The event, which is celebrating its 21st anniversary, takes place from 1-3 October 2019 at ExCeL London. Visitor registration is open now at www.brandlicensing.eu.
Retailers will be treated to: New daily breakfast briefings. Held between 8am-9am at The Bridge restaurant within ExCeL, retailers can tuck into a complimentary breakfast and learn about that day's highlights while the BLE team will be on hand to answer questions and queries.
New Retail Trends Lounge: Retailers will have exclusive access to the lounge to hold meetings, catch up with colleagues or just take a breather and enjoy free refreshments. The Retail Trends Lounge will feature a brand-new theatre with content designed specifically and solely for retailers.
New Trends Programme: Featuring five sessions over three days delivered by four of BLE's partners Trend Bible, IMRG, GfK and The Insights People the programme ties into themes and activations at BLE 2019.
Tuesday 1 October, 1100-1145 & Wednesday 2 October, 1515-1600: Why Trends Matter for Licensing Speakers: Joanna Feeley, founder & CEO, and Lauren Zayya, senior trend strategist, Trend Bible
Tuesday 1 October, 1400-1500: The Future of Retail: The impact of eCommerce and tech on the high streetSpeaker: Andy Mulcahy, strategy and insight director, IMRG
Wednesday 2 October, 1330-1440: SVOD and its impact on consumer behaviourSpeaker: Sam Tuck, Associate Director
Thursday 3 October, 1045-1115: Social Shopping and the rise of In Experience PurchaseSpeaker: Nick Richardson, CEO, The Insights People
IMRG's Andy Mulcahy commented: I'm excited to be showcasing the unique insight IMRG provides and talking to retailers about how to identify when buzz and hype evolve into genuine customer demand, easy-win improvements to a website that aren't dependent on expensive new technologies and how to know which new tech to invest in.
New exclusive group tours: retailers are invited to join a group tour of BLE's new Gaming and eSports Activation led by co-creator PowerStation Studios.
VIP Matchmaking Service: BLE's Matchmaking Service ensures retailers not only get in front of the leading brands they've always wanted to meet, but that they receive help to identify and reach out to those brands from an experienced and knowledgeable concierge team.
Retailers are also invited to arrange one-to-one meetings with BLE's 2019 knowledge partners through the service.
Retail Mentoring Programme: Some 68 buyers from 21 retailers are taking part in this year's programme, designed and managed by BLE. New delegates for 2019 include Moonpig, Amazon, Next and Cool Clobber.
Moonpig licensing executive Vikki Connor said: The BLE retail mentoring programme helps nurture new talent within the industry and introduces them to a career they may not have had much knowledge about. I started licensing later in my career and it is an industry I wish I had known more about and got into earlier. I love the work and the people and find it very rewarding as a career.
The number of retailer visitors attending BLE last year rose by an incredible 24 per cent and our investment to not only bring even more retailers to the show this year but increase the number of overseas retailers coming to London, continues in earnest, commented BLE event director Anna Knight.
BLE is a big show with a lot of content. Retailers have told us that they value the screenings, meetings and knowledge sessions, but they find it difficult to squeeze everything in and still have time to walk the floor, so we have purposefully left 90 minutes between each screening, and made the Retail Trends sessions bite-sized. As a result, this new programme will help retailers cut through the noise and focus on what's exactly right for them. The Trends Programme will deliver valuable and practical insight into consumer trends and forecasting, and the networking events will facilitate knowledge-sharing with peers.
BLE 2019 takes place at ExCeL London from 1-3 October 2019. Register for free at www.brandlicensing.eu/register
