Born Licensing Wins at the 2018 International Licensing Awards

Born Licensing has scooped an award for ‘Best Licensed Promotion’ at the 2018 International Licensing Awards!

The ‘Best Licensed Promotion’ was awarded for the Moneysupermarket advertising campaigns in the UK which starred He-Man and Skeletor, one of which paid homage to iconic film Dirty Dancing. Born Licensing’s owner and Director David Born accepted the award on behalf of all parties, including Licensors Mattel and Lionsgate.

The awards, hosted by The International Licensing Industry Merchandisers’ Association, honoured the best licensed products and programs from around the globe.

“This was an outstanding year for the LIMA Awards program. Not only did we receive a record 700 submissions, but 42 percent of the nominees originated from outside the US,” says Charles Riotto, president, LIMA. “Tonight’s winners truly exemplify the very best of our global industry. They are innovative leaders in their respective categories and across the licensing landscape.”

The winning MoneySupermarket.com campaign launched with ‘Epic Skeletor’ in March, with Skeletor dancing in the street to Irena Cara’s ‘Fame’.

The campaign was so successful that the team reunited to take things to the next level, with He-Man and Skeletor paying homage to Dirty Dancing with ‘Epic Lift’.

The campaigns were a huge hit with consumers as well as the advertising and licensing industries. It sent social media into a frenzy, with #EpicSkeletor and #MoneySuperMarket trending across the country. Mentions of MoneySupermarket.com went from 100 tweets a day to 35,000 an hour, and MoneySuperMarket’s revenue increased by 6%. Both campaigns were voted Ad of the Day and Ad of the Week in a range of ad industry publications and was in the top 2% of the most engaging advertising campaigns in history according to Millward Brown.

The ‘Best Licensed Promotion’ category was bursting with heavy competition:

• Angry Birds Debit Card at China Merchandise Bank-  Rovio (Shanghai) Commerce and Trading Co., Ltd.
• Masters of the Universe and Dirty Dancing – Mattel and Lionsgate / Born Licensing
• Murder on the Orient Express & Godiva – Twentieth Century Fox Licensing & Merchandising / Sinerji Reklam Danismanlik Pazarlama Ve Dis Ticaret Ltd.Sti.
• Octonauts Swimming Programme Silvergate Media
• The Lapins Crétins (Raving Rabbids) / Carrefour  Ubisoft / CPLG France
• Paramount Pictures’ “Transformers: The Last Knight” in Partnership with Coca-Cola China Paramount Pictures & Coca-Cola China