What is Festival of Licensing?

Events

The Global Licensing Group at Informa Markets, the organisers behind BLE, organized Festival of Licensing, a never-before-seen celebration of the business of brand licensing, in partnership with industry trade association Licensing International.

Running from 6-29 October 2020, Festival of Licensing is a four-week, large-scale virtual gathering bringing together the licensing industry to connect, learn, strike deals and do business on an international stage. It will be the most inclusive global licensing event to-date and builds off of the momentum of the Global Licensing Group’s Licensing Week Virtual event, which exceeded expectations in its inaugural launch in June.

The first three events will be time-zoned around the territories they serve and deliver the following:

IP discovery:

• Exclusive brand and property showcases from up to 300 exhibitors
• Untapped talent with live License This! and Pitch the Brands competition finals

Content:

• Live keynote headliners from the world’s most influential brands, addressing the most pressing topics of the current and ever-changing business environment
• 100+ hours of live and on-demand, territory and category specific content to guide businesses through the new consumer landscape
• Retailer-only space with exclusive educational content and expert Q&A sessions

Networking:

• Thousands of opportunities to meet, do business and strike deals through the Festival Matchmaking Service, enabling both pre-planned online video meetings and impromptu exhibitor booth drop-ins

Experiences:

• Fully Licensed!, an unmissable programme of very special live daily evening entertainment and experiences in each region
• Community & Wellbeing featuring a celebration of the global licensing industry, a wide range of business/career advice and mentoring, a huge industry fundraiser and wellbeing workshops focused on our physical, nutritional, creative, psychological and social needs

The festival will conclude with Licensing Leadership Summit taking place 28-29 October. Originally scheduled as an in-person, senior-level, global gathering of the industry’s C-Suite and thought-leaders from brands, agents, manufacturing and retail, the new virtual offering will draw on key learnings from the previous three weeks and future-looking topics that will facilitate debate and shape the future of the global licensing industry.