aid clients and the community during the pandemic, Brazil’s Redibra began R.Talks – a series of weekly Instagram Live interviews with specialists from ad agencies, trend consultants, retail experts, NGOs, among others, conducted by CEO David Diesendruck
• UK-based Born Licensing decided to laser-focus on helping properties license their IP for use in the advertising and marketing space.

Over the next several weeks, we’ll take a look at deeper look at changing compensation models, diversification efforts, and other aspects of how licensing agencies are dealing with the shifting dynamics of the business. Stay tuned and if you’re an agency, reach out and share your story for inclusion in a future segment!