Brandmate Closes With More Visitors but no New Date

800 participants from 350 companies attended the third Brandmate, held in Offenbach near Frankfurt on 19 and 20 June. The exhibitors were "happy", the organisers proud, but no date has yet been set for 2025.

Brandmate is a B2B networking event for brand collaborations, partnerships and licensing that aims to bring together companies, brands and potential collaborators from a variety of industries. One focus is entertainment licensing, so exhibitors included film and TV companies, as well as agencies that market the rights to gaming IP. More than 800 participants from 350 companies attended the third edition of Brandmate, which took place in Offenbach on 19 and 20 June. That was 50 more than last year.

According to the organisers of Brandmate GmbH, which is part of Spielwarenmesse eG, the exhibitors were also very positive. Nick Mondry-Ritter, Licensing Coordinator at Warner Bros. Entertainment, attested to the "increased quality of the event", and Kathrin Brandhorst, Regional Director Northern Europe at Universal Consumer Products, said: "We are happy!"

In addition to these two majors, other exhibitors included Hasbro, Mattel, Paramount, RTL CP and RTL2, Seven.One Licensing, WDR mediagroup, Bandai Namco, Bavaria Media, Brandora, Crunchyroll, the German Football Association (DFB), Strassenkicker, Kosmos, Kiddinx, EMP, Studio 100, Elle and gamification and serious games company erspielbar.

The organisers are also pleased: "We are proud that the event is not only a platform for inspiring encounters, but also makes a significant contribution to strengthening the brand and cooperation landscape," says Brandmate founder and CEO Eva Stemmer.

However, this year's closing press conference is a little different from last year's: the organisers have not yet set a specific date for 2025. This may not mean anything yet, but on the other hand, the LicenseLounge special area was already held in cooperation with Brandmate at Toy Fair 2024 in Nuremberg, the main event of Spielwarenmesse eG. It is quite possible that the B2B event will be fully integrated in the nearby future.