Tommy Knows Licensing

I went to college for 7 years so you don't have to. Follow me for all things licensing with a touch of brake pads. Also, who's John Hancock?

[Tommy Knows Licensing @TommyLicensing]

Your artwork folder should look organized to a school. Consistent naming, consistent formats, consistent sizing. Brands who submit messy folders look unprepared. Schools notice. It affects approval speed.

[Tommy Knows Licensing @TommyLicensing]

Costco does $2B+ in licensed merchandise annually. Almost none of it comes through traditional retail. If you think Costco is a distribution channel for licensed goods, think again. It's a completely separate game.

[Tommy Knows Licensing @TommyLicensing]

The approval timeline depends on school size. Huge schools: 4-6 weeks. Mid-tier: 2-3 weeks. Small schools: sometimes same day. Most brands don't factor school size into their timeline planning and miss realistic deadlines.

[Tommy Knows Licensing @TommyLicensing]

Japan's character licensing market is $30B. Disney, Hello Kitty, anime IP. American brands sleeping on Japanese IP licensing are missing entire categories of consumers.

[Tommy Knows Licensing @TommyLicensing]

A licensing agreement is not a partnership. It's a permission slip. You get to use the IP. The licensor gets paid. Everything else is negotiable. Don't confuse the two.

[Tommy Knows Licensing @TommyLicensing]

Entertainment licensing is the fastest growing segment. Music, TV, film, esports. Brands that bet on entertainment early are now positioned ahead of traditional sports brands. The competition landscape just changed.

[Tommy Knows Licensing @TommyLicensing]

Target, Walmart, Dick's, Foot Locker. These retailers have different licensing requirements. Same school. Different requirements. Most brands figure this out after they've already submitted wrong artwork once.

[Tommy Knows Licensing @TommyLicensing]

Apparel companies spend $500K+ per year on licensing just to stay compliant. That's not the royalty. That's the overhead. If your CFO isn't budgeting for that, you're going to have a bad time.

[Tommy Knows Licensing @TommyLicensing]

The NCAA transfer portal changed college athlete marketing. Now individual players can have NIL deals. But schools still control the institutional IP. Brands need both to win in collegiate now.

[Tommy Knows Licensing @TommyLicensing]

Hermès has a licensing strategy. So does Patek Philippe. Luxury licensing is a different game. If you're in luxury, licensing isn't dilution. It's distribution. That requires a completely different playbook.

[Tommy Knows Licensing @TommyLicensing]

Royalty audits happen. When they do, it's not a conversation. It's an invoice. Brands have been audited and discovered they missed reporting millions in sales. The compliance overhead pays for itself in missed audits alone.

[Tommy Knows Licensing @TommyLicensing]

Fanatics is the biggest distribution partner in sports licensing. If you want retail placement for NFL, NBA, or emerging sports properties, Fanatics controls the gate. Knowing that matters.

[Tommy Knows Licensing @TommyLicensing]

Brands who win at licensing aren't always the biggest—they're the most organized. A $5M brand with clean artwork, approved manufacturers, and on-time reports outperforms a $50M brand winging it. Every single time.

[Tommy Knows Licensing @TommyLicensing]

Athlete NIL deals exploded since NCAA opened the door in 2021. Celebrity licensing grew 8.8% last year. Brands that figured out NIL licensing early are running plays schools and agents are still trying to catch up to.

[Tommy Knows Licensing @TommyLicensing]

IMG is one of the biggest licensing agencies in the world and most brands have never heard of them. They handle rights most assume are managed in-house. Knowing who controls the IP you want—and how to reach them—is half the battle.

[Tommy Knows Licensing @TommyLicensing]

Licensing is not a marketing expense. It's a distribution channel. When you're the official licensed partner, you're not just buying logo rights—you're accessing an audience that already trusts the brand. That trust is worth more than most ad budgets.

[Tommy Knows Licensing @TommyLicensing]

Non-profit licensing grew 16.8% last year. More than music. More than celebrity. More than fashion. The fastest growing licensing category isn't sports or entertainment. It's causes. Brands aligning with mission-driven organizations are sitting on something interesting.

[Tommy Knows Licensing @TommyLicensing]

How long does licensing take? Honest answer: 4-8 weeks if everything goes right. 3-6 months if you're figuring it out as you go. The difference is almost entirely preparation. Applications, artwork, approvals—none of it is hard. It's just a lot of steps in the right order.

[Tommy Knows Licensing @TommyLicensing]

Minky Couture is now Official Blanket of the Dallas Cowboys, Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders, and Utah Athletics. None of that happens without a licensing program that works. Product is the table stakes. Licensing gets you in the building.

[Tommy Knows Licensing @TommyLicensing]

Getting rejected on an artwork submission isn't failure—it's feedback. Every rejection tells you something: wrong colorway, wrong logo usage, wrong category, unapproved manufacturer. Brands who get good at licensing get good at reading rejections.