Welcome to another episode of the Physical Product Business podcast. Our focus on today’s episode is on how to use movie and entertainment licensing to build a physical product business.

Our guest is Mark Politi of MP Public Relations. Mark started in the licensing business by buying a license for blockbuster movie Titanic by chance. He originally planned to buy a license for X-files, but was given Titanic instead. Since then, he has been involved in over 175 licensing projects for feature films, TV shows and video games such as Star Wars, Star Trek, Batman, Spiderman, X-Men, The Simpsons, The X-Files, Looney Tunes and Animaniacs to name a few.  Mark Politi has worked on some of the biggest Worldwide Licensing & Merchandising campaigns for Entertainment and Video Games company’s successfully selling products to Mass Market, Game Retailer and Online.

On this episode you’ll learn about:

• How to start looking  to brand licenses to buy
• How to structure your proposal
• How to accelerate your sales by 150%-500% with a license.
• How to keep up with the latest and the hottest brands.
• How to decide if a one-shot movie is better for you than an evergreen TV series.

Guest’s Top Tips:

1. Licensing is like a prepaid advertising tool enabling you to ‘rent’ an already established brand at the same time enhancing your own.
2. Look at your product as well as your budget before determining if you should buy a license.
3. If there is something that  you don’t know, look for experts in your field and ask for their insights.
4. Attend licensing conventions that will enable you to find out what will be that best path for you.
5. Build an engine or a product that you can call your own and you are an expert on, and then add characters that are already known.

Parting Advice – The Lightning Round

Future Plans

• He plans to further use his expertise to help people.

Hiring People

• He doesn’t have staff right now.

Indispensable Tools

• Skype
• Communication
• LinkedIn

Books Or Resources

• The Tipping Point by Malcolm Gladwell

Key Takeaways (with timestamps)

(6:08) You have to have something that people want.
(11:40) Licensing royalties can range from 5%-20%
(27:27) When you are presenting your proposal, you have to emphasize the ways you will distribute the products.
(29:15) You have to be an expert on what you for them to even talk to you.
(33:10) You have to buy a license to enhance your brand, not just to slap a label on.
(47:50) If you don’t know what you are doing, reach out to experts.