Featuring daily keynotes, forward-looking panel sessions, retail focused education, 10 catwalk shows, two License This! finals, exclusive content for first-timer, the event’s content programme is now live.
Day one and two keynotes for BLE, which runs from the 20-22 September 2022 at ExCeL London, feature Mattel president and coo Richard Dickson on Tuesday 20 September, with a Barbie x Fashion presentation. While Leaders panel: building a post-pandemic retail & licensing strategy will run on Wednesday 21 September, moderated by Ben Roberts, EMEA content director, License Global. Panellists confirmed include Marianne James of Hasbro, Daniel Avener, MDR Brand Management and Jalil Rahman of Liberty. The third keynote will be announced soon.
Also highlighting what’s in store for licensing at retail is Forecasting the future of retail through consumer trends, with Francesca Lisle (Lisle Licensing), Hannah Craggs (TrendBible) and Abi Wilson (buying and design manager, celebrations, Sainsbury’s).
New for 2022, the BLE team will hold orientation sessions and show tours at 9.30am on the first two days. The final pitching for Kelvyn Gardner License This! will take place over two days, with the product design category decided at 11am on 20 September, and the character and animation, and brand and design trophies awarded at 10.30am on 22 September.
Anna Knight, svp licensing, Informa Markets, commented: “BLE exists to support everyone working in and with the European licensing industry to do better business and identify new opportunities and that means providing retailers, manufacturers and brand owners with meaningful content, introductions and meetings to drive their businesses forward.
“It’s brilliant to be able to offer so much new and diverse content to this year’s visitors, in person or online, from our new orientation sessions for first timers, inspiring daily keynotes, and category-specific educational panels on sports and LBE, to hosting 10 fantastic catwalk sessions.”
The full content schedule can be seen on the BLE website here.
