The Power of Brand Licensing

The following is adapted from Invisible Marketing by Jeff Lotman.

The first thing you need to know about brand licensing is that it’s everywhere, all around you, wherever you shop, whether in a brick-and-mortar store, on the street, on a website, or in an app. Take out your wallet to pay for something and odds are high that what you’re buying is, in fact, a licensed product. (Indeed, some credit cards are licensed.)

Licensing is a huge industry, with over $180 billion in worldwide retail sales across every retail channel. Brand licensing accounts for almost $60 billion alone!

Licensing is ubiquitous, but it goes largely unnoticed. People don’t see it. They don’t know that they’re purchasing something licensed. This is why it is so misunderstood. It takes place behind the scenes, in the shadows.

It is also what makes licensing so powerful.

The best-licensed products, the ones that amplify your brand the most, are precisely the ones where you’re unaware of the underlying partnership. Your brand is being seen and used by the consumer without them even knowing that they’re being sold to.

And, in a way, they’re not. When it comes down to it, what you’re really doing is filling a need. You’re helping people in their lives, in whatever capacity it is that they’re looking to your product for — and in whatever category you’re trying to break into.

That’s the whole premise of invisible marketing.

What makes licensing so misunderstood is also what makes it so powerful.

Consider Vicks, a company that’s been around for ages and is known for its VapoRub. An industry friend of mine, Nancy Bailey, founder of the Nancy Bailey Agency, was responsible for putting together the deal for a popular line of Vicks-branded electric vaporizers.

To me, this is a perfect example of a brand extension. For generations, Vicks has been a trusted name when it comes to taking care of congestion and other cold symptoms. So when the new branded product came out, it couldn’t have felt more natural: “Do you like our VapoRub? Well, here’s another way to pacify your pain…ta-da, the Vicks Vaporizer!”

No one even knows or pays attention to the fact that Vicks doesn’t actually make the vaporizer (it’s produced by a company called Kaz). All the customer sees is the name “Vicks,” a trustworthy brand that’s been in business for many, many years.

These brand extensions are one of the best ways to connect to customers — but amazingly, many companies are missing the boat.

If you’re like so many of the CPG (that’s “consumer packaged goods”) companies I talk to, you’re not breaking through to your customers to the degree you desire or believe you deserve. You’re working your butt off, doing everything you think you’re supposed to be doing.

Why, then, are all your inputs, all these different tools you’re using, not giving you what you want? Why are so many customers still going to your competitors? How on earth do you compete? It’s enough to make you want to pull out your hair.

I get it. I get why you might even be compelled to leave the industry altogether.

Don’t.

Before you throw in the towel, consider this: if you want to break out and find new customers who look at your brand differently — if you want to be discovered by new people and be seen in new areas — you can. But you need to do something different.

Fortunately, there is another path, a way out of this madness. Want new customers and new impressions and more awareness and market share? Want to sell more products? You can.

You can do it all through brand licensing, a.k.a., invisible marketing.

For more advice on the power of brand licensing, you can find Invisible Marketing on Amazon.

Jeff Lotman is the driving force behind Global Icons, the world’s leading brand-focused agency with over $5 billion in retail sales. Jeff is a leader in educating executives on the hidden benefits of licensing, and over the years, Global Icons has established an impressive client roster that includes Fireball Whiskey, Hostess, Lamborghini, NOKIA, and USPS, among others. He is also the owner of Fred Segal, LA’s iconic fashion brand. Jeff has spoken at many leading industry events, including Entertainment Marketing Conference, SPLiCE, and the Restaurant Industry Conference. He’s been profiled by the New York Times, the Los Angeles Times, CNBC, and FOX, and is a distinguished member of the Licensing Industry Merchandisers’ Association and the Licensing Executives Society.