BLE Secures Retailers for Mentoring Program

Brand Licensing Europe (BLE) already has a record-breaking 55 retailers on board for the 2019 Retail Mentoring Programme.

Confirmed delegates of the event include for the first time Next, Jo Jo Maman Bébé, Cool Clobber and Pep & Co. Long-standing partners Sainsbury’s, Asda George, Tesco, John Lewis and The Entertainer are returning to the event, which has also secured the participation of character.com, Hamleys, M&Co, Morrisons Nutmeg, River Island and Truffle Shuffle. While the 2019 Retail Mentoring Programme has already surpassed previous years’ rosters of retailers, applications will remain open through April 30.

BLE’s Retail Mentoring Programme aims to educate retailers about the benefits of licensing, how to negotiate licensing deals and discover new brand partners. It features a series of seminars, workshops and 1-2-1 consultancy sessions. The event will be held on October 1-3, at ExCel London.

Anna Knight, BLE event director, said: “What a fantastic start to this year’s program! To have U.K. High Street powerhouses like Next and Jo Jo Maman Bébé recognize the benefits of licensing and sign up for our Retail Mentoring Programme for the first time is a huge deal for us—I really hope it encourages other retailers to apply and reap the rewards.”

“We’ve invested a lot of time in getting the content of this program exactly right for buyers, managers and creatives, as well as promoting the cross-category benefits of licensing, so it’s really encouraging to see a more diverse range of job titles on the delegate list this year,” added Knight. “In addition to apparel and childrenswear, we have buyers from games, gifts, film, books and video games.”