21 Jun 2016
The Relationship Between Character Licensing and Promotional Products

Character Licensing
How it works:
- Company A creates a cartoon character that is popular among the public and Company B wants to use A’s character to sell his product.
- An agreement is then made between B, the licensee, and A, the licensor, with or without an agent.
- B is then allowed to put images of A’s character on his product and will then have to pay royalties per unit of product sold and other payment as agreed on.
How do companies like B target the young adults or the old generation?
Other than trendy characters, companies can also tap onto characters of a different era to target different target groups. As the main aim is to trigger consumer’s memories of the characters so that there is a connection between them and the product, adults can be targeted if characters that were popular in their era were used. However, as they are older and is able to make more rational decisions, response rate is expected to be lower.
Promotional gifts:
How it works:
- Companies create a scheme to include free gifts into their sales plan. (E.g. Buy set A and get a free tripod worth $XX)
- Companies include customized products in their door gifts prizes at their marketing event.
Companies adopt this marketing strategy because of the high effectiveness of response level from the consumers:
- Consumers do not shun away or are receptive of it. This may be due to the gifts being ‘free’ and useful which gives consumers a vested interest to obtain it.
- In addition to the acceptive mind-set people have, the promotional products have also proven to be more effective and generated a higher response level than other forms of media.
The incorporation of character licensing into promotional gifts enhances the intention of the gift. A familiar character with a good story that compliments the company gifting the product will eventually ‘win’ the heart of the gifted.
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