Some majors have, of course, been licensing their brand names to myriad products, as well as international magazine editions, events, and TV and other entertainment properties, for decades.
Licensing pioneer Playboy Enterprises reported that in 2010 — its last year as a public company, before reverting to being privately held — it realised $47.4 million in net licensing revenues (not including international magazine editions), $40.5 million of which were from consumer products. With everything thrown in, PE’s self-reported gross worldwide licensing revenues, as claimed in License! Global’s annual global licensor rankings, was $1 billion in 2011.
Playboy-branded products have become so ubiquitous that it might be easier to identify products that don’t bear the Playboy name. However, a few of the newer offerings on its licensing site include a wine club in partnership with an internet wine marketer; Playboy VIP for Him and VIP for Her fragrances; and Dolce & Gabbana T-shirts featuring Playboy covers from the 60s and 70s.
Hearst Magazines’ Hearst Brand Development division reported $500 million in 2011 global licensing revenue to License! Global, but no breakouts were provided, and that number seems to include its 300-plus international editions as well as product and other licensing.
What we do know is that in the US alone, the privately-held company’s retail-sold consumer products include Cosmopolitan eyewear; Country Living bedding, bath and home décor lines, outdoor furniture, specialty foods, plants / shrubs, and (new) custom stationery; Esquire ESQ watches and home products (including a new art collection featuring graphics from its archives); Good Housekeeping carpet and (new) window treatments; Redbook fitness products; Seventeen bedding, rugs, fine jewellery, eyewear and a new subscription-based fitness program; Town & Country outdoor furniture; a new home products partnership with the Home Shopping Network’s site (HSN.com); Popular Mechanics do-it-yourself technology; and a growing assortment of Car and Driver and Road & Track products.
Also in the License! Global rankings: non-profit National Geographic reported $250 million, and privately-held enthusiast title publisher Source Interlink Media reported $215 million, in global 2011 licensing revenues. Again, both of those numbers likely include licensed print / digital magazine editions and other licensed content revenues (in SIM’s case, perhaps content syndication). However, it’s clear NG’s licensing business includes a home collection, apparel, toys and other consumer products, and that SIM’s includes a host of products sold at retail, including a growing variety of automotive tools and accessories branded by Motor Trend, Hot Rod and Automobile.
In its FY 2011 financials, Meredith Corp reported that brand licensing revenues from its US magazine group jumped 20%, driven primarily by its partnership with Wal-Mart to sell Better Homes and Gardens-branded home and garden products. That program has grown from 500 branded items / SKUs in 2008 to 3,000-plus as of 2011. Together, brand licensing and integrated marketing activities revenue grew 6%, to $315.4 million.
Condé’s at it too
Meanwhile, Condé Nast — traditionally skittish about licensing for fear of undermining its brands’ credibility — has changed its tune. Condé now has a former Lancôme USA executive focusing exclusively on brand development, including consumer products, e-commerce, membership programs and video. (These are apart from its movie / video / TV show development efforts through its new “entertainment” division.)
Existing Condé consumer products sold at retail include Golf Digest training aids and accessories; Teen Vogue handbags, accessories, bedding and room décor items; and Brides invitations and accessories. In June, Self partnered with licensing megalith FreeMantle Enterprises to launch a line of fitness products like weights and yoga mats, adding to Self’s existing workout social game and apps, live events, etc.
Meanwhile, Bon Appétit cookware / small kitchen appliances reportedly sold 20,000 units on the first day they debuted on the Home Shopping Network early this year. And Condé foodie title Bon Appétit recently ventured into the fashion world by partnering with retailer Banana Republic to promote a new “Desk to Dinner” apparel collection. BA supplied content like restaurant reviews for the collection’s area on the retailer’s site, which also offers links to restaurant reservations site OpenTable. (This innovative partnership also inspired Banana Republic to run a schedule of print ads in BA in 2012.)
Rodale has long been brilliant at cross-marketing online and app-based fitness tools, online club memberships, books and retail-sold products like fitness kits / workout equipment — also promoting magazine subs while they’re at it.
But focusing on the physical products front, Rodale gets innovation bonus points for having cracked the restaurant and grocery sectors. Men’s Health, through its huge book-and-multimedia franchise, “Eat This, Not That!”, partnered with fast-food chains Carl’s Jr / Hardee’s to create and market turkey burgers. Even more novel for a magazine, Rodale teamed with Kraft to launch a snack food dubbed Planters NUT-rition Men’s Health Recommended Mix, being sold in supermarkets across the country, through Amazon.com and other channels.
Now, Rodale is taking product sales to a new level. Next spring, it will launch an e-commerce site, called Rodale’s, to sell luxury, sustainable home and beauty products. It’s not clear how many of these will be Rodale magazine-branded, but the big news is that instead of the typical publisher model of partnering with other retailers / e-tailers and taking a small cut of sales, Rodale is handling its own product vetting, development, purchasing and warehousing, so it can reap a much larger chunk of the sales. "We're going to buy at cost and sell at retail, just like a specialty store, so there's a bigger margin," Rodale’s new merchandising chief told Adweek.
In short, while digital-content revenue development has had a higher profile, branded consumer products’ contributions to publishers’ business models are clearly growing, and e-commerce is poised to accelerate that.
