Coca Cola 'ambush' at the Oscars. Is the World Cup next?

According to Wikipedia 'Ambush marketing is a marketing strategy wherein the advertisers associate themselves with, and therefore capitalize on, a particular event without paying any sponsorship fee'. World Cup organizers are on the lookout, see - Brands advised to avoid 'ambushing' the FIFA 2014 World Cup. It should be fun to keep an eye out to see if a logo inadvertently pops up. Are the signs in stadiums with John 3-16 infringements?

Disney's 'Frozen' Flooding Norway with Tourists

Suddenly, Norway has become a hot tourist destination, see - ‘Frozen’ Norway: Disney Hit Brings A Blizzard Of Tourists. The popularity of the movie 'Frozen' has spurred interest in vacationing in Norway. Compared to last year, travel to Norway from the U.S. is up 37%. The website VisitNorway.com has seen traffic triple since the film's release. Disney's guided-tour division saw this coming. They formed a partnership with Innovation Norway six months before the movie was released. Disney seems to be doing a lot of things right.

2014 World Cup Numbers Are Staggering

At the 2014 World Cup the winning team's federation will receive a $34 million prize, see - Record World Cup numbers game for FIFA and Brazil. Other impressive numbers include a $14 billion bill for Brazil and $4 billion in commercial revenue for FIFA. In 2010, the Spain-Netherlands final was watched by 530.9 million people Companies associated with FIFA include: Adidas, Coca-Cola, Emirates, Hyundai, Sony, Visa, Budweiser, Castrol, Continental, Johnson & Johnson, McDonalds, Moy Park, Oi, and Yingli. Impressive.

Military Fighting Veterans

Anyone who does trademark enforcement knows it can become difficult. But imagine having to enforce trademarks against a veteran who has fought for the country, see - Military Fighting to Protect Trademarks — By Suing Veterans. Unfortunately, if the Military chooses to have trademarks, trademark enforcement is a necessary byproduct.

Cloudy Future for NCAA Licensed Products

Big changes may be coming for NCAA licensed products, see - Double trouble for NCAA? O’Bannon lawsuit split in two. Former college players have filed an antitrust action lawsuit against the NCAA. The starting date for the first trial has been set for June 9th. According to Wikipedia "billions of dollars in television revenues and licensing fees" are at stake. Plaintiffs include Ed O'Bannon (a former UCLA basketball player), Oscar Robertson, and Bill Russell.

"Hello Kitty is having a midife crisis"

The market value of Sanrio Co., the owner of Hello Kitty, dropped $450 million after Sanrio announced a shift in licensing strategy, see - Sanrio takes big risk with new strategy. The market value change was the result of the biggest drop in Sanrio's stock in 19 years. The impetus was Sanrio deciding to sell more of its own merchandise rather than licensing its brand to other companies. There have got to be a few nervous folks at Sanrio.

"Officially Licensed and Officially Ugly"

If you are in the mood to buy something ugly, have I got the sweaters for you, see - Ranking the NFL’s New Ugly Sweaters. For only $59.99 you can  proudly wear one of these "ridiculous", "awful" sweaters. The article's author, Nicole Conlan, describes the Cleveland Browns' sweater as looking like "food poisoning". I don't know what food poisoning looks like, but I know what the results of food poisoning looks like. The sweater resembles the latter.

Coca Cola Sequin Top for Only $1,475

I remember when my daughter first asked me to buy her a pair of Nike shoes so she could be in style. She would be mortified to be wearing a non-brand name shoe. I hope your daughter is not asking for a stylish $1,475 'Coca-Cola®' Sequin Top, see - How It Became Cool To Dress Like A Walking Coke Ad. Tip of the hat to Kate Dwyer head of Coca-Cola's global licensing. She has managed to make Coca-Cola chic.

Since 1992, $405.5 million in sports counterfeit goods

Worldwide counterfeiting has an enormous impact. Approximately $650 billion in counterfeit goods are produced annually. $650 billion annually!!! The NHL is aggressively attacking counterfeiters during the Stanley Cup Playoffs, see - NHL Enforcement Takes On Chicago Counterfeiters During Conference Finals. Last year $250 million in counterfeit NHL merchandise was seized.

What has Black & Decker got to do with soccer?

Somehow the images of soccer and power tools just don't seem to go together. Nonetheless, Barcelona and Stanley Black & Decker have formed a partnership, see - More than a marketing tool: Barça strikes deal with Stanley Black & Decker . I believe that Scott Bannell, Stanley Black & Decker's vice president brand management & licensing, has been doing his homework. He must be aware that revenue from soccer exceeds the revenue of all U.S. sports combined.

Rising license fees crushed Godzilla

Sometimes less is more. Marvel produced Godzilla comics from 1977-79 on a license from Toho - see, Top Five Greatest Monsters Marvel Created to Fight Godzilla. Toho raised the license fee after the first year, and wanted even a higher fee the subsequent year. Instead of getting a higher fee, Toho got nothing as Marvel canceled the Godzilla comics. Seems like there is a lesson here. Marvel even went to lengths to avoid other license fees by creating new monsters for Godzilla to vanquish. The author's joy in describing Godzilla's destruction of one monster after another is a delight to read.

Godzilla fails to conquer video games

Why is Godzilla so popular? No one seems to know. But the popularity does not seem to translate to video games, see - Godzilla’s Checkered Gaming Past: A Retrospective. Godzilla video games have been out for over 30 years, but none have seemed to catch on. Seeing the progression of Godzilla video games over the years reminds one of how far video games have come. Through it all, Godzilla marches on. He'll probably be causing mayhem 30 years from now.

Johnny Football Wins Super Bowl!

Like Rip Van Winkle, I must have been asleep for awhile. I just woke up and found out that Johnny Manziel lead the Cleveland Browns to victory in the Super Bowl. What else could explain the hysteria over "Johnny Football", see - Cleveland Based Fresh Brewed Tees Releases Officially Licensed Johnny Manziel Shirts. Before I nodded off, I thought he: 1) had not put on a Brown's uniform yet; 2) had not played a down in the NFL, and; 3) had not won the starting quarterback job. Boy he did a lot while I took my nap.

Soccer revenue comparable to all U.S. Sports revenue combined

The focus of the article  Amateurs face a bleak future with sport sector now worth $1 trillion is not about a comparison of Soccer (football everywhere but the U.S.) revenue vs. U.S. Sports revenue, but it's what jumped out of the article at me. The author states "Incredibly, football revenues now equate to almost as much as the $38 billion generated by all US sports, Formula One racing, tennis and golf combined".  Another statement that caught my eye was "global sports industry was growing much faster than national gross domestic product (GDP) rates around the world". Looks like a rosy future for companies selling licensed products in the worldwide Soccer market.

If you are not in the Chinese market, maybe you should be

The title of the article NBA 2K Online reaches 19 million registered ballers in China caught my attention. 19 million users are a lot of users. Chinese Internet users have grown to 618 million, greater than the population of any other country except India, and could exceed 850 million by 2015 (source - Alibaba Group's Founder saw Internet's potential for China). Hard to ignore this market.

As Dalton suggests, "be nice" when enforcing trademarks

In the movie Road House, Patrick Swayze's character, Dalton, tells his bouncers at the Double Deuce bar to "be nice".  The article Develop Your Online Enforcement Strategy proffers the same advice. As an example, the article cites CBS allowing images of Star Trek to be on a gravestone, despite CBS having a licensing deal with a coffin maker.

Godzilla needs lawyers, even though Shakespeare wrote 'Kill all the lawyers'

When Shakespeare wrote 'Kill all the lawyers' he meant it as a compliment, see - 'Kill the Lawyers,' A Line Misinterpreted. ('Shakespeare meant it as a compliment to attorneys and judges who instill justice in society.') So maybe it's not such a bad thing that Godzilla needs lawyers, as explained in Godzilla proves even giant monsters need lawyers.

China company secures $1.3 billion loan against IP rights

The article China’s multi-billion dollar IP financing market may not be all it seems comes as somewhat of a surprise. Articles and TV shows abound about the counterfeiting of goods in China. A complete counterfeit Apple store was even built. So lending $1.3 billion against 110 patent and trademark rights seems odd. But as the article points out, China's first trademark law was adopted in 1982. Protecting intellectual property is a relatively new idea in China. The author is obviously ambivalent about the meaning of the loan. It is an intriguing development.

How did they get Manziel's name on his Browns' jersey?

When a 1st round draft pick walks out on stage at the NFL draft, he is handed a jersey of the team that just picked him. His name is on the jersey. The article Preparation, practise and sleight of hand: creating draft-day jerseys reveals how it is done.

NFL Draft and $$$

May 8th was a big day for college football players drafted by the NFL. It also was a big day for the agents who represented the football players, as well as companies who have licensing agreements with those picked early in the draft, see - 2014 NFL Draft First Round Recap. Fanatics Authentic and Nike did well with Blake Bortles picked as the first quarterback. And Nike also has an apparel deal with "Johnny Football". Not bad.

Holy Smokes Batman is 75.

Did not realize Batman was 75 until I ran across the article - Top 10 Coolest Batman Statues. The article takes a look at Batman statues as part of a celebration of Batman's 75th anniversary. The statues are pretty cool. But not as cool as the work Burt Ward (Robin) does with Gentle Giants Rescue and Adoption. My daughter and family got two dogs from Gentle Giants, and they were wonderful dogs. Kudos to Burt Ward.

Nuts, Ferrari is not for sale

At the bottom of today's article (Ferrari To Launch New Model Every Year, Stick With V-8 And V-12 Engines) we see Ferrari is not for sale. Ruined my day. All my effort in collecting recyclable pop bottles to accumulate money to buy Ferrari has been wasted.

Get your officially licensed Lansing Lugnuts baseball cap!

Minor League Baseball announced the top teams in licensed merchandise sales, see MiLB releases list of Top 25 teams in licensed merchandise sales. You've got to love some of the team names: Albuquerque Isotopes, Lansing Lugnuts, Richmond Flying Squirrels, Lehigh Valley IronPigs, Pensacola Blue Wahoos, Reading Fightin Phils and Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders. What is a Blue Wahoo?

Candy Crush dethrones Angry Birds

Was this Steve Jobs vision? Millions of people playing games on mobile devices.  After Angry Birds introduction, by the end of 2012, 263 million people per month were playing the games of Angry Birds creator Rovio, see - Mobile games: 10 things you need to know. Now Candy Crush is the new sheriff in town with the game played a billion times in December. It may not have been his vision, but somewhere I can envision Steve Jobs with his whimsical smile enjoying it all.

Licensing Expo offering discounts on top Las Vegas attractions

You may be on an expense account when you travel to the Licensing Expo in Las Vegas. But you may not be able to think of a way to put a massage on your expense report. So the discounts offered by Licensing Expo may come in handy. The article  Show Your Exhibitors How Much You Appreciate Them mentions the promotion which is known as the Perks Program.

It pays to be an NFL quarterback

The list of the NFL players with the largest merchandise sales was just released, see - The 12 Most Popular NFL Players of the 2014 Season. To no ones surprise there are nine quarterbacks on the list. The most popular player is Russell Wilson of the Seahawks, beating out Penton Manning of the Broncos. I have a grandson who is a walk-on quarterback for the California Bears. Hope he makes it big. I could retire in style. Go Bears!

Fascinating article on Hollywood remaking itself

Could the 'Empire Strikes Back' have been more important than 'Star Wars'? The role of  'Empire Strikes Back' in remaking Hollywood is analyzed in the article - 'Star Wars' Didn't Change the Business of Hollywood; 'Empire' Did. Not only did 'Empire' alter Hollywood, it led to mass merchandising on a scale never seen before.