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Asia's licencing sector enjoys much room for growth as it becomes better understood as an expansion strategy

WHILE franchising is a more familiar growth strategy widely adopted by businesses in Asia, licencing is fast catching up as it becomes better understood as a viable mode of expansion strategy.

As a reflection of industry trends, licencing will make its debut at Global Franchising & Licensing2003 (GFL2003), scheduled from September 17 to 19, 2003, at Suntec, Singapore.

This annual franchising and licencing trade event has garnered the support of several licencing bodies. They include the Intellectual Property Office of Singapore (IPOS), the Licensing Executive Society (LES), and the International Licensing Industry Merchandisers’ Association (LIMA).

While franchising has had an earlier headstart, licencing is a relatively new addition in an entrepreneur’s toolkit of expansion strategies. At its budding stage, the potential of Asia’s licencing sector looks promising and has much room for growth.
As licencing gains wider currency in Asia as an effective strategy for expanding into the international market, it opens up a vast array of business opportunities within Asia and enhances its attraction as a market,” says Mr Charles Riotto, president of LIMA.
As a dedicated trade event reflecting business opportunities in Asia, GFL provides a good avenue for interested companies to explore licencing opportunities in Asia,” he adds.

According to the Franchising & Licensing Association (FLA) (Singapore), more and more of its members are beginning to licence some components of their business formats, as well as building and licencing their brands. FLA’s strategic shift of extending its membership to companies engaged in branding and licencing in addition to franchising reflects the growth of licencsing activities in Singapore.
Coinciding with the recently concluded US-Singapore Free Trade Agreement, the debut of the licencing exhibit profile at GFL2003 is indeed timely. “The extension of GFL2003 to cover licencing and Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) makes it a timely and relevant platform to address and give the issue greater prominence,” says George Ruffner, Commercial Counsellor of the U.S. Embassy, Singapore.
As a good start, licencing properties to be represented at GFL2003 will include lifestyle and fashion brands, corporate trademarks, as well as a variety of entertainment and characters.

One of them is Interasia & Associates, whose licensor roster includes the world’s largest companies such as Hallmark, Pepsi, Daimler Chrysler, Paramount Pictures, and Sony Pictures. Its portfolio also includes a number of fashion and lifestyle properties such as Santa Barbara, Beverly Hills 90210, and Karen Neuberger.
A variety of quality and branded intimate apparel that will also be represented at the trade event include lingerie boutique Blush!, which began its retail operations in the region in 2000. Represented by EUT Marketing, other categories of global brands that will be showcased include Hardy Amies, Arrow, Bum Equipment, and Champion.
In licencing, many properties have the potential to be the next big thing,” says Mr Allan Yeng, General Manager of Interasia.

Asia is an appealing market for world-renowned brand names, as the region is already the production base for the merchandise and products of many of the world’s leading brands. With structured distribution channels already in place, licencing is a natural extension for developing licensing properties here,” he adds.

Character licencing
Apart from designer fashion and consumer brands, character licensing will also be covered as part of the licencing exhibit profile. Famous cartoon characters such as The Simpsons, The Lord of the Rings 1-3, Star Trek, Tomb Raider 1 & 2, and Ultraman, will be represented by licencing consultancy, Go Licencing. Headquartered in Hong Kong, it is recruiting product licensees, promotional partners and retailers in Asia for its licencing properties which include Sinbad, The Legends of the Seven Seas, South Park, and Moainu.
Franchise and licence consultants from A.S Louken, a consortium of consultancy firms, will also be participating in the event. Its core areas of specialization include corporate branding and identity, e-branding, as well as design execution.

About the event Apart from licencing, branding, patents, trademark and other transactions of intellectual property rights (IPR), GFL2003 will host more than 200 companies from over 20 countries. Business concepts range from food & beverage, health and fitness, to household services.

To help homegrown companies successfully launch into new markets, government agencies and industry associations from America, Indonesia, Singapore and Thailand will lead a group of exhibitors to participate at their respective group pavilions. The Korea Venture Forum and Korea Venture Women Association will also bring together a group of exhibitors to the very first Korea Pavilion at GFL2003.

Expecting 10,000 trade visitors, a series of conferences and workshops led by industry experts will be held in conjunction with the exhibition. Features such as the networking platform, the Business Matching Program (BMP), and consultation sessions with industry experts at the Franchise & License Clinics are also in the line-up.