The countdown to the Brand & Lifestyle Licensing Awards (B&LLA) on Thursday 24 April is officially on, with the finalists across all categories having been announced.
Over 3,000 products were entered for the 11 prestigious product categories from companies large and small. And, not only was the volume of entries staggering, but the quality was also of the highest level.
All of the main product categories were judged by a panel comprising retail buyers from right across the spectrum including B&M, Cardfactory, Character.com, DFS, Fraser Group, John Lewis, Joules, Matalan, Moonpig, Sainsbury’s, Selfridges, Skinnydip, Tesco, The Hut Group, The Works, TruffleShuffle, Jarrolds, Next, Asda and Lipsy among others.
Products of Change, the global education hub aimed at driving sustainable change across consumer products markets and beyond, has also lent its expertise to judge the Sustainability Brand Licensed Range Award.
The finalists in the five Retail categories, meanwhile, were reached by a dedicated Retail Validation Panel, made up of licensing industry executives from both licensors and licensees, and chaired by Richard Pink, md of Pink Key Licensing.
Ian Hyder, CEO at Max Publishing, which owns and organises the B&LLAs, said: “Since we first held the B&LLAs back in 2016, it has been amazing to witness how the brand and lifestyle licensing sector has flourished. We were blown away by this year’s entries, with the eventual finalists all demonstrating creativity, innovation and passion for a sector which only keeps growing in importance for the licensing industry overall. We are looking forward to celebrating with you all on 24 April at the Royal Lancaster – congratulations to all the 2025 finalists.”
Brand Licensing Europe will be returning as the headline sponsor of the Brand & Lifestyle Licensing Awards 2025, while Licensing International will once again be lending its support.
Anna Knight, svp licensing, Informa Markets, said: “We’re delighted to return as headline sponsor for the B&LLAS 2025. Brand and lifestyle licensing is among the most creative, innovative and authentic. At BLE, we have been huge cheerleaders for this category for many, many years. We can’t wait to see who takes the trophies home in 2025.”
The Brand & Lifestyle Licensing Awards 2025 takes place on Thursday 24 April at the Royal Lancaster London.
www.brandlicensingawards.com l www.brandlicensingawards.com/finalists-2025/
