From global entertainment brands to heritage institutions, here’s who we work with and what they say about us.
Licensors, agents, licensees, producers, publishers and charities, from global entertainment brands to heritage institutions.
Licensors, agents, publishers and the trade press on what it’s like to work with the herd.
Industry insight · 16 January 2026 · Vaughan O’Grady
Toy Fair is a reminder that, as licensing moves into experiential and online formats, traditional toys still have a strong market.
Much as we’d like to offer our clients, colleagues and friends warm wishes for the coming year and a quick summary of what we all got up to in the holiday period, there really isn’t time.
Between awards entries, new product launches and important licensing deals, we, like the rest of the licensing industry, are already dealing with a very busy 2026.
And there’s also the small matter of Toy Fair in Olympia next week. Not only will Kilogrammedia be there to wish all the best to our client the Puppet Company, celebrating its 25th anniversary in the business – and a lot of launches – at the show, but we’ll be checking out some of the licensed product inspired by brands we work with or enabled by agencies whose work we publicise.
But this year’s edition of the UK’s largest dedicated toy, game and hobby trade show isn’t just a useful chance to catch up with our business partners. It’s a reminder that amid the continuing (and welcome) diversification of licensing into experiential, virtual and online formats and concepts, there’s still a strong market for board games, playing cards, plush or wooden toys and any number of other traditional items.
Technology will, of course, make these toys smarter or connect them to apps, mobile phones, tablets or computers, but the continuing market for familiar physical toys, be they cuddly, throwable or board-shaped, is a reminder that a fast-changing market still has a lot of room for products that haven’t changed much – sometimes for hundreds of years.
There will of course be adjustments over time to the target market for such products – be they traditional, new or in-between. The very young are still a significant demographic but the growing importance of tweens, teens and young adults (and the rest of us who may be slightly older) is changing toys and the toy market in some subtle and not-so-subtle ways already.
As visitors to Toy Fair will no doubt discover. And, as we promised earlier in this blog, Kilogrammedia will be there too in the form of Managing Director Sam Murray and Account Manager Sian Dorrington.
Sam (pictured below with a friend at last year’s show) and Sian will be attending on Tuesday and Wednesday, so if you spot them, say hello – or just get in touch for an onsite meeting.
Sam with a friend at last year’s Toy Fair.
Industry insight · 25 November 2025 · Sam Murray
Sam reports from the Products of Change conference on sustainability in licensing, brand, product and retail.
While some people were getting ready to set off rockets and light bonfires on the fifth of November, I was at a conference where other ways of managing materials were being discussed: the Products of Change Conference on Sustainability in Licensing, Brand, Product & Retail.
With a speaker line-up that ranged from representatives of the UN and OpenPlanet (co-producer of ‘Ocean’ with David Attenborough) to Lego, Mintel and ZSL, it was a thought-provoking and often inspiring event that reminded everyone that being conscious of sustainability is not just an optional extra for retail and licensing these days.
But, having thought about the conference and its many excellent presentations over the past ten days, I’m more than ever aware that sustainability is also not just about doing the right thing. It’s about doing the regulatory thing.
Just as safety was built into toys and products by law over the years, so packaging and design will increasingly need to take into account environmental issues being built into many legal frameworks.
However, these considerations have been part of the licensing scene longer than you might think. The rise of heritage brands, especially those with charitable or environmental links, like our own client, the Royal Horticultural Society, brought with it a rise in properties whose USP was intimately associated with the environment – and a built-in expectation that sustainability would be a strong part of its licensing programme.
Today, of course, that expectation is extending to most brands and products – leading to less packaging, more recycled or reused materials, and production methods that try to use sustainable or renewable power sources – often, it should be said, with a positive effect on expenditure.
In fact many brands have realised that the pursuit of sustainability is not just about being seen to do the right thing; it can also save money.
All of which is why, in my view, it’s so useful to swap ideas and be aware of trends – and why the Products of Change Conference is a valuable contribution to this process. I’ll certainly be there next year, possibly dodging falling paper rockets on the way home. I do hope they’re compostable.
Client news
The company that brings world-famous characters like Peppa Pig, Bluey and the PAW Patrol team to family attractions, festivals and events around the world is honoured for its success in international trade.
Ever wondered who supplies the costumes and performers for special appearances by The Gruffalo, Minions or Teletubbies? And who designed your football team’s match day mascot?
Chances are it’s Rainbow Productions, a UK company known around the world for manufacturing bespoke mascot costumes and organising the appearances of world-famous children’s characters at live events.
That leadership has now been recognised by royalty. Rainbow Productions is the recipient of the King’s Award for Enterprise: International Trade 2025.
The King’s Awards for Enterprise, previously known as The Queen’s Awards for Enterprise, were renamed in 2023 to reflect His Majesty The King’s desire to continue the legacy of HM Queen Elizabeth II by recognising outstanding UK businesses.
Personally approved by His Majesty The King, Rainbow Productions won its Award in recognition of its international trade success, in particular its outstanding short-term growth in overseas sales over the past three years. It has added thirteen new markets since 2022, and its overseas sales have grown by 106%.
From its specialist facilities headquartered in southwest London, the company now operates in an incredible 65 countries.
Nowadays mascots are ubiquitous and an intrinsic part of the visual marketing mix, and Rainbow was well ahead of the curve when it first addressed this market 40 years ago. Today it is unique in offering a complete mascot manufacture, wardrobe and costume character events management service, and is the first choice of many brand owners to bring their characters to live events.
Pingu, one of the costume characters Rainbow brings to live events.
The company annually produces over 1,000 unique, hand-made costume character mascots for the TV, film, sports, brand and leisure industries throughout the world.
A brief list includes mascots for major international football teams like Juventus and Barcelona; brand characters for Kellogg’s and Mondelez; character appearances for worldwide film premieres like Sonic the Hedgehog™ and Paddington™; and costume characters for globally recognised attractions including Peppa Pig World, Alton Towers Resort and LEGOLAND® Resorts worldwide.
Its latest export success is supplying costume characters for COTALAND, a brand-new theme park located alongside North America’s only permanent Formula 1 racetrack in Orlando, Florida.
Supplying character costumes may sound straightforward, but it’s not. The scale of Rainbow Productions’ operation is formidable. Rainbow operates from four purpose-designed units and employs over 30 full-time members of staff and 90 freelance makers. It also supplies approximately 250 mascot artistes, all skilfully trained to physicalise the emotions and characteristics of any given character.
Rainbow is continually investing in new technology such as 3D printers and digital patterning, as well as hiring and training the creative and highly skilled staff that have helped the company maintain a long-term global competitive edge.
This dedication to quality and detail has given Rainbow a major international presence and an important role in numerous world-famous attractions and spectacular events such as the Queen’s Jubilee Pageant Parade and the Olympic Games Opening and Closing Ceremonies. Most recently the company became the Global Licensee for Hasbro, making Rainbow Productions the sole Peppa Pig costume character manufacturer for all territories worldwide.
Rainbow Productions is thrilled that its work has been recognised. Managing Director Simon Foulkes comments:
“A Rainbow mascot is widely regarded as the gold standard within the industry and the company prides itself on putting innovation, quality and sustainability at the heart of each and every project.”
He adds: “The King’s Awards for Enterprise are the most prestigious business awards in the UK. This award provides Rainbow with a global competitive acknowledgement that will allow the company to boost UK business and remain at the forefront of worldwide costume character industry.”
Industry insight · Greeting cards
Why greeting card awards like the Henries and the Louies matter for creative talent, and for licensing.
With so much design going virtual and onscreen, it’s nice to know that greeting cards, one of the most popular design styles and a bedrock category of licensing, are still going strong – and attracting a vast and diverse group of creative talents, from the giants of the high street to talented artists working in the proverbial shed in the back garden.
How do we know this? Henry and Louie told us. More precisely, we mean the Henry Awards for greeting card publishing from Progressive Greetings Worldwide magazine and the Louie awards given out by the US Greeting Card Association.
In case you wondered, the Henries are named after Sir Henry Cole, who introduced the first commercially produced Christmas card in 1843, and the Louies after Louis Prang, who is credited with the birth of the US Christmas card in the 1870s.
Both events are going strong after many years. Indeed the diversity of entrants, categories and styles is mind-boggling. Apparently the Henries alone can claim to attract 14,000 cards a year.
Importantly, however, both ceremonies give businesses of all sizes a chance to be in the spotlight. Recent award-winners include names you may know such as Lucy Loves Paper, Allyson Wilson, Fine Moments, Jesuso Ortiz and Stormy Knight.
All these stars of greeting card design have also been supported by our friends at art licensing and design company The London Studio, whose backing has helped some of these award winners to aim for category expansion into giftware and stationery – and sometimes beyond, either as licensed design brands in their own right, or as partners with charities, major publishers and heritage brands.
But the exposure both the Henries and the Louies have over the years given to these talented creatives is undeniable – and, for some, publicity they could not otherwise afford.
So when you wonder whether yet another awards ceremony is worth it, remember for some companies it could be the difference between a shed in a garden and a deal with a major publisher or retail outlet. After all even Purple Ronnie had to start somewhere.
Industry insight · Brand Licensing Europe
Technology is making its presence felt in licensing, yet heritage brands and traditional products still thrive.
As BLE slowly recedes into the background, quite a few of us are already gearing up for Spring Fair, Toy Fair, Bologna, KidScreen, MIPTV and, only a little over half a year away, Vegas, not to mention more focused shows for homeware, gardening, sport, food and drink, and much more.
But it’s still worth looking back – it’s only been a matter of weeks after all – to what was a lively BLE, one that had shrugged off the post-Covid hangover to regain the bounce and confidence we expect of Europe’s biggest licensing event.
For Kilogrammedia in particular it was a very successful show – which at least partly makes up for the sad fact that we were attending our first BLE without our late founder Jane Garner.
In many ways, of course, it was the show it always has been, highlighting brands from entertainment, design, heritage and more, promoting licensing in plush, perfumes, games and many, many other categories.
But technology is also making its presence felt: through downloads and apps of course, but also via augmented reality (AR), virtual reality (VR) and artificial intelligence (AI), to name just a few of the trends generating a buzz at BLE – and pretty much everywhere else.
And this trend will accelerate. Look out, in the coming years, for the influence on licensing of existing or expected advances like real-time, high-speed mobile gaming, instant translation, AI assistants, tailored messaging for live concerts and sports events, and smart manufacturing in a world where connectivity drives everything.
And yet… people still enjoy jigsaw puzzles and card games. They still buy fragrances, outdoor seating and tea towels. And they still love brands that aren’t ultra-modern and technology-specific, notably heritage brands, like the V&A, London Zoo and (our own client) the RHS.
And they will continue to love them – for a very long time to come. However, even these brands will benefit from the opportunities technology will offer in the coming years to extend their reach in a world where almost everyone is carrying or using devices more sophisticated than could be imagined a few decades ago.
In other words, whatever your brand area, it pays to keep up with the changing technology landscape. After all, a property owner may one day ask you, especially if you’re an agent, a licensee or even a licensing PR company, a question like: “Now that we can access live streaming with enhanced uplink capacity, how could this benefit our brand?”
If that happened, it would certainly help if you understood what “enhanced uplink capacity” actually means…
