Liquid IP

What’s happening?

This is going to show up at a Macro level...

“Our [Disney] D² rundle vision included a new content feature: edutainment. We suggested the company launch an education product for kids in grades K-12, advice the company seemed to take halfheartedly onboard.

In July, Disney licensed its characters to an Indian education company, Byju’s, to launch a learning app in the U.S. — a start, but I still think Disney should take matters into its own hands.

The synergy of education with parks, merchandise, streaming, and singular IP is a subscription-based motherload the company hasn’t tapped.”

- Scott Galloway

...and a micro level

“I offer my workshops on women’s empowerment in two ways: there are the ‘standard’ set, but I’ve also created a set designed through the lens of the Marvel world.

For example - Marvel’s Loki series on Disney+ as an innovative way to explore Immunity to Change theory”

- S., Coach and Workshop Facilitator, London

In Action: Liquid IP

Via The Gilder Lehrman Institute.

EduHam

The smash hit musical Hamilton didn’t just stop at Broadway. They created an open source education program for educators to bring the learnings of Hamilton into the classroom. Not every entertainment property has in-built teachings on the US constitution, but smart IP owners will make the most of their properties and find innovative ways to offer them into educational settings.

Via Yoto.

Yoto

This screen-free audio platform for kids is controlled with physical cards. There’s no camera, no microphone, and no ads. What makes it magical? Inspirational IP from across the landscape of books, film, and music.

Via The British Museum.

The British Museum

Do you remember our trend Cultural Institutions Reimagined? There, we looked at how China has turned museum relics into big business. This trend will extend out into Liquid IP.

“Museum IP, considered to be an intangible cultural asset, includes all the intellectual property rights owned by museums. It is now attracting great interest from China’s younger generation. A prime example from London’s British Museum is the celebrated woodblock print of Hokusai’s Great Wave.” - Vogue Business

What’s different about Liquid IP?

IP licensing has been around a long time. What’s different now is the speed and fluidity that’s possible - and necessary. A good example of this is through co-creation.

On Roblox there are already over 100,000 works based on the Netflix hit ‘Squid Game’. These have been all been created by Roblox users. What’s most interesting is that Netflix backed it. No lawsuits, no takedown notices. They saw the power of co-creation - and that it needed to happen in real-time.

(and let’s not even get started on Mr. Beast rebuilding Squid Game as a full physical replica...)

It’s worth IP owners remembering...

... that people are always going to find a way to hack the system. And they’ll find ways you never thought of...

We’re also excited about licensing historical figures’ image rights to enable them to do their thing for people in today’s world. We’ve seen this in the music space with holograms of artists like Roy Orbison, and our trend on Cultural Institutions had an example from DGene bringing in the likes of JFK.

For example, what about Einstein teaching physics alongside Lil Miquela?

Not convinced? The emergence of the metaverse will create an explosion in a demand for more characters and avatars, and web3 will enable rapid and traceable transfer of IP. These shifts will lead to IP owners needing to be more flexible.

Speaking of the which... our next emerging trend gets meta (and NFT, and DAO, and web3...)

What’s happening?

In Action: Liquid IP

What’s different
about Liquid IP?

Emerging Trend 1: Liquid IP

What’s happening?

In Action: Liquid IP

What’s different about Liquid IP?

It’s worth IP owners remembering...