The 13th session of China Licensing Expo (CLE)  was held from October 16th to 18th, 2019 in Shanghai, China. China Licensing Expo is the largest and most effective licensing event in Asia and is widely recognized as the most effective channel to understand the licensing market, promote brands, and expand licensing business in China and Asia.

 

The Expo was organized by the China Toy & Juvenile Products Association (CTJPA) and sponsored by China Licensing Federation (CLF). For over a decade, China Licensing Expo has witnessed the developing in licensing industry in China.

 

“This year, the exhibition space of CLE has expanded by 15 percent, reaching 40,000 sqm, with 377 exhibitors presenting over 1,800 brands of which international brands occupy over 80 percent, from top-notch global licensors to fresh properties. Also, 40 percent of them are new exhibitors this year.” introduced by May Liang, president of CTJPA.

 

Exhibiting Properties by Category at CLE 2019

 

 

 

China Licensing Expo was held concurrently with the China Toy Expo, China Kids Expo and China Preschool Expo. And this year, more and more records were made at CLE. Many new things happened in this expo that are worth highlighting.

 

International properties giants

 

After 13 years of development, more and more international companies recognize the potential of the Chinese licensing market. International properties giants choose China Licensing Expo exclusively as their most ideal option when exploring licensing business in China.

 

CLE 2019 hosted new international exhibitors, such as Entertainment One, Sanrio, Discovery, and Kakao Friends, meanwhile many famous international properties licensors including Universal, Turner, Mattel, Hasbro, Dark Horse Comics, Blizzard, and Ubisoft have been the regular exhibitors for years. Also, top global licensing agents like IMG and Iconix will participate the show too, to bring more fresh and diversified properties to China market.

 

NBC Universal established independent licensing team for China market in 2016, which was also the first time for Universal to join in China Licensing Expo. “Four years past, Universal now is a regular exhibitor of CLE. China Licensing Expo has offered us a perfect channel to meet potential licensing partners and establish a very positive image in the industry,“ said Allen Wang, Vice President, Greater China Consumer Products at NBC Universal.  

 

 

Top and emerging domestic properties

 

As the licensing market in China grows, more and more Chinese companies realize the importance of brand licensing, and start to explore more possibilities in the business.

 

China Licensing Expo serves as the most professional platform for the domestic properties, from well-recognized properties to emerging ones. In 2019, Chinese the tier-one Chinese domestic properties including Tencent, Ali Group, Alpha, Wanda, NetEase, QIY all join in the show, and more popular and young properties from social media joined in the exhibition, such as Yijianyuzhou, Popmart and 52Toy.

 

Art and museum properties

 

Alongside the regular tradition of entertainment and characters, CLE covers the whole property category, and the art and museum properties are in the spotlight this year.

 

The 13th session of China Licensing Expo hosted a special museum section at the show, and more museums participated independently from home and abroad, including Forbidden City, China National Museum, and Van Gogh Museum. The art licensors were raising too. Exhibitors like Tokidoki and Fuyun Art have joined the show independently.

 

Museums and artists create beautiful merchandise, which were well received by the market. The state-of-the-art of art licensing is becoming trendy and fashionable in China, and more high-end consumers prefer to choose those products to identify with their lifestyle. 

 

More dynamic pavilions

 

There were 8 pavilions at CLE this October, including Europe Pavilion, US Pavilion, Japan Pavilion, Korean Pavilions, Hong Kong Pavilion, and  Chinese Taipei Pavilions. The organizers include SPLiCE from US, KOCCA from Korea, CBLA from Japan, Taiwan Trade Center Inc from Chinese Taiwan.

 

The dynamic pavilions brought more fresh properties to the market and expand a much wider category, including entertainment, arts, museums and fashion at this expo.

 

More onsite activities

 

Ever most on-site activities were held during the Expo. The eleventh session of China Licensing Summit further discussed the new media era and its influence on the China licensing industry. At the Summit, organizations like Ministry of Culture and Tourism, and Licensing International, as well as companies like Universal, Entertainment One, and Hasbro shared their observations and experiences in this dynamic industry with over 300 audience.

 

China Tourism Licensing Forum was the first forum in China focused on the topic of licensing on tourism. China Licensing Professional Academy provided one whole day training to licensors, licensees, and retailers, to educate the market.

 

And at the CLE Night, the China Licensing Venus Awards were presented in the names of Most Commercial Valuable IP’s, Most Popular IP’s, Rising Star IP’s, Best Licensees, Best Retailers, Best Licensed Products and more.

 

Besides the activities hosted by CLE, the exhibiting companies also organized more than 30 on-site licensing seminars during the China Licensing Expo, as well as Sport Fans Club, Van Gogh Art Cafe Lounge, China Licensing Venus Awards Display Zone, and Match-Making activities, in which more creative ideas and techniques will be encouraged and generated for the industry.

 

More than CLE

 

At the meantime, to help more manufacturing companies to get a better understanding in licensing and properties, China Licensing Federation launched a professional searching website for the industry.

 

According to Du Tonghe, President of China Licensing Federation, the website “China Brand Licensing 365” serves as the online search and match-making platform, and over 600 properties from over 200 licensors and agents have registered in the website. Thanks to the internet, the platform brings great convenience to the network building and business exploration. Licensee companies can just go to visit the website and conduct match-making online for 365 days of the year. Besides the convenience it brings, the network also helps the industry operation to develop in the healthy direction. 

 

“I believe, by the support from both China Licensing Federation and China Licensing Expo, the licensing industry in China will surely embrace a bigger potential in development and a more promising future in the coming years.  “Du added.

     

The brand licensing industry is developing rapidly in China. According to the statistics from China Licensing Industry Report issued by CTJPA, the total retail volume of licensed merchandise in China in 2018 reached USD 12.7 billion, 14.6% growth year-on-year. Licensing International Report also refers China now as the fifth largest licensing market in the whole world. China has great potential to grow more impressively.