Inditex to make Festival of Licensing speaker debut as panellists on Smiley’s opening keynote – 6 October 2020
Brand Licensing Europe (BLE) 2020 opens its virtual doors at 0900 on Tuesday 6 October as part of Festival of Licensing and the event is already breaking records: 11,000 meeting requests have been made since the platform opened just two weeks ago. With four days till launch, BLE organiser Global Licensing Group is expecting this figure to rise exponentially, beating all previous records held by the event.
SAME GREAT THOUGHT-PROVOKING CONTENT
Smiley, Banijay, Formula 1 and Team GB are among this year’s BLE keynotes, taking place daily at 9am BST. The full Live Stage (sponsored by Crunchyroll) agenda can be viewed in advance right here to help visitors plan ahead.
The opening Smiley Keynote – Re-affirming Purpose through Positivity, Creativity and Connection – is scheduled for Tuesday 6 October, 9am, BST.
The Smiley has always been a steadfast symbol of defiant optimism in challenging times, but for almost fifty years it has also stood as a beacon to somewhere better. As many brands are faced with the challenge of reaffirming a more meaningful purpose, The Smiley Company CEO Nicolas Loufrani leads a spirited discussion about why the company has always believed in the power of positivity, creativity, and connection for companies and customers
Loufrani is joined by Pablo Carballo and Joana Oliveira from Pull&Bear / Inditex Group: the world’s biggest apparel retailer will be making its debut on the BLE content programme. Plus:
- Professor Dacher Keltner (Professor of Psychology – University Of California)
- Jonathan Demortier (PR & Events Manager – Eastpak / VF Corp)
- Fabiola Guimaraes (Chief Brand Officer – Hering)
- Christina Medici (Head of Partnerships – Smiley Movement)
SAME AMAZING RANGE OF BRANDS
Visitors can expect to meet the same BLE exhibitors they know and love, thousands of IPs and a huge variety of brands, from animation to sports and art to gaming. Over 180 brands will exhibit virtually at BLE 2020 next week. New exhibitors that have signed up in the last two weeks include:
Activision Blizzard
Alchemy Carta
American Brand Holdings
Animaccord
Apex Global Brands
BIGTOP
Blonde Pilot
Blue Fish Tales
Brand Squared Licensing
Clara Jean Design
Comite d’organisation des Paris 2024
Creative Licensing Corp
Creative Media Partners
Dorna Sports
The FA
Funimation Global Group
Gaillmard Jeunesse
Giordano Studios
Gyeonggi Content Agency
Infinity Lifestyle Brands
ITV Global Entertainment
Jazwares
LMCA
MGL Licensing
Millimages
National Maritime Museum
FC Porto
Princess Sam
Rainbow
Ricciardi Paints
Riot Games
Toei Animation
Surge Licensing
Tate & Co Licensing
UEFA
TFI Entertainment
Thankyou Group
Arsenal FC
This is Iris Ltd
Vicki Thomas Associates
Wargaming
SAME COMMUNITY
Licensing truly is one big family, which is why BLE has planned jam-packed Viacom CBS Community & Wellbeing and Hasbro Happy Hours events to allow everyone to catch have fun and catch up (safely) with their industry peers.
Visitors can find out what’s on here, including the latest addition to note: three very special daily model making workshops run by Oscar®-winning animation studio Aardman Animations with ambassador and model maker extraordinaire Jim ‘I play with clay’ Parkyn.
Festival goers are invited to grab some clay (try Newplast*, Fimo, Play-Doh, Plasticine or even make your own), toothpicks, baby wipes, download your worksheet/s and get ready to model their very own Gromit, Shaun the Sheep, or Morph character/s:
- Tuesday 6thOctober: 3:30pm-4:30pm, BST, Gromit
- Wednesday 7thOctober: 3:30-4:30pm, BST, Shaun
- Thursday 8thOctober: 3:00-4:00pm, BST, Morph
“Between 6-8 October, thousands of retailers, licensees and brands will be taking part in a completely reimagined, virtual BLE,” said Anna Knight, VP of Licensing, Informa Markets. “But while the format may have changed, and we will be meeting online from the comfort of our own homes rather than at ExCeL, attendees can still expect to meet the same amazing brands, discover tonnes of new IP, soak in the same high quality, thought-provoking content, and enjoy being part of the same brilliant European licensing community. We can’t wait to see everyone there.”
Festival of Licensing is organised and produced by the Global Licensing Group at Informa Markets. Visitors can register for free at www.festivaloflicensing.com.
NEW FORMAT: BLE IS VIRTUAL FOR 2020
BLE is being hosted virtually for 2020 as part of Festival of Licensing, the month-long virtual celebration of the global licensing industry, which runs from 6-29 October and incorporates three regional events linked to the world’s biggest licensing markets – Europe (6-8 October), Asia (14-15 October) and the Americas (23-25 October) – and culminates with the global C-suite and executive-level virtual conference, Licensing Leadership Summit.
Attendees can download a Licensing International webinar recording on how to use the platform so that, come Tuesday morning, they can dive straight in and start enjoying content and meeting new business partners from the get go.
