MGM’s Robert Marick on why, in order to thrive, we need to ‘think outside the box in everything we do’.
From Belgium to the US, LicensingSource chats to a selection of licensors and agents based outside of the UK to find out their takeaways from 2021, what they see as the biggest opportunities and challenges for licensing moving through 2022, their aims and what word they would use to describe business in both the year just gone and the current one.
Today – US: Robert Marick, evp global consumer products and experiences, MGM.
“2022 is all about innovation. In order to thrive, we need to think outside the box with everything we do. Whether it’s creating new ways to sell and market our properties virtually; expanding into new ecommerce distribution platforms; introducing our IP using new technology such as AR and VR; or leaning into new product categories that take our brands into the metaverse.
It’s an exciting time to be in the licensing business and finding innovative ways to reimagine what it means to licence IP in the years ahead.
I am very optimistic for the year ahead. MGM’s new television and film divisions are running on all cylinders. We continue to invest in our core franchises with new content coming out for Vikings with the Vikings: Valhalla series, Creed 3 and the new Addams Family series – Wednesday. 2022 is also about MGM’s rich film catalogue. Whether it’s expanding our licensing programme to include new horror, sci-fi or comedy titles or celebrating some important anniversaries such as Legally Blonde is turning 21, RoboCop’s 35th or Carrie’s 40th. There has never been a better time to be working with MGM as we have never had as many licensing opportunities as we do now.
That being said, our industry continues to face challenges stemming from the pandemic, including material shortages and product distribution issues. As a result, many licensees must be more selective of what licences they take on and the breadth and depth of their product plans are often scaled back. My word for 2021 is ‘pivot’ and for 2022 it is ‘optimism’.”
This feature originally appeared in the spring 2022 edition of Licensing Source Book. To read the full publication, click on this link.
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