Cardiff-based Finsbury - which also produces cakes under licence for Disney brands, Peppa Pig and confectioner Thorntons – has acquired the licence to make celebration and seasonal cakes featuring next year’s Ghostbusters movie. The business plans to launch a celebration cake in May, and will also consider extending the brand into traybakes and cupcakes in the future.
UK licensed goods
The UK is the third-largest market for retail sales of licensed merchandise and is valued at $11.9bn, behind the US ($133.3bn) and Japan ($12.2bn) according to data for 2014 from the the International Licensing Industry Merchandisers’ Association.
Food and beverage products account for $796m of UK licensed merchandise sales, with more than half of food and beverage sales generated by products associated with characters or movie franchises.
Released worldwide in July 2016, the film has four female leads - Kristen Wiig, Melissa McCarthy, Kate McKinnon and Leslie Jones – who replace the male Ghostbusters from the 1984 original.
Stay Puft Marshmallow Man
Iconic elements such as the logo and Stay Puft Marshmallow Man will be major components of the re-boot, said Rob Wijeratna, joint MD of Ghostbusters UK and Ireland licensing agency Rocket Licensing.
“The signing of a big roster of best-in-class licensees before the end of 2015 shows the extraordinary momentum behind a brand that is as popular today as it was over 30 years ago,” she added.
Wijeratna said the movie would appeal to a wide demographic from pre-school to adults, adding the timing of the movie’s release would tap the summer break and back-to-school periods at retail, with the DVD/Blu-ray release coming in Q4 2016.
Twenty-three businesses have signed UK and Ireland licenses for the film, including Hancocks and Kinnerton for confectionery in addition to a raft of non-food suppliers including Mattel for toys and Rubie’s Masquerade for dressing-up costumes.