The Smiley Company returns to Kazachok

 
Smiley returns to Kazachok Licensing Forum this week, with the brand continuing to enjoy amazing growth and unprecedented success in France, its number one global territory.

With 197 licensees selling across 13 categories the business enjoyed 25% growth in revenue between 2014 and 2016. This growth is spearheaded by its French owners, Franklin and Nicolas Loufrani, who continue to be the most high profile and successful figures in France’s licensing business today.

Speaking about the brands return to Kazachok, Nicolas Loufrani CEO of Smiley was quoted saying "France has always been a very important market for us because this is where Smiley has started and we enjoy a huge market penetration there in most categories. There are still a lot of opportunities for growth and for some of the very original concepts we have created and not yet launched there. This is why we are always present at Kazachok to meet with the very curious and open minded attendees, always willing to discover new opportunities to grow their business."

2017 promises to be an amazing year for the brand in France

Promotions

2017 has all the makings of another memorable year for Smiley in France with a range of exciting promotions, retail activations and exclusive launches to celebrate 20 years of digital Smileys. The Smiley Company have teamed up with Vittel® to create an on-pack promotion that will see Smiley’s world famous icons feature on 33, 50, 75 cl and 1 litre bottles with 130 million Smiley branded Vittel® bottles.

Smiley have also teamed up with Auchan, one of France’s premier supermarket and hypermarket chains to create 4 pages of dedicated Smiley products in their catalogue, with tens of thousands of products bought from 18 licensees across categories such as food, beverages, gifts, home decor and accessories, creating the most ambitious licensing program Smiley has developed with a French retail chain.

SmileyWorld’s food program continues to expand at pace in France, with the brands exciting first launch into beverages ‘Smiley Fruity’ just hitting the shop floor with leading listings at some of France’s biggest retailers including; Auchan, Casino, Carrefour, LeClerc, Leder Price, and Toys R us. This exciting new beverage has been developed in conjunction with leading licensee L’Abeille, who join a roster of market leading French licensees that are enjoying massive success in the French market that includes: Giraudi (fresh and frozen meats), Intersnack (snacks), L’abbaye (biscuits), Laita (drinking youghurt), Lutti (sweets), R&R (ice creams), Sevendays (cereals). Food continues to be a massive growth area for Smiley in France.

Smiley have joined forces with iconic French footwear brand Palladium on an exciting music festival inspired range of footwear, which is set to launch at retail this Spring 2017. Smiley also has another exciting anniversary retail partnership planned with leading premium high street retailer Eram, who will launch a collection of sneakers for kids and women to celebrate their 90th anniversary which is tinted yellow to showcase both brands unique identities and is dedicated to those who celebrate happiness every day of their lives and are looking to share positive vibes. Finally leading childrens retailer Orchestra will launch a range of new kids and infants clothing after a massively successful first Smiley program in 2016 saw them sell out in 4 weeks.

Smiley’s publishing program in France continues to go from strength to strength With more than half a million books published by license Livres du Dragon d’Or , a leading French publisher, thanks to the remarkable success that Smiley has experiencing in France with its range of journals, stickers and activity books. This exciting partnership has seen Smiley also launch an exciting new novel series in French, with its first edition, Ma Vie en Smiley: Tout va Bien, being so successful that a second edition is scheduled for launch this month.