A Disney license can give your product instant recognition, marketability and desirability. In addition, products featuring licensed characters can sell for more money than generic competing products. Of course, all of that comes at a price. Obtaining a Disney license can be time-consuming and expensive, but having a proven track record in your field and cash on hand to pay up-front expenses and royalties will increase your odds of getting one.
Obtaining a Disney License
Prepare you proposal. In addition to information on the product you wish to produce under a Walt Disney license, you'll need to provide information about your company, including its name, address, phone number and primary executive contact. Disney will also want biographies of your key executives and details on their experience in consumer products, including manufacture and distribution. Also include top line public financial information about your company. Disney also wants you to briefly explain why you would like to become a Disney licensee in your proposal.
Identify the Disney office you need to contact. For apparel, accessories footwear, food, health beauty, stationery, electronics, home, infant or toys, contact Disney Consumer Products, 1201 Flower St., Glendale, CA 91201. For interactive games, contact, Disney Interactive Studios 500 S. Buena Vista, Burbank, CA 91521-8171. For publishing, contact Disney Publishing Worldwide, Attn: Business Development, 114 Fifth Ave., New York, NY 10011.
Include a product catalog or sell sheet with your proposal.
Include the phrase "Licensing Proposal" and the category on the envelope. Do not send a fax.
Wait up to 10 weeks for a reply. Even if you meet all of Disney's minimum standards, you may still be rejected as Disney will consider other factors--such as the marketplace as a whole and not just your proposed product--when making a decision.
Warnings
You must be the manufacturer, not a reseller, distributor or some other form of middleman. Do not include propriety information or unsolicited ideas or suggestions; Disney will disregard proposals with such information.
Resources
Warnings
- You must be the manufacturer, not a reseller, distributor or some other form of middleman.
- Do not include propriety information or unsolicited ideas or suggestions; Disney will disregard proposals with such information.
Writer Bio
Edward Drummond has been writing for newspapers, magazines and the Web since 1992. He has written about some of the world's most remote and unique places, from Asia to Antarctica, for a variety of publications around the world. Drummond has a Bachelor of Arts in journalism and political science from SUNY New Paltz.