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Friday, Mar 29, 2024

PR to Mass Production

Genna Rosenberg always wanted a division of her public relations and marketing agency to focus on licensing and branding, and after six years in business she’s making it a reality. GennComm in Woodland Hills was founded as a communications company for children’s toys and consumer products, based on Rosenberg’s 20 years of connections in the industry. The toy industry is still Rosenberg’s bread and butter, but the company recently launched ImaGENNation, a division which focuses on bringing new product ideas to market through licensing and brand deals. Licensing puts wearables, accessories, pet products and blankets – as well as toys – on GennComm’s product list. “We really got cooking around the end of 2016, and we started making our own licensing deals in 2017 that came to market in 2018,” said Rosenberg. “One of the products was called Cozy Wings, where we met a third-party inventor. Another item called is Squeezamals; it’s the first innovation that was created at GennComm that we licensed to a third party called the Beverly Hills Teddy Bear Co. It’s one of the best-selling plush on the market today.” The company now has a staff of 12, split between GennComm, which handles the day-to-day operations for public relations, social media and marketing, and the new ImaGENNation operation. Two business models GennComm established itself as an agency that promotes and markets toys. During her career, Rosenberg has worked for global toymakers Jakks Pacific Inc. in Santa Monica and Imperial Toy in North Hills. She developed extensive relationships with executives at Walt Disney Co. and Warner Bros. in Burbank, Nickelodeon, Sanrio, NBCUniversal in Universal City, Mattel Inc., Hasbro Inc., American Greetings, HIT Entertainment, Sony, World Wrestling Entertainment and UFC, as well as retailers like Walmart Inc., Toys ‘R’ Us and QVC. She started her “boutique PR firm” right out of college, alongside building her portfolio through work with Jakks and Imperial. Rosenberg worked at Jakks Pacific for 12 years as an in-house publicist. The toymaker was one of her original clients. With ImaGENNation, Rosenberg has transitioned from selling other people’s products to developing and marketing her own. The new branch acts as licensor for some deals and a licensing agent for others. “We’re developing our own product innovations, and then we’re thinking about who the biggest players are, or the smallest players who are already playing in that space and could use these innovations,” Rosenberg explained. “We went to that company that is already making plush toys and then we’re aligning them with giants. I say we’re mining for gems and aligning with giants.” Rosenberg has brought in marketing representatives to supplement the growing licensing operation, which includes licensing agents, a full-time designer and a strategic marketing executive. Genna believes her 20 years of making connections with industry leaders helps GennComm land its licensing deals, in addition to having experienced marketing professionals at the helm. “Sometimes we have clients who have tried over and over with different licensing agents and in some cases gone to the same partners that we bring them to, but the way that we position it shows them a vision that seems to be helping people say yes,” added Rosenberg. Speed Stacks, a game comprised of up-stacking and down-stacking a series of cups, is one such example. Rosenberg was able to connect Speed Stacks with Goliath Games after the Texas-based company saw the product at the New York Toy Fair in February. “The IP owners are incredible, but they were looking for a mass market partner, a mass market manufacturer, that could TV advertise the product and bring it to the masses,” she said. Anthony Miyazaki, chairman of the Marketing and Logistics Department at Florida International University’s College of Business, said brand marketing fits with a PR agency’s skillset, but licensing presents a challenge. “Anything that deals with the branding side of the business I think fits perfectly well with what PR firms and PR agencies have done in the past,” said Miyazaki. “With respect to licensing, I think it’s much different than what most PR firms deal with. It’s a much bigger challenge for a PR firm to do that than a company that specializes in licensing.” Miyazaki points to a seasoned staff with experience on both sides, marketing and public relations, and a clear breakdown of what each division does, as essential to a successful transition. Trusting different divisions to do the job properly also helps with agency expansion. “If they’re hiring people who have a marketing background, particularly people that have been working with licensing, then I think it’s a matter of branching out,” added Miyazaki. “My suggestion would always be if they do that, that they give a great deal of autonomy to their licensing division so they can operate as a licensing/marketing firm rather than operating as a PR firm that happens to do licensing.” Future trend For Rosenberg, it took quite a bit longer than expected to see her dream division come to life. But after six years of entrepreneurship, ImaGENNation is finally starting to take off. “I feel like we’re a perpetual startup six years in, but I know we’re on the right track because we have quite a few things that are hitting,” she added. “We’re definitely using the profitability from GennComm to invest in ImaGENNation profits and the incredible team that we have while we’re looking to grow the business.” Miyazaki at Florida International University expects business models like GennComm’s to become the norm, with many companies expecting a one-stop shop for public relations, marketing, licensing, branding and every other supplemental service that falls in between. “We’re seeing more people in the branding world branching out maybe to PR, and people in marketing are branching out to PR. It only makes sense that for the PR firms to survive, they’ll have to branch out further into the marketing world,” said Miyazaki. “People have the tendency to think nowadays they can do their own PR. That isn’t necessarily true, but they believe it. If they believe it, they’re going to not hire the PR firm.”

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