CHARACTER LICENSING FOR ADVERTISING
DON'T CREATE A CHARACTER. LICENSE ONE.
FOUR WAYS TO LICENSE A CHARACTER
-
![He-Man and Skeletor licensed as characters for a MoneySuperMarket advert]()
Using costumes
Bring a character to life as a physical costume, recreated in authentic detail. Ideal when you want the character present in the real world.
-
![Street Fighter characters Ken and Ryu licensed for an AA advert]()
Using celebrity talent
Cast the celebrity who defines the character, for the pulling power of a character and a star at once.
-
![Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Party Wagon licensed for an Uber advert]()
Using existing assets
Drop existing CGI or animation assets from the original property straight into your campaign.
-
![]()
Using custom animation
Commission brand-new animation of a famous character, fresh content audiences can't see anywhere else.
Inventing a brand mascot means starting from zero. License a famous character and you start with recognition, emotion and a fanbase already built in.
That's why some of the world's best campaigns don't start from scratch, they start with a character people already love. A familiar face brings instant attention, borrowed trust and a built-in audience, doing work a new creation can't.
Born Licensing helps advertising agencies and brands license famous characters from film, television, animation and beyond, managing the whole process from first idea to final approval. As appointed agents for rights holders like Universal, Hasbro, Sesame Workshop and more, we clear the characters you want, with no clearance fees on the IP we represent, and give you a straight answer within 24 hours. Whichever character you have in mind, there's more than one way to bring it into your campaign.
GOOD TO KNOW:
Rights holders and fans expect the character to stay on-brand and authentic, so creative goes through an approval process.
Some characters are off-limits or challenging to license. Talk to us early for a quick, honest steer on feasibility.
The right approach depends on the character, the rights holder and your timeline, we'll help you choose.
CASE STUDY:
MoneySuperMarket x He-Man and Skeletor
Iconic hero He-Man and his arch nemesis Skeletor appeared in a series of epic advertising campaigns for UK-based comparison website MoneySuperMarket. The characters appeared in the form of detailed costumes which took over three hours to put on. The costume designs went through a comprehensive approval process with the Rights Holder to ensure even the smallest detail was authentic.
The campaign went on to be named as the highest-scoring individual commercial in 2017 by Adwatch and was considered by Millward Brown to be within the top 2% of the most engaging ads ever recorded. Six months later MoneySuperMarket took things to an entirely new level, with He-Man and Skeletor recreating the iconic dance from Dirty Dancing. The campaign was an instant viral hit, tallying 27 million online views within days and increasing MoneySuperMarket’s Twitter mentions from 100 tweets per day to 35,000 per hour.
CASE STUDY:
Direct Line x RoboCop
RoboCop was licensed by UK insurance firm Direct Line in an advertising campaign which used the likeness of the iconic cyborg character. The RoboCop suit was developed from scratch and was based on the original 1987 film. For this production, the Rights Holders allowed Direct Line’s agency, Saatchi & Saatchi, to use Legacy Effects to create the suit. Born Licensing provided Saatchi & Saatchi with visual references and guides from the Rights Holders to ensure Legacy Effects had what they needed to build an authentic suit.
To ensure the character and the suit were accurate right down to the fine detail, photos were submitted to the Rights Holders for review throughout key stages of development. The suit was made specifically to fit the talent who played the role of RoboCop in the campaign. The campaign went on to win Marketing Week’s prestigious Grand Prix Award in 2021.
CASE STUDY:
GEICO x Angry Birds
The Rights Holders of Angry Birds allowed The Martin Agency and GEICO to use assets from the popular 2016 film The Angry Birds Movie. Having these CGI assets placed in a live-action setting added a lot of impact and comedy to the spot. The process was straightforward with The Martin Agency appointing a post-production house of their choosing to integrate the Angry Birds CGI assets into live-action footage.
In addition to the CGI assets, the Rights Holders provided size charts and references to ensure the individual Angry Birds characters were in the correct proportion to each other and to their new live-action setting.
CASE STUDY:
Direct Line x Marvel Studios’ Thor: Love & Thunder
Direct Line continued their theme of recruiting popular heroes for their advertising by bringing on Tessa Thompson to play her Marvel Studios character King Valkyrie from the Thor franchise.
It was important throughout the production to ensure that both the talent and the Rights Holders were comfortable with the development of materials. Born Licensing managed the negotiations and approval process with Marvel Studios as it related to the character and IP license. We did this on behalf of Direct Line’s creative agency, Saatchi & Saatchi, whist another third party managed talent negotiations and approvals seperately.
CASE STUDY:
Direct Line x Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles
Direct Line and their agency, Saatchi & Saatchi, created their own unique CGI version of Donatello and Leonardo from the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles for their award-winning ‘We’re On It’ campaign.
The Rights Holders were closely involved in the development supplying reference material and guidance on how the characters should look and sound, including what props and weapons they should carry. Most of the development was done in post-production with a stand-in used for the actual shoot. As licensing agents to the Rights Holders of TMNT, Born Licensing managed the resource-heavy approval process without charging Direct Line or Saatchi & Saatchi any clearance fees.