Introduction

• Author: Michael Sanford Stone
• Profession: B.A. from Hamilton College and a J.D. from Emory University School of Law
• Pages: 11-17

xi

Introduction

When you purchase a Black & Decker toaster oven, a

Westinghouse air conditioner, a quart of Hershey’s

chocolate milk, a can of Sunk ist orange soda, a P.F. Chang’s frozen

meal, a Mr. Clean broom, or an AT&T landline phone, you are

purchasing a licensed product. Sure, we all know that we are buying

licensed products when we purchase a New York Yankees T-shirt

or a Star Wars toy light saber or a John Deere toy truck or a U.S.

Army wallet, but a true licensed brand extension is seam less in the

eye s of co nsum ers. From c onsu mers ’ pers pec tive s, t he ori gin of th e

product is the brand itself; without looking closely at the labeling

or packaging, consumers generally don’t realize that the product

actually comes from another source authorized by t he brand to

manufacture, market, a nd distribute the product, all subject to the

brand owner’s approval. Walk down the a isle of a Kroger, Target,

Macy’s, Lowe’s, CVS, or Costco or scroll through Ama zon or other

brick-and-mortar or online retailers and see if you can discern

which branded products are licensed and which are the core

products coming from the brand owner itself. If brand licensing

has been done correctly (and you will know what that means when

you nish reading this book), you will not be able to separate the

core products from the licensed products. And, importantly, as

you will also lear n, those licensed products are delivering a brand

message and motivating the consumer to fur ther participate with

the brand. Licensing contributes, supports, and strengthens the

“sticky” relationship that brands seek wit h consumers.