Licensing Blog

Welcome to our Licensing Blog, which takes a light hearted look at our mysterious world.

New Hungary show makes it’s debut in cold Budapest(Posted: 12-03-2010)

Advanstar’s long awaited new venture, Brand Licensing Central & Eastern Europe took place this week in Budapest, Hungary. Sensibly not setting their sights too high, a very satisfactory display of exhibitors gave the visitors something worth coming for. Importantly, the visitor numbers beat the organiser’s original target (although I will leave them to tell you what the figures were).

Budapest has plenty of history and culture on offer, as a few hours walking round in the freezing cold following a tourist map showed me. Unfortunately I spent so much time exploring Pest that I never made it to the Buda side of the river.

As ever, we were inundated with places to eat and drink, although I have to admit Saturday evening for me was a multi screen sports bar watching rugby from the Guinness Premiership. The local-style restaurants served very reasonably priced food, with massive portions that all had an enormous bone of some sort in (not the desserts though). Leg of pork and thigh of venison seemed to be just that.

We had the usual trade show incidents: the principal from the new Italian agency Allsorta Licensing was minding his own business in front of a urinal when he was confronted by a female member of the organising team, purporting to have mistakenly entered the wrong toilet. I suggest that an investigation of her past may reveal further “mistaken” incidents that will need to be taken into account; worse than this, another exhibitor was stalked back to his hotel by a persistent prostitute (in her own “follow that cab” moment) who followed him right to his room and then caused a scene when he wouldn’t give her any money. Scary.

It was thought in order to celebrate the success of the event on the evening following the show, and we duly did. I even got over being (good naturedly) insulted by a high-ranking member of LIMA without making a comment about him wearing one of the free Top Gear watches that were on the tables at the last Licensing Awards. We somehow got on to musical tastes and the first single, first album, first concert scenario. After I admitted to my first single being Claire by Gilbert O’Sullivan the rest found it difficult to carry on. Still, I then thought we were about to play “Kiss, Shag, Marry” within the licensing industry so perhaps it was best that the topic soon changed.

I have a feeling that the 8.5% wheat beer, ordered mistakenly I must point out due to language difficulties, certainly helped the evening go well, but it was most definitely the local Palinka fruit brandy that made it go with a bang. A number of these, combined with fat cigars at the hotel (not me by the way – non smoker) really finished us all off. Thanks to Mr Gibson for carrying on the party with me at a local bar until (he tells me) 4.45am. As my taxi was collecting me at 5.15am, a quick stumble amongst the pot-plants on the pavement was all I had time for, and then it was off to the airport to recover on the plane.

On the Wednesday I could have done with one of the many natural spas on offer in Budapest, but had to content myself with a hot bath and an early night.

Now it’s time to start activating the little grey cells for the Light Fund Quiz in Manchester next week. I bet you can’t wait to see our team’s fancy dress………