Thomas Tang said the Licensing Show’s cross-industry business network makes it easy for him to look for business partners.

Citywalk will organise The Great Detective Sherlock Holmes-themed promotional events at the shopping mall on 1 May.

Character licensing is one of the fastest growing licensing categories in recent years. At the Licensing Show this year, local publisher and first-time exhibitor Rightman Publishing caught the attention of Citywalk, a major shopping mall in Tsuen Wan, with its widely popular children’s comic series The Great Detective Sherlock Holmes. The two companies agreed to jointly organise a large-scale exhibition featuring the licensed characters from the comics at the mall, and bring the comics into the real world.

Rightman Publishing has been actively developing the children’s books market over the past few years. Since the company launched the widely popular Chinese comics, The Great Detective Sherlock Holmes, in 2010, it has been releasing chart-topping new issues every year. Total sales of the series over the past six years reached 1.5 million copies. Rightman Publishing’s Director, Thomas Tang, said: “Although The Great Detective Sherlock Holmes is well received by students, parents and teachers, the brand is still relatively unknown to working adults who do not have children. For this reason, we hope to meet new partners from different industries at the Licensing Show to expand our customer base through product licensing. We also hope to attract overseas buyers to bring our characters to the international market.”

Earlier on, Rightman Publishing partnered with Jumpin Gym U.S.A. to release six plush toys of the characters of The Great Detective Sherlock Holmes to test the market. The first batch of products were warmly received, and it gave the publisher confidence to exhibit at the Licensing Show. However, Tang admitted that the company still lacks experience in the licensing business, and its existing business connections are concentrated within the publishing industry. He said that although The Great Detective Sherlock Holmes has great business potential, the publisher has difficulty finding suitable partners from its existing network. The Licensing Show therefore provides the cross-industry connections that it needs.

This year, Rightman Publishing met Sino Land and Citywalk, a redevelopment project of the Urban Renewal Authority, through the Licensing Show’s Business Matching service. The parties agreed to co-organise a series of promotional events at Citywalk on 1 May. In addition to workshops, meet-the-author sessions and a thematic exhibition, the mall will be turned into a crime scene from the comics for parents and children to solve cases as the great detective Sherlock Holmes. Tang said this dimensional shift from comics to the real world will attract fans of the comics, boost visitors to the mall and elevate Rightman Publishing’s popularity. He expects the event to achieve the very kind of win-win that brand licensing creates.