I met Sandra Arcan when I reached out seeking a licensing agency for EMEA to represent Tasty Peach. It was one of those lucky emails I sent out to an agency that I was certain was the right fit, given their representation of various gaming properties and the many cool collaborations they had done. I have been thoroughly impressed with her along with her agency, Bits + Pixels and am proud to have them on the Tasty Peach team.

How did you find your way into licensing?

My first couple of roles were in retail buying, firstly for Hamleys working on own-brand plush and Bear Factory, and later for Clinton Cards on the gift category. I was buying in character licensed ranges, especially at Clintons, and it wasn’t long before I became curious about what it might be like to be on the licensor side. I was then introduced to Graham Saltmarsh when he was working for Nelvana Enterprises and, before I knew it, I was beginning my licensing journey talking all things Babar the Elephant!

What were your favorite deals and why?

It’s hard to beat the deal I did whilst at Konami, which was a Metal Gear Solid x Triumph Motorcycles collaboration. In celebration of the release of Metal Gear Solid V, Triumph built a one-off completely custom-built Triumph Bonneville. The protagonist in the game, Snake, rides a Bonneville, so this was an incredibly cool and relevant project. The bike was unveiled at London MCM Comic Con and was toured around the gaming convention circuit that year for photo ops, it was awesome!

More recently at Bits and Pixels Agency, there are many we’re proud of but the Destiny x Palladium and Resident Evil 2 x Mehron deals are probably the standouts. The first drop of the former sold out in minutes and was a great brand fit, both brands being known for having exploration at the heart of their DNA. The latter was amazing as we got to work with a global leader in SFX makeup and develop a pro-quality zombie cop makeup kit which, unsurprisingly, was a huge Halloween hit.

What do you love most about licensing?

I love the diversity of daily tasks, from business development and negotiation, relationship building, to contract-related work and then the product development and ideation side which can be as creative as you want to make it. It’s certainly never boring and all these facets of the licensing process makes it necessary to be a jack of all trades, as they are all really important to the eventual success of whatever it is you’re working on.

What are you working on now?

Our agency Bits and Pixels, which I co-founded in 2016 has been evolving in a way that myself and my business partner, Su-Yina Farmer, are really pleased with. We’re currently working on an awesome portfolio of brands, having just signed Tasty Peach Studios as the latest addition. Our other brands, Destiny, Terraria and World of Tanks, are all so different and we love having those really distinctive projects to work on.  We also are further developing our work in event production and gaming influencer recruitment, this being a more recent area of our business which we find complements the core licensing function extremely well.

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