I have just returned home from three hectic days at BLE – the European-focused licensing show which takes place at London’s ExCeL. After the unforeseen events of the past few weeks, which certainly threw a curveball or three into the mix for exhibitors and attendees (not to mention the poor show organisers), the great news was that the show was back to its best.

To be fair, the fact that the organisers were able to put on any kind of show at all last year was little short of miraculous, but this year’s event was far more akin to the kind of show we all know and love. International visitors were back in force – not just from EMEA, but from the USA and other parts of the globe too – and most importantly, the buzz was back. The licensing community is never short of optimism and positivity, and this was much in evidence from start to finish. As the old adage goes, ‘promises were up’, but I have to say that the vast majority of the meetings we held this week felt positive and the signs for 2023 are encouraging. It feels like the licensing community has got its collective mojo back, after what was for some a tricky couple of years.

Thanks to all of those who made kind comments about the relaunch of Licensing.biz – yes, the acquisition did make sense for us, and yes, healthy competition is generally a good thing. Lots more to come from us in that area as we head into 2023.

Back to BLE – it was a three-day show, and while the final day was inevitably quieter than the first two, it still felt busier than the final day tends to be in Vegas – the people who remained weren’t just wandering around, they had appointments and wanted to make the most of the time available. There were a few notable absentees over the course of the week, particularly from the toy community, with LA still in full swing (more about that later). Some retailers chose to divide and conquer – well done to the Entertainer team – but inevitably a few others had a hard choice to make. Although I did hear that some supermarket buying teams were offering to take notes and pass them on to their absent toy colleagues, so that was a nice touch.

Clashes with other major global shows weren’t the only hurdle for attendees: a few companies had stands and samples stuck in customs – on behalf of the UK, my heartfelt apologies to our European brethren for the epic fiasco that is Brexit – while guests at the nearby Novotel had the novel experience of being awoken at 4.30 on the opening morning of the show by a fire alarm and full evacuation of the premises. There was also a flood in the hall for the organisers to deal with (it was all sounding a bit biblical at one point), and a sprinkling of rail chaos on Tuesday; the video of Paddington Bear arriving at the show shared by the organisers was charming, but if he had been faced with the journey I had that morning, I suspect the famous hard stare would have been deployed on more than one occasion. I did, however, get very positive reports from those who travelled on the new Elizabeth Line, so that is going to be a big help to all shows taking place at Excel moving forward.

Despite all of this, just about everyone I spoke to was delighted with the week’s proceedings, and I am sure the licensing community will be taking a well-earned breather today before diving into the mountain of follow up next week. Well done to Anna Knight and the team for whipping adversity’s butt on more than one occasion this week: I imagine they will be hoping for a really boring year next year, with no major complications to address – much like the rest of us.

Meanwhile, licensees and retailers will be leaving the trade show bubble and jumping back into the real world – where prevailing economic conditions are the main topic of conversation. A lot has been going on this week, so everything could change by the time you read this – but as I write, the plummeting pound is causing mounting concern for suppliers and retailers here in the UK. Hitting the dizzy lows of $1.12 was bad enough, but the bank of England’s decision to increase interest rates by 0.5% yesterday appeared to damage sterling even further. The worry now is very much the ‘limbo’ question – just how low can it go? Parity would be little short of a disaster, but even a drop below $1.10 is going to hurt massively. I gather that one value chain has issued huge cancellations over the past few weeks, as the weak pound decimates its core ‘single price point’ strategy.

On the positive side, we have seen the government offering help for businesses to offset energy price rises, which is hugely welcome, while today’s mini-budget may yet offer further respite for beleaguered consumers. However, many of the fiscal measures which have been rumoured so far only seem to have exacerbated worries around the pound, causing it to weaken further. I would imagine many companies will be watching today’s announcements and any subsequent currency fluctuations very closely indeed.

Away from East London, on the other side of the world, the last-ever Fall Toy Preview has been taking place in Dallas, where the TOTY awards were also unveiled – the first time they have moved from a post to pre-Holiday Season timeline. Lego did rather well, which was perhaps unsurprising, given the dual trade/consumer voting approach.

Meanwhile, LA has been hosting a large swathe of the toy community over the past couple of weeks, and there are already some interesting rumours coming out of the show, including the suggestion that some companies may be looking to extend the trip to three weeks next year, while there also seems to be a strong chance of an additional April event in LA. The phrase ‘power grab’ is a strong and perhaps emotive one, but it does seem that the LA toy contingent is attempting to encourage key elements of the global toy community to make LA its de facto base on a bi-annual basis.

I am sure many other global toy shows and associations will have plenty to say about that; the worldwide toy community is a broad church, and long-established, successful events play a crucial role in the overall retail selection process. The likes of London, Nuremberg, New York and Hong Kong (where it seems that hotel quarantine is about to be scrapped for international visitors – as I hinted at several months ago) are all steeped in toy history, and I personally believe that history is far from finished just yet. Whatever happens, this is certainly going to be a hot topic of conversation in the coming months.