Record numbers of retailers and visitors, both UK and European, headed to Brand Licensing Europe (BLE) 2023 last week, which took place at London’s ExCeL.
“This year’s retail presence was incredible, with really strong attendance from fashion and toy retailers,” confirmed the show’s head of retail Laura Freedman-Dagg. “We also saw an increase in gift and novelty retailers as well as value retailers such as Poundland, Matalan, Pepco and Primark.”
Over 5,100 meetings were pre-arranged in the show’s Online Meetings Platform (a 17% increase on 2022) and many thousands more took place onsite.
Looking ahead, a Brands in Play theme has been announced for BLE and Licensing Expo 2024.
“To celebrate the concept of play, we are dedicating 2024 to Brands in Play, a theme that will run as an undercurrent across BLE and Licensing Expo to spotlight the incredible innovations in play, the power it holds in every stage of life and the creativity it allows when building brands,” comments Anna Clarke, svp licensing, Informa Markets.
“Immersive entertainment, storytelling and fan engagement are changing, and the concept of play is changing with it. Today, brands are creating multi-generational, omnichannel play patterns that permeate video games, tabletop, board and card games, location-based entertainment, immersive theatre, sports and esports, toys and kidult culture. Brands are also playing in new spaces, building ground-breaking new extensions and bringing the brand licensing business to life in increasingly creative ways.”
Next year’s Brand Licensing Europe takes place from 24-26 September 2024, at London’s ExCeL.
Visit www.brandlicensing.eu
Top: The character line-up at last week’s Brand Licensing Europe.
