This is how successful marketers negotiate.
Multiply your own negotiating skills dramatically!
We have, for download, a licensing agreement between a major celebrity and a national marketing company. It is 42 pages long and covers point after point that most of us would never think of when setting up a promotion. If you aspire to sell perfume in volume, this document offers the guidance you need to succeed as well as giving you an almost unfair advantage in dealing with those who are giving you money.
Come on now...
Why would I want it?
Few of us will ever work with a major celebrity. So why any interest in a 42-page legal agreement between a major celebrity and a national marketer? It's simple. If you are planning your own perfume promotion on any sort of scale, it's almost certain you'll be working with others, and those others will be supplying some or all of the money needed to launch your perfume.
They could be relatives, business associates, or people introduced to you by a mutual friend. But on what terms will you be willing to work with them? Will you be forced to surrender the leadership of your project to the person putting up the most money, even if that person has no marketing sense and knows nothing about perfume? (Hint: you don't have to!) Will your investors be able to sell their share of your project to someone you don't feel comfortable working with or even to a faceless corporation? (Hint: you can easily prevent this from happening!)
Money, power, decision making, "Plan B" (your escape plan if your investors don't live up to their promises!) are all critical issues that must be agreed on – in writing – right from the beginning. These are some of the issues that have been addressed and resolved by the top flight lawyers in this document we simply call "Celebrity Licensing Contract".
It all comes down to money
and your personal reputation
Some of the issues simply involve money: who gets what and when. But there are issues here you may never have considered such as —
- Will your investors have veto power over your marketing plan, advertising, media selections, and even the scent of the fragrance itself? What will happen if this stalls the project?
- What happens to surplus inventory, shopworn returns, and seconds? Who has the right to the sell-off and who gets the money?
- Will you be able to prevent investors from steering business to their friends who overcharge, provide poor quality, and suck profits out of your company?
- When it's all over, who will own the trademark, the name you've given your perfume? This name – a trademark that carries special rights of its own – could have substantial value.
— questions like these and their answers go on for 42 pages!
Why we value this document
As marketers we are always looking for ways to improve our own promotions, to become more professional and more effective.
We happened across this document in a search for something else and at first could not believe we had stumbled on the full text of an executed contract.
As we began to read through it we were impressed by how through the celebrity's lawyers were in defining the celebrity's rights and limiting the celebrity's participation and exposure. Sure, there are a lot of paragraphs here that for you and I only amount to "human interest". But when you exmine the paragraphs on production, distribution, promotion, customer service and quality control you quickly learn more about than any textbook could teach you about real world marketing and dealmaking. This is the real deal; real people making a deal over a lot of real money.
I won't tell you how we obtained this document or name the celebrity, lawyers, and marketer involved. All references to them have been redacted by us. I can tell you that the celebrity is a name you know, somebody famous. The people who negotiated the contract would not be known to you but I promise they are top dealmakers who get the best for their clients. And the marketer? Try to guess!
Study it, print it, make your own notes
The Celebrity Marketing Contract download is in Adobe pdf format and can easily be read on any tablet or desktop. There are no restrictions on how many times you can print it. By printing it you will be able to make notes in the margin to help you plan your own strategy.
While this document was prepared by a leading law firm and some of the language may go over your head, you'll quickly recognize the important issues for any marketer and how, under this contract, they have been resolved.
This download comes with my personal no-risk guarantee. If you are not fully satisfied, tell me and I'll refund your payment.
Philip Goutell
Lightyears, Inc.
