Stanfords enters licensing arena
Stanfords, the map and travel book retailer, has entered the licensing arena as it launches its Edward Stanford Signature Logo brand and the digitisation of its historic archive.
The Edward Stanford Signature Logo will be used for the first time to market the company’s collection of historic cartography to potential licensees when Stanfords attends Brand Licensing Europe 2015.
Stanfords said the move is a response to customer demand for mapping products bearing images and branding from the company which has 162 years of history as a supplier of maps and guides to explorers, diplomats, royalty and general travellers.
Tony Maher, managing director of Edward Stanford, explained: “A year ago, we rebranded our range of travel writing classics using the Edward Stanford Signature Logo under license to John Beaufoy Publishing and have since received an overwhelmingly positive response from the trade and customers alike.
“As a result, and due to increased international demand for products invoking the heritage that the Edward Stanford Signature Logo embodies, we launched our own range of notebooks and stationery featuring the logo and have been thrilled by the sales we’ve seen.
“This experience has now led us to bring the brand to the licensing market as we believe that there is a significant opportunity to extend the use of the signature logo, the archive and other commissioned images to a wider range of products.”
Edward Stanford Limited was at the forefront of cartography as a publisher of maps from 1853 to 1937, and customers included the likes of Ernest Shackleton and Florence Nightingale.
With Stanfords archive of over 800 maps having been hosted by The Royal Geographical Society for more than 50 years, the maps are now being digitised to bring them to market as part of the Edward Stanford Cartographic Collection. The Royal Geographical Society will be acting as licensing agent for the archive.
“We are excited to be working with Stanfords to digitise their incomparable archive,” said Alasdair Macleod, head of enterprise and resources at the RGS.
“The beauty and craftsmanship of these maps is beyond compare. They are utterly unique and the prospect of their availability for licensing has already led to tremendous interest.”
