IMC 2009: Licensing magazine brands in a new world order

The concluding session of Day one of the Indian Magazine Congress 2009 saw a lively discussion on ‘Licensing magazine brands in a new world order’ among magazine brand custodians both from the licensee and licensor sides. Tarun Rai, CEO, WWM, moderated the session while the panelists included Sandra Gotelli, International Publisher and Head of Licensing, Arnoldo Mondadori; James Hewes, Head of International Development, BBC; Mike Greehan, Partner and COO, Cueball; and Xavior Collaco, President, Media Transasia.

The two-day IMC 2009 is being held in the Capital on November 5-6. Worldwide Media is the presenting sponsor, while Chitralekha and Cannon are the associate sponsors. exchange4media Group (exchange4media.com, impact and Pitch) is the media partner.

Opening the session on the emphatic note that there was indeed magic in magazines and that it needed passion too, Tarun Rai said that licensing was an important topic today as over 30 new licenses for magazines have been in the developing Asia Pacific region.

Starting the session with a presentation, James Hewes talked about the five things that influenced licensing of a magazine and its success. One is the access to the content of the licensor, second factor is the awareness about the brand third is the knowledge transfer agreements, fourth is the clear positioning of the magazine and lastly the halo effect the brand brings to the licensee both in financial and non-financial terms to both of the collaborators.

The panel then moved on to the discussion on sharing on revenues and the various facets of the contract agreements and how much flexibility is important between the two parties. Most of the panelists both the licensor and the licensee side agreed that sue to the tough year in 2009, they showed flexibility towards their partners in revenue sharing.

Sandra Gotelli added here, “We try to support as much as we can to our international partners, when asked how she handles licensee’s expectations in developing markets in terms of moving international clients to the local clients.”

Sharing his experience of a unique relationship between the licensee and licensor, Mike Greehan said, “The relationship evolves over the period, and trust has to be put in the relationship. He shared the experience of the experimentation of Men’s Health magazine Germany’s licensee who experimented with a black & white cover and how it caused uproar at the US parent company. But the cover worked well, and was tried and tested in other markets as well.”

Xavior Collaco said here that his experience as a licensee had been a positive one and that the licensors had been supportive. He, however, said that there were some tangle that still existed when it came to revenue sharing for the web version of the licensed magazine. And still most of the licensors first go with the print licensing and only when they get comfortable that they opt for giving the licenses for the website too.

Summing up the session Tarun Rai said that the key to success will be the trust and proper communication between the licensee and the licensor; both should share a common agenda of taking the brands forward.