BLE Creative Corner with… All3Media’s Jason Easy

Jason, it’s always great to catch up. What fuels your creativity? What helps you have ideas?
A few key elements come to mind. It’s not just about the products and experiences we create, but also about how we engage and collaborate with fans. Understanding our fans’ reactions to our shows… What excites them, what they love – and occasionally what they don’t – plays a huge part in fuelling creativity and providing inspiration in our licensing. Fan feedback helps shape the categories we explore and the products our partners develop.

We have All3Media International’s fantastic insights team to thank for providing in depth market and consumer research, which is centre of finding those key brand elements consumers connect with. We also use this research to the benefit of our partners so that ultimately together we can bring the consumer the best products that positively expands their experience of the brand in question.

Can you tell us about a recent launch you were involved in that you feel is an especially creative use of a brand?
Creativity is at the core of our brand extensions, no matter the category. Everything that carries one of our brand’s logos connects directly back to the brand – the days of slapping a logo onto a product and putting it into retail have long gone.

It’s important to us to ensure there is a clear collaboration between our licensing business and the brand, so we always ensure that our products have strong creative and good design – as well as key brand elements engaging marketing campaigns that reach fans.

We have recently partnered with The Quarto Group, who have launched the first Race Across The World book. It’s a quiz book which takes you on a journey from A to B, mirroring that of the show.

I also think our partnership with Kimm & Miller – who developed The Traitors food gifting lines that capture the jeopardy of the show – is a distinct and interesting new collaboration for us. It highlights opportunities to expand the brand, outside of apparel and games.

And then, through our partnership with The Everywhere Group, we have The Traitors immersive experience. This is one we are looking forward to revealing more about soon. Everyone involved in this project is so excited to bring fans of The Traitors an amazing atmospheric experience – as well as taking them on the emotional journey of jeopardy, tension and treachery that makes the series so unique and addictive.

Fantastic picks! Now, what about a launch you’ve seen – but wasn’t involved in – that you feel is a creative brand extension?
There have been a few recently that have caught my attention. The Barbie x Heinz Barbie-cue Sauce collab was a great partnership, with Barbie moving into the food aisles and Heinz going the other way onto into the toy aisles.

I also love what Iceland have done over the past couple of years. A retailer not traditionally know for brand licensing, they have forged and been host to some incredibly strong brand extensions within the food space. I also love some of the collabs being driven by Primark… Bridgerton, Turtles x Pizza Hut and my favourite, Greggs!

The Natural History Museum has launched a few creative brand extensions over the past couple of years too. Colour by Nature with Farrow & Ball is a great tie in!

Good choices! What do you feel is key to successful creative collaborations between licensors and licensees?
For me, it’s about being able to work flexibly and exploring opportunities outside of the parameters of a style guide, while staying true to the core values of the brand.

It’s important for us to try looking at a brand through a new lens and to stretch into new areas and this is something we encourage our partners to do. We want to be able to explore new things, new products, designs, and trends.

Of course, not everything will be possible, but by thinking outside of the box and considering opportunities that maybe wouldn’t be the most obvious fits, we often end up with more exciting, creative and distinctive opportunities.

BLE is imminent! Do you feel going to the show is a good means of fuelling creativity?
Last year was my first BLE with All3Media International, just two weeks after joining the business. At that time, we were in the infancy of building our licensing footprint – particularly for The Traitors. A year on, we have a strong partner list and we’ll be having more retail conversations and opening dialogue across our extensive portfolio.

BLE provides an excellent platform to start exploring ideas and opportunities around our extensive portfolio. This includes smash hit adventure series Race Across The World, iconic gameshows Catch Phrase, Lingo, cosy dramas Midsomer Murders and All Creatures Great & Small and popular entertainment programming Gogglebox, TOWIE, Great British Menu and Sort Your Life Out… To mention a few!

We also have recently had Katie Murphy join the licensing team, which has opened up doors and allowed us to engage in many conversations with new partners.

Thanks again Jason. See you at BLE.

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