Mizzou merchandise moving as fast as a Chase Daniel drive

Granny’s, a renovated warehouse next to the general store and soda fountain in Rocheport, is a typical antiques and crafts store in the mid-Missouri countryside.

But on the storefront’s raised display platform, alongside quilts and antique farmhouse furniture, is an assortment of  University of Missouri-trademarked merchandise. Hats, shirts and tote bags bear the official Mizzou logo and roaring Tiger head. A dog scarf says, “I bark at Jayhawks,” and baby bibs are embroidered with the message, “Future Mizzou Tiger” and “I spit up on Jayhawks.”

The first home game hadn’t been played yet, and Granny’s co-owner, Diane Dunn, observed that her stock of MU goods was “getting kind of low.”

With the MU football team’s newly earned status as a national contender, Mizzou merchandise has become ubiquitous in Columbia area stores. After plateauing from 2004 through 2006, sales of licensed material rose by 47 percent during the 2007-08 school year, according to MU’s Office of Licensing and Trademarks.

The program’s director, Linda Gilbert, said MU’s cut from the sales last year was more than $1 million for the first time, and she predicts a similar amount this year.

And if you don’t know why, you haven’t been watching college football for the past year.

But Granny’s illustrates that it’s not just local businesses or big-name companies that are benefiting.

Lisa McCluer crafts MU clothing and accessories for Granny’s on consignment. She sends Granny’s roughly 10 items per month, made during off time from her regular job as a nurse.

For the past two years, McCluer has paid an annual fee of $100 to the university to be able to use their logo for craft sales. She said she got into it when her son headed to MU for school, where McCluer, her husband and their two daughters also attended.

“We’ve just always been Mizzou fans,” she said.

“Seems like people like aprons for tailgating, baby bibs,” McCluer said. “They buy it for friends and stuff.”

Gilbert, who has been working with the licensing program for 21 years, said retailers and sales representatives in general are “very excited” this season.

The administrator said she “couldn’t even guess” how many stores carried the products these days, but the school’s increased standing has opened up new sales venues. MU products have now, for instance, moved into the Kansas City and St. Louis airports, she said.

Major retailers that used to carry very few MU products have also increased the size of their orders, Gilbert said. Best-sellers include head wear – “Caps are always big,” Gilbert said – T-shirts, sweatshirts and active wear. Apparel items don’t usually sell out, Gilbert said, although higher-end products, such as suede jackets, can be harder to come by.

How it works

MU’s licensing program was introduced in 1983. Until 1999, the university ran the program independently through the Licensing and Trademark office. In 1999, the university decided to partner with an Atlanta-based licensing agent, Collegiate Licensing Company.

The decision to change came when the university moved away from the tiger-paw mark to the new family of trademarks, Gilbert said, along with the switch to athletic director Mike Alden.

“We just felt like the time was right; we needed help with the promotions,” she said.

Before partnering with CLC, the office was often drowning in paperwork, Gilbert said. The school now has almost 400 licensees, so the paperwork can be quite extensive, she said.

CLC now reviews all proposed products for the university, greatly lightening the load on Gilbert’s office, and all designs are approved by MU via a Web-based process. Gilbert added that number of licensees is actually down from the office’s independent days when they had roughly 600.

“We’re going to pare it down even further,” she said. “Quantity is not as important as quality.”

Partnering with CLC has freed Gilbert’s office up to do more marking, branding and promotion for MU Athletics.

“I’m not so tied to my desk,” Gilbert said.

In sales, MU now ranks 24th of the CLC’s 180 schools, she said, and fifth of the ten Big-12 schools partnered with CLC.

Nike, Russell Athletic, Gear for Sports and Champion are all big licensees, Gilbert said, as is video-game company that features MU athletics, EA Sports.

“Electronic games have just absolutely blown everybody out of the water,” she said. Licensed products run the gamut, she said, from glassware, figurines and clocks to souvenir basketballs and footballs.

CLC, as the licensing agent, takes an administrative fee based on a sliding scale, Gilbert said.

The school has five different kinds of licenses available, according to its licensing Web site. Licenses administered through the CLC include a standard license that applies to MU merchandise sold an individual or company at retail; a restricted license for internal suppliers; and a local license for in-state or regional companies making products for resale.

The Licensing and Trademarks Office also issues crafter licenses and limited-use licenses.

Gilbert estimated licensee applications jumped by 5 to 7 percent after last year, but added all applications weren’t approved.

The university now checks to be sure the product isn’t already produced in abundance before approving the application, she said.

Unlicensed product sales have been a problem, but “not nearly as much as other schools,” Gilbert said. “We foresee that we might have more, the more of a powerhouse we become.

Spotters enforce licensing rules

Enforcers, from police to alumni, are out at every home game. “We have a lot of eyes and ears out their watching,” Gilbert said.

At games outside of university settings, such as the MU-University of Kansas game at Kansas City’s Arrowhead Stadium, the CLC sends out enforcement teams. Penalties range from confiscation of the merchandise to fines and arrest.

“It really varies, depending on how much (merchandise there is) and how they react to us, how they work with us,” Gilbert said.

Retailers usually get MU merchandise by contacting their merchandise buyers, who in turn contact their company representative and request the team’s merchandise.

If the company has a license through CLC, they start shipping out the product. If not, they get in touch with the CLC.

The school received four new applications for its Mizzou-RAH retailer program following the season’s successes. The program, a free service for any retail that carries a “pretty good selection” of Mizzou products, has been around for roughly 15 years and encompasses about 30 stores, Gilbert said.

The school asks that Mizzou-RAH stores put a school logo in their window, always carry schedule cards and cooperate with the University on promotions.

Not all stores that carry MU products are Mizzou-RAH stores, including many discount stores and department stores. Those stores often aren’t locally owned and can’t promise to fulfill all of the university’s requests, Gilbert said.

Mizzou-RAH stores get free advertising through the University, such as the school’s “Hot-Spot” ads in local news outlets.

Gilbert predicted continued success with both the football and basketball teams and sees only upward movement for the licensing program.

Her prediction: “I think it’s going to grow.”