TOTAL LICENSING
In a little less than two years Euro- products haven’t met with great suc-
pean Licensing Company (ELC) has cess because, for one reason or an-
emerged as one of the major players other, they were not suited to the lo-
in the licensing industry. cal market.
ELC started out with a deal to rep- “They may have been too expensive,”
resent Warner Bros Consumer Prod- he continues, “or they may not have
ucts but has quickly added Cartoon taken into account the local charac-
Network and New Line Cinema to its teristics of the market. Design trends,
increasingly strong portfolio. colours, and tastes tend to be different
The secret to its success is a network in each and every territory; discrete
problem, he says, is caused simply be-
of offices and representatives and smaller images of characters
cause people do not fully understand
that serves clients in may be preferred in one
the concept of licensing, another part
the 27 countries in its country, while bold, bright
of the problem is that the internation-
territory. There are images are required in
al licensing industry often doesn’t take
four dedicated ELC another. If you have
into account local conditions.
offices in Warsaw, something produced
“By operating at this level we can de-
Budapest, Moscow internationally and
velop the regional licensing industry
and London and trying to sell across
by doing local deals with licensees
there are affiliates diverse emerging
who best understand the needs of
at Lisans AS in Is- markets there is a
consumers,” he says. “This means that
tanbul and Hellas very good chance
we can generate licensed product and
Press in Athens that you will just
promotions that will match the market
which also act be skimming the
both in terms of taste and purchasing
for ELC. In effect surface in each terri-
Hakan Durdag
power. This has a much higher chance
this gives the company tory, selling to only the
CEO
of selling-in to stores and being a suc- European Licensing
six offices allowing them top socio-economic consumer group
cess with the consumer.” Company
to think globally but operate locally. in each country leading to low retail
In addition, once consumers see the
Although licensing is an increasingly penetration and low sales.”
benefits of a quality licensed product
global industry, the answer to most Operating its own offices allows ELC
at a realistic price, Hakan believes they
problems can be found by dealing to deal locally which, says Hakan, can
will be less inclined to buy counterfeit
with things at a local level according have a lot of benefits especially with
goods.
to CEO of ELC Hakan major international retailers
“At the moment there is a very high
Durdag. such as Carrefour and Tesco
rate of piracy,” ” he he says. “Although “Although thethe--
ELC is now operat- investing in the area. The retail
re are anti-piracy laws these are not
ing in a territory that structure is changing rapidly
rigourously implemented by the local
includes 27 different from small family stores to hy-
authorities. We can combat this by
countries from Alba- permarkets and shopping
making sure that licensed goods are
nia to Uzbekistan and malls and a local strategy al-
of a high quality, reasonably priced,
a consumer base of lows ELC to take advantage
and made using local production and
410 million people, of this.
resources.”
the bulk of them “There are now more
– around 125 mil- than 200 hypermarkets in
lion – in Russia. Poland, for example, and
“That is one of 150 supermarkets and hy-
the challenges,” permarkets in the Czech
says Hakan, who Republic,” says Hakan.
is also President “These provide increas-
of Lisans AS. “We ing opportunities for
are dealing with strategic alliances and
so many different cross-category promo-
countries Each of tions at a local level.”
them has its own Another of the major
identity, each of challenges in emerging
them has its own markets is piracy. Hakan
culture, and each Durdag says this is one
of them has its of the chief issues that
own tastes. In can best be resolved at
the past, licensed a local level. Part of the
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