Born Licensing Turns 12: Celebrating Our Biggest Year Yet

Twelve years ago, Born Licensing launched with a simple ambition: to help the licensing and advertising industries work better together. Today, as we celebrate our 12th anniversary, that mission remains at the heart of what we do – but the scale of the opportunity has grown considerably.

The last 20 months have been the most successful in Born Licensing’s history, generating significant incremental revenue for the licensors we represent while helping brands and agencies unlock some of the world’s most recognisable entertainment IP for advertising and marketing campaigns.

And the past year alone has given us plenty to celebrate.

A BIG YEAR FOR CHARACTERS IN ADVERTISING

Over the last 12 months, we’ve had the privilege of working on an incredible range of campaigns, demonstrating just how versatile entertainment IP can be when paired with the right creative idea.

We helped bring the BFG back to Sainsbury’s for a second consecutive Christmas campaign, while Google Pixel tapped into festive nostalgia with Love Actually. General Mills and Box Tops for Education headed back to Bayside High with Saved by the Bell, and Take9 recruited Sesame Street’s Count von Count to help tackle online scams.

Elsewhere, Twix demonstrated that “Two is More Than One” with an OOH campaign featuring iconic duos including Laurel and Hardy, Wallace and Gromit and Rick and Morty; The AA embraced some festive chaos with Elves Behavin’ Badly; Garfield starred in IAMS’s “Healthy Weight” campaign; and Candy Crush Solitaire welcomed the Care Bears for a season dedicated to kindness, colour and nostalgia.

The campaigns couldn’t be more different – spanning Christmas advertising, gaming, public awareness, OOH, technology and FMCG – but together they demonstrate something we’ve believed since day one: famous characters can be extraordinarily powerful creative tools for advertisers.

GROWING THE BORN TEAM - AND OUR US PRESENCE

It’s also been a year of growth behind the scenes.

We welcomed Emmet Wright as Licensing Manager, strengthening the team as the volume and scale of our work continues to grow. Based in the US, Emmet is helping us build even closer relationships with agencies, brands and licensors across North America.

That expansion is set to accelerate further, with Born Licensing CEO David Born relocating to Los Angeles. The move marks an exciting new chapter for the company and gives Born Licensing an even stronger presence in one of the world’s most important markets for entertainment, advertising and licensing.

While our roots remain firmly international, having boots on the ground in the US will allow us to collaborate even more closely with the partners we work with every day – and open the door to plenty of new conversations.

12 YEARS OF MAKING LICENSING EASIER

A lot has changed since Born Licensing launched 12 years ago. What hasn’t changed is our focus on making entertainment licensing easier for the advertising industry – and creating incremental opportunities for rights holders in a space that continues to grow.

Reaching 12 gives us a chance to celebrate the campaigns, clients, licensors, agencies and colleagues who have been part of that journey. More importantly, though, it makes us excited about what comes next.

We already have some exciting projects in the pipeline, and we can’t wait to share more.

In the meantime, if your agency wants to learn more about working with famous characters in advertising, book one of our popular Character Licensing Workshops. We’ll come to your team (in person or online) to demystify the process, share some of our favourite case studies and explore how entertainment IP could inspire your next campaign.

Here’s to the next 12.

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