The global strength of the licensing business is on full display in this category within the 2020 Licensing International Excellence Awards, with entries for worldwide and multi-regional programs, as well as efforts specific to France, Australia and the U.S.

Overall, more than 600 entries were received this year from companies in 22 countries; they were judged by a panel of 152 executives from 20 nations. The licensing industry will make its selections from a ballot that includes 175 nominees in 23 categories of brands, properties and companies.

For a full listing of the categories and the nominees please click here.

Here are the nominees for Best Retailer: Entertainment/Character:

BoxLunch – Friends 25th Anniversary

The Friends 25th Anniversary campaign presented by BoxLunch was the retailer’s most engaging promotion in 2019. The exclusive merchandise offering and three-stop mall tour of the iconic Central Perk café, was greeted with tons of excited fans at each event stop, while social media, digital, editorial and ecommerce platforms drove awareness and affinity for this popular show from 25 years ago.  Highlights include:

• +25% sales increase of Friends merchandise, propelling the license from #6 to #2 during the campaign promotional period
• 107M+ campaign impressions across all BoxLunch channels including retail, BoxLunch.com, press articles, social media and influencer partnerships

Cotton On – The Simpsons & Family Guy #DadBods Campaign

Two of the world’s best loved TV dads — Homer Simpson and Peter Griffin — came together in over 600 Cotton On and Typo stores around the world for the Fox #DadBods Father’s Day retail activation.

Secured by Merchantwise Licensing, this innovative direct-to-retail program featured more than 50 locally designed products including apparel, accessories, headwear, drinkware, stationery, gifts and novelties.  With each purchase from the range, consumers were gifted a complimentary branded giftbox.

The Fox #DadBods campaign generated more than $1 million in retail sales during the competitive Father’s Day window and saw the Homer Simpson MuMu t-shirt become the range’s number one best-seller, selling an impressive 4,000 units.

Galeries Lafayette – Batman 80th Anniversary

The Batman experience began as soon as you arrived at Galeries Lafayette: the façade exposed a gigantic 6 meter tall Batman mask. In the entrance corridor, mannequins wearing clothes in line with the theme were displayed. The highlight of the show: the famous Batmobile on display in the center of the ground floor. A high-visibility pop-up with many exclusive Batman products was also developed. Batman products also were in the rest of the store, covering all sales areas (textiles, watches, groceries, home, leather goods). Unprecedented collaborations were developed for the occasion: limited collections of exclusive products made it possible to mark the operation and position it effectively.

Activations such as a drawing booth, makeup, nail-art, ephemeral tattoos, Batman pastries, Batman presence, made the experience magical and participatory for both children and adults. In just three weeks, 130,000 people went to the Batman pop-up store at the Galeries.

H & M – Stranger Things

In collaboration with Netflix, H&M created a Stranger Things 3 capsule collection full of ‘80s nostalgia & dreamy summer styles — including replicas of key pieces as seen in the series.

The fashion line took inspiration from the Hawkins community pool. Replicas of Billy’s Lifeguard bathing suit & Karyn Wheeler’s one piece sat at the heart of the collection. The assortment also included a fun range of Stranger Things-inspired graphic t-shirts, tank tops and accessories.

Fronting the marketing campaign – which was suitably set at an old school/Hawkins themed pool – was Dacre Montgomery, who plays Billy Hargrove in the series. The collection was available worldwide, across all doors in North America, APAC, LATAM & EMEA, enabling fans everywhere to dress like two of the cast members.

Myer – Harry Potter

This is the largest Harry Potter shop-in-shop ever to launch in Australia. There was a three-hour queue time to enter the shop on the launch day!! Many items sold out in the first 3 days with the #1 item being the replica wands at $80. MYER continue to sell hundreds of these a week. The PR from the launch included 205 hits and potential reach of 9.5 million people!

Peter Alexander – Dr. Seuss

Haven Global and Dr. Seuss Enterprises partnered with the Australian “King of Sleepwear” Peter Alexander to deliver Seussian magic for the whole family.  The May, 2019 offering saw all 105 Peter Alexander stores capture the Dr. Seuss classics with transformed window treatments to showcase a massive 54-piece collection. A combination of loungewear, sleepwear, underwear and footwear resulted in over $4 Million (Australian) at retail. Peter Alexander’s beautiful handwriting, along with an opportunity to use never-before-used publishing art, and flexibility to create new art, meant this collection was truly unique with pieces to cherish.

Spencer’s – Rick & Morty

The perfect marriage of Adult Swim’s Rick and Morty and Spencer’s Gifts delighted customers throughout 2019.  Fans were engaged by weekly releases of exclusive t-shirt designs tied to specific episodes in real time.  Fans who viewed an episode on Sunday night were able to purchase limited edition apparel themed to that episode.  Spencer’s Rick and Morty window changed weekly to feature limited-edition t-shirts released that week. Collaborating closely with Cartoon Network and the Adult Swim marketing team, the window was ground-breaking, featuring a three-dimensional toilet featured in episode 2 of Rick and Morty.