Licensing careers
How a licensing team works
Six teams share the work of a licensing program, from choosing which brands to license to collecting the last royalty. This page maps all 60 steps of the brand licensing workflow and the work the classic map leaves out. It also marks the ten handoffs where programs most often break.
Pick a team to see what it owns, how it is set up, how it is measured and how AI is changing the work.
The six teams
Who does the work
Licensing Leadership and Strategy
The leadership team decides which brands go to market, in which categories and territories, and against what targets.
Commercial and Partner Management
The commercial team finds, signs and grows the licensees and agents that turn a brand into products.
The creative team turns a brand into a rulebook and an asset library partners can build from, then reviews every product from concept to final sample.
The royalties team collects and verifies every royalty and guarantee owed, on time, and can prove the number.
The licensing master flow
All 60 steps, the decisions, and where programs break
Follow a licensing program from the first brand decision to the last royalty. Each lane is a team, each box a numbered step, and each diamond a decision. Orange badges mark the ten handoffs where programs most often break, and dashed boxes show the work the classic map leaves out. Select any step to read more about the team that owns it.
Scroll sideways to follow the whole flow.
Show all 60 steps as a list
| Step | What happens | Team |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Plan the program IP portfolio listed | Leadership and strategy |
| 2 | Potential IPs identified | Leadership and strategy |
| 3 | IP potential evaluated | Leadership and strategy |
| 4 | IPs excluded from the program | Leadership and strategy |
| 5 | Program strategy drafted | Leadership and strategy |
| 15 | Strategy finalized | Leadership and strategy |
| 16 | All stakeholders informed | Leadership and strategy |
| 17 | Strategy execution started | Leadership and strategy |
| 6 | Protect the IP Protection and competition study | Contracts and IP |
| 7 | IP ownership confirmed | Contracts and IP |
| 8 | Protection plan and timeline | Contracts and IP |
| 9 | Forms of protection set | Contracts and IP |
| 14 | Protection plan executed | Contracts and IP |
| 10 | Build brand assets IP guidelines drafted | Creative and brand assurance |
| 11 | Graphic look developed | Creative and brand assurance |
| 12 | IP guidelines defined | Creative and brand assurance |
| 13 | Style guide and assets finalized | Creative and brand assurance |
| 18 | Prospect and negotiate Promotions and marketing roadmap | Commercial and partners |
| 19 | Market research | Commercial and partners |
| 20 | Licensee prospects identified | Commercial and partners |
| 21 | Prospects contacted | Commercial and partners |
| 22 | NDA required | Commercial and partners |
| 23 | NDA executed | Commercial and partners |
| 24 | Commercial negotiation started | Commercial and partners |
| 25 | Licensee evaluation form required | Commercial and partners |
| 26 | Evaluation form provided | Commercial and partners |
| 27 | Due diligence and double licensing check | Commercial and partners |
| 28 | Grant of rights negotiated | Commercial and partners |
| 29 | Contract Deal memo required | Commercial and partners |
| 30 | Deal memo terms negotiated | Commercial and partners |
| 31 | Deal memo executed | Commercial and partners |
| 32 | License agreement drafted | Contracts and IP |
| 33 | Agreement executed | Contracts and IP |
| 34 | Licensee pays the advance | Royalties and finance |
| 35 | Develop and approve Licensee receives style guide and assets | Creative and brand assurance |
| 36 | Product development started | Creative and brand assurance |
| 37 | Concept sent for approval | Creative and brand assurance |
| 38 | Changes made from feedback | Creative and brand assurance |
| 39 | Prototype developed | Creative and brand assurance |
| 40 | Prototype sent for approval | Creative and brand assurance |
| 41 | Changes made from feedback | Creative and brand assurance |
| 42 | Final samples sent for approval | Creative and brand assurance |
| 43 | Changes made from feedback | Creative and brand assurance |
| 44 | Launch and market Products shipped to retail | Creative and brand assurance |
| 45 | Promotions and marketing campaigns | Commercial and partners |
| 46 | Product sales at retail | Royalties and finance |
| 47 | Retailer pays the licensee | Royalties and finance |
| 48 | Report and collect Licensee reports sales | Royalties and finance |
| 49 | Ongoing development and reporting | Royalties and finance |
| 50 | Licensor recoups against the guarantee | Royalties and finance |
| 51 | Licensee pays overages | Royalties and finance |
| 52 | Manage and renew Performance evaluated during the term | Leadership and strategy |
| 53 | Licensee audit | Royalties and finance |
| 54 | Agreement renewal | Contracts and IP |
| 55 | Agreement expires | Contracts and IP |
| 56 | New licensee replaces the previous one | Contracts and IP |
| 57 | Program continues | Contracts and IP |
| 58 | Program performance evaluated | Leadership and strategy |
| 59 | Strategy updated | Leadership and strategy |
| 60 | Program ended | Leadership and strategy |
- 1Strategy to executionStrategy is shared as a document, so nothing downstream can check itself against it, and agents work from a copy that ages.
- 2Strategy to prospectingThe target licensee profile is written in prose, so prospect fit is judged by feel instead of scored.
- 3Qualification to conflict checkThe double licensing check depends on someone remembering the whole rights position. This handoff has the highest cost of failure.
- 4Deal memo to agreementAgreed terms are retyped, and every retyping is a chance for the record and the contract to disagree.
- 5Agreement to financeIf the financial schedule is not structured here, every royalty check downstream is guesswork.
- 6Agreement to partnerOnboarding quality here sets the first pass approval rate for the whole term.
- 7Partner to reviewerSubmissions arrive without structure and unchecked against rights, so reviewers do intake work before review work.
- 8Approval to retailThe approved product list is the only definition of what may be sold, and it is rarely checked against what is.
- 9Partner to royaltyEvery licensee reports in its own format. This is the largest manual task in the month.
- 10Operations to strategyPerformance reaches leadership as a pack assembled by hand, weeks after the period it describes.
Go further
Where to go next
Run every step in one place
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