ART & DESIGN MONTH: Choosing the alternative option

Art licensing is a process whereby publishers and manufacturers can licence artwork and imagery that may not be readily available from the obvious licensing resources, such as brand and character-led.

Art licensing is a different approach to standard, mainstream brand-led licensing. Correct and carefully chosen and selected art, licensed for specific products, can offer clients a unique and often very profitable way of obtaining good, strong design for their products, which can dramatically increase sales.

Art licensing is the alternative option to licensing branded or known characters - it enables manufacturers and publishers to licence artwork from established or unknown artists and offer their clients and customers something unique, as opposed to mass market and mainstream. Thanks to art licensing agencies such as Heartfelt, art has never been so accessible - allowing clients and customers a far wider choice of designs.

Art licensing is imagery that is not a brand or a well-known character - but rather special designs, characters and scenes that will give a boost to the product in question without being instantly recognisable.

Licensing known characters is often perceived as a 'guarantee’ of a certain level of sales and, as a result, the licence is sold at a premium – however, there are no guarantees in this business and not all licensors will reap the perceived benefits. For example, a tissue company putting Mickey Mouse on its product will guarantee a certain amount of sales, but the manufacturer pays a premium for this imagery. Although higher sales are a given, the cost of sale is increased by the licensing fee, so the overall increase in profit may be negligible.

Art licensing gives the manufacturer or publisher another option. When the image or design is unknown, art licensing generally has a lower upfront licensing fee. This increases when the artist has a positive sales history for his or her designs - the more sales a design is likely to add to a product, the higher the licensing fee.

Although it is cheaper to licence unknown work than a known character or design, the prospect of the relevant product selling in huge numbers is obviously lessened. However, with the right design selection, and by using a strong agency that offers a consultancy role in trend predictions and can offer artists with known sales histories in other work and products, publishers and manufacturers can benefit greatly through art licensing. When done correctly, they will have a higher quality product, lower cost of sale and increased profitability.

Another benefit is that art licensing agencies are much more open to granting exclusive rights to a design - giving publishers and manufacturers the opportunity to offer their clients exclusive designs for their products.
Well selected design and imagery has the potential to generate huge sales for a product, and with the lower upfront licence fee this can drastically increase the bottom line. With the credit crunch and recession altering the financial outlook, exploring alternative licensing options is something that everyone would be wise to consider and investigate.

Put simply, art licensing can make better financial sense – it can also present the customer, i.e. the general public, with a wider choice of products. Rather than having latest TV character on their child’s bed linen, customers have the option of choosing a wonderful and artfully created children's character or design.

Benefits

Cheaper way to source imagery and design
Unseen and unique designs offered
A better standard of character and design - giving consumers more choice of good designs, which are often exclusive to a particular product
Enables manufacturers and publishers to offer exclusive designs on their products, as well as exclusive line extensions within product ranges.
Manufacturers can be sole licensors of a design on a specific product or in specific territories, thereby offering exclusivity to their clients.

Vicki Willden-Lebrecht is the managing director of The Bright Agency. Founded six years ago, it is now one of the UK’s fastest growing agencies in the field of art and illustration, building up a stable of both talented artists and a list of big name clients.