Billboard Brand Licensing Program

A Year and a Half Off the Charts — With Billboard!

A new consumer products licensing program.

In early 2015, we embarked on a music-inspired journey with one of the biggest names in the entertainment business — Billboard. Together we developed a consumer products brand vision presentation, as well as a licensing style guide which included brand positioning, a packaging system, and three creative asset collections.

When branching out into new territory, major brands often run into the challenge of adapting and reimagining themselves. In the case of Billboard, this meant an adjustment of the brand’s mission and positioning to fit the current consumer products market. An added challenge for us was that while we were working with music’s biggest brand, we weren’t able to use the likenesses of today’s popular artists. However, because of its history, stature, and reach within the industry, Billboard is certainly strong enough to stand on its own, giving us plenty to work with when it came to creative development.

Beginning with a sales-oriented brand vision presentation, we developed a mission statement to communicate Billboard’s new intentions, seeing the brand as not only a benchmark of music’s most successful artists but purveyor of the music lover’s lifestyle. Our trend-based creative asset collections drew heavily from the diversity of an ever-changing music culture around the world, inspired by music festivals, EDM, and a millennial penchant for self-expression and discovery. The process culminated in the creation of a tagline, Discover All Things Music, as well as a brand pledge and a complete consumer packaging system.

We are excited for the release the new “Off the Charts” creative asset collection. Making the most of a minimal palette, this bold, chart-inspired collection uses disruptive typography and unruly graphic splices to present a stripped-down collision of sport and street.

And we’re thrilled to continue our work with the Billboard team in 2016, retaining an ongoing role in the creative direction of all new brand extension opportunities. You can read more about our collaboration with Billboard and The Hollywood Reporter, as it was highlighted in License! Global.

November/December 2015 License! Global article

You can find Billboard products featuring our designs at the Zazzle shop! Access the shop here: zazzle.com/billboard

We’re also proud of our part in the creative development of a new line of Billboard audio equipment and accessories launched by ESI at CES 2016. The product initially launched at Office Depot and will soon be available in other stores as well.

There’s a lot of exciting new opportunities happening globally, especially in Europe and Asia. We were delighted to see the launch of a co-branded Billboard x Oxygen fashion line in the Philippines. Click to read the article.

Stay tuned for more!