Collegiate Licensing Co., the agency that created the $4 billion college licensing industry, is changing its name to IMG College Licensing.
CLC was founded 35 years ago by Bill Battle and has served as the licensing division of IMG College since it was acquired in May 2007 for $108 million. In that 10 years, CLC doubled the amount of gross royalties it generated for its schools, the company said.
But now is the time to finish the integration process by fully bringing it under the WME-IMG banner.
“CLC is so legendary and so iconic, and we’re so proud of the history, but this is a new era,” said Mark Shapiro, co-president of WME-IMG. “The rebrand is really reflective of the way we are now running the business.”
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Now called IMG College Licensing, CLC’s work has included its Rock Your Colors campaign.
Photo by: IMG COLLEGE |
Battle founded CLC in 1982, shortly after becoming the agent to represent legendary Alabama football coach Bear Bryant. The Atlanta-based licensing agency came to represent more than 200 universities, conferences and other college properties. Among CLC’s other clients along the way were the PGA Tour and NASCAR.
“We’ve been talking about a rebrand for a while and when would be the right timing,” said Cory Moss, managing director for the licensing division and a senior vice president within IMG College. “What struck us is all the resources we can bring to bear from WME-IMG to better serve our partners. Our brand needs to change to match the resources we can bring to our partners.”
The rebranding to IMG College Licensing comes at a time when the business has undergone some restructuring at the top level. Moss’ title remains the same, but senior vice presidents Jim Connelly and Catherine Gammon, both of whom joined CLC in 2012, have parted ways with the company. Moss,who reports to IMG College President Tim Pernetti, and others will absorb their duties on special projects and brand development.
“The market has changed so drastically with retailers closing and consumers being more mobile,” Moss said. “We’ve got to be laser-focused on how we take these great college brands to the next level through innovation and transformation.”
Moss, whose father Orby Moss was athletic director at Georgia State in Atlanta through the 1990s, joined CLC in 1995 after three years of selling pharmaceutical products. He gradually rose to the top of the company’s hierarchy and was named managing director in 2011.
Moss delivered news of the CLC rebrand late last week in Nashville, where the company’s partners convened for their annual seminar.
“My message to our partners is ‘Look at what we can do now,’” he said. “With the resources at our disposal, we can now better tell the story of who we are.”
For example, Moss said, WME’s research team presented information from a focus group on the female consumer at the Nashville seminar.
“Look, we know the market is changing drastically,” Moss said. “The retail landscape is changing. That plays into what we’ve been focused on — consumers. The retailers might come and go, but how you market to the consumer and engage them is still at the center of what we do.”
