Of the two stats drawing focus on the topic of sustainability in licensing to be found in the 2023 Top Global Licensors report issued last week, both offer some food for thought and the chance for reflection upon the industry’s journey of development.
But one really gives us something to write home about.
In the four years since Products of Change started as an industry movement, the subject of sustainability has gathered not only momentum but a growing community of brand owners and licensees keen to see the industry driven towards a better future.
According to the report’s Challenges and Opportunities survey, 28% percent of respondents this year believe there is now greater opportunity to be had in the growing accessibility of sustainable product innovation in the marketplace. That’s almost one third of the global brand and licensing sector worth upwards of $340 billion now actively engaging in sustainable development. And that really isn’t something to be sniffed at.
What’s more encouraging still is the magnitude of the brand owners and businesses that are now throwing their might behind the matter.
It’ll come as no surprise to anyone that The Walt Disney Company topped the table of Top 20 Global Licensors by total retail sales this year. Some $30bn clear of its closest rival, it’s Disney’s $61.7bn in sales over the last year that puts the brand and licensing juggernaut into stratospheric territories in terms of power, and influence over the consumer products market. It’s therefore hugely encouraging to find Disney carving its own path of sustainable development as it begins to tackle scope 1 and scope 2 – and perhaps more importantly its scope 3 emissions with ambitions for carbon reductions that will have a sweeping impact across its value chains.
The entertainment goliath has been vocal about its plans for Disney-branded products, with goals set to increase the use of recycled, certified, or verified sustainable paper and wood; use plastic that contains at least 30% recycled content or a lower impact alternative material; better design its packaging for reuse, recycling, or composting; and achieve net zero emissions for direct operations all by 2030.
Hasbro (which placed sixth with $11.5bn in retail sales over the last year), NBCUniversal (seventh with $10.5bn), Mattel (eighth with $8.08bn), Paramount (11th with $6.08bn), and BBC Studios (18th with $3.4bn) all also make that Top 20 table and each have previously detailed clear and ambitious climate goals with strategies to hit Net Zero carbon emissions by 2040.
Mattel itself has set the clear ambition to achieve 100% recycled, recyclable, or bio-based plastic materials within all its products and packaging by 2030.
Just as exciting is what’s going on in the mid-tier table, where the NFL Players Association (placed 24thwith $2.7bn in retail sales) and US Polo Association (25th with $2.3bn) – the two of them part of the Products of Change community and Ambassadorship – can be found among other leaders of their disciplines to be embarking upon and seeking new opportunities in sustainable development.
Here we find Moomin Characters (42nd with $820m in retail sales in the last year) and SEGA (44th with $724m at retail) featuring alongside The Smiley Company (52nd with $436m at retail) and Licensing Excellence Sustainability award winner Goodyear Tyre and Rubber Company (49th with $660m at retail) and all of them active Products of Change members or affiliates now taking their next steps with sustainability.
Taking this further, that’s a cumulative might of $108.64bn in retail sales with the potential to seriously shape the sustainable future of the brand and licensing industry. And that’s just the brands that have been vocal about their ambitions. The potential scope for change is huge.
The second of the two key sustainability stats to be pulled from the Top Global Licensors report 2023 is that out of this year’s survey respondents, 14% view the sustainability expectations of a shifting consumer mindset to be among the industry’s biggest challenges.
To that 14% this is an open invitation: join the Products of Change community and approach that challenge from a place of collaboration. Thanks to this year’s same survey, we know that 51% of the industry is seeing greater opportunity in collaboration between brand owners, licensees, and retailers. Let’s together transition this endlessly innovative industry towards a more prosperous future.
