The Key To Brand Authorization Is Management

　　 Brand authorization Originated in Europe and the United States, products licensed by various brands now account for more than 30% of the retail market in the United States, and are the fastest growing sales force. For authorized enterprises, brand authorization does not need to be controlled by the brand obligee too much whether in the ownership structure or in all aspects of operation and management. There is a large space for them to obtain free brand management, and the benefits are also greater.

Friend R is an anime fan who always dreams of cooperating with world-class cartoonists to produce some fashionable and novel cartoons clothing 。 "It's good to enjoy the cool under a big tree. Now there are many fans. If I develop clothes, my business will be good." In fact, there are many enterprises with the same idea as R, Once upon a time, a manager of a clothing company had a similar feeling: "It's very hard to build a brand by yourself, and it's better to find a big clothing brand as a backer than to invest tens of millions of yuan, so that we can make money more quickly."

The way of "borrowing chicken to make eggs" is brand authorization.

　　 Win win business

In 2000, Guangzhou Hong Kong Crocodile Industrial Co., Ltd. has officially become the general agent of Crocodile Hong Kong Crocodile shoes in mainland China. Although it is called the general agent, Xiangalli Wang is the authorized dealer of crocodile T-shirt footwear products. It is responsible for the design, production and sales of this category of products, and what it needs to do is to pay a large amount of trademark royalties.

For licensees, brand authorization has solved a major problem faced by domestic SMEs for a long time: first, brand awareness. The formation of a strong brand is not achieved overnight. It requires the efforts of its owners for decades or even hundreds of years. However, if it does not become a brand, it will be difficult for the enterprise to survive. Through brand authorization, similar problems can be solved. The second is funding. Brand authorization has greatly reduced advertising expenses and other investment for brand promotion.

Cai Guilin, the general manager of Guangzhou Xiangguaiwang Industrial Co., Ltd., has been engaged in international brand agency business with some Wenzhou villagers since the 1990s, including Sun Xiaofei, who was well-known for his acquisition of Pierre Cardin. In fact, Sun Xiaofei is also the chairman of Xiangguaiwang.

"At that time, several shareholders were all in the mall to pack counters and act as agents for international brands. Hong Kong crocodile T-shirts had a history of nearly 50 years at that time. Several shareholders were more identified with its brand value and signed the general agent of the brand in the mainland by way of brand authorization." Cai Guilin recalled to the reporter of the Clothing Times that, "At the beginning, it was quite hard to operate, and slowly opened the domestic market." After 12 years of hard work, crocodile T-shirts have more than 800 franchise outlets for footwear products in mainland China.

In Cai Guilin's opinion, it is more stable to operate the alligator shirt brand in an authorized way than to create its own brand. "More investment will be made in self created brands. How many successes will there be in truly creating a brand?" Cai Guilin said that what he needs to do now is to refine and refine the outlets of crocodile shirts and shoes. For the sake of long-term consideration, he also withdrew the agency rights of some regional dealers this year.

Since entering the Chinese mainland market in the late 1980s, Hong Kong crocodile T-shirts have successively authorized other categories other than men's clothing to other companies. There are fixed authorized partners in shoes, leather goods, down jackets, cashmere sweaters, underwear, sports series, etc.

Liang Feng, General Manager of Crocodile Shirt Headquarters in Mainland China, believes that the market in Mainland China is vast, and the way of brand authorization can enable brands to fully occupy the market. "Crocodile T-shirts were originally only men's wear products in the Chinese mainland market, so that other categories such as down jackets could launch up to five or six new models in the men's wear counter every season. Most of the major department stores still implemented floor by category, and other categories in the men's wear counter could account for very little market share. After category authorization, all categories of crocodile T-shirts could be fully displayed, and the brand's There is more room for development. "

　　 The key is management

Although many enterprises are optimistic about the development potential of the brand authorization model, the problems exposed over the years are endless.

For example, overlapping brand licensing. Disney Company, which entered the Chinese market more than ten years ago, can only purchase from one licensee due to repeated licensing, which makes each licensee compete and "fight" with each other. For example, the operation of Shanghai Sanqiang market, which operates Disney children's underwear, was relatively unsuccessful. Although the royalty was up to 400000 dollars, the profit was very small and the sales volume was not high, leading to greater difficulties in operation.

Blue Cat is also the problem. In recent years, Blue Cat, a domestic cartoon star, has broken the situation of foreign cartoon dominating the world, but also made the mistake of "spreading the net" with Disney. Not only is it difficult for authorized enterprises to make money, but Blue Cat's own brand has also suffered a heavy blow.

"Every enterprise wants its brand to be advertised, but the authorized party selected for the crocodile shirt must be able to develop in an all-round way in product research and development, production, marketing and other aspects." Liang Feng told the Clothing Times that for the protection of the brand, the headquarters will control product design and production in addition to carefully selecting partners. For example, each product of the licensee shall be approved and reported to the head office in advance; Product pricing should be consistent with brand positioning; Each product has anti-counterfeiting marks.

"Before the authorized products of crocodile shirts are officially ordered for production, the head office will be provided with a product catalog containing product pictures, prices, and materials used. If there is anything inappropriate, we will suggest that it be modified," Liang Feng said.

Many insiders worry that the brand authorization model will over overdraw the brand, while Liang Feng believes that if you find a good partner, you will not encounter this result if you position accurately. "Some manufacturers just want to make 'quick money' and blindly authorize their products, which leads to confusion of product grade. Such disorderly product development without long-term planning is equivalent to consuming the vitality of the brand. However, as long as the management is proper and the cooperation concept is consistent, there will be no problem," Liang Feng said.