Visitor numbers rise by 6%, while UBM confirms next year’s dates as 1st-3rd October 2019 at Excel London. 

UBM has declared this year’s Brand Licensing Europe (BLE), which took place at Olympia London earlier this month, as the “best ever” in the show’s 20-year history. Retailer visitor numbers shot up by 24% and overall attendee numbers rose by 6% to a record high of 7,862, including the highest ever number of overseas visitors at 40%.

There were 264 exhibitors in Olympia’s Grand and National halls, compared to 244 in 2017, an increase of 8%. This included 67 companies who were new to the show. All three areas of the event (character and entertainment, brands and lifestyle, and art, design and image licensing) experienced growth, and there was a significant uplift in brands and lifestyle exhibitor numbers, which rose by 28% to 73.

“This year’s BLE was extraordinary,” said brand director Anna Knight. “We brought the show onto one level at Olympia for the first time, and every corner of it was busy from doors open to close (and beyond). There wasn’t a single lull in activity, attendance or buzz for the entire three days. Thousands of meetings were held, our seminar programme and Live Kitchen demos were extremely successful, and exhibitors proclaimed it ‘their best BLE ever’.”

Anna continued: “Over 85% of next year’s floorplan is already full. The hard work has already started on developing live experiences that will meet our attendees’ high expectations following this year’s success and we are really excited about working with our customers to further elevate BLE at its new home in East London.”