The Smiley Company: one platform behind a global smile
A licensing programme in more than 150 countries means many partners, many rights and many royalty lines to keep in order. The Smiley Company has run that work on Flowhaven since 2020. The next big moment is already on the calendar: 30 years of the Smileys in 2027.
At a glance
- Customer: The Smiley Company
- Programme: global brand licensing across the SmileyWorld, S.W.Smiley and Mini Smiley product lines, in more than 150 countries
- Challenge: keeping global rights, approvals and royalty tracking in order across many partners and markets
- Solution: Flowhaven as the licensing management platform since 2020, with CRM, royalty management, forecasting and analytics in one place
- Result: in the team’s own words, increased user compliance, insights that support data driven decisions and dashboards tailored to their needs
A smile that travels to 150+ countries
The original Smiley brand turned 50 in 2022. That anniversary alone brought more than 60 brand collaborations and over $521 million in retail sales, as reported by Licensing Source.
Scale like that is a great problem to have. Every collaboration brings its own agreement, its own products to approve and its own royalty reports to check.
Spread that across more than 150 countries and the admin grows with every new partner. The licensing team needs one view of who holds which rights, what is in approval and what has been reported.
One platform for rights, approvals and royalties
The Smiley Company adopted Flowhaven as its licensing management platform to manage global rights, approvals and royalty tracking across more than 150 countries. The two companies have worked together since 2020.
Partner relationships, royalties, forecasts and reporting all sit in the same system. Here is how their Financial Controller describes it.
It’s provided us with an all-in-one product with comprehensive features for CRM, royalty management, forecasting, and analytics.
For a finance team, that combination matters. In Flowhaven, royalty data and forecasts live side by side. The numbers finance reports on are the same numbers the licensing team plans with.
Approvals run on the same platform. Partners submit products through the portal, feedback is pinned on the artwork, and every version of a product approval can be compared side by side.
Free tools for licensing teams
Royalty report templates, approval playbooks and agreement checklists.
Free to download, no strings attached.
What changed, in their words
Asked what Flowhaven brings to the business, The Smiley Company team names five wins:
- Increased user compliance
- Analytical reports to slice and dice the data
- Insights that support data driven decisions
- Dashboards tailored to business specific needs
- Customisation and the ability to integrate other software
Compliance and customisation sit side by side on that list, and that is no accident. A platform people actually use, shaped to how the business works, is what keeps data reliable across a global programme.
The reporting wins follow from there. Flowhaven analytics gives you dashboards for royalties by territory and season, plus forecasts. Flowhaven is Salesforce native and connects to the other software your team runs, such as your ERP, through integrations.
What’s next: 30 years of the Smileys
In 2027, The Smiley Company celebrates the 30th anniversary of the Smileys under the theme “Express Your World”. The company is inviting hundreds of partners to take part.
Flowhaven is supporting the anniversary on the same platform The Smiley Company has worked in since 2020. More partners means more agreements, more submissions and more royalty reports, all landing in one place.
Speaking to Licensing Source, Flowhaven founder and CEO Kalle Törmä said “partnerships like this showcase what’s possible when operational excellence meets cultural relevance.”
Read the announcement: Flowhaven to help power The Smiley Company on Licensing Source.
Running a programme with partners worldwide?
Whether you work with ten licensees or hundreds, the same principle holds: one platform, one set of numbers. Hear how other licensing teams put it on our customer voices page.
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