Tag Archives: I Like Birds

Six finalists revealed in this year’s all virtual License This! awards

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The weeks are drawing in to the start of this year’s all-virtual Festival of Licensing, and with it the ever popular License This! final is undergoing its preparations to crown the winners of the 2020 offering. 

Six brand designers have been shortlisted for this year’s final, with just a couple of weeks standing between them and the live final taking place online, during the festival, on Thursday, October 8th.

Three brands have been shortlisted in each of the Character & Animation and Brand & Design award categories. The finalists for this year’s License This! festival are:

Character & Animation

George Mackay
Brand name: eejits
Company name: Creature Aided Design

Anthony Williams
Brand name: WhamBlam!
Company: Taoa Studio

Siobhan Harrison
Brand name: Foxglove Fairies
Company: Siobhan at April Rose

Brand and Design

Louise Bell
Brand & Company: Louise Bell Art

Danelle van Eeden
Brand & Company: Kos-Kos

Tracey Colliston
Brand name: Owls Nest
Company: Ginger Betty

This year’s two License This! winners will receive a free exhibition stand at BLE 2021, one year’s Licensing International membership, PR support, and invaluable advice from the panel of industry experts.

In addition, all finalists will receive legal consultation from competition sponsor Wynne-Jones. Previous entrants – both winners and finalists – have successfully signed lucrative agent and licensing deals.

This year’s panel of expert judges include the License This! regular and chair of the judging panel, Kelvyn Gardner, managing director of Asgard Media, Sarah Ward, CEO, The Giftware Association, Kirsty Barr, Grapevine PR, and Victor Caddy, director and trademark & design attorney, Wynne-Jones.

They are joined by the judges of the Character & Animation award Dan Grant, licensing director, Danilo Promotions, Clare Piggott, managing director, Larkshead Media, Ruth Golightly, head of buying, Asda, Ben Woodman, commercial manager, GB eye Ltd, Ian Downes, director, Start Licensing, and Nico Franks, editor, C21 Kids.

Meanwhile, over on the Brand & Design award panel, we have Stuart Cox, owner, I Like Birds, Vicki Thomas, owner, Vicki Thomas Associates, Sarah Lawrence, director, This is Iris, Jehane Boden Spiers, founder, JEHANE Ltd, and Will Stewart, founder and managing director, The Point.1888.

Chair Kelvyn Gardner said: “Despite the obstacles, the 2020 License This! competition once more produced a plethora of creativity and business foresight among some high-quality entries. We have six very worthy finalists from whom we look forward to live pitches to decide our two champions.”

Character & Animation category judge Dan Grant, added: “It’s always a pleasure to be involved in the License This! judging and this year was no exception. The event has really started to broaden its reach on an international scale with many of the entrants coming from various countries in Europe and beyond. It’s great to see ideas being created at a grass roots level, which could one day go onto be major licensed properties. The tough bit is always working out who should go forward to the final.”

Six finalists revealed in this year’s all virtual License This! awards

Posted on by

The weeks are drawing in to the start of this year’s all-virtual Festival of Licensing, and with it the ever popular License This! final is undergoing its preparations to crown the winners of the 2020 offering. 

Six brand designers have been shortlisted for this year’s final, with just a couple of weeks standing between them and the live final taking place online, during the festival, on Thursday, October 8th.

Three brands have been shortlisted in each of the Character & Animation and Brand & Design award categories. The finalists for this year’s License This! festival are:

Character & Animation

George Mackay
Brand name: eejits
Company name: Creature Aided Design

Anthony Williams
Brand name: WhamBlam!
Company: Taoa Studio

Siobhan Harrison
Brand name: Foxglove Fairies
Company: Siobhan at April Rose

Brand and Design

Louise Bell
Brand & Company: Louise Bell Art

Danelle van Eeden
Brand & Company: Kos-Kos

Tracey Colliston
Brand name: Owls Nest
Company: Ginger Betty

This year’s two License This! winners will receive a free exhibition stand at BLE 2021, one year’s Licensing International membership, PR support, and invaluable advice from the panel of industry experts.

In addition, all finalists will receive legal consultation from competition sponsor Wynne-Jones. Previous entrants – both winners and finalists – have successfully signed lucrative agent and licensing deals.

This year’s panel of expert judges include the License This! regular and chair of the judging panel, Kelvyn Gardner, managing director of Asgard Media, Sarah Ward, CEO, The Giftware Association, Kirsty Barr, Grapevine PR, and Victor Caddy, director and trademark & design attorney, Wynne-Jones.

They are joined by the judges of the Character & Animation award Dan Grant, licensing director, Danilo Promotions, Clare Piggott, managing director, Larkshead Media, Ruth Golightly, head of buying, Asda, Ben Woodman, commercial manager, GB eye Ltd, Ian Downes, director, Start Licensing, and Nico Franks, editor, C21 Kids.

Meanwhile, over on the Brand & Design award panel, we have Stuart Cox, owner, I Like Birds, Vicki Thomas, owner, Vicki Thomas Associates, Sarah Lawrence, director, This is Iris, Jehane Boden Spiers, founder, JEHANE Ltd, and Will Stewart, founder and managing director, The Point.1888.

Chair Kelvyn Gardner said: “Despite the obstacles, the 2020 License This! competition once more produced a plethora of creativity and business foresight among some high-quality entries. We have six very worthy finalists from whom we look forward to live pitches to decide our two champions.”

Character & Animation category judge Dan Grant, added: “It’s always a pleasure to be involved in the License This! judging and this year was no exception. The event has really started to broaden its reach on an international scale with many of the entrants coming from various countries in Europe and beyond. It’s great to see ideas being created at a grass roots level, which could one day go onto be major licensed properties. The tough bit is always working out who should go forward to the final.”

The Point. 1888 lands I Like Birds as birdwatching hobby enjoys revival across the UK

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The Point. 1888 is tapping into the current birdwatching revival – yes, a hobby that has reportedly surpassed football in the number of fans across the UK – through a new brand representation agreement with I Like Birds.

Birding – as it the hobby is now called by its largest audience among the Gen X-ers and Millennials – is enjoyed by some six million people across the country (10 per cent of the population), exceeding the five million football fans across the UK.

The Point. 1888 is now looking to develop a range that speaks to the ‘young, new, image-conscious enthusiasts’ currently enjoying the hobby. In doing so, the firm will develop the range of I Like Birds products for this market.

I like Birds has already amassed huge appeal from birdwatchers and the design conscious alike.

Thanks to initiatives from the RSPB, The Wildlife Trusts and The Wildfowl and Wetland Trust, birding has become more accessible to families and young people, with new sub-divisions of birdwatching hobbyists now identified.

Twitchers – the traditional stereotyped birdwatchers, predominantly male who invest in specialist viewing equipment to enjoy the hobby, make up 10 per cent of the group; Enthusiasts are men or women and enjoy birdwatching as part of other cultural or travel activities equate to 50 per cent; and Casuals – the remaining 30 per cent of the group and the fastest-growing – are those who enjoy travelling and are interested in other outdoor and nature-based activities, such as hiking or wildlife watching.

Casual birders can also be segmented into “urban birders”, “hipster birders” and more which, according to The Point. 1888 “presents huge retail opportunities.”

Having seen the resurgence of the birdwatching trend, I like Birds wanted to build on the momentum by expanding its product range to appeal to Enthusiast and Casual birder groups emerging.

Bethan Garton, commercial director at The Point.1888, said: “Our retail-first model ensures that we’re bringing to market products that retailers and their customers want but this only works as long as we identify the right opportunities. 

“With I like Birds, the birding market is ours, and myself and the team cannot wait to get started. Our founder, Will Stewart, is particularly keen as he and Stuart, founder of I like Birds, have wanted to work together for a long time.”

 Stuart Cox, founder of I like Birds, added: “Will Stewart has assembled a team of legends (who are also fortunately amazingly talented and amazingly friendly and positive) and I’ve wanted to work with him since the first time I met him at BLE.

“In terms of business, any company that can amass the stellar lineup of clients that The Point.1888 has, has to be doing something right and, having spoken at length with Will – another of his positive attributes is the willingness to chat through the finer details of licensing – his approach is both a game changer and highly effective.

“There’s a buzz of excitement around The Point. 1888 that stems from Will and is totally infectious. Add in the fact that they have a track record of handling clients that range from Mega-brands to niche indies and…well, it’s a no-brainer. I’m chuffed to working with them and look forward to a long and extremely pointy future in their capable hands.”

New licensing partners are expected to be announced in the coming months with products release in SS 2021.

My Gifts Trade and I Like Birds partner with Marie Curie for exclusive new design for charity

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The British home and giftware manufacturer, My Gifts Trade has found itself at the centre of a new collaboration between Marie Curie and the British brand, i like birds.

Launching at Spring Fair this week, the new licensed collection will feature a daffodil and Blue Tit design created by i like birds founder, Stuart Cox, exclusively for Marie Curie. Under the collaboration, ten per cent of the proceeds from every piece sold will be donated to the charity.

The charity was chosen by Cox as one that is close to the company founder’s heart.

“Years ago I was made homeless after leading a bit of a reckless life and falling out of touch with my family in Brighton for years,” he explained. “When I started to find my feet again I got back in touch by sending my mum some illustrations, to somehow let her know that everything was alright.

“Two weeks later she was diagnosed with a super rare cancer of the spine and we were told she did not have long left to live. She managed a year, the last part of which was in a hospice, where they managed to turn what should have been the worst days of my life into a beautiful celebration of her life.

The hospice let her go out in a gentle and graceful way, with views of the birds from her window, so it’s a cause close to my heart and not a charity collaboration that’s been plucked out of thin air.

“Within a year I also lost one of my brothers and my dad and the illustrations were stuffed into a drawer because I was unable to look at them. Years later they were found there by a friend who suggested I get some printed as cards so they could sell them in their local café. I went along with his idea and they went through over 1000 in the first month. Paperchase soon got wind of this and approached me.”

According to Cox, the rest is history and today the artist’s recognisable illustrations of much-loved British birds and flowers now appear on an array of licensed products, including the highly successful gift and homeware collection developed in partnership with My Gifts Trade.

The new collection for Marie Curie will include home textiles and accessories, ceramic products and a lovely decorative pin.

Joanna Mazzotta, product development and creative at Marie Curie, said: “I was very attracted to Stuart’s designs. They are simple yet beautiful and the bold fun graphic added a design style we’d not explored before.

“I thought they’d marry well with incorporating the daffodil – our emblem – and tell a story about how important and joyful nature at the Marie Curie hospices are for the patients.”