Last week I was privileged to join the judging panel for the Licensing Awards: ‘Best Licensed Marketing Communications Campaign’.

Whilst I’m not allowed to reveal the winner until the ceremony itself, suffice to say there were many entries worthy of (heated) debate!

The finalists have been unveiled this week as:

• Monkey Coming Home & Christmas Campaign for PG Tips from Bulldog Licensing
• Mr Happy Should’ve Gone To Specsavers from Chorion
• Speedy Gonzalez Advertising Campaign for Virgin Media from Warner Bros
• Timmy Time Fairy Non-Bio Books Promotion from Aardman Rights
• Wallace & Gromit Christmas Stamps for Royal Mail from Aardman Rights
• Walace & Gromit Great British Tea Party for Yorkshire Tea from Aardman Rights

From a brand consultant’s perspective it was really great to see such creative licensing where real thought had gone into aligning brand values to create distinctive communications. In the best cases it was clear both brands were benefiting from the partnership.

For more information on the Licensing Awards click here – the ceremony takes place on 13 September 2011.

We are delighted to announce that Rosa Wilkinson, Senior Consultant at The Value Engineers, will be on the judging panel for this year’s Licensing Award for best Marketing Communication Campaign.

The Award will be presented in a ceremony on 13th September, to the most creative and effective use of a license in the marketing of another brand or service in the UK.

Last year’s award winner was the Wallace & Gromit Turbo-charged Kingsmill campaign from Aardman Rights, and we are excited what this year will have to offer. It surely will be an exciting competition.

For more information on the awards please visit: http://www.thelicensingawards.co.uk/about.html.