Licensing Con 2026

Event type: Licensing, brand extension, character licensing, entertainment IP, consumer products, retail merchandising, partnerships, and content monetization

Estimated attendance: To be confirmed by the organizer; this event should be treated as a high-value B2B networking and buyer-facing licensing marketplace with strong participation from brand owners, retailers, product developers, agents, manufacturers, and media/IP stakeholders.

Licensing Con 2026 is the kind of event where the real value is not just in the number of people on the floor, but in the quality of relationships. This is a business ecosystem event built around intellectual property, brand licensing, merchandise partnerships, retail placement, product development, and content-to-commerce opportunities. The best buyers are usually not casual attendees. They are decision-makers who control brand rights, product categories, retail partnerships, licensing programs, and distribution strategies.

For attendee-list research, this event should be treated as a global licensing and brand commercialization marketplace. It is especially useful for companies selling services or products to brands, entertainment companies, consumer product companies, retailers, manufacturers, licensing agencies, packaging companies, creative studios, and commercial partnership teams.

1️⃣ Who attends: Buyers / attendees

Licensing Con typically attracts a mix of brand owners, licensors, licensees, retailers, agencies, manufacturers, distributors, and service providers. The attendee profile is very buyer-rich because licensing decisions require cross-functional teams, including legal, merchandising, product development, marketing, partnerships, and retail strategy.

Main attendee groups:

• Licensors and brand owners managing rights, trademarks, and franchise expansion
• Licensees seeking new brand partnerships for consumer products, apparel, toys, gifts, publishing, and home goods
• Retail buyers and merchandising leaders looking for licensed product opportunities
• Product development teams working on brand extension and co-branded items
• Entertainment studios, media companies, sports organizations, and character/IP owners
• Licensing agents, brand managers, and partnership directors
• Manufacturers, distributors, and private-label product teams
• Packaging, design, and promotional merchandise companies
• Legal and IP professionals involved in licensing agreements and rights management

The strongest buyers are usually the people responsible for monetizing a brand beyond its core business. That means the attendee list can include decision-makers from entertainment, fashion, sports, consumer goods, publishing, gaming, and retail. If your client sells into any of those ecosystems, this event has excellent research value.

2️⃣ Where the show is happening + attendee geographic origin

Show location: Venue to be confirmed for the 2026 edition.

Attendee geographic origin: This type of event usually draws a mix of domestic and international attendees because licensing is inherently cross-border. Brand rights, distribution, retail channels, and manufacturing partnerships often span multiple regions. You should expect attendees from major licensing hubs, including North America, Europe, Asia-Pacific, and select Middle East and Latin American markets depending on the organizer and speaker lineup.

Best geographic targeting:

• Local and regional attendees if the event is hosted in a major licensing or media city
• National buyers from the host country across retail, entertainment, consumer products, and manufacturing
• Global attendees if the event has strong brand, media, sports, or IP participation
• International licensing executives, particularly from companies with multi-market expansion strategies

Because licensing decisions are often centralized, many attendees may travel from headquarters cities rather than branch locations. That makes title-based targeting more important than location-only targeting.

3️⃣ Audience reach

Reach type: Global with strong national buyer concentration

Licensing Con should be considered a global business event even if the physical attendance is concentrated in one country. Brand licensing operates across international markets, and attendees often represent companies with regional rights, multi-territory deals, or worldwide retail ambitions. The audience is usually not mass-market; it is highly commercial and decision-driven.

This means the event is valuable for outreach to:

• Global brand licensing teams
• Retail and category managers
• Consumer product manufacturers
• Entertainment and sports rights holders
• Agency teams managing brand partnerships
• Packaging, design, and product launch partners

4️⃣ Sample buyer company names + websites

Below is a sample target list designed for attendee-list research. These are buyer-style accounts, brand owners, licensors, licensees, retail partners, and IP-heavy companies that are likely to have a reason to attend, sponsor, exhibit, or network at Licensing Con 2026.

Top 5 sample accounts to send first: Disney, Warner Bros. Discovery, Hasbro, Mattel, and Walmart. These give the best mix of brand ownership, consumer products, retail access, and licensing decision power.

5️⃣ Job profiles, industries & event type

Best job profiles to target:

• VP, Licensing
• Director, Consumer Products
• Director, Brand Partnerships
• Head of Licensing
• Brand Manager
• Merchandising Director
• Category Manager
• Retail Partnerships Manager
• Product Development Director
• Commercial Partnerships Lead
• IP / Rights Manager
• Business Development Director
• Creative Partnerships Manager
• Global Brand Strategy Manager
• Licensing Counsel / Legal Counsel, IP

Best industries to use from your industry list:

• Entertainment
• Motion Pictures & Film
• Animation
• Media Production
• Broadcast Media
• Publishing
• Consumer Goods
• Retail
• Marketing & Advertising
• Design
• Luxury Goods & Jewelry
• Apparel & Fashion
• Sports
• Leisure, Travel & Tourism
• Internet
• Graphic Design
• Public Relations & Communications
• Food & Beverages
• Toys and consumer lifestyle-related companies, filtered by keywords if industry labels are limited

Event type classification: Licensing trade event, brand partnership conference, IP commercialization summit, consumer products marketplace, retail collaboration event, entertainment and sports licensing forum.

6️⃣ Estimated attendance / expected footfall

Since the 2026 edition details may still evolve, the best approach is to estimate attendance based on comparable licensing and brand partnership events. These events usually attract a concentrated audience rather than very large public footfall, but the commercial density is high.

Estimated attendance range: Medium to large B2B audience, likely in the low thousands if the event is a major industry conference, or higher if it includes broader expo participation.

Expected footfall value:

• High buyer quality per square foot
• Strong repeat attendance from licensing professionals
• Multiple stakeholder types under one roof: legal, merchandising, product, retail, creative, and partnership teams
• Good for targeted lead generation, especially if the client sells to brand owners or retail-facing companies

If you need a data sale recommendation, the key metric is not just gross attendance. It is the concentration of decision-makers with licensing authority.

7️⃣ Key focus areas & buyer engagement

Core focus areas:

• Character licensing and franchise growth
• Brand extension and product collaboration
• Retail merchandising and licensed product placement
• Entertainment IP monetization
• Sports licensing and fan merchandise
• Consumer product innovation under licensed brands
• Global rights management and cross-border licensing
• Packaging, design, and creative execution for co-branded products
• Legal, compliance, and contract structures in licensing deals

Buyer engagement angle:

For this event, the best outreach is not generic attendee-list selling. The winning angle is to position the list as a way to reach:

• Licensing decision-makers
• Brand partnership leaders
• Consumer products executives
• Retail merchandising buyers
• IP and rights management teams
• Manufacturers and suppliers supporting licensed product launches

That framing makes the database more relevant because licensing events are driven by commercial intent, not just networking. The companies attending are often actively looking for new ways to expand revenue through brand collaborations, retail placement, and partner products.

8️⃣ Client-product fit note

Important: Please share your client website before finalizing the exact buyer list. The best buyers for Licensing Con 2026 depend heavily on what your client sells.

Examples of how the buyer profile changes by product:

• If your client sells licensed merchandise production, focus on brand owners, entertainment studios, and retail merchandise teams.
• If your client sells packaging or print services, target consumer product companies, licensing agencies, and retail brands launching co-branded items.
• If your client sells marketing or promotional services, prioritize brand partnerships, consumer engagement, and retail activation teams.
• If your client sells software or data tools, target licensing operations, product development, rights management, and commercial strategy teams.
• If your client sells manufacturing or sourcing services, focus on licensees, product suppliers, private-label developers, and category buyers.

If you send the client website, I can review it and give you the best-fit buyer segments, titles, and industry filters for this event specifically.

9️⃣ Final recommendation

Licensing Con 2026 is a strong event for attendee-list research if your goal is to reach commercial decision-makers in licensing, brand partnerships, consumer products, retail, and entertainment IP. It is especially useful for companies that sell into brand monetization ecosystems, because the audience is usually made up of people who actively manage rights, partnerships, product launches, or retail distribution.

Best buyer segments to collect:

• Brand licensing executives
• Consumer products directors
• Retail merchandising buyers
• Partnership and collaboration managers
• Entertainment and sports IP teams
• Product development leaders
• Legal and rights management contacts

Quality rating for B2B attendee-list sales: 9/10

This is a very strong buyer-rich event if you target the right functions. The best results will come from filtering by titles, industry, and commercial responsibility rather than just by company name.