More consumers than ever before are making an effort to buy greener, healthier, ethically sourced and more environmentally sustainable products, which is great.

Sustainability is a huge priority for me personally, as well as BBC Studios as a business, and I believe the licensing industry must work together to identify more ways to make a positive impact. We as an industry need to ensure we adopt a deliberate and ambitious approach toward forging a sustainable future for our consumers by coming together to help bring more eco-friendly products to market. Climate change isn’t going away and SILC is launching at a crucial time. I think the conference will be a great platform for industry members to learn more, share best practice and collaborate on solutions that can help enable companies work towards producing more sustainable products.
https://www.bbcstudios.com

https://www.warnerbros.com/

  MDR Brand Management is the first brand management business to be launched by a leading law firm in the UK, and the fourth non-legal business within The Mishcon De Reya Group, sitting alongside MDR Cyber, MDR Discover and Mayfair Private.

It was created in 2018 to address the growing complexity that brand owners face in the global marketplace, and to deliver a unique brand of brand management. It is boutique and recognises that there has never been more overlap between creative, commercial, regulatory, digital and the law.   MDR Brand Management highly supports projects with a truly sustainable vision. Working closely with environmentally friendly brand owners and properties, MDR aims to create ethical licensed products and develop brand extension programmes, with a commitment to the environment, something that is becoming more important by the day.   Sustainability is at the forefront of several of MDR’s ventures, including the recently launched canned water brand, PURENorway Water, which is responsibly produced and packaged in recyclable aluminium cans. MDR has also been appointed to represent a classic, unique, and eco-friendly family of characters which will soon be relaunched in the UK. Given the challenges our planet is facing today, it is the perfect time to revive a positive message about how we can make a difference through simple actions.   For more information about MDR Brand Management, please click here:
https://mdrbrand.com

We are facing a planetary emergency. Our future depends on the natural world, but we are not combating our own destructive impact on the planet. Understanding life on Earth is the greatest scientific challenge of our age.

We cannot hope to develop solutions without research that unlocks the underlying biology and applied science. Alongside the science, all of us need hope: hope that there is a future where both people and the planet thrive. Building and spreading this hope through evidence and action will be the foundation of the Museum’s strategy in the coming decade. In today's challenging times, we will create advocates for the planet: individuals who feel sufficiently informed, confident and motivated to make wise decisions, to get involved, and to use their influence and actions to make a positive difference to the global future. To achieve this, we will harness our collection, our research and our reach. Alongside our ambitious outward reaching targets, we are also looking inwards, challenging ourselves to create a more resilient and sustainable organisation, one that strives towards financial and environmental sustainability. This vision is mirrored in our approach to the Museum’s licensing programme, creating meaningful products in a responsible way that encourage a shared respect for the natural world.
https://www.nhm.ac.uk/

Sustainability and ESG at ViacomCBS

ViacomCBS is committed to building sustainability and corporate responsibility into the way we do business. We actively use sustainability as a lens to evaluate our most material impacts with the goal of becoming one of the most environmentally and socially responsible media company globally. We identify, measure, and map our environmental, social, and governance (ESG) impacts across our global operations, and have a team dedicated to driving our ESG and sustainability strategy forward. We are working to manage and report our material impacts and transparently address them with our stakeholders. We believe this work strengthens our ability to innovate and better serve our partners, audiences, and shareholders. Transparency is a value inherent to our sustainability strategy: we are working to understand, and make public, our greatest risks and opportunities as we continue to grow, looking at everything from our consumer products’ supply chains, to the content we produce for our networks, to the footprint of our television and movie productions across the globe. From our LEED®-Certified headquarters building in New York City, to our companywide diversity and inclusion initiatives, to our commitment to strong corporate governance practices, we will continue to manage the impact of our economic, environmental, and social value across our brands and businesses.

http://www.hasbro.com

Character World have been working on an important project over the last 12 months focusing on how as a business they can be more sustainable. Their plan is clear, simple and concise but it is a journey. Instead of focusing on individual elements, Character World have taken a holistic approach to sustainability throughout the entire business.

This holistic approach covers everything from using more sustainable and recyclable materials in their product, packaging and shipping cartons to the post-consumer care through their partnership with WRAP. Character World have also joined OPRL (On-Pack Recycling Label) scheme enabling more consumers to recycle more material correctly, more often. Sustainability is at the forefront of Character World’s future plans with everything from new innovations to being vigilant about new processes and techniques being developed in production capabilities. Danny Schweiger, Joint Managing Director: “It would have been easy to just look at a single product, but we wanted to do something meaningful and impactful throughout the business. We can’t do this on our own, we are working with retailers, licensors and factories to tackle sustainability. We have clear and ambitious plans for the future. We firmly believe a good night’s sleep shouldn’t cost the earth.” For more information please visit https://www.characterworld.com/index.php/wecare/
https://www.characterworld.com

At TDP our approach to sustainability has seen work across many areas. Our commitment is to make changes wherever and whenever possible, in order to achieve our goals, not just for headlines but for the right reasons. In manufacturing, our plant in India has its own water treatment facility and at the start of this year we made the investment in renewable energy. This work was completed in the Spring and we are now 100% solar powered at our facility in Tamil Nadu. In 2019 we appointed a Director of Corporate, Social Responsibility, part of whose brief is to continually monitor working conditions and achieve best practice so our staff and the community they work within, are well treated and kept safe. We are committed to continually improve our own packaging solutions, to use recycled materials, be recyclable and drive out waste at every opportunity. Real change will only be achieved through collaboration and we call upon all partners to embrace and activate the vital changes needed.
https://www.tdptextiles.com

According to the UN, we have just 10 years to save our planet from disastrous climate change. Our world requires urgent action, and consumers are rightfully demanding that businesses become part of the solution. As a progressive, innovative industry, we know that licensing can make a difference.

That's why Brandgenuity is delighted to support SILC in its inaugural year. We're excited to bring best practices in sustainability to our clients, and to work with our colleagues to reduce the environmental footprint of our industry.
https://brandgenuity.com

Boutique bedding specialist Dreamtex Ltd demonstrated its commitment to sustainability when it partnered with National Geographic in 2019 to launch a recycled bedding collection in support of the iconic brand’s ‘Planet or Plastic?’ mission.

In this innovative market-first, Dreamtex worked with Repreve®, the leading performance fibre made from recycled plastic bottles, to apply National Geographic designs across its bedlinen range and introduce this unique, ethical material exclusively into the UK market. Up to 12 recycled bottles are used to make a single duvet and up to 18 to make a double, plus, in a move to be even more environmentally responsible, the product is sold in recycled packaging with no polythene bags. The response from retailers, media and consumers to the beautiful “Save Our Oceans” inspired bedding has been phenomenal and more National Geographic designs will be launched this year. Dreamtex is proud to be supporting SILC and raising awareness of eco-friendly materials in the manufacture of home textiles and is excitedly looking forward to extending the Repreve® product to other licenses in the near future, including current collaborations with Life Magazine, BBC Earth and in the longer term popular children’s bedding collections such as L.O.L. Surprise! and PJ Masks.
http://www.dreamtexltd.com

https://www.amscan.co.uk/

GB eye is delighted to be an official supporter of the very first Sustainability in Licensing conference, helping to raise awareness and encourage change within such a diverse industry. Our sustainability journey started in 2019 when we began work towards the whole company becoming zero to landfill, we achieved this in 2020 and it was the first step on a very long road. Since then we have solidified three key areas within our strategy; sustainable, ethical and conscious. Ethical working practices have been at the heart of everything we do for a very long time so this is a natural progression for us, our focus now is to ensure our products and processes are sustainable and we deliver what the conscious consumer requires. A key aim is to use local suppliers and in-house manufacturing to reduce the reliance on overseas supply however we understand the need to have a balance of products to meets the demands of a fast moving industry, so ensuring imported products meet our sustainability criteria is essential to making this work but there is so much more. Our latest product launches include environmentally friendly drinks bottles and tote bags featuring some of the biggest and most popular brands. They are all ethically sourced and printed within our local area, fully recyclable and with minimal packaging this range has been incredibly well received. Nicola Hallam, head of product at GB eye. “The eco-range has been a core focus for us throughout 2020, as we continue to look at ways in which to reduce our carbon impact on the environment, Expanding our product ranges to include more sustainable products is the first step in exploring new ways to better protect the world around us. We look forward to adding to the collection in 2021 with further internationally recognised licensed names.” Considering everything from product design and packaging to green energy and recycling is a challenge, but its one we are ready for. We have received great support from licensors, customers and business partners and look forward to a sustainable future.
http://www.gbeye.com

The Insights Family

Across the world, children’s voices throughout society are becoming stronger and more relevant. Children’s influence on their parents and brands continues to grow every day. Understanding what attitudes kids hold and how these affect their purchasing decisions is critical for all brands and organisations. Our latest data shows that the environment continues to be a core issue amongst younger generations, and the age kids start to take notice is getting younger and younger too. It’s not just talk either, kids spending habits are changing as well. Partnering with SILC gives The Insights Family a platform to provide children, parents and families with a voice to shape their worlds.
theinsightsfamily.com

Kids Industries

We’re the only full-service marketing agency that specialises in the family market on the planet. We connect human emotions with market intelligence to make your business even stronger.
https://www.kidsindustries.com