BLE Creative Corner with… Story House Egmont’s Laura Adnitt

Hi Laura. To kick us off, what fuels your creativity? What helps you have ideas?
I get my best creative ideas when collaborating with other Story House Egmont colleagues. Jaime Smith, our Creative Director, really helps to kick start my creative thinking! At BLE we try to team up as much as possible so we can assess the creative and commercial potential of certain opportunities. Sometimes you discover there are more creative ideas than initially thought, and other times, alas there are fewer. But it’s all part of the assessment process.

Viewing other consumer products also helps to drive the creative process for me… Seeing the executions from different categories demonstrates the potential of a brand and showcases creative possibilities. And of course, the big licensor showcases are always such a fuel for creativity – I often come out of them with a notebook full of ideas!

Can you tell us about a recent launch you were involved in that you feel is an especially creative use of a licensed brand?
We are launching Sonic the Hedgehog Magazine across all our markets in October, just after BLE. We are really happy with the creative execution for this magazine. Aimed at Sonic fans aged five to seven years, our interactive, exciting content will bring Sonic’s fast-paced world to life.

Uniquely, we have incorporated layers of varied difficulty levels throughout the content in every issue – an appreciative nod to the levels of past and present Sonic games. This innovative editorial execution is perfect for the Sonic brand and works well in the magazine format. We expect Sonic the Hedgehog Magazine to speed to the top of the rankings once launched and become a must-have for young fans.

Sounds like a winner. And can you tell us about a launch you’ve seen – but were not involved in – that you feel is a creative brand extension?
The new Minecraft books from Farshore to celebrate 15 years of the brand are gorgeous! Wonderfully creative ideas: annuals, advent calendars, handbook collections and even a pop-up book. The Minecraft books are fully endorsed in my house as both my son (10) and my daughter (8) can often be found poring through them. These books are best-in-class and really help kids to deepen their love of the Minecraft game.

I also really love the Battersea collaborations, brokered by The Point.1888. Anything dog-related floats my boat. My Frenchie Dolly loves the Denzel’s treats. Such a creative and delicious brand extension – if you’re a dog!

My Rhodesian Ridgeback agrees! Now, what’s the key to successful creative collaborations between licensors and licensees?
Clear communication always leads to the best creative collaborations. Being aligned on your target audience and on the best time for market activation is key.

Each category/market will have their seasonal peaks and each brand will have their best moment. In magazines, certainly in the UK, you only really get one chance to launch a regular frequency magazine. If you get the timing wrong, as an FMCG product, it’s a real uphill battle in terms of retaining listings. For magazines, going too early can often be much worse than going a bit late. Having the licensee and licensor clear and aligned on the right timing is crucial.

“BLE is a great place to initiate and accelerate creativity!”

Brand immersion sessions are vital at the beginning of the development process and it’s important to spend time getting to know each other. All critical paths should have this immersion time planned in from the offset, so there is ample time for creative ideas to flow! Our aim is to really immerse ourselves in the brand and ensure we produce content that meets the needs of the brand and is appropriate and achievable for the target reader – all of this creates the best possible product.

Brilliant answer. I have one last question – do you feel going to BLE is a good means of fuelling creativity and having ideas?
BLE is a great place to initiate and accelerate creativity! The big showcases get the creative juices flowing, but it’s the follow up meetings around the fair that make things really happen. Sometimes we are seeing a new brand for the first time, or we are listening to an update on an established brand. Other times we are pitching our creative ideas to a brand owner. The meetings are all different and we make sure we are prepared for each interaction, and open to everything!

I always come away from BLE full of creative ideas… Too many at times – resulting in a big job to just filter them down! BLE is also the fair where many of my European colleagues can join me. Unlike Licensing Expo in Vegas where I go it alone, at BLE we have our teams from the Nordics, Germany, and CEE markets visiting, so that is a great plus for me. Colleagues can hear the opportunities first hand, which is always so valuable when we come to discuss them in our acquisition forum at a later date.

BLE is such an important fair for finding new opportunities, it really helps us to assess and prioritise our future acquisitions for the Story House Egmont group.

Thanks Laura. See you at BLE!

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