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Over recent years we’ve worked on a number of licensed product ranges for our clients and have seen just how powerful adding this strand to the sales and marketing mix can be.  Get the fit right and it can have a huge impact on the bottom line, a fact not lost on media owners who are scrambling to boost their diminishing coffers by licensing their star shows and presenters to everything from personal care products to cooking utensils.  But what’s in it for the product manufacturers?

Quite simply (although the route to licensing success is highly complex),  licensed product ranges in association with the right ‘property’ can drive strong sales and grow brand equity.  In a short period of time, brand owners can see a new revenue stream go direct to their bottom line.  Licensed ranges can also help an existing brand reach new consumers, enter new retail channels, bring new ‘news’ to longstanding product lines and help differentiate from the competition.  We call this business alchemy.

We’ve worked with Original Additions, brand owners of leading false lash brand Eylure and the UK’s number one false nails brand Elegant Touch, for eight years and have seen the business grow enormously in that time.  Under the careful and entrepreneurial leadership of MD Simon Zussman, Original Additions has developed several successful licensed product ranges including Girls Aloud Lashes created by Eylure, Paris Hilton Nails and Lashes by Elegant Touch and Dainty Doll by Nicola Roberts.

The Girls Aloud Lashes celebrated their second birthday this spring and have been the most incredible success story.  In just one year, the succinct range of five strip lashes exceeded sales expectation fivefold and helped transform the false lash from an occasional wear product to a beauty staple.  The timing of the launch and the PR support around this was textbook, with the range hitting the shelves as the girls’ Out of Control album went platinum and they performed a sell-out UK tour.  Since then we have launched Girls Aloud Party Lashes and (limited edition) Girls Aloud Festival Lashes created by Eylure and, as we enter year three, there are a number of exciting developments in the pipeline.

Simon Zussman, Managing Director, Original Additions, comments, “For our business, there are four key factors for creating a successful licensed product.  The personality must have empathy with the category and be creatively involved. The consumer needs to respect the link between the personality, product and brand.  Finally, the licensed range must drive sales, create new customers and build awareness of the core brand.”

There are a number of routes to licensing success (or failure!) and Focus PR is now very practised in working with our clients to seek out the best opportunities and then provide the right kind of PR support from inception to launch (and beyond).  Contact sara@focuspr.co.uk if you’d like to have a chat about extending your brand through licensing.