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Characters and brands - big business in Japan

The consumer product licensing market in Japan is huge. Understand how your company could win business in this industry.

Characters and brands - big business in Japan

Brand Britain is very strong in Japan and can be seen everywhere. UK products as well as characters are well sought after and highly regarded in the Japanese market. This industry is one of the biggest and most diverse for the licensing of brands and characters in the area of consumer products.

UK brands with a strong presence in Japan include:

  • Dunlop
  • Ladybird
  • Berghaus

Characters play a hugely important role in Japan and are often adopted as mascots or icons to increase the popularity and recognition of products. With the rapid development of mobile apps such as LINE, the main communication platform used in Japan, licensing of characters to create ‘stamps’ has exploded.

Popular British characters in the Japanese market include:

  • Thomas the Tank Engine
  • Peter Rabbit
  • Shaun the Sheep
  • Paddington Bear

Understand the market

Our recorded webinar will guide participants through this fascinating market. It provides practical advice and insight for UK brand owners/licencors and consumer product manufacturers/licensees considering entering Japan or expanding their business here.

You can gain business knowledge of:

  • the Japanese licensing market
  • examples of existing promotions using characters
  • examples of British brands in the market
  • the top licensing trends and retailers in Japan
  • the influence of Japanese media in this market
  • legal frameworks including copyright and trademark
  • top pointers for market entry

Watch our video to take your next steps towards doing business in Japan.

Preview: Japanese Consumer Product Licensing Market Webinar

About our speaker

Roger Berman, President of ZenWorks Co., Ltd., has been active in Japanese, East Asian and international licensing for over 25 years.

His brand development and management experience is wide-ranging, covering property categories such as sports, fashion and lifestyle brands (Karrimor, Dunlop, Slazenger, Dakar Rally), classic character properties (Peter Rabbit, Paddington Bear, Eric Carle), artists and illustrators (Norman Rockwell, Kagaya), and corporate trademarks (Kelloggs, Kikkoman, Royal Doulton).

Next steps

Watch the full webinar to understand how your company could engage in the consumer product licensing market in Japan.

Contact the UKTI Japan team for further advice and support on doing business in Japan.

Published 25 June 2015