UK: Transport for London has signed a five-year deal for TSBA Group to manage its international brand licensing programme in return for a percentage of royalties from licensing deals that it negotiates.
The TfL licensing programme is to be formally launched at Licensing Expo in Las Vegas on May 23-25. This will showcase a ‘creative and design direction’ for fashion, homewares, publishing, toys, games and giftware.
TfL’s Head of Intellectual Property Development, David Ellis, said the partnership would provide ‘the expertise to realign and expand our licensing programme and keep pace with the global market to generate new revenue to reinvest in transport.’
‘TfL has a fantastic design heritage, with instantly recognisable and loved logos, art and vehicles’, said TSBA Chief Executive Ian Mallalue when the deal was announced on May 2. ‘These amazing pieces of design such as the London Underground roundel, map, Routemaster bus and Johnston font touch every part of Britain’s capital, and are intertwined with its rich history and exciting future. This incredible familiarity, love and iconic status provides us with an opportunity to present London to the world using world-class British design.’
He said TfL had ‘already done a fantastic job in building a beautiful, design-led, licensing collection’, and TSBA looked forward to growing the brand in areas such as apparel and homewares ‘while maximising opportunities abroad.’
