The global licensing community is powered by an incredible group of professionals whose diverse backgrounds and creative energy drive innovation and excellence. Each week we’re profiling one of these professionals in this ongoing series developed in partnership with MyMediaBox.

How did you get into licensing (or how did licensing find YOU😊)?
Licensing definitely found me!  I was really lucky to grow up with my dad, Dan Kletzky, in the business.  I used to love visiting him when he worked at Warner Bros so he could hook me up with some toys and take me to the backlot.  I can remember myself on the backlot, pushing the old western doors to the saloon open and yelling some sort of line I heard in a movie or TV show.  I think I was obsessed with John Wayne at the time.  Pretty comical to think back about it now, but I guess being a cowboy wasn’t in the cards for me…

After graduating from the University of Arizona, I spent a couple years working in animation/ digital entertainment, but my first official job in licensing was for him at his agency, Entertainment Licensing Associates.  Pretty quickly, I realized how much I learned from him throughout the years, before I even started working for him.  When I started to apply them, it felt natural. I feel so lucky to have been born into the business.

What’s your biggest personal and professional accomplishment?
As it related to my biggest professional accomplishment, without a doubt, it would be the fact that I am building a business that goes against the grain.

I felt that our traditional business model, which is built on volume, MGs and high royalty rates, was excluding a segment of business that I thought could be really powerful… I wanted flip our model upside down and bring brands to the table that were interested in collaborations with the major IP holders, but couldn’t figure out a way to properly navigate the nuances of our business.  My idea was to use the licensing structure and my relationships to focus on relatively short, meaningful activations with brands that consumers perceived as elevated, special and unique.

I pitched the deals as opportunities that would be valued from a brand/ marketing perspective over financials, and that they would be more complimentary to the everyday business, rather than competitive.  This gave me a lane to differentiate, and Licensors like that, so it created flexibility on the deals – it was all incremental.  I was able to get a good amount of licensors (to their credit) to agree to extremely small or royalty-only deals.  When some of those deals started generating nice royalty checks on top of the great marketing exposure, we really started to win. Four years into the business and we are just scraping the surface. So, although I consider it one of my biggest accomplishments to date, I feel like I am nowhere near the end of this journey… I am just happy to be on it!

What are the most significant trends or changes that you’ve seen in the business in recent years?
It may be a cliché for me to say collaborations, but it’s true.  When two brands come together to make something truly unique, it’s a very special moment.  Consumers are incredibly smart these days, and there is so much noise.  To keep them engaged, we have to continue to surprise them. Our community has really embraced collaborations, and that gets me excited! I feel lucky to play a small role in something that has become so important to our business.

What keeps you up at night? What’s your biggest challenge these days?
The biggest challenge I face in my business is finding the balance between having speed and patience.  I often ask myself where do I go next on this journey?  What categories am I not looking at?  When and how do I take that next leap, invest more into the business, hire the next employee, or go for that next client?  Our world is filled with so many opportunities – I think it’s the excitement that keeps me up, more than anything else.

I have to constantly remind myself of our mission, and why we do what we do – we help bring unique products to market.  I find that when I focused on our “why” I chase answers less, and more is revealed.  I can’t explain how that works, but it does…

What is the best piece of advice you ever received? OR What is your favorite quote?
I was prepping to interview for a role early in my career and someone told to “be yourself.”  They said, “if the company/ person doesn’t want to hire you for who you are and what you stand for, then you probably wouldn’t want to work with them anyway.”

Although it took me years to internalize and apply that to my life, I take this attitude into everything I do today. It has made closing new deals and bring on new clients on a much more efficient process for me.

As a an agency, we don’t really ever find ourselves making a “hard sell” to a potential client, we are just ourselves.  We try not to force anything.  Ultimately, this saves us time, and has created partnerships that are much more fruitful for everyone.  And as a result, our success rate for bringing on new clients has increased.

What is your favorite licensing deal of all time? (doesn’t have to be one that was signed by you)
There are so many!

I love the EA Sports FIFA deal.  Aside from personally loving the game, I think it is one of the greatest deals ever done.  It is engaging, drives revenue and has continued to be refreshed every year since 1993 (source: Wikipedia), but the thing I love most about it is, is that it turned casual gamers and sports fans into football (or soccer) fans, especially here in the US, which is priceless to FIFA as a whole.

I also really love the Wheel of Fortune slot machines… I am not a big slot machine guy, I just think it’s such a great execution of a licensing deal – drives revenue, engages consumers in an organic way and there is massive exposure on a casino floor.

The last licensed product I bought was…
A dark green New York Yankees New Era 59Fifty, by Aime Leon Dore.

THE 2021 PEOPLE PROFILE SERIES IS BROUGHT TO YOU BY MYMEDIABOX

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