"Llicensing will grow much if we get adapted to the new consumer" | Key4Communications |

After the changes made in the general direction of its division in Spain and Portugal, the Turner company has also decided to restructure the internal organization of the subsidiary. In this context, Mar Romera, Director of Licensing Spain and Portugal of the company, explains how the changes can affect the company and what objectives include achieving under the current licensing business. The full interview is available in the latest edition, number 71st, of the Licencias Actualidad journal.

- Regarding the licensing business, how is this area structured within the company?
- In the licensing department of Turner Iberia we are four people, and one person will strengthen further next year. As the Category Managers we have Marta Corrochano in Softlines and Andrea Manzanedo, who has just joined as head of the categories of Hardlines. In product development and management approvals, we have Mar Niembro, who joined the team last June. Together we work with all departments of Turner to ensure that our licenses have the necessary support in all areas, both with a strong and continuous television programming (in both channels, Boing and Cartoon Network) as a marketing plan, retail, PR and digital line with the strategy. In the case of Portugal, a market that has its own peculiarities, three years ago we added to the team a Portuguese licensing agency that helps us give our customers quick answers.

- Regarding the already consolidated licenses in the portfolio of Turner, like Adventure Time and The Amazing World of Gumball, will present what's new this year?
- Both Time Adventure and The Amazing World of Gumball remain two priorities for the company worldwide by successful hearings and continue to generate interest in all countries where they are issued. In both cases we will see the launch of new episodes on Cartoon Network and Boing, new digital content, games and mobile applications, as well as specific content for Youtube.

In the case of Time Adventure, a real phenomenon fan worldwide, we will also see in Boing from this October a new family program: "Mission Zuzumba" in which parents and children compete in different missions, all in an environment very "Adventure Time". And of course we will have new product launches, such as Lego or Lego Dimensions Ideas this Christmas in 2017, among others.

- In general, how do you assess the evolution of the licensing business?
- My assessment is positive and I think that this is a business with great potential to grow much in the coming years if we all adapt to the demands of the new consumer. The new generation of children of 2-18 years is very different from the millennials. Children and young people today are independent, tenacious, pragmatic, self-educated, creative and plurals, as we indicated last quantitative study of The Truth About Youth. They are used to change and the immediacy and struggle to get what they want, and to experience whatever it takes, even if it means making mistakes.

- What are the main trends that are driving the market?
- We are facing a changing environment and increasingly competitive, with a consumer who wants to experience and get all costs that it pursues. We live in a mixed reality that comes from the interconnectedness of the virtual world with the physical and in which technology is helping to blur the differences between each other, digitalizing our physical objects and becoming our virtual world. The trend is to integrate all the variables, creativity, innovation, technology, PR, marketing and social networks; an integration based on the constant change.