Collegiate Licensing Company Extends Partnership with West Virginia University
November 13, 2012
Following a record year of licensing royalty revenue for West Virginia University, Collegiate Licensing Company, an affiliate of IMG College, today announced it has reached an agreement for a 10-year extension with WVU to continue managing the school’s trademark licensing program through June 30, 2022.
“Throughout our four-year partnership with CLC, the WVU licensing program has experienced outstanding growth in sales of our licensed merchandise,” said Marsha Malone, Director of Trademark Licensing, West Virginia University. “More importantly, our fans have never had better access to quality merchandise in every retail channel than they do now. We look forward to continuing to work with CLC to grow our WVU brand and market presence.”
Over the past four years, Collegiate Licensing Company has worked closely with WVU to generate incremental brand exposure through creative marketing concepts and national licensing programs such as Victoria’s Secret PINK, Old Navy, and Justice. Collegiate Licensing Company has enabled the University to extend its retail presence in the marketplace into new channels of distribution and to expand product selection with current retailers, including Best Buy, Cracker Barrel, Walmart, and Target. Additionally, Collegiate Licensing Company has helped introduce WVU to unique co-branded licensing programs such as TOMS Shoes, Pillow Pets, and the collegiate FTD rose program.
“We are honored by the long-term partnership extension with West Virginia to continue building on the success of its trademark licensing program,” said Cory Moss, Senior Vice President and Managing Director, The Collegiate Licensing Company. “It is our goal to help connect the University’s passionate fans to the tradition-rich WVU brand, and we look forward to doing so for many years to come.”
West Virginia is one of seven schools in the Big 12 Conference (Big 12) represented by Collegiate Licensing Company including The University of Kansas, The University of Oklahoma, Oklahoma State University, Texas Christian University, The University of Texas at Austin, and Texas Tech University. Collegiate Licensing Company also represents the Big 12 Conference.
About Collegiate Licensing Company
Collegiate Licensing Company is a division of global sports and entertainment company IMG. Founded in 1981, Collegiate Licensing Company is the oldest and largest collegiate licensing agency in the U.S. and currently represents nearly 200 colleges, universities, bowl games, athletic conferences, The Heisman Trophy and the NCAA. The mission of Collegiate Licensing Company is to be the guiding force in collegiate trademark licensing and one of the top sports licensing firms in the country. Collegiate Licensing Company is dedicated to being a center of excellence in providing licensing services of the highest quality to its member institutions, licensees, retailers and consumers. Headquartered in Atlanta (Ga.), Collegiate Licensing Company is a full-service licensing representative, which employs a staff of more than 80 licensing professionals who provide full-service capabilities in brand protection, brand management, and brand development.
About West Virginia University
WVU is one of about a dozen schools in the country that are land-grant, doctoral research universities with a comprehensive medical school. Many of the University’s 184 degree programs have placement rates at or near 100 percent. WVU has a proud tradition of student excellence. We have produced 24 Rhodes Scholars, 22 Truman Scholars, 35 Goldwater Scholars, and 31 Fulbright Scholars. In 2012 alone, WVU has announced five Fulbright Scholars. WVU has been ranked as one of the Top 20 Best Places to Work in Academia by The Scientist, and Forbes ranked WVU as number 30 in their top 100 list of best buy colleges. Over 180,000 alumni located in 60 nations around the world include leaders in business, technology, medicine, the arts, law, and education.