Licensing Industry

Name:
Denis Huré

Time spent in licensing industry:
15 years

First job in licensing:
Vice president of worldwide sales and marketing, Interplay OEM

What were your responsibilities?
I was in charge of handling the European set up, as well as the day to day running of Interplay Entertainment Corp's licensing group.

Current job in licensing:
CEO and co-founder of The Licensing Agency (TLA), a unique international marketing company specialised in managing, developing and licensing brands worldwide, as well as leveraging the potential of brands in the promotional market.

What are your responsibilities?
I am overseeing the different activities of our company, which include licensing, digital promotions, brand development, video & TV production and creative digital technologies. I am also supervising our different international subsidiaries located in the UK, the US, France and Germany, as well as our partnerships in China and Japan.

What is your greatest achievement so far?
Having facilitated promotions that increased some of our customers’ sell-in by 45 per cent, and that enabled some others to have a sell-through twice as fast than usual. This is the best reward we can get for our work, giving evidence that our service offering and strategy are extremely effective. We believe there is a direct connection between the success of brands and promotions. Our entire company strategy has been built around this concept. We also have a business model highly different from any other licensing agency, which allows us to develop a strong culture of results for the benefit of both our clients and licence owners.

What is the best licence you have worked on so far in your career?
Star Wars. It was at the time of the launch of Episode 1 and we broke new ground with the 'brand of all brands'. Working with George Lucas’ team was amazing and educational. We had to push ourselves further than ever before. It made me realise the 'True Force' a brand can have and the value it represents.

What licence would you most like to have in your portfolio?
The licences we currently have. We put hard work and passion behind each licence we represent and the real success is when we overachieve on both our clients and the licence owners’ expectations. In ten years' time, we will look back and be proud of the great job we did to expand these tremendous properties.

If you could choose your dream job in licensing, what would it be and why?
Don’t go further, I have it… We can do things at TLA some people would think are impossible. We can also innovate like nowhere else.

What’s the best thing about working in the licensing business?
It gives the opportunity to work with amazing and passionate people. It is also a real pleasure to work in the entertainment industry. Time goes by and every day is different with new and exciting challenges to be raised.