License Magazine - August 2007 - (Page 49) OUTLOOK ’08 | CELEBRITY BRANDING Gould says that having a celebrity name on the books opens doors for licensing professionals. “When you’ve got a celebrity and you ring a retailer, they will generally return your call.” And the press hype around the Kelly Brook launch “really was an amazing experience,” he adds. Gould does caution, however, against “celebrity slapping.” “These are living, breathing flesh and blood and must be handled with care,” he says. New Look followed up on Kelly Brook with a collection of prom dresses fronted by UK pop star Lily Allen and Gold by Giles Deacon, one of London’s most admired up-and-coming catwalk designers. At this stage, however, New Look will confirm only that the Giles Deacon collection will continue into next year. Negotiations on other deals, it seems, are still underway. Rumors that Beth Ditto from U.S. group The Gossip is to have a New Look collection have been denied. style icon and people have an emotional connection with her. But celebrities and their licensing agents have to balance the difference between the longevity of the brand against one-off deals.” But the publicity-generating machine of, say, the Madonna H&M launch can be very powerful, French says. “Retailers are always looking for a way of differentiating their offer and creating publicity— celebrity collections do just that.” Celebrity high street fashion was preceded in Europe by designer high street fashion, which was spearheaded by Debenhams when it launched its first Designers at Debenhams collections back in 1993. There are now 21 designers in the stable. An innovation for the autumn 2007 season draws RETAILER CELEBRITY Topshop Kate Moss Celia Birtwell Zandra Rhodes Sophia Kokosalaki Lily Allen Kelly Brook Gold by Giles Deacon Roland Mouret mary-kateandashley mary-kateandashley mary-kateandashley Market-by-Market Approach The local vs. global predicament is neatly summed up by the European history of U.S. sensations Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen, whose license is handled in the UK and Europe by Beanstalk. Unlike the H&M model, the mary-kateandashley collection is adapted for the market in which it is selling. The brand had a good run in the UK in supermarket Asda—Wal-Mart’s UK fascia—with three separate mary-kateandashley fashion ranges covering 2- to 16-year-olds from March 2002 until December 2006. The 400-store French fashion chain Gemo launched the brand in fashion, footwear and accessories for 12- to 18-year-olds in March, and in the autumn is launching a complementary apparel and accessories collection as part of its back-to-school promotion. In Spain, mary-kateandashley has been sold in 46 Al Campo stores since February 2005. The ranges for 8- to 16-year-olds cover fashion accessories, beauty accessories, nightwear, and underwear. A footwear range is to be launched shortly. Of the celebrity fashion market Beanstalk associate vice president for marketing and business development Louise French says, “Celebrity high street fashion will go on for as long as the celebrity has authority in design. Kate Moss, for example, is a New Look Gap Asda Gemo Al Campo together designer and celebrity fashion with television stylist Marks Heyes, who appears on GMTV’s morning LK Today program, endorsing Designers at Debenhams product through a “Mark Heyes recommends” swing tag and point-of-sale material. Celebrity and designer deals do not always work. Autumn 2006 saw the launch in some of Gap’s European stores of the Roland Mouret dress collection. But Mouret, the catwalk designer famous for his figure-hugging Galaxy dress, is just as notorious for selling his name with his business after falling out with his backers. Neither Mouret nor Gap could use his name on any label or POS—and only those in the know snapped up the dresses. © August 2007 www.licensemag.com 49 http://www.licensemag.com
For optimal viewing of this digital publication, please enable JavaScript and then refresh the page. If you would like to try to load the digital publication without using Flash Player detection, please click here.