Dallas, Tell Me It Ain't So!

We have just returned from five days in the great nation of Texas, and as much as I enjoy spending time there it is always nice to get back to the jungles of Florida. We covered all the Dallas Market buildings top to bottom, talked to a lot of people, and learned a few things:

- Crowded parking lots and long lines at the ladies rooms do not automatically translate into good orders for the exhibitors.

- Duck Dynasty, the hot license last year, is dead and buried in the gift industry. Fine by me.

- “Me too” design and product lines are everywhere, both at the designer and the manufacturer levels.

- The highly touted and exciting gift industry “recovery” of the last year didn’t happen.

- The Dallas-Ft Worth Metroplex is continuing to grow at an obscene rate and will one day cover the entire planet.

While the Dallas show is not nearly the size of Atlanta, most of the big players have showrooms and the rest are represented somewhere in the buildings, so it’s a good place to get an early read on the market. What we did not expect was the language we kept hearing - evaluate, retrench, slow, reduce exposure, wait and see, soft market - all those words that strike fear into the hearts of designers and agents. Say what? Yes, there has been this elusive uneasiness hanging in the background, it’s a bit quiet but weren’t we all convinced that it had turned around? Of course, it wasn’t all bad news, we did get some business done, saw some of our new product and now have a better focus for the upcoming Atlanta market – but it will be very interesting to see what the consensus is going to be there. 

Hmmm...

Days of Wine and Roses

Someone said to me once, about being rejected, “It’s a lot easier for you guys because you are agents and you really don’t care.” Aw, come on, I’m not THAT mean! While it’s true we have grown some pretty thick skin over the years, we really do care about the art, the concepts and the designers, however to thrive we have learned to put those "no's" behind us and to keep on movin’. It’s a great business to be in but that comment got me thinking about all those other “things” that pop up… the things that are not all wine and roses, like…

(cue the blurry dream sequence)

Trying to explain to our licensee that yes, we had submitted that same design to their competitor, but no, we did NOT give them permission to manufacture something with it…

Reviewing a portfolio that is filled with perfectly presented but awful designs and knowing that 1) they worked their tail off creating it, and 2) then paid somebody to teach them how to present it…

Going back to the artist with yet another change request, or worse, going back to the client with a refusal to change it – all the while knowing that either one is going to kill the project…

Learning that your favorite product director has left a company and is now replaced by one from another company – one who would never give you the time of day…

Having to tell an artist that the client has changed their mind and now they are not going forward, even after the many requested changes….

Explaining that we really do need more new concepts from you even though (actually because) we have not been able to license the ones we already have…

Not having a ready explanation for why, since the other five submissions to this client did not go anywhere, you should submit something new the sixth time…

Not being able to explain why the best license we ever signed for you only paid royalties for one quarter…

Having to end a designer/agency relationship when you really like them as a person but the professional part of the relationship is just not working out…

Seeing the full header on a big client’s Design Call email because they forgot to BCC everyone, and counting 67 competitors… and worse yet, knowing that they send those emails out in batches so there are actually many more…

Looking at the trade show invoice and wondering how 35.00 a square foot is now 50.00 a square foot, and also wondering if you actually get any ROI from it…

Looking at every design you see through Licensing Goggles – which can really take some of the fun out of art fairs, galleries, others people’s walls and shopping...

 These are just a few of the situations that tend to make us squirm - but I’m not whining here, just giving you a peek over the neighbor’s fence at the dandelions. Every biz has it’s up and down moments, however, when all is said product licensing is a career with lots of rewarding moments - regardless of which side of the fence you are on.

Just don't ask me to make two of these calls in a row!