Born Licensing Celebrates 8th Birthday with Expanded Roster of A-List Fictional Characters

What do Rocky, Barbie, Spock, and the Cookie Monster all have in common? They’re all represented by Born Licensing, the only agency in the world to focus solely on licensing premium entertainment IP for use in advertising. 

This year Born Licensing is celebrating its 8th birthday by expanding its already impressive roster of entertainment IP with a new raft of globally recognised properties. 

The unique agency which specialises in licensing characters, clips, and entertainment IP for advertising and marketing campaigns has just been appointed licensing agent for The Smurfs, Penguin Ventures (PETER RABBIT; THE SNOWMAN; FUN WITH SPOT and FLOWER FAIRIES), Zag (Miraculous: Tales of Ladybug & Cat Noir), and Atari (Asteroids, Breakout, Missile Command). 

Born Licensing is already the appointed licensing agent for some of the biggest entertainment studios in the world including Paramount Pictures (Top Gun, The Godfather, Mean Girls, Clueless), MGM (Rocky, Thelma & Louise, RoboCop), Universal Studios (Back to the Future, Jurassic Park, Minions), Nickelodeon (Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, SpongeBob SquarePants, Beavis & Butt-Head), CBS (Star Trek, Cheers, Twin Peaks), Hasbro (TRANSFORMERS, Peppa Pig, G.I. Joe), Mattel (Masters of the Universe, Barbie, Bob the Builder), TETRIS, and Care Bears. 

Born Licensing director David Born said: “We pride ourselves on being the bridge between the advertising world and the entertainment licensing world, so we’re excited to add these globally recognised characters and IP to our roster. As we continue to broaden our focus to new markets, it’s critically important that we are representing properties that have global appeal. We can’t wait to see how creatives will incorporate our growing roster of iconic film and TV characters into their upcoming campaigns.”

Born Licensing has a unique representation model that sets it apart from typical rights clearance firms. 

Their representation agreements with leading studios and Rights Holders mean that advertising agencies can enlist Born Licensing services to secure a character or clip license without having to pay them any clearance fees. As well as the financial benefit, Born Licensing provides an efficient end-to-end licensing service which absorbs the resource-heavy approval process that can come with licensing entertainment IP. Other responsibilities include providing research and development, managing commercial negotiations, providing contract guidance including renewals, and all other elements related to the licensing process. 

Outside of their roster Born Licensing also work regularly with all of the major studios and Rights Holders in the entertainment world including Disney (such as their Barclaycard campaign with The Muppets) and Warner Bros. (such as their campaign for Uber which licensed Scooby-Doo’s Mystery Machine). Their strong relationships with Rights Holders from all over the world make them a one-stop shop for all entertainment IP. 

2022 has been an especially strong year for Born Licensing having worked on several major advertising campaigns. In April they celebrated the launch of UK insurance firm Direct Line’s blockbuster Optimus Prime campaign by Saatchi & Saatchi, followed just months later by a follow-up campaign starring Marvel Studios' King Valkyrie. Their most recent work launched in August in the US, with Mr. Krabs from SpongeBob SquarePants starring in Envestnet’s latest advertising campaign by HeyLetsGo. Other noticeable work includes MoneySuperMarket’s viral campaign featuring He-Man and Skeletor from Masters of the Universe by Mother London, Facebook’s first Super Bowl spot featuring Rocky by Wieden+Kennedy, and GEICO’s campaign starring Angry Birds by The Martin Agency.