Reinforcing Your Brand Through Licensing
IMC Licensing
October 15, 2012
Some licensed products are very much like the brand’s core product itself. They may be used the same way (like licensed food products for a food brand); they maybe used by the same consumers (like a board game based on a children’s cartoon); or they may be distributed in the same channels (like cocktail mixes for a spirit brand).
Such products achieve every brand manager’s goals, including the following:
- Supporting brand awareness through new products and impressions.
- Reinforcing brand imagery and equities through new brand associations.
- Supporting brand positioning, advertising and marketing – marketing that pays for itself.
- Increasing usage occasions.
- Expanding brand’s presence at retail – and its share-of-mind among shopping consumers.
- Enhancing brand ownership of its category.
- Surrounding your target.
- Sustaining market share and profit margins.
Licensing keeps the brand top-of-mind in new places and new ways. It is self-funded and revenue generating, providing by far the best return on investment in your marketing mix.
Traditional marketing methods are no longer enough to reach consumers effectively and ensure growth. A rapidly changing environment for brand managers requires smart and new ways to reach consumers and grow their businesses.
Licensing is a form of “experiential marketing” that offers the consumer unexpected ways to interact with and use a brand. Consumers are often more permissive and open to this unexpected interaction. They are willing to spend money to give this brand a new role and expand its presence in their lives. In purchasing the new consumer product, they in fact are confirming the brand’s meaningful role in their lives.