Malibu Image Shaping Up

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Apparel-makers have profited from the easygoing Malibu image for years. Now the city itself wants to catch that wave.

The seaside city has hired a New York licensing company to develop a logo that will be marketed to makers of an array of consumer products, from surfboards to T-shirts and beauty products. It will be a kind of official Malibu seal of approval that could be stamped on products.

Terms are still being worked out, but when Malibu-branded items hit store shelves in summer 2014, the city is expected to take a royalty of between 5 percent and 10 percent of receipts, applying the proceeds to help fund conservation projects at its beaches and parks.

Malibu has hired New York licensing company Excel Corp., which has run similar campaigns for Beverly Hills and the Statue of Liberty-Ellis Island Foundation, to both design an official logo and to market it to prospective licensees. Rob Stone, Excel’s vice president of licensing, said he will tap into Malibu’s beachside and surf culture.

“Malibu has become an icon,” Stone said. “Everyone knows it all over the world and it can easily be translated into a product. No place has that easy of a transition.”

Excel is in talks with some brands, including Coppertone. So yes, get ready for Malibu-branded sunscreen.

– Ryan Faughnder

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