Finalists Announced for BLE’s License This! 2013 Brand Licensing Europe - September 2013

 

BLE, the Advanstar-organised licensing exhibition, has announced the four finalists of its License This! Challenge. Now in its fourth year, the challenge offers those with brand new creative concepts the opportunity to break into the global licensing industry and the finale takes place at BLE in front of an audience in the Licensing Academy on Thursday 17th October.

The finalists are:

• The Fantastical Adventures of Elle presented by Sarah Lawrence – the stories of a small girl and her elephant, inspired by two dads and their responses to the questions asked by their own small children.
• Princess Pirates presented by Naomi Collett – a new girls’ property based on the story of five princesses who stumble upon a treasure chest and become caught up in a life of adventure.
• Railway of Life presented by Sarah Watts – a new brand, inspired by a 1926 Christmas card, which evokes the magic of a past era and offers an optimistic message for the future.
• Mr Trafalgar presented by Jamie Patterson and Bella Binus – a property that uses a refined form of silhouette art to give its human/animal characters a theatrical, comic twist.

David Riley, Managing Director, Egmont Publishing Group, and the Chair of this year’s judging panel, said: “BLE and License This! is such a great opportunity to showcase new brands and new talent. With over 50 proposals submitted from all over the world, it was no easy task to arrive at this year’s shortlist. However, we’re confident that the four properties selected have something very special to offer. We’re all looking forward to the final immensely.”

The other judges on the panel are Darran Garnham, Chief Business Development Officer at Mind Candy; Aysha Kidwai, Managing Director of Indigo Lens and Bettina Koeckler, SVP EMEA at Fox Consumer Products. During the finale each property will be pitched to the judges who will ask questions and offer critique before choosing a winning property, based on its originality, commercial potential and suitability for licensing into other product categories. Please come and support them on the day – you might just hear about the next big thing.

Brand Licensing Europe 2013, takes place from 15th – 17th October 2013 at London’s Olympia.

Registration is now open at www.brandlicensing.eu. Follow us on Twitter for the latest show news and updates @bleurope.