How Licensing Works
Marketing equity for lease.
Licensing draws on the substantial marketing muscle, trusted reputation, and brand equity of a product or entity, giving corporations and organizations the ability to expand beyond the core business with minimal resources and manufacturers the benefit of making and marketing products that have instant consumer appeal and recognition and proven selling power.
How to get started.
The UO licensing process begins with an application and normally takes 6-8 weeks to complete. The better prepared you are, the faster the approval process. It’s also important to have a clear and well-researched vision of what you want to accomplish and which products will best help you get there.
Here are some of the steps you can expect:
1. Research and Evaluate
You’ll find many of the typical licensed UO products at our No. 1 regional retailer, The Duck Stores, including t-shirts, headwear and caps, sweatshirts, fleece, performance apparel, and such novelty products as coffee cups and key chains — and even consumables like ice cream and hot sauce.
UO products are also available in a wide variety of other sales channels, both locally and worldwide, often calling for products that aren’t as traditional, such as myrtlewood plates and UO football jerseys.
If your idea helps extend the UO brand outside of our current sales zone or introduces an innovative new product or line, your application is much more likely to be approved.
Disney Enterprises owns our sports mascot character and we rarely grant rights to license it. Regardless, it is a completely separate agreement and program and the number of licensees is intentionally kept very small.
The Oregon O logo is exclusively licensed to UO's athletic apparel and equipment supplier and is not available for use by other apparel licensees. UO also exclusively licenses fitted and flex filled headwear and performance apparel and licensing opportunities are rare. If your items are controversial or would not positively reflect on UO, they will not receive approval.
2. Submit an Application
You can download one here. Along with the application, please send samples of the items you wish to license. At this point, they should not include any UO logos, as you haven’t yet received permission to use those.
Our licensing committee will review your application during one of our monthly meetings. Because we receive a great number of applications, we are looking for compelling ideas that will extend our sales area and appeal to different markets than currently, all while supporting our brand.
The better your marketing and product information, the easier it will be for us to see the market potential and the greater chance of application approval.
3. Sign Contracts and Develop Prototypes
If the licensing committee decides you have presented a strong case for becoming a UO licensee, we will notify you and send over the necessary contracts to complete and return along with other required information.
After all contracts are in order, we will send you all UO artwork. You’ll have 30 days to incorporate it into your proposed products and submit for approval.
Have Questions?
If you have questions or need more information, please contact Matt Dyste, director of marketing and brand management, at artwork@uoregon.edu
