Beginning next week, Steven Ekstract, Managing Director of Global Licensing Advisors and for more than two decades a leading voice in licensing, will offer his perspective on the business in a monthly column for Licensing International, Extracts from Ekstract.

Steven launched Global Licensing Advisors – a global, independent advisory service for companies seeking direction for brand collaborations — in September 2020.

His involvement in the licensing business goes back to 1998, when he co-founded License! Magazine (now known as License Global under the ownership of Informa markets). In 2018, Steven took on the Brand Director role for the Global Licensing Group at Informa Markets with new Expo launches in China and Japan.

Here he offers a few thoughts about the column and the arc of the licensing business.

What’s your goal for this column?
The goal of this column is to create a better understanding of where licensing is headed as a business and how we can successfully navigate the significant changes we are in the midst of.

You’ve been involved in the licensing business for two decades. What are the biggest changes you’ve seen?
The greatest change has been the emergence of the Internet as a marketing juggernaut and mass communications platform. In 1998 The Internet meant nothing to licensing. In just 20 years’ time, ecommerce is now a major force in retailing. Direct to consumer brands can build massive brand equity in what used to take decades in just a few years.  And social media allows the ability to globalize properties literally overnight. Certainly, the massive closures of brick-and-mortar retail and death of Shopping Malls. The transition to DTC is changing the dynamic of our business.

What’s your most important skill, professionally speaking?
By far the most important skill I have, and learned early on is…Active Listening.

What’s the most important skill for a licensing professional to have?
There are several that are absolutely essential:

1) Relationship building
2) Patience
3) Compromise
4) Creativity

What property has most surprised you with how successful it’s become? Why do you think it happened?
There are so many that have surprised me over the years—Barney, Teletubbies. I’m fond of the zero to hero stories–the Marvel story, going from bankruptcy to multi-billion-dollar Hollywood franchise owned by Disney. Lego is another, almost bankrupt and now one of the most successful brands in the world.  Both were failing underdogs back in 1998 when I started in the biz.

What’s been your biggest “I Wish I Would Have Thought of That!” licensing moment?
After my first trip to Hong Kong 20+ years ago, I noticed so many people wearing masks and thought, licensed masks for the U.S.? Nah …it will never fly!