Finding licensing deals - do you pay royalties to an agency or go it alone? Licensing existing characters with a proven track record can help your business springboard off the popularity of a well-known IP, but can be expensive and limiting. Creating your own brand mascot character gives you much more flexibility, but requires marketing effort to popularize the character. Here are the pros and cons of each to help you make the right decision:
LICENSING AN EXISTING CHARACTER
Licensing is a business arrangement in which one company gives another company permission to manufacture or utilize its brand mascot, for a specified payment.
PROS
No creation process: Save time, effort and money
Already established customer base and audience.
Clear guidelines about what you can or cannot do with the brand.
Existing artworks you can directly use.
CONS
Need to pay a minimum guarantee plus ongoing royalties
Usage limited by length of contract, geographical regions, types of usage.
Dependency upon approval from the licensor/ Lack of flexibility of usage.
Cannot create new assets easily.
CREATING YOUR OWN MASCOT
PROS
Unlimited possibilities of usages and customization.
All benefits generated by the mascot belong to you.
You can eventually license your own mascot in the future.
No approval required and ease of creating new artworks.
CONS
Takes time and money to build the design, story and universe behind your mascot.
No guarantee your audience will respond to your mascot.
Complexity of introducing a new brand.
Here's a downloadable table from our PDF, "The Ultimate Mascot Marketing Guide for China":
Download the full guide here: http://lp.duhno.com/ultimatemascotsguide