There was a fair smattering of well-known greeting card faces among the 1,300 people who attended the mega Licensing Awards event that took place on Tuesday (September 10) in the Grand Ballroom at the Grosvenor House Hotel – with UK Greetings and Hallmark among the trophy winners.
Organised and owned by Max Publishing (owners of Progressive Greetings, The Henries and The Retas), the UK Licensing Awards celebrate excellence and innovation in the licensing arena.
UK Greetings triumphed in the Best Paper Products and Stationery category with its Disney Faces collection of cards and wrappings.
Commenting on the win, Ben Whittington, creative director of UKG told PG Buzz: “This was our third time being nominated for this award, but the first time our name was called out as the winner. It was an amazing feeling knowing we’d be taking the trophy back to the studio! It’s a testament to our fantastic partnership with Disney, the iconic nature of their characters and the talent and teamwork of our design team!”
Explaining more about the inspiration for Disney Faces collection – which has also reached the finals in The Henries (in the Best Licensed Range category) – Ben said it was born out of “an ideation initiative” it kicked off last year. “One of our designers hit upon the initial concept and then we pushed it further to incorporate innovative print finishes and added value (such as full out flock and huge googly eyes) that really brought the range to life!”
The other finalists in that category were Disney Reversible Keepsake Range from Hallmark UK; Elf Collection from IG Design Group; I Like Birds Collection from Quadrille Publishing; Love Island Collection from Danilo; Marvel: Avengers Illustration Collection from Moonpig and Stranger Things Collection from Pyramid International.
Hallmark’s trophy that was presented at the Licensing Awards was somewhat of a different ilk. For the first time and for a bit of fun, initiated by Beano Studios, the awards event encompassed the finals of a Funniest Joke in Licensing competition.
Having received hundreds of online submissions, the laugh-o-metre whittled these down to a final four. Celebrated presented Vernon Kay, who hosted the Licensing Awards, read out the three runners up funnies before building to a crescendo with the winning joke – “It’s nice to see Warner Bros has invited both Superman AND Wonder Woman to the Licensing Awards…
How VERY DC…” – which saw Hallmark Cards’ Matt Goodman, the publisher’s head of creative for innovation, humour, properties and licensing proudly make his way to the stage to be presented with the official Beano Studios trophy.
Matt told PG Buzz that is not planning on debuting at the Edinburgh Fringe next year and will be “sticking with the day job!”
Other cardies involved with the Licensing Awards included longtime sponsor Danilo and IG Design Group, which produced plantable Peppa Pig placecards that were impregnated with wild flower seeds.
Card Factory reached the finals in The Radar award for retailers that have ‘come on the radar’ in the last year by upping their licensing activities in the UK.
For more about the Licensing Awards visit PG Buzz’s sister site, LicensingSource.net https://www.licensingsource.net/the-licensing-awards-2019-the-winners/
Top: UKG’s Ben Whittington and Susan Jones.
