“Smiley brings a smile to the face of consumers at retail, and we are helping big brands reach their customers in exciting ways,” said Heiss-Tiplady.
She told us the brand has a heritage in the food category, have jumped from seven licensees to over 20 in the past three years alone.
“Since we saw success of our trademark 3D shape with McCain’s Smiley Potato face, we have extended it into other areas.
“We’ve found people really respond not only to the big Smiley face on the packaging, but also when the food itself is a 3D shape,” she added.
“We’ve seen the popularity in potatoes and chicken nuggets, and now we’re looking to do other frozen foods like frozen waffles. We also see a big opportunity for instore bakery to use Smiley face decorations on cakes or cupcakes.”
Heiss-Tiplady said a food producer sometimes approaches Smiley, but oftentimes, the company seeks out licensees.
“We look for leaders in the categories that we look to work in. For example, our snack partner is Intersnack, one of the world’s biggest snack producers,” noting the French company has invested in creating the moulds and production lines to perfectly reproduce the famous emoticon.