There are three pillars shouldering every successful children’s licensing programme – TV, toys and publishing. In fact, one could even call publishing the godfather of licensing as the first ever licensed product is believed to be a Peter Rabbit toy in the 1930s. Ninety years later, in 2022, global sales of consumer products based on publishing IP (Very Hungry Caterpillar toys, Oliver Jeffers’ sweatshirts etc) racked up $23.1bn, approximately 7% of the $340.8bn global brand licensing market (Licensing International). So, it’s fair to say publishing is more than switched on to the power of licensing as a revenue driver for authors, IP owners, brands, publishing houses, manufacturers and retailers.
When publishing IP is licensed out, there are many gold standard examples: The Boy, the Mole, the Fox and the Horse and The Gruffalo are just two brands doing this well. And when’s it’s licensed in, we are starting to see similar levels of creativity and authenticity from adult and young adult brands.
The recent comic books and graphic novels based on the cult video game “Cult of the Lamb” are a collaboration between Devolver Digital and Oni Press that brought Alex Paknadel (All Against All, Red Goblin) and Eisner Award-nominated artist Troy Little (Rick and Morty) on board. The result was the biggest Kickstarter Oni Press has experienced and the publishing content is fan driven, knows its audience, is beautifully put together, and gives existing fans a way to engage with the brand at a deeper level.
When licensing and publishing teams harness the power of natural storytellers and collaborate with authors and artists –ideally fans of the IP–the resulting consumer products including literature are creative and authentic and work hard to expand the initial universe to engage fans. Yet, we don’t always see the same integrity when it comes to literature based on kids’ brands.
Let’s put the child first for a moment and imagine what happens when an author-led approach is taken for character-led licensing literature
Kids Industries c.e.o. Gary Pope is a family brand expert. He agrees, saying: “It’s true—a lot of licensed literature aimed at kids could be better considered and the problem is partly because there are three stakeholders in the relationship with different needs.”
The brand owners want to create books that are an extension of their world. The rights owner wants to create books as quickly and cheaply as possible to maximise the window of opportunity. And the publishers likely have separate teams dealing with authors and licensing, the latter of whom may view licensed literature simply as a P&L line.
“It’s the commodification of storytelling. And do you know what? That’s fine. Twenty-five years ago, I led the Longman Book Project reading scheme and introduced licensed books for the first time. What did we see as a result? Increased levels of literacy among the kids who read those books – because they recognised the characters, and they chose to open them.”
Why is character-led licensed literature important for kids?
Pope highlighted three key reasons why character-led licensed literature is important among children up to the age of eight. “It creates a celebration of reading and empowers and inspires kids to choose to read; giving children relevant stories and characters—like Manga in Japan and fantasy in Ireland—is proven to improve engagement and literacy levels; and for kids who can’t access literature independently, parents are a key support group so using characters they know as well as their kids makes the process a little easier for everyone.”
Even when licensed literature is simply a TV script translated into a picture book, there are benefits to kids. But let’s put the child first for a moment and imagine what happens when an author-led approach is taken for character-led licensing literature.
Imagine the impact it could have on their cognitive development and wider understanding of the world if publishing was used as an opportunity to develop new characters, extend the universe and address important topics. Imagine how much more engaged and loyal they would be to that brand. Imagine how that would snowball into other consumer products categories. And imagine how many Brownie points this would score with parents.
As Pope says, “Of the three pillars [mentioned at the start of this article], publishing is the one in the parents’ hands – and if you get it right for the kids, you get it right for the parents, and you get it right for your business. That’s how you’re going to extend the franchise, maximise fandom opportunities and build a brand with longevity rather than score a quick fix.”
Brand licensing today is all about making connections, tapping into the power of storytelling to engage audiences, servicing fandom and creating products that enhance lives. And if we’re ever in any doubt how to do it well, just look at Peter Rabbit – 123 years old and he’s still the seventh top character licence among kids.
