Devon Rifkin sells hundreds of thousands of hangers every year to retailers, custom closet companies and apparel brands, including Nike. It never occurred to Rifkin, president of the Great American Hanger Co., that clothing hangers might work as a licensed product.
That was before Robert Strand, the NBA's emperor of licensed ephemera, called. Now the Miami company holds what's believed to be the first license to sell hangers carrying professional sports logos. If that sounds frivolous, that's only because you haven't talked to Strand.
"Licensing wasn't something we'd thought about, but after we started talking, I understood the opportunity," Rifkin said. With so many people paying hundreds or even thousands for a signed or game-used NBA uniform, it didn't seem like a stretch to think someone would pay for a hanger with a matching logo.
Thus, NBA hangers, a concept dreamed up by Strand, the league's champion of tchotchke, while listening to the standard licensing rhetorical question about how much more logoed apparel even the most ardent fan could fit in his or her closet.
"Even the most crowded closet has room for hangers," said Strand, the guy responsible for NBA-embossed rubber ducks, rubber bands, key blanks, plush rally monkeys wearing "wigs" in team colors, nesting dolls (wooden and plastic) and Mardi Gras beads.
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| The fun, Robert Strand says, is watching how NBA fans react to each new product. |
The popularity of NBA-branded kids' eyewear has made Marcolin the top-selling licensee of those in Strand's purview after just two years, a tribute to the fact that the NBA's brand equity is tethered more closely to fashion than other large sports licensers.
Structurally, the league splits its $2 billion-plus retail licensing business into trading cards/memorabilia/collectibles, electronic games and sporting goods/toys. Then there's Strand's jurisdiction. "I'm the 'everything else' guy," laughed Strand, whose background included stints with the Peace Corps, retailers FAO Schwarz and Ross Stores, and the Motown Cafes, before joining the NBA in 1999. "My function is finding new, crazy ways our fans can connect, so for us, it's all about identifying the right trends.
An example: Strand, who also handles licensed promotional products, saw fans lining up in droves for the Horace Grant Celebriduck in February 2002, when the Orlando Magic used them as a giveaway. Grant averaged eight points per game that season, so clearly, the product was the star. A year later, Celebriduck is one of Strand's biggest licensees.
"People need to connect with their passions," Strand said. "That's what makes this business work."
Sometimes the more obscure the product the better, and Strand has license to take chances. "The NBA has a lot of structure, but in my little area, I'm allowed to punch holes in it and take some risk, especially with smaller, single-product providers," he said. "That's what makes it fun."
Fun, and good business. Strand's gift and novelty area NBA licensed merchandise sales are up 18 percent from last year. Strand handles more than half (52 percent) of all NBA licensees, mainly because he has so many single-product companies.
Strand's experience as a retail buyer of licensed products left him with a wealth of product knowledge and an integral understanding of how the business works.
"He appreciates the balancing act between licenser and licensee," said James Robinson, managing director of Alliance Marketing Partners, a Conshohocken, Pa., company that worked with Strand on a McDonald's Allen Iverson bobblehead program last year. "That's what allows him to be a good dealmaker."
In a business always desperate for the latest "thing," Strand is the NBA's point guard. So while wigs in team colors and foam hats are fading, he's working with Madame Tussaud's to create life-sized wax replicas of two NBA players. He won't say which ones, but naturally, whoever is selected will have a supporting line of licensed souvenirs.
Need something to carry your licensed goods in? This fall, you'll be able to buy a line of NBA bags, including rhinestone-studded pocketbooks, along with garment and gym bags from Accessory Brands. The same company will produce an NBA shoe and leather wipe.
If you sprain your ankle, team-specific knee braces and ankle supports are part of a forthcoming NBA sports medicine line. Since you'll want to look cool all the while, the eyewear program is expanding to include prescription and nonprescription sunglasses. Naturally, you'll be wearing those shades while driving to the mall to construct an NBA or WNBA plush animal at one of the 115 Build-A-Bear Workshops.
Still under discussion: licensed birdhouses, mints, WNBA hair accessories, and perhaps an English-as-a-second-language educational curriculum, tied to the NBA's base of international players and fans.
The fun, Strand says, is seeing fans get excited when they see a new product, whether it's a Timberwolves mini-bobblehead or a Lakers CD case.
So while fans won't see those logoed hangers until late this year, Strand's already concocting a companion product. "We're thinking about some kind of [protective] garment sleeve," he mused. "It works for trading cards, so why not for basketball jerseys?"
