LIMA Australia successfully hosted its latest Licensing Breakfast event at this years Toy, Hobby & Licensing Fair this past Monday morning at the Melbourne Exhibition and Convention Centre. The event was popular with the industry and included well over 200 guests on the morning, from licensees, to retailers, to rights owners and many more.
This years breakfast was sponsored by Shopkins, Moose Enterprise and Merchantwise, all locally based within Australia and now operating in the global toy and licensing industries. LIMA Australia would like to thank the Australian Toy Association for their support of the event and to Trudi Borin for her significant work during preparation for the event and on the morning.
The breakfast was opened by LIMA Global President, Charles Riotto, who discussed a range of topics including licensing facts & figures as well as forecasts for the licensing industry now and into the future. LIMA Australia Managing Director, Tony Bugg, also spoke on LIMA from an Australian perspective and outlined what is in the pipeline for LIMA Australia including events, education and membership services.
The focus for the event was “HOW MEGABRANDS ARE FULLY REALISED AT RETAIL” and the panel on the morning included Paul Cannon from Caprice Australia, Georgia Sotiropoulos from Big W and Paul Solomon from Moose Enterprise. The discussion was highly engaging with topics including brand development, the costs associated with retail marketing and how these should be allocated, choosing licensed merchandise categories and the importance of licensing to a brands success.
Tony Bugg, Managing Director at LIMA Australia commented; “I thought that the event was very successful and our panel were able to provide the type of information our industry wants to hear. Our goal is to request feedback from the event and continue to improve our events throughout the year and deliver a valuable source of information to our members.”
Tony Bugg, Managing Director of LIMA Australia, presented Brett Corrick (ISC Sport) with the company’s recent LIMA Global Licensing Award for “Sports or Sports-Themed Entertainment Licensee of the Year” at the 2015 Licensing Expo in Las Vegas, for their range of National Rugby League and ISC Marvel Heroes Jerseys.
The event was closed by Bonnie Shek, Director, Australia & New Zealand at Hong Kong Trade Development Council (HKTDC), by taking guests through the success of the 2015 Hong Kong International Licensing Show and the focus HKTDC have on creating an all-new Australian Licensing Pavilion at the event in January 2016.
A special thank you to our members for continuing to support LIMA Australia and to our newest members including Hunter Leisure, Millar Inc., Tomfoolery, FremantleMedia, The Wiggles, Scholastic and HeadStart.
