Latest in Licensing Expo

It’s appropriate that makers and sellers of toys, clothing, games and other goods built around licensed identities are headed to Las Vegas for this week’s Licensing Expo, the annual industry confab. They always gamble when they decide how much to invest in properties tied to entertainment characters. And this year…

Coca-Cola and merchandisers have been appropriating Santa Claus for years. Now DreamWorks Animation hopes to put its stamp on the (SPOILER ALERT) myth by having Shrek introduce kids to St. Nick when they visit him at shopping malls featuring the studio’s DreamPlace location based experience. DWA just disclosed some…

Felix the Cat, created in 1919, is “known everywhere” and is “especially popular in Asia,” CEO Jeffrey Katzenberg told the Licensing Expo in his keynote address today. And the feline character “goes beyond evergreen status and rises to something even more uncommon, as he is a true icon. We plan to make him one of the…

Those are a few of the themes propelling the entertainment industry hard-sell expected this week at the International Licensing Industry Merchandisers’ Association‘s (LIMA) annual Licensing Expo. Deals with manufacturers and retailers at the Las Vegas confab can determine what chachkas will appear on store shelves…