How to license your idea to someone Chapter 2

Last year I posted an article about how the Shea brothers, George and Richard created a licensing machine out of a hot dog eating contest. It is a great template for anyone to follow to take their big idea to the global stage. This year on July 4th, I was pleased to see they continue to stoke their meat-munching-licensing machine with plenty of good PR, sports analogies and old fashioned controversy.

For openers, they changed the time of the contest from 12 minutes to 10 minutes. George referenced an old article in the New York Times linked to others to confirm the proper time should be 2 minutes shorter.

Chapter two lessons we can learn from the Shea licensing playbook.

Tip #1 Controversy.

Controversy sells! By making the change half the world will think they did it because their main sponsor Nathan’s does not like it when their product experiences an “unfortunate reversal” by the contestants. The other half of the world might believe they did it to create more ties that result in an overtime. This actually happened this year. A one on one eat-off in overtime means more drama, more minutes and more ad revenues. Controversy makes people want to talk about you even if they do not agree with you.

Tip #2 People love sports.

They flooded us with more sports analogies this year. Constantly telling the viewers you are watching a great sports moment, not a “pound the dogs until you hurl moment.” The more they go into the lives of the contestants, comparisons to the great battles of boxing, hockey, basketball… the more you view this as sports history and less a side show of eating mutants that escaped from the county fair. Advertisers love sports because it makes their product appear healthy.


Tip #3 Same message different platform.

This is licensing on speed. When you can take your brand and push the same message across multiple platforms. Many people just won’t watch this on ESPN. This year they now have a game exclusively on the Wii called, “Major League Eating the game.” They even have eating characters you know and love branded on the game. Think what happened to poker once the licensing guys got a hold of Texas hold ‘em. They have moved it to a global stage and the main poker players have video game deals, clothing and publishing to add to their poker winnings. It does not even matter if the eating game is any good; having a tie in with the Wii gives you something you cannot buy unless you are a very, very wealthy politician. Credibility.

If you missed last year’s blog about the Shea Brothers, here is a republished version. Stay tuned to Chapter 3 next year; I am sure they will have something new to teach us.


The art of great licensing (Post from October 2007)

I must have hot dog on the brain recently. This post however is from my fascination with a twisted sort of sporting event that has really turned into a case study in the ART of great licensing. Every July 4th 50,000 live spectators and myself via sofa, get a big kick out of the world's biggest hot dog eating contest put on by the International Federation of Competitive Eating I.F.O.C.E. I even TIVO'd it this year because I was camping. You are probably thinking "This guy has some kind of eating disorder, or else he only licenses out products that can be gobbled down". I am 6 feet 2 inches, 200 lbs, but I do have a major fascination with the art of creation. Creation is the foundation, the absolute bedrock of great franchising and licensing concepts. The royalties they pay you must be less then the value you create for them, otherwise you have created a value sucking vampire that will implode.

Everything around us had to be created, existing matter reorganized into a new and better purpose. Nothing we see is created out of thin air. In other words, there is no such thing as "immaterial material".

Every invention in this world was created from a previously created one. Everything we see was created by rearranging existing elements in a new and more useful way. Think of the evolution from vacuum tubes, transistors, microprocessors, modern PC, Blackberries we have come along way baby! That is really the evolution of solid science taking previously invented materials and rearranging them in a new and creative way to give more utility to the user and more margin to the inventors. The art of good licensing works the exact same way. Example, back to the Dogs. Hot dogs have been around a long time, contest to see who can eat the most of them probably were invented shortly after the hot dog was invented. In steps the Shea Brothers, who took the existing elements and by an act of promotional alchemy, they created an entire new category to license out, Competitive Eating and all of the ancillary byproducts spun off from that creative core.

A Brief history of the Shea Brothers.

The Shea brothers are two New York PR guys who worked for the original promoter of the Nathan's hot dog contest. That gave the Shea brothers an idea: Why not create a competitive eating league and expand the market to many categories not just one? In the early 1990s, they founded the International Federation of Competitive Eating, housed at their PR firm, Shea Communications.

ATTENTION READERS FREE PRIZE INSIDE!

I am assuming you are a reader of this blog because you have a concept and want to expand the reach or you are an experienced entrepreneur and are tired of working 100 hour weeks and want to know if a better way exists. Do yourself a favor, you must go to their site, consider it a free crash coarse in the art of creative licensing methods. http://www.iforce.com They have built up a major licensing machine by leveraging the insatiable appetite the world has with winners, personal stories, sports, eating and very clever branding. Check out their Federation crest, two lions, eating a hot dog, jousting with offsetting mustard and ketchup bottles! Reading their press you get that sense that they are two very passionate guys about either promotion or competitive eating, I suspect in the beginning it was the former but the passion for the Federation definitely cannot be denied.

All great franchisees have a "Real" quality to them. People are not fools, they can sniff a fake. Fakes blow out they don't last. I suspect the I.F.O.C.E. will be around along time because the concept seems so outrageous but the team behind it is genuine about the brand and the reality of that passion shines through every July 4th for me and apparently I am not alone. The list of corporate sponsors, media outlets, merchandising, and events just seems to have no limits. Dream big readers. Enjoy!

Give me a buzz.

This past week I received a press release about our friends at Play-N-Trade. They had orchestrated a national Guitar Hero contest in 100 of their stores around the country. About 1,000 players competed and the winner received $2,000 dollars in store credit and the bragging rights that they are the best player in the country. It was the largest event ever staged for that type of contest but the real buzz did not cost them anything!

On the day of the contest, Chris Chike made the 2 hour drive to his nearest store to compete. He probably felt very confident that the $2,000 prize would be his before the sun went down that Saturday. Chris happened to be the Guinness World Records champ for Guitar Hero.

This is where PR genius is reveled or as the Chinese have a saying, “the sun even shines on a dog’s butt!” In simple terms, Play-N-Trade knew exactly what they were doing or they got a lucky break. Chris ended up beating his previous Guinness record at the contest! Free ink!!!!

Did the PR team orchestrate Chris showing up or was it a lucky break? It does not matter for us, we can all learn something from this and look like geniuses on our next PR gambit or promotion.

Get in the game.

You can wait forever trying to come up with some cool ideas. You will never win any hands you don’t play. Take a shot! I think the all time leading NHL scorer said it best. (That is hockey for you soccer fans).

“You miss 100% of the shots you never take.”

-Wayne Gretzky

Get creative.

As you plan your next event, think how you can create the most free buzz, not how much you need to spend. I loved the new logo rollout idea for KFC. Make the world’s largest logo in UFO crazy Area 51 and take photos of it from a plane, then tell everyone about it. The Colonel has a roll of cash that would choke Ronald McDonald, he did a very buzz worthy thing however. He thought small in terms of free buzz and not big ad buys. Free buzz is greatly undervalued today. It is the most credible, effective and powerful way to get your message across. Did I also mention that it is free?

“Advertising is a tax you pay for unremarkable thinking.”

-Robert Stephens

Get smart.

I remember Jim Carey saying celebrity awards shows are genius. Invite celebrities to come to the event and receive their award and make a statement. If they do not show up, make sure they appear ungrateful. Think of the check you would need to write to pay for the film talent that shows up for 4 hours at the next Academy Awards. Big check right? Award shows are genius, and so are you.

At your next event, grab a copy of the Guinness World Records and see if someone completed some task that might fit into your next event then give them a call and tell them what you are doing. What local celebrities might have an interest in participating in your promo in exchange for a healthy amount of exposure or PR for their charity or projects? Remember people love to compete and they love to be recognized. Reciprocal exposure for the participants is mother’s milk for a growing company short on cash and long on ideas. If you want another example of this powerful formula at work, read this:

http://franchisewhale.com/2007/10/art-of-great-licensing.html

Buzz on Whale Watchers!

One man’s gag gift is another man’s treasure.

I never have a problem making late night runs for my wife. I have a brother in-law that won’t even be seen in the pharmaceutical isle and forget about the women’s products. I remember he flipped out when his wife asked him to hold her purse for a minute at the movie theater. She told me “he will not even stand by the shopping cart with my purse in it if I am not around!” I have no problems with handbags, so a tampon run for my wife is not a stretch for me. If I had to carry my wife’s purse into the store and check out with tampons while fishing into the purse for some spare change, I may re-think how thick my skin is.

On this night I was going without purse, late night piece of cake. Circle K, not a lot to choose from so they were easy to spot. Pearls, wings…I don’t get the marketing. Also what’s with the colors of the boxes, so bland! Maybe that is because more men than we know are buying these things and they pick the most sedate color to avoid detection. Focus groups are wrong on this one. Monster truck red box or a cutout rookie card would be the real eye grabber. Maybe a coupon embossed on the front for a “Free corn dog with purchase!” In a strange coincidence I found, hanging above the potpourri of women’s necessities, a Du Rag. No pun here, it’s for your hair, men’s hair. Jump out to Franchise Whale to see the photo I took if you don’t believe me.

I had to get it! I know approaching the register with tampons and a Du Rag with a straight face is not easy, especially when the cashier was a female. I grabbed a Slim Jim for some coverage and made my way up. I decided to conduct my own focus group. I was not going to say a word, not a sound and analyze what was going through her mind. We were out of town anyway, the feeling of being a traveler adds some distance to your shame when you take a selection like this to the register with a straight face. Things started out good, jerky scanned and bagged, then the tampons, not a clue on her face. When she got to the Du Rag, she stopped. “They sell these here?” I blurted out, “It’s a gag gift, you always need a good gag gift!” She did not miss a beat, “my son always wears these and he complains that I do not get them to match his pajamas. What colors do they have over there?” And then it hit me.

“One man’s gag gift is another man’s treasure.”

Forget vertical integration, think horizontal baby! What products do you have that could be used for a completely different purpose? I am not talking about a Swiss Army knife solution, I mean something that is totally known for one market that you can rebrand for another. Just make a quick run through your house and you will see what I mean.

• Baking Soda sells more boxes for use in the refrigerator than in the oven.

• Aspirin is now marketed to prevent heart attacks more than I see for headaches.

• How about a floor mop? Repackage it and it is also a perfect mop for washing your truck.

• Clorox is also a water sanitizer. “72 hour emergency kit with water purifier included” Nice margin, someone call Clorox!

Now for the good stuff, to get a better idea about dual use licensing, check out NASA’s site. “Top 20 NASA spin off technologies.” http://www.ip.nasa.gov/ (It’s about half way down the page) they have one machine made by a company in Nevada that can turn urine and sweat into drinking water. Let’s hope things don’t get that bad in the world or your propane tank and shotgun marketing skills will finally become priceless. You can negotiate some great royalty rates if you can come up with a completely different use for an advanced technology. University patent and technology transfer websites are a great place to start. I have experience in this area is you need some help you know where to find me, when I am not doing field research at Circle K. If high tech is not your thing, I am starting a contest, based on my own tampon run analysis. Here is my theory followed by the contest rules to test it.

The Contest:

If I bought my Du Rag to squirrel away for a future gag gift, that would mean I have too many parties or you just cannot find a great gag gift store when you need one right? I have decided that the mall needs a kiosk that just sells gag gifts. The name of the company is “Just Gag Gifts.” The business would be, collect the coolest gag gifts on the planet and rent a mall cart and just sell gag gifts. It would be very easy to test, easy to scale to thousands of locations fast if it hits and with the right domain name, plenty of traffic to the carts. I will supply the hard part, the web domain name. You will supply the brains, capital, labor and creativity, you know the easy part.

Whoever thinks they would like to give it a go, here are the rules:

• Go to justgaggifts.com and enter the reason why you believe you are the most worthy entrepreneur to be the steward over such a valuable web domain.

• Enter by April 1^st

I will select the winner and post the winning entry and transfer the domain to you at Go Daddy on April the first. No fooling, really I will for free! We just want you to give us an update of your venture when you can. If you are interested, go to justgaggifts.com. Please give us your most creative sales pitch on the entry form as to why you should be entrusted with such a great idea. Just think of the pride you will have when you forward this blog to five of your most competitive friends and challenge them to a creative throw down. They will be shamed in front of their global peers as your entry is the winner!

The art of great licensing

I must have hot dog on the brain recently. This post however is from my fascination with a twisted sort of sporting event that has really turned into a case study in the ART of great licensing. Every July 4th 50,000 live spectators and myself via sofa, get a big kick out of the world's biggest hot dog eating contest put on by the International Federation of Competitive Eating I.F.O.C.E. I even TIVO'd it this year because I was camping. You are probably thinking "This guy has some kind of eating disorder, or else he only licenses out products that can be gobbled down". I am 6 feet 2 inches, 200 lbs, but I do have a major fascination with the art of creation. Creation is the foundation, the absolute bedrock of great franchising and licensing concepts. The royalties they pay you must be less then the value you create for them, otherwise you have created a value sucking vampire that will implode.

Everything around us had to be created, existing matter reorganized into a new and better purpose. Nothing we see is created out of thin air. In other words, there is no such thing as "immaterial material".

Every invention in this world was created from a previously created one. Everything we see was created by rearranging existing elements in a new and more useful way. Think of the evolution from vacuum tubes, transistors, microprocessors, modern PC, Blackberries we have come along way baby! That is really the evolution of solid science taking previously invented materials and rearranging them in a new and creative way to give more utility to the user and more margin to the inventors. The art of good licensing works the exact same way. Example, back to the Dogs. Hot dogs have been around a long time, contest to see who can eat the most of them probably were invented shortly after the hot dog was invented. In steps the Shea Brothers, who took the existing elements and by an act of promotional alchemy, they created an entire new category to license out, Competitive Eating and all of the ancillary byproducts spun off from that creative core.

A Brief history of the Shea Brothers

The Shea brothers are two New York PR guys who worked for the original promoter of the Nathan's hot dog contest. That gave the Shea brothers an idea: Why not create a competitive eating league and expand the market to many categories not just one? In the early 1990s, they founded the International Federation of Competitive Eating, housed at their PR firm, Shea Communications.

ATTENTION READERS FREE PRIZE INSIDE!

I am assuming you are a reader of this blog because you have a concept and want to expand the reach or you are an experienced entrepreneur and are tired of working 100 hour weeks and want to know if a better way exists. Do yourself a favor, you must go to their site, consider it a free crash coarse in the art of creative licensing methods. http://www.iforce.com They have built up a major licensing machine by leveraging the insatiable appetite the world has with winners, personal stories, sports, eating and very clever branding. Check out their Federation crest, two lions, eating a hot dog, jousting with offsetting mustard and ketchup bottles! Reading their press you get that sense that they are two very passionate guys about either promotion or competitive eating, I suspect in the beginning it was the former but the passion for the Federation definitely can not be denied.

All great franchisees have a "Real" quality to them. People are not fools, they can sniff a fake. Fakes blow out they don't last. I suspect the I.F.O.C.E. will be around along time because the concept seems so outrageous but the team behind it is genuine about the brand and the reality of that passion shines through every July 4th for me and apparently I am not alone. The list of corporate sponsors, media outlets, merchandising, events just seems to have no limits. Dream big readers. Enjoy!