#licensing15

Booking space as an Exhibitor at the Licensing Expo:

So, you have decided that you want to exhibit at the Licensing Expo... exciting!!! 

Let’s talk about the process of booking and a few things to take into account.

The big guys book space 1 year in advance, well, they have tonnes and tonnes of money, and they want to ensure the best location of their behemoth booths... good for them! Are you playing that game? I don’t think so!!! (And if you are, that means you are rolling in cash, so please check my contact details, I am open for further investment :D)

So neither myself (at least right now), nor you (I suspect), can afford to freeze that amount of money so far in advance (sure, it’s just a deposit, but it still hurts!)... and you know what? It doesn’t matter.

If you are an artist selling designs and patterns, you will end up in the Art & Design section (where you can get tiny booths at a cheaper price) and where you will find available spots no problem just a few months before the show. However, I honestly think that the traffic there is not very good (based on my walks around the show).

The cat is thinking: “Damn! I should have gotten a booth on the Brand & Entertainment section!” :D

Now, if you are a small brand (as we are), and you want to License your characters, then the Brand & Entertainment area (which is the main area of the show) is the place to be, and there, for your booth size (smallest is 10ft x 10ft), regardless of when you book, you are going to end up with all the other small brands that book last minute, that is in one of the sides of the hall.

At this point, you might already have searched online on how to choose the best spots for a booth, yes, I also did when I started this tradeshow routine. Guess what? It’s going to be useless. You are going to end up with locations that most people would say are either bad, very bad, or awful.

However... Is that true? Based on our experience this year, not really! We got a lot of traffic! The meeting rooms were just behind us so there were a bunch of top executives walking through the area and they installed a food area next to us so we had tonnes of traffic also during lunch time. And guess what? People know that brands must start small, so those seeking what’s up and coming, looking for the next big thing, won’t be looking for that on the Main Hall, they will come looking for you right there!

Of course, one thing is having traffic around and another thing is driving leads to your booth. It is your job to be visually attractive enough to make people notice you and stop :)

So, how far in advance to book? We booked about 4 months before the show; initially we were forced to get a location in the last line of booths because they had many reserved ones more towards the “center”. However, suddenly many of those reserved ones opened up and we could move to a nice corner booth 2 rows closer to the main action (still on the outskirts but hey, a bit closer!). Sweet!

In fact, it seems they could not fill all the booths opened to small companies, so the show ended up deleting the whole last row and everyone moved a bit closer. So you see, there’s space for everybody, don’t fret!

That being said, if you have taken a decision and see a relatively nice space available (and you have the cash available), move fast! They can hold it for you for a few days before you make the payment, so don’t leave for tomorrow what you can do today.

Now about the cost, it was upwards of US$4,000 for 100sq ft. And that includes... well... nothing, just the space, concrete floor and the air on top of that... not even a poor carpet! If you are US based maybe that comes to you as no surprise but I am used to the Hong Kong Licensing Show, where HKTDC (the organizer) makes the small exhibitor life extremely easy and offers very nice standard all included deals for basically the same price as getting just the space (which only big companies prefer so they can build their custom exhibits).

In Vegas Licensing Expo you can also get “turn-key booth” solutions “kindly” offered by GES... but you need to sell your kidney to afford them, and they are so basic, and limited, that well, its not even funny.

So you booked the space... Now what?

Exhibiting in the Licensing Expo in Las Vegas is any Licensors’ dream but it is expensive and it involves a whole lot of preparation. Are you an artist trying to license your artworks? Are you a young brand trying to license your characters? I think you will want to keep reading!

This June, we (myself and my company, Kokonuzz) joined the Licensing Expo for the first time, and I would like to share in this post our experience. When I was deciding whether to join or not, I tried to find blogs with other exhibitor’s experience and unfortunately I could not find much, so I hope by spending some time on this I can help some future Artists or Startups make a decision, ease the pain of the preparations and get the most of the Expo.

I should warn you, I am not good a summarizing things, so get ready for a long read, which I will cut into pieces for easier digestion :)

Exhibiting in the Licensing Expo: Should you do it?

Well, that is totally up to you. You will need to balance the costs (not only financial but also in terms of time!) with the perceived potential benefits. Was it worth it for us? Hell yeah!!! But we did our homework and we were convinced that we had something very attractive and licensing ready. Why? Because we have been in the licensing arena since early 2014 and we have joined the Hong Kong Licensing Show with tremendous success for 2 years already.

I would say that if you are an artist licensing your artworks the readiness requirements are lower. Basically you should have tonnes of artwork/designs ready and be able to churn out samples. The minimum cost of joining as an artist in the Art+Design section is way lower than that of the Entertainment+Brand section, so that also helps. But of course, I think the potential benefits are way smaller in that section, or you could say that the odds are less in your favor.

If you are a brand, I think to profit from the Expo you need to have at the very least a solidly defined concept and some sort of market proof that you are onto something. I say that now but let’s be honest, I joined my first Licensing Show (in Hong Kong) being a complete newbie in Licensing, having an almost empty bank account (I spent my last few thousand Hong Kong dollars in the show) and with basically nothing solid to offer besides a very clear vision, some samples and some leaflets. And that show changed my business and my life. By any normal standard, was I ready for the show? Not even close. Did I take a gamble? You bet! Did it pay? Big time!!!

So take the advice above with a pinch of salt. If you are very early stage but you truly believe in what you have and you have the guts to try it out, or if you are at that desperate moment when it’s all or nothing... I would say... it’s Vegas baby, so take a shot!  

Now, let’s imagine you decide to become an Exhibitor. What’s next?