Having debuted with great aplomb with card publisher, Doll Truths at PG Buzz in June, vintage doll brand Gail Grisham looks set to make its presence felt in the licensing field too, having reached the finals in BLE’s License This! Competition in the Character & Animation category.
The brainchild of Celia Law, Gail Grisham is a vintage doll with lots to say, especially about the ‘joys’ of motherhood and family life.
The brand is up against The Real Monster Show, an anti-bullying themed brand concept from Argentina and Oddcats, a preschool creation by Zara Picken.
But there are two other greeting card-centric finalists in the line-up of the competition, with respected Austrian-based card publisher Pabuku, which gives vintage
imagery a contemporary twist being one of the three finalists in the new Brand & Design category. Pabuku is up against Animals, a brand concept from Sarah Burman who also publishes greeting cards. The final contender in this category is Blubz, a cute concept from Drew Bristow.
The winners will be the concepts that the judges feel offer the greatest potential for licensing.
Among the judges were Danilo’s licensing director, Dan Grant and Stuart Cox of I Like Birds (who now licences the brand to The Art File for greeting cards and wrap).
“This year, we had the most entries we’ve ever had for License This!, which is testament to the growing appeal and importance of the competition. Such is the depth and breadth of entries we have received over the years, this year we have introduced two award categories,” said LIMA UK managing director and License This! chair Kelvyn Gardner, BLE brand manager Laura Freedman-Dagg added: “The ethos behind License This! is to support the growth of the licensing industry by attracting, supporting and engaging new blood as well as promoting it as a potentially lucrative sector to do business in.
The winners of both categories of License This! will be announced during BLE, the key licensing event in Europe, which takes place 9-11 October 2018 at Olympia London. To register, click here.
