In what is being called a “global first”, Australian clip licensing firm Born Licensing has signed on to be a clip licensing agent for Twentieth Century Fox, giving Australian brands and advertisers access to studio content.
Speaking to AdNews owner and director of Born Licensing, David Born, said the landmark deal will provide a local point of contact for creative agencies to use clips from the studio's portfolio which includes The Simpsons, Family Guy, and American Horror Story, and films such as Avatar, Titanic and Home Alone.
He said clip licensing is in its infancy in Australia, especially compared to the more mature US market, using the recent Snicker's Super Bowl television commercial as an example, whereby footage from the Brady Bunch in its “you're not you when you're hungry” campaign was used.
“It's similar to the way advertisers use music to get a head start or tap into an existing fan base,” Born said.
“Today in advertising it is getting really hard to engage the audience: the power is now with the viewer, not with the advertisers.”
“There are so many ways that you can block out advertisers as a user, so the key to tackling this is to create entertaining advertising.”
Under the arrangement, Born licensing will deal directly with Twentieth Century Fox in both LA and in Singapore on behalf of agency clients.
Born said deals like this one his business has made with Twentieth Century Fox are important in boosting the low profile of clip licensing in Australia, which he said has been often relegated to the “too hard basket” by creative agencies.
“The feedback that I’m getting from advertising agencies is: 'We've wanted to do things like this in the past, we've wanted to include entertainment brand's footage and likeness in our campaigns but we haven't know where to start, or who to call,'” Born said.
“In advertising, if it takes you two days or more to get onto the right person, it's almost too late: these things just happen so quickly.
“Agencies have been telling me that whenever they get a brief on their desk that uses existing footage, they put it in the too hard basket, and send it back to creative to substitute it for something else.”
Born said he is already visiting agencies directly in order to spread awareness on how the process of clip licensing works. His ambition is to be a “one stop shop” for agencies when it comes to utilising entertainment content.
“This is game changing for the advertising industry,” Born said. “There is already fantastic ad campaigns out there but I think it will bring even more creativity to an already creative industry.”
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