CLEVELAND - The International Collegiate Licensing Association (ICLA) has announced UCLA as its 2021 Synergy Award winner. 

The team at UCLA Trademarks & Licensing, an enterprise of Associated Students UCLA, has been busy elevating their department over the course of this past year. Not only did they work to expand UCLA's world-wide trademark and service mark portfolio, but they also received various awards and recognition, while executing new exclusive agreements and announcing a new sideline partner. This team also launched some new, special programs across the U.S. as well as introduced the UCLA lifestyle to several global retailers through specially designed collections. Their biggest initiative from this past year was in regard to sustainability in supply chains for UCLA licensed products. They took a deeper dive into this by engaging with various stakeholders for both environmental and labor sustainability efforts.

"Congratulations to UCLA for being named 2021 ICLA's Synergy Award Winner!" said current ICLA President and Director, Brand and Trademark Licensing at West Virginia University, Nikki Goodenow. "Even with California being almost completely shut down due to COVID-19, UCLA's Trademarks and Licensing Office still found several ways to thrive. I look forward to celebrating UCLA and their many accomplishments."

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More about the UCLA Trademarks & Licensing Program

Revenue Generation

o   Kareem Abdul-Jabbar Collection - UCLA collaborated with Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Mitchell & Ness to create a unique collection of t-shirts including a limited-edition design based on the program cover for the UCLA vs. USC men's basketball game on January 11, 2020. The collection was promoted through various social media channels, email blasts to ticket holders of the game and a press release. Two of the five styles completely sold out that night. The other three styles had some inventory available and went for sale on uclastore.com the next morning.

o   Centennial Celebration - The 2019 UCLA Centennial Celebration was to conclude with the 2020 commencement ceremonies. With the campus closure in mid-March, events and activities commemorating this momentous milestone were re-invented to virtual celebrations including commencement. Retail products as well as a campus catalog for internal, department purchases were made available. Trademarks & Licensing worked with the UCLA Store to select a limited number of licensees to work on this special project. In the end, over $750,000 of Centennial product was sold generating royalties of over $100,000. Close to 30% of all Centennial sales were related to graduation products such as sashes and tassels.

Brand Protection

o   EcoVadis - In February 2020, UCLA added EcoVadis as a scorecard tool to evaluate licensee's sustainability efforts. The tool measures environmental as well as labor sustainability throughout the supply chain. A company's size and industry are taken into consideration for measurement across peers. While rolled out as a voluntary opt-in for licensees, over 1/3 of the licensee base took part in an assessment. They now have a detailed and specific road map for improvement.

o   CR/Sustainability Efforts - UCLA executed three new exclusive partnerships. While revenue enhancing, these partnerships allow UCLA to exert greater brand management control by having a smaller licensee base. Over the last 10 years, UCLA has reduced its licensee base from 320+ to roughly 125 today. This has been accomplished with the help of our CR/Sustainability efforts.

Campus Collaboration

o   At UCLA, over ¼ of all products manufactured bearing the university's name are sold to campus departments and groups for internal consumption. In order to manage this, UCLA Trademarks & Licensing collaborated with the Administrative Vice Chancellor and other campus stakeholders to create an online portal for campus requests. While this launched in 2019, it was after collecting data for a year that the system was updated, and processes streamlined in 2020. New workflows were created, and a new portal was launched in Q4 2020.

o  In the Fall of 2020, UCLA Trademarks & Licensing enlisted the assistance of the UCLA Store and licensee, Colosseum Athletics, to make a sizable product donation to the UCLA Bruin Guardian Scholars program to aid students impacted by the foster care system. In total, 88 impacted students were gifted with two UCLA face coverings, UCLA headwear, pennants and other branded products, snack and beverage kits and a gift card to the UCLA Store. In total, a donation of over $13,000 in product from Colosseum Athletics and ASUCLA, including the UCLA Store and select vendors, was made to help ease the burden that befalls those individuals who don't have a support system to fall back on by giving them personal care items and helping combat food insecurity.

External Collaboration

o   UCLA Trademarks & Licensing collaborated on a presentation with University of California Santa Barbara at the annual California Higher Education Sustainability Conference. This project was recognized and awarded a 2020 Best Practice Award in the category of Sustainable Innovations.

o   In partnership with Top of the World by Fanatics, UCLA presented alumni and fan zip code data to the Walmart buying team increasing store count from a planned nine in Fall 2020 to 26. TOW was able to react and have product available for all additional doors.

Innovation/Vision

o   Amazon Store Front – UCLA Trademarks & Licensing launched a store front on Amazon.com/UCLA in 2019. This past year, especially with the pandemic in mind, efforts increased to enhance the page and generate more views and sales. In Q4 2020, UCLA launched an advertising campaign with Amazon that generated 1.65 million impressions. The page allows the UCLA team to curate the products that should be featured, including photographs or video, and make updates at any time.

o   UCLA continues to expand international licensing efforts that started back in the 1970's. In 2020, new seasonal collections in men's, women's and children's apparel launched online and at H&M stores worldwide. Women's apparel collections debuted in Australia with retailer, Princess Polly and in the MENA region at other select retailers. In Japan, where UCLA products first debuted in the '70s, a collection commemorating the UCLA Centennial was a huge hit.

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Meet the UCLA Trademarks & Licensing Team

Cynthia Holmes, Director - Holmes is a 34-year employee of ASUCLA. She has served the UCLA Trademarks & Licensing program since 1988, where she is responsible for strategic direction and management of UCLA's world-wide licensing program. Key components include domestic and international licensee and agency relationships, oversight and expansion of an extensive international trademark portfolio, evaluation, and implementation of social and environmental sustainability considerations throughout supply chains used to produce UCLA® brand products. In 2017, Holmes was inducted into the ICLA Hall of Fame for her contributions to the collegiate licensing industry.

Kristina Miller, Retail Brand Director - Miller began her employment with UCLA as a student employee in the UCLA Store in 1992. After earning her MBA from UCLA's Anderson School of Management in 2004, she joined the UCLA Trademarks & Licensing team overseeing the visual brand identity and day to day operations of the domestic licensing program. As the Retail Brand Director, Miller works closely with licensees, retailers, and licensing agent CLC to maximize UCLA's brand presence in the marketplace. In January 2021, Miller celebrated her 25-year career anniversary with UCLA.

Liz Kennedy, Director of Ethical Labor & Sustainability - Kennedy is Director of Ethical Labor and Sustainability for ASUCLA; the independent, nonprofit student association responsible for retail, restaurant, student union and trademark licensing operations at UCLA. She directs human rights due diligence in supply chains for trademark-bearing collegiate licensed products, supply chain transparency advocacy and implementation, and development of a social and environmental sustainability culture within service units of ASUCLA. Prior to her role at UCLA, Kennedy directed corporate social responsibility at CLC. She was inducted into the ICLA Hall of Fame in 2014.

Bonita Alford, Internal Campus Sourcing Manager - Alford has worked for UCLA Trademarks & Licensing since 1996. Originally hired as the Licensing Coordinator, her position has evolved into the Internal Campus Sourcing Manager. She administers UCLA's internal campus sourcing program, which is one of the largest in the collegiate space. Her duties include artwork approval, approving requests to use trademarks, and campus outreach. She also assists in activities related to prospective licensees, ethical labor compliance, assisting with trademark enforcement activities, and following up on infringements.

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The ICLA Synergy Award winner will be recognized during the 2022 Winter Symposium.

About the ICLA Synergy Award: The Synergy Award is given annually to an exceptional "team" on campus or from a conference that has demonstrated extraordinary commitment to collegiate licensing over the course of the past year and directly contributed to the betterment of the industry and their institution or organization. The team must also have made significant contributions to the collegiate licensing industry through innovative or new ideas during the current academic year, played a vital role on campus and in the industry through their leadership, and demonstrated teamwork/involvement from multiple components in the licensing process.

About ICLA: ICLA provides educational and networking opportunities, enhancement of acceptable operating standards and ethics, and establishment of the overall prestige and understanding of the profession of collegiate licensing. For more information on ICLA, please visit www.iclanet.com. ICLA is administered by the National Association of Collegiate Directors of Athletics (NACDA), which is in its 56^th year. For more information on NACDA and the 17 professional associations that fall under its umbrella, please visit www.nacda.com.