Brand Licensing Europe is the only pan-European event dedicated to licensing and brand extension, bringing together more than 280 leading brand owners with over 7,500 retailers, licensees and manufacturers for three days of deal-making, networking and trend spotting. Now celebrating its 20th anniversary, BLE (alongside Licensing Expo Las Vegas) is the must-attend event for anyone looking to discover and secure deals with the hottest brands, characters and images available for licensing.

This year’s show took place on 9-11 October at Olympia London, and in this article we will look at our highlights from Brand Licensing Europe 2018.

Moomin

Up first: the beautiful Moomin booth. It’s a lovely stand all round but the highlight has to be that ceiling – the cutouts gave a really gorgeous effect and when the sun was shining brightly at Olympia it looked amazing.

Sanrio

The Sanrio booth backdrop was a veritable smorgasbord of colour and characters that surrounded the open meeting space to create a warm, welcoming environment. We won’t lie though: the absolute highlight was the mad Hello Kitty photo wall!

Mattel

Mattel‘s stand at Licensing Expo, while a colossus, was actually quite industrial, but what they went for at BLE couldn’t have been any different. Bright, colourful and spacious, the design – particularly around Barbie – felt really modern. And we really liked the Mattel logo entrance tunnel – as often with the best creative, simple but incredibly effective.

Bandai Namco

Bandai Namco‘s most famous property is (and probably always will be) PAC-MAN, so why not make that your meeting room? Super eye-catching and literally stops everybody in their tracks as they walk by.

Warner Bros


Warner Bros have so much IP that it can be a challenge to cram everything in, but their booth this year was gorgeous. Clean and bright, it included a Harry Potter photo spot and two Friends-style Central Perk coffee areas.

Juventus FC

In a show that boasted half a dozen football brands, Juventus made sure they put the ball firmly in the back of the net with a really quality build, the highlight of which was the open football-styled meeting room.

Rainbow

The Rainbow booth works as a great centrepiece for both show and brand; there’s something incredibly apt about a magical-looking castle at BLE!

Beano

If you grew up with the Beano you might be surprised at how the brand has evolved so much, visually, in recent years, and Beano Studios have really been smashing (gnashing?) it out of the park lately. Their stand at BLE was fresh and vibrant, making great use of colour and had a real life to it.

Sony Playstation

There’s no missing the PlayStation controller symbols on Sony’s attractive stand. But do you know what they mean? The circle and cross are “yes” and “no”, the triangle symbolises a point of view and the square represents a sheet of paper (for menus)!

Really there are so many wonderful booths at Brand Licensing Europe this list could keep on going and going and going. So see below for a gallery of other favourites from the show!

If you are interested in how Identity can assist you at your next live event, please contact us today on telephone number 01323 469111 or by email to letstalk@identitygroup.co.uk.