Licensing Industry

Name:
Janet Woodward

Time spent in the licensing industry:
18 years

First job in licensing:
Licensing director at MWC

What were your responsibilities?
To build a character division for the well-established art licensing agency, working with the portfolio of artists and illustrators to develop characters which would work internationally across a wide range of product categories. In some cases to develop the projects to pitch for broadcast using our in-house studio of designers and animators. Two months after I started, the licensing director on the art side went on maternity leave and never came back, so I ended up managing that as well (at that point I was still trying to work out what licensing was!)

Current job in licensing: Head of licensing at Coolabi

What are your responsibilities?
To work with the rest of the Coolabi team to exploit our portfolio of properties by building long-term licensing programmes, to develop them internationally and to look for other properties which we can develop or acquire to expand the portfolio.

What is your greatest achievement so far?
Being part of Coolabi from the very beginning and watching it grow into a major entity.

What is the best licence you've worked on so far in your career?
Purple Ronnie - it's an absolute dream licence.

What licence would you most like to have in your portfolio?
Winnie the Pooh - it just goes on forever.

If you could choose your dream job in licensing, what would it be and why?
Is there another job to compare to mine?

What's the best thing about working in the licensing industry?
Going into a shop and seeing product on the shelf that I sold a licence for months previously. That and the incredible people, some of whom I've known well for over 15 years.