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 profile one of these professionals in this ongoing series.

How did you get into licensing (or how did licensing find you)?
I started my working life at ITV, which used to run a graduate scheme, taking people out of university and giving them three-month placements across the whole of the broadcaster’s business. As part of this scheme, I spent time in Carlton International, the rights and international TV sales arm of ITV.

At the end of the graduate scheme, I asked to move into the licensing team. They offered me airtime sales (which I refused) and then international TV sales. But by that time (1999-2000), multi-channel TV had happened. ITV’s flagship show had gone from 14 million viewers per episode down to about nine million and I was determined to not start my career in a declining market.

After a lot of negotiation, ITV finally let me join the licensing team and we launched Thunderbirds. It was an enormous success, delivering the number one toy in the U.K. market. Through an amazing team of people and some very patient licensees, I learned a huge amount about licensing things the right way.

What’s a “typical” day in your current position?
One of the things I love most about licensing is that there is no ‘typical day.’ One day I might be negotiating a deal for pajamas, the next for solar-powered bobble head figures. We might be debating whether saving the universe is too big a concept for a preschool audience or how best to convey the fact that a product’s USP is its tactile nature when it’s sold through an online retailer. The only real constant in licensing is the amazing community spirit and people you can feel truly privileged to work with.

What’s your biggest personal or professional accomplishment?
Personal? Wife and kids, obviously, as well as the enormous achievement of somehow keeping my old Defender roadworthy. Professionally, however, the licensing industry has given me so many opportunities to push myself. Swimming round Malta and rowing to Paris for the Light Fund charity have definitely been highlights. But in work terms, I have no doubt that building Bulldog from a start-up to one of the leading agencies in the business has been not only a challenge, but an achievement and an incredible journey. And it’s not just my achievement—over the years we’ve had some amazing people at Bulldog, every one of whom has helped to grow the agency into everything it is today.

What are the most significant trends or changes that you’ve seen in the business in recent years?
Undoubtedly the biggest shift in licensing has been the move away from linear TV and the advent of digital channels and apps. When I first started in the industry, everyone knew that a kids’ TV property on CBBC had the eyeballs needed to deliver a merchandising program. But then apps came along, and people were no longer talking about reach in the thousands, but in the millions. When YouTube arrived, we started talking in billions!

The media landscape today is incredibly complex. In particular, the background noise from brands that lack the key attributes to become successful licensed concepts causes confusion at retail. This has led to a greater need for licensing agents to communicate directly with buying teams as well as to furnish their licensees with an arsenal of facts and figures to help them cut through that noise.

Agents need to fully understand the questions they ask of consumers when they present them with a licensed product to buy. Those who are able to communicate this dynamic effectively are today playing an important role in this business. As the first licensing agency to set up and pioneer the ‘retail first’ approach, Bulldog is perfectly positioned to optimize brands in this changing landscape.

What keeps you up at night? What’s your biggest challenge these days?
The forthcoming Budget. Like many countries, the U.K. has endured a series of significant shocks over the last few years—from war on the doorstep of Europe, to a massive increase in energy costs to subsidize the rollout of green energy, to Covid. 2024 has been the year in which everything started to rectify itself and the U.K. was showing the fastest growth in the G7 with the highest levels of business confidence in Europe. But the advent of a new government means a new Chancellor and a new Budget.

In your opinion, what is the top skill every licensing executive should have in order to succeed?
Affability and approachability are the most important personality traits for anybody wanting to succeed in this business. Licensing is, at its heart, a community of connectors, bringing people together across a multitude of different disciplines. It’s vital to have the ability to operate within all manner of environments and with people who have a wide range of personalities.

What’s the best piece of advice you’ve ever received, or what’s your favorite quote?
My Dad always said that no matter what you do in life, make sure nobody can ever say you treated them unfairly. I like to think we’re true to that mantra and will always be an agency that people can trust with their brands and their business.

What is your favorite licensing deal of all time? (It doesn’t have to be one that was signed by you.)
That is a tough one, but I think I’d probably go with our Truffleshuffle Care Bears collection. The team there have been so amazing to work with and thrown themselves headlong into the brand. They are one of the few licensee/retailers who can truly cater to all tastes.

If you weren’t in licensing, what would you be doing now?
I’d probably be a professional celebrity lookalike for Brad Pitt, but the work might be a little slow…

The last licensed product I bought was…
Prada perfume (for my daughter, not me!).