MDL Licensing’s Maurizio Distefano on the return of the appetite of consumers, retailers and licensees to catch up on lost business opportunities.
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 – Italy: Maurizio Distefano, president and owner, MDL Licensing.
“We felt that 2021 went well – in fact it ended up much better than we had expected at the beginning of the year. As for the drivers of this welcome outcome, I believe the appetite of consumers, retailers and licensees to catch up on business opportunities lost during 2020 has played a big role. But we have also made our own good fortune. As an agency, we have developed new IP representations targeted at a wide range of age groups. This undoubtedly helped to fuel our success in the market during 2021.
Our goal is to carry on the good work done during 2021 – continuing to provide a top-class service to both licensors and licensees and bringing a steady stream of new business opportunities to our loyal customers.
A major concern, I believe, is reduced shelf space dedicated to toys by many hypermarkets and retailers. Another big worry is the ongoing challenge faced by the apparel business; this has not yet recovered from the downturn in 2020 due to Covid-19. The word ‘resilience’ would sum up 2021 and ‘innovation’ for 2022.”
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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