India gets its own licensing show for retail fraternity

India Licensing Expo (ILE), India's first and most influential business-to-business brand licensing show is all set to kick start on August 20-21 in Sahara Star, Mumbai with participation from over 100+ global and domestic brands for retail industry. Viacom 18, Fashion TV, Marie Claire, Universal Music, Mondo TV, JCB, Polaroid, NBA, Sesame Street, Authentic Brands Group, Green Gold Animation, are a few amongst list of top brands participating at the first ever licensing show to be held in the country.

The show is organized by exclusive licensing media company, License India and is supported by global licensing body, Licensing Industry Merchandisers' Association (LIMA), Indo-French Chamber of Commerce and Industry (IFCCI) and Sports Goods Foundation of India. The show sponsors are Viacom 18, Orian Installations, Dream Theatre and Bradford License India. Ernst & Young are process tabulation partners for India Licensing Awards, concurrent event of ILE 2017.

India Licensing Expo 2017 shall bring together numerous brand opportunities, direct pool of brand owners and decision makers, elaborate knowledge forums, exclusive licensing recognitions, fun character parade, preview rooms for brands for exclusive showcase for retailers to grasp the property better and much more.

"Indian retail is quite fragmented at the moment and adding brand power can bring this industry together on a common platform of modern retail. In scenario when India is a brand-hungry market, we see a natural inclination towards licensing as an effective retail strategy. We intend to position India Licensing Expo as a dedicated hub where the industry unifies to shop brands for business across all industries. We bring together brands of every kind - sports, character, corporate, music, art, entertainment, for retailers to embed in their business / products. Brand licensing has been well accepted as a retail strategy in India, and through ILE 2017, we plan to bring the global understanding to Indian landscape," said Gaurav Marya, Chairman, License India.

A combination of two day Master Class, one day Conference, Exhibition and Awards, ILE profiles a unique opportunity to know it all in just two days, covering every aspect of licensing model and its usage in your business at strategic and retail level. Not only you as business owners will know about licensing across industries, but also meet the brands first hand, ready to license their brand in multiple product categories for further brand extensions logically.

Therefore, ILE offers an exhaustive licensing ecosystem, inviting over 10,000 business visitors over the show. The show would witness visits from retailers / manufacturers from all sectors - apparel, footwear, jewelry, bags, small leather goods, eyewear, accessories, travel gear and luggage, electronics, back to school range, mobile phones and accessories, Bluetooth devises, audio, IT products and accessories, personal care, skin care, cosmetics, fragrances, hair grooming, publishing, new media and apps, games and toys, home linen and furnishings and much more.

The Exposition displays all kind of licensing opportunities for manufacturers and retailers across products, such as in characters, Chhota Bheem, Peppa Pig, PJ Masks, Dora, Popeye, Motu Patlu, Toki Doki, Jungle Book, Ben 10, Power Puff Girls, Mighty Raju, Sponge Bob, Jumanji movie, Emoji Movie, Sesame Street and much more. In corporate brands, the galore offers brands like Juicy Couture, Aeropostale, Spyder, Misook, Airwalk, Lamborghini, Compaq, JCB, Fashion TV, University of Oxford, Marie Claire, Absorba, Shell, Pepsi, Mountain Dew, Route 66, Polaroid, Femina Flaunt, Kuber, Mechanix and much more. Music and Art brands would be Universal Music with wide pool of top artists, MTV, Billboard, Michael Jackson, Marilyn Monroe, Elvis Presley, Romero Britto and much more; and sports properties would be NBA, Delhi Daredevils, Extreme Sports, VOIT, Mancity FC, FC Barcelona, Roland and Garros, Cycle Polo Federation of India, Maui & Sons, Muhammad Ali, Shaq and much more.

In words of Ms. Chitra S. Johri, Director, Bradford license India, "Though at a nascent stage, the Indian licensing industry holds massive growth potential. I believe ILE 2017 will offer a platform for the Indian licensing fraternity to come together for the first time, brainstorm and address the challenges in a cumulative manner. I am delighted to see the real change coming already in the country, where all of industry colleagues have confirmed to come together to stir licensing into Indian retail. This would be a bigger movement in our domain of licensing, benefitting each product category in actual sense. Bradford is a proud partner of this show and we shall be there with all our brands for licensing."

In order to specifically tap the top French enterprises doing business in India, ILE has also tied up with Indo-French Chamber of Commerce and Industry (IFCCI). This opens gates for the French companies to evaluate and roll into India through licensing. "IFCCI is pleased to partner with the ILE for creating this unique platform to identify and capitalize brand licensing. This is an important move for streamlining and structuring the licensing industry that impacts retailing directly. I am sure that the expo will open up new avenues for industry players and we look forward to enabling multiple French licensors eyeing Indian market to capitalize and leverage this show," said Payal. S. Kanwar, Secretary General, IFCCI.

The show proffers two forums, a Master Class and a Conference. The 2 days certification master class begins a day prior of the show on 19th August and ends on 20th August. The master class is a comprehensive circle of the licensing model and is conducted by Mr. Chris Evans, Managing Director, University of Oxford, and Mr. Pete Canalichio, Managing Partner, Licensing Brands Inc. Further, an exhaustive conference shall be conducted on 21st August, with the pool of top industry experts to discuss licensing transition in retail in India, with first hand domain experience. The conference puts forth a strong panel with industry stalwart's like Dan Frugtniet (VP-Licensing and Business Development, Nickelodeon, Viacom Consumer Products), Saugato Bhowmick (Head of Viacom18- Consumer Products), Yannick Colaco (MD-NBA), Siddharth Chury (Senior Director - NBA India), Manan Mehta (VP-Marketing and Merchandise, Yashraj Films), Sandeep Dahiya (Director - Brand Extensions, Bennett Coleman & Co. Ltd), Samir Jain (ED and COO, Green Gold Animation), Shivram Saran (AVP and Head Consumer Products, JCB), Roberto Bre (Director, Private Collection, Marie Claire), Rajan Madhu (President, FTV India), Maura Regan (Sr. Vice President, LIMA), Manish Mandhana (CEO, Mandhana Retail - Being Human), Jason Sutton (Director, Polaroid), Jiggy George (Head, LIMA India and CEO, Dream Theatre), Ishmeet Singh (Country Manager, Mattle Toys India), Anurag Sachdeva (Director, Rovio, Angry Birds), Afsar Zaidi (MD, Exceed Entertainment, HRX) and many more. Witness the veterans of licensing industry coming together to discuss the challenges, explore the kind of engagements and further work towards uplifting of the L&M industry as a whole in India.

In words of Jiggy George, Head of LIMA India and Founder of Dream Theatre, "The timing is just right for a Licensing Expo in India to bring the fraternity together but what's more, to educate and sensitize potential partners on the benefits of this wonderful business. The show has the ingredients to be beneficial to attendees and I am sure will grow in size and stature over the years."

ILE 2017 'exclusively' also hosts India's foremost licensing recognition platform, India Licensing Awards 2017 partnered with Marie Claire. Celebrating the best in Indian Licensing Industry, these awards would remain to be one of its kind recognition where the whole fraternity will come together to celebrate excellence, right from the brand owners, brand custodians to entrepreneurial retailers, latest licensees on the block, to raise a toast to outstanding achievements in the industry so far. Judged, curated and tabulated by panel of experts, the awards are supported by Ernst and Young as process partners. With 21 focused categories for licensing fraternity, the awards would acknowledge top brasses of the industry. To name a few categories - Licensor Of The Year (Entertainment, Celebrity, Sports, Corporate, Bollywood, Art, Character, Music), Licensee Of The Year (Apparel, Fashion Accessories, Toys and Games, Gifts and Novelties, Back To School, Electronics, Retail Innovation and Business Concept, Home Decor, FMCG, New Media and Publishing), along with Special Categories like IP Firm Of The Year and Licensing Agent Of The Year.

ILE, being the only scaled licensing show, means serious business to unlock India as the most potential business destination across industries. While the Indian licensing sector is pegged at $1 billion, is still at a nascent stage, but growing at a rapid pace as success stories of home-grown brands have propelled its growth. Fashion retailers stay ahead of the pack with close to 25 percent of the organized retailers using licensing as an effective retail strategy.

India Licensing Expo will host multiple opportunities from several countries for Indian business ecosystem. It is a great destination to decode the market by meeting retailers, manufacturers, suppliers from all industries under one roof and network with the decision makers for effective conversions. With this first edition, ILE would become a destination to convene global brands for Indian retailers resulting in business growth through licensing. 

-ANI