Beanstalk is a global brand licensing agency, headquartered in New York, US. Sibbald is VP of brand development at Beanstalk, working on some of the agency’s food and fashion brands, but essentially heading up Diageo’s business in EMEA.
Sheelagh Li, associate VP, heads up the Chupa Chups and TGI Fridays accounts.
Sibbald told us the British multinational alcoholic beverages company has “gone into food licensing in quite a big way,” especially with its Baileys Irish Cream brand.
“Baileys is absolutely on fire at the moment, in double digit growth,” she said.
“We have a program for Europe that has multiple products under licence,” she said, adding the whiskey and cream-based liqueur has forayed into ice cream and baked goods, working with a German manufacturer DMK.
“Last year, we started working with Finsbury Foods to create a Freakshake Cake that has recently been launched into multiple retailers, and also a range of cupcakes using Baileys.”
Number of partners
Li said the Beanstalk team has been working with the Chupa Chups brand licensing team based in Barcelona for a number of years to build up its food and beverage licensing program.
“They’ve had a number of partners in the food space, including Unilever for ice cream – which sold more than 15m units over two years – and Bright Blue Foods in the baked goods space to create celebration cakes,” she said.
More recently, Chupa Chups launched donuts in Europe baked by a Belgium-based manufacturer – which sold over a million units in the first four months – and have now launched a very traditional German treat called ‘Refreshing Sticks.’ It’s all about leveraging the fun, colorful and iconic identify of the Chupa Chups brand.”
Li added it is motivating to see the developments taking place in the fast-growing brand licensing category.
“There’s obviously a lot of bigger brands like Cadbury’s that are extending their avenues through brand licensing, but there’s also a lot of new brands breaking into this space, and that’s very exciting.”