BORN LICENSING CELEBRATES THEIR 9 YEAR ANNIVERSARY I Born Licensing

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO US!

Since 2014, Born Licensing helped agencies worldwide to secure iconic IPs for their campaigns. Thanks to our strong relationships with some of the most legendary Rights Holders in the world - such as Paramount, MGM, Universal, Mattel, Hasbro, and more -, we had the honour to take part in successful and inspiring campaigns across several industries, bringing the creatives’ vision to life.

We got Optimus Prime to take a road trip to the South of France with Direct Line, Winnie The Pooh to travel on British Airways, Bridget Jones to feature in a Marks & Spencer’s Christmas campaign, and Rocky to take part in Facebook’s first-ever Super Bowl commercial. Most recently, we had nostalgia-infused Street Fighter characters to collaborate with the AA.
Some campaigns weren’t so easy though. For example, we really had to convince He-Man and Skeletor to slow dance on the notes of ‘Dirty Dancing’ for Moneysupermarket (in the end, they loved it!). Other campaigns exceeded expectations. This is the case for the Christmas ad featuring Buddy the Elf with Asda, which was named the nation’s favourite ad of 2022 by ITV and System1.

As entertainment is at the heart of what we do, we decided to take a trip down memory lane and ask our team about their favourite campaign that Born Licensing has worked on.

David Born, CEO and Director, loved working with RocoCop, Donatello and Bumblebee

“Saatchi & Saatchi London came to us with a brilliant idea of licensing iconic characters that were famous for saving the day. We explored over 150 characters and landed on RoboCop, Donatello and Bumblebee who each starred in their own epic 60 second ad campaign. The 10-day shoot was in Cape Town, South Africa. It was incredible to be witnessing brilliant creativity come together and it was quite clear that we were making something really special. When the campaign went live it was hugely successful for Direct Line and was celebrated by both the advertising and licensing industries. It truly was a proud moment for me and a groundbreaking moment for Born Licensing.”

Amber Cheung, Senior Licensing Executive, went for the evergreen Buddy the Elf

“It’s hard to choose, but my favourite campaign that Born Licensing has worked on has to be ASDA’s ‘Have Your Elf a Merry Christmas’ by Havas. Elf is one of my favourite Christmas movies - I watch it every year without fail. We’ve had various scripts come through to us over the years from ad agencies wanting to use Elf but it’s never worked out. So, to have helped ASDA bring Buddy back to our screens after 20 years in this unexpected setting was a special festive treat! Having worked on the campaign for 6 months I saw just how much work went into it -and the work certainly paid off. I’m not surprised that it falls in the top 3% of ads ever tested by Kantar for making people smile!”

Amanda Cummings, Licensing Coordinator, picked He-Man’s and Skeletor’s Dirty Dancing show

“My favorite campaign is He-Man and Skeletor for MoneySuperMarket. In this ad, He-Man and Skeletor dance the Dirty Dancing choreography in a bar, and it couldn’t be funnier or more attention-grabbing to watch. I love how creative the concept is, as it definitely has never been done before. It’s really fascinating seeing the case study and learning how the campaign came together with the costumes and props. The end result was a highly successful campaign that is memorable and just iconic.”

Alberto Massaro, Licensing Coordinator, can’t get enough of Thelma and Louise

“Born Licensing has worked on so many amazing campaigns, but the one that I love the most has to be Moneysupermarket’s ‘Epic Sindy’ featuring the Sindy doll versions of Thelma and Louise. It’s one of my favourite movies of all time, and watching the commercial gives me instant flashbacks of the film. I guess it also effectively demonstrates how powerful characters can be in advertising, especially in terms of emotional responses from the public. Another element which I really love is the soundtrack, it just fits the scene so well. What a great, great campaign!”