A license to appeal

Nation's Business, April, 1985 by Sharon Nelton

DEMONSTRATING how far the industry has come, United Media in February launched a new comic strip, "Robotman,' about a lovable robot, after it sold rights to the character to nearly 40 manufacturers in the United States and Canada. The syndicate had signed up more than 200 newspapers before the launch and Robotman, conceived by British composer-performer Peter Shelley, is slated for television shows in the spring and fall.

United Media already has two of the industry's legendary properties--"Peanuts' and Garfield. But after watching how American Greeting Cards had "manufactured' the popular Strawberry Shortcake, says United Media President Robert Roy Metz, "we said it doesn't look like licensed characters are going to develop in the same fashion as they did historically.'

It took about 25 years to turn "Peanuts' into what Michael V. Georgopolis, senior vice president-licensing for United Media, calls a "worldwide powerhouse.' The first 15 years were spent establishing it as a comic strip, followed by more years of building it through television.

"That development timetable was compacted down to about 3 1/2 years' with Garfield, says Georgopolis. Now, using all the media simultaneously-- newspapers, television, books and music --he and Metz hope to compact the timetable yet again--into several months.

Why do people flock to licensed merchandise? For teen-agers it is a part of growing up, says Dr. Marta Vago, a Santa Monica, Calif., psychological consultant and lecturer. Having such products helps meet their needs to be like everyone else. Another factor is rooted in ancient myths and rituals, she says-- for example, the belief that eating part of a ferocious animal would make you strong. By wearing Michael Jackson shoes, for example, the wearer might feel invested with some of the rock star's qualities. "These things are very unconscious,' says Vago.

Grownups buy licensed products to indulge their fantasies, she says. A woman who wears "Forever Krystle' fragrance, for example, might feel she has a little piece of the lavish life of the Carringtons of "Dynasty.'

Licensors and their agents zealously guard their properties' names and images. Alpert will not represent tobacco or liquor companies. So many of the 1,000 products he represents are marketed for and to children that he fears even an accidental linkage with tobacco or alcohol could tarnish his clients' wholesome image.

Licensees generally pay royalties in the 5 percent to 10 percent range, but this can vary, depending on such things as type of merchandise and expected sales volume.

And although success brings its rewards, Jerry E. Gorde, president of Virginia Textiles, Inc., in Richmond, found it can bring headaches, too. His $7 million firm won the right to manufacture Michael Jackson T-shirts last year. That was fine. But, valuable on the streets, the T-shirts in Gorde's warehouse became a constant target of heavy-duty thieves and, for the first time, Gorde had to bring in armed guards, a move that pleased neither him nor his employes.