Manager, Licensing
Posted 11 days 1 hour ago by IMG LIVE
Who We Are:
Endeavor is a global sports and entertainment company, home to many of the world's most dynamic and engaging storytellers, brands, live events, and experiences. The Endeavor network specializes in talent representation through entertainment agency WME; sports operations and advisory, event management, media production and distribution, and brand licensing through IMG; live event experiences and hospitality through On Location; full-service marketing through global cultural marketing agency 160over90; and sports data and technology through IMG ARENA and OpenBet. Endeavor is also the majority owner of TKO Group Holdings (NYSE: TKO), a premium sports and entertainment company comprising UFC and WWE.
IMG Licensing is searching for an enthusiastic, hardworking individual to assist in the sales, development, and growth of each of the brands' consumer product licensing programs, managing existing and new licensees in the brands' programs.
The Role and What You'll Do:
Licensee Management:
Responsible for ensuring that licensees are activating their license rights, actively designing, producing, distributing, and marketing Licensed Products.
Working closely with licensees daily for product development, keeping to their critical paths and managing the product approval process with the clients.
Providing licensees with design ideas and style guide support for the respective brands to help give direction on how the brands can be applied on products in a wide variety of categories: toys, collectibles, video games, apparel & accessories, gift & home, personal care, outdoor & sport.
Ensuring that brand guidelines and corporate identity are accurately followed, which helps ease the client workload for approving products.
Ensuring that licensees are actively selling into territories and to retailers within their license agreement.
Retail analysis and updates on where products are being sold, when the licensed products will be in retail, how the brands are being positioned, and reporting sell-out and success data.
Keep up-to-date client tracker to ensure the brand program is running effectively and efficiently, as well as providing a quick and easy to read source of all live contract commercial terms and business-to-date summary.
Financial Reporting & Analysis:
Responsible for ensuring that licensees report their royalties in a timely manner and provide financial client and licensee update reports.
Work closely with the finance team to keep on top of slow reporting/paying licensees.
Quarterly finance reports and client/licensee biannual reports to monitor performance success/failures. In certain cases, expectation to create client revenue and royalty forecasting.
Legal Administration:
Management of contract generation with the legal team when a new deal is developed.
Input deal terms on online platform for the negotiated commercial terms that need to be drafted into the contract.
Review of contracts drafted by the legal team to ensure that all commercial terms have been accurately written before distributing contracts for signature. Ensure contracts are fully signed by both parties with hard copies provided to finance and legal for processing.
If there are any comments/clauses that are disputed by the licensee at the review stage, work with the legal and commercial teams to resolve and approve with the client.
New Business Development:
Ensuring that all sales materials are kept up to date and ready for prospecting. Work closely with the Associate Vice President in researching and pitching to new prospective licensees in key focus categories for the brands in question.
Keep up-to-date an existing and prospective licensee list/matrix for each brand, which aids the sales team by showing gaps/opportunities and those categories fulfilled.
Independently prospect and manage new deals, and support in the deal-making process for the client program overall.
Work with the creative and marketing teams to update sales presentations for each of the brands, and where appropriate create case study examples or product visual mock-ups to help in new business opportunities with prospective licensees.
Organize and manage new and existing licensee meetings for the client at brand exhibition stand at BLE, the lead annual brand licensing trade show which takes place in the autumn each year in London.
Attend trade shows in relevant categories for new business opportunities.
Client Management:
Work closely with the Associate Vice President to manage communication with the client about their licensing program and licensee updates.
Be the liaison between licensees, as well as internal service departments, such as legal and finance for the client.
Workload in this capacity will be dependent on the client in question. This can include weekly or monthly updates/reports to clients and in certain situations daily dialogue with licensees or client face-to-face meetings.
You Have These:
Highly organized, detailed, and adaptable. Ability to manage workload and switch between brands and licensees is essential.
2-3 years experience in licensing, including but not limited to toys and collectibles, video games, food, and lifestyle brands.
Experience in securing new licensees.
A quick learner and able to find solutions to problems.
Team player but able to use initiative and be proactive.
Personality, attitude, and enthusiasm are key in order to build trusting relationships with clients, licensees, prospective licensees, and colleagues.
Efficient in Word, PowerPoint, Excel, and CRM systems.
Good communicator and professional personal presentation.
Endeavor unites and brings people together in our love of sport, culture, and entertainment. We understand this can only be accomplished when we lead with a lens of diversity, equity, and inclusion in everything we do. As a global company that drives culture, we strive to reflect the world's diverse voices. Endeavor is an equal opportunities employer and encourages applications from suitably qualified and eligible candidates regardless of sex, race, disability, age, sexual orientation, or religion or belief.