A licence to print money

The power of brand names will be obvious to any parent whose kitchens are full of Thunderbirds plates, Thomas the Tank Engine cutlery and Bob the Builder baked beans. We're a nation of label lovers, which is why the UK market for licensing brands and selling the rights for use on other products was worth about £6bn in 1998. There is little doubt that it has grown significantly since then.

The power of brand names will be obvious to any parent whose kitchens are full of Thunderbirds plates, Thomas the Tank Engine cutlery and Bob the Builder baked beans. We're a nation of label lovers, which is why the UK market for licensing brands and selling the rights for use on other products was worth about £6bn in 1998. There is little doubt that it has grown significantly since then.

Some of the world's biggest companies have seen the benefits of extending their brands in this way. The release of the latest Disney film, for example, generally spawns a range of related products. TV and film tie-ins, like those for Thomas the Tank Engine and Toy Story, are particularly popular.

But the list of nominees for the inaugural UK licensing awards - to be announced on Wednesday night at the Business Design Centre in north London - shows that this is not an activity limited to household names. Just ask Santoro Graph- ics. The Wimbledon stationery- design company is lined up against the likes of Homer Simpson, Coca Cola, Manchester United and Pokémon in three of the four categories.

Nor is this a one-off. Giles Andreae, responsible for the Purple Ronnie range of greetings cards that feature stylised characters and risqué poems about everything from football to sex, has seen the brand extended to about 30 products - including clothing, chocolates and condoms - since he entered an agreement with The Licensing Company about a year ago. Mr Andreae, who had resisted the idea of licensing for 12 years because he thought the fees were too high, says he is "astonished" at what TLC has done. He is now developing another brand, Magic Pants Factory, with the firm.

The source of Santoro's success is the "Groovy Chick" and other characters produced under the Bang on the Door brand. In the five years since the company launched a range of cards and stationery under that name, sales have passed £40m in the UK.

Meera Santoro, who founded the company with her husband Lucio in 1983, says careful licensing has been the key. "If we had just signed every licence that came to us, I don't think we would be where we are," she says. "We knew what we didn't want to see it on."

Despite this, "Groovy Chick" and her friends are hardly keeping a low profile: at the moment they're emblazoned on 299 products. And that figure is set to double in the next six months thanks to link-ups with the likes of the mighty US toy company Hasbro. Already, you can buy "Groovy Chick" tissues and a stress-relief facial pack.

But Mrs Santoro insists that she and her husband have always tried to "keep it right". If they had listened to those who told them to take what they could, they would not now have a brand that was in demand.

From the start, they realised quirkiness was part of the appeal. The brand name comes from the fact that the two women who did the original drawings worked next to a re-cording studio. The noise was so loud they couldn't hear the door- bell - so they pinned up a note saying "Bang on the Door".

The Santoros also realised that the teenagers who make up their target market "look out for all the icons", so they have insisted that these are retained in whatever context the images are used. This has prevented some deals being concluded, but she says such a restrictive approach has been vital for keeping the brand alive. Mr Andreae takes a similar view, saying that he tries to find licensees for products on which he thinks Purple Ronnie will be funny, while staying clear of companies in fields that he does not feel are relevant.

Inevitably, Bang on the Door designs have been imitated. But keeping such features as a little elephant logo have ensured that real fans can tell the original from the imitator.

The attention to detail continues in the latest initiative, Bang on the Door Kids. "Teen-agers are a very delicate market," says Mrs Santoro, and very territorial. That's why the new range has its own characters - to avoid teenagers feeling like their kid sisters have muscled in on their act.

The Santoros have a track record for reading these markets. As long ago as 1987, the two former art directors reached an agreement with 20th Century Fox for a line of greetings cards. Since then, they have launched an " interactive 3D swing card", produced a range of stationery for the Tower of London and come up with a range of handmade cushions featuring artistic designs. Along the way they have built up a business employing about 70 people in offices in six countries around the world.

"We've always approached it from a lifestyle point of view," says Mrs Santoro. The company has never printed Christmas or birthday cards because it aims to make its products "a fashion statement". It was an attitude they were assured would not work. "But we have just stuck by it," she adds. Licensing has come a long way since the days of "slapping a logo on a product and selling it".