Licensing Expo, the world’s largest and most influential entertainment, brand and art licensing industry event, saw another successful show this past June at the Mandalay Bay Convention Center in Las Vegas, according to show organizer Advanstar Licensing.
Over three days, 15,702 licensing professionals attended the show, representing a 5 percent increase from last year’s event. The show featured 482 exhibiting companies in 218,872 net square feet with an additional 100,000 square feet of conference and special event space used daily. More press attended than ever before, with 120 journalists working the show and covering news from exhibitors.
“We focused our marketing efforts for this year’s show on bringing more retailers to Licensing Expo, and we’re thrilled the hard work paid off. So much business was being done, and the feedback on the quality of the attendees was overwhelmingly positive. The Advanstar Licensing team has already started to build on this success for 2015,” said Jessica Blue, vice president, Licensing Expo.
An increase in retailers, licensees, advertising and sales promotion professionals was offset by a decrease in the number of licensors and service providers coming to the show as attendees — more licensors than ever before made the decision to exhibit instead.
All product categories were strongly represented, from toys and games to automotive, mobile and home décor. Significant increases in attendance were seen for the second year in apparel and accessories (+14 percent), food and beverage (+12 percent) and publishing (+10 percent).
The show, sponsored by the International Licensing Industry Merchandisers’ Association (LIMA), also saw attendance from China increase by 69 percent and a 38 percent rise in attendees from Japan. Licensing Expo continued to attract people who are the licensing decision-makers within their organization with 90 percent of attendees holding that key role.
Highlights from the show included The Opening Keynote from DreamWorks Animation Co-founder and CEO Jeffrey Katzenberg; the Motorsports Café sponsored by Shell; The Opening Night Party co-hosted by CMA and sponsored by NFL Players Inc. and LIMA; and The Big Interview with Nicole Richie.
More than 70 percent of the 2014 floor space was re-booked for 2015 at the show, which is testament to the success of the three-day event. The next Licensing Expo takes place June 9-11, 2015, at the Mandalay Bay Convention Center in Las Vegas.
