Why I’m Moving to LA + World Cup, Scooby-Doo & SPAM

I’m moving to Los Angeles - and this isn’t a lifestyle decision. It’s a strategic one.

In this episode of Born to License, I break down why LA is the global center of the licensing industry, and why being physically close to the biggest IP owners in the world matters more than ever.

From Disney and Netflix to Warner Bros. and Mattel, the companies shaping global entertainment — and licensing — are all based in Los Angeles. And in today’s environment, being in the room is back.

But that’s just part of the episode.

We also dive into some of the biggest licensing stories happening right now — from the World Cup commercial machine to unexpected collaborations and the rise of social media-born IP.

🎯 In This Episode:

• Why I’m relocating from Brazil to Los Angeles
• Why LA is the center of global licensing & entertainment IP
• How in-person relationships are reshaping the industry
• The massive licensing opportunity behind the FIFA World Cup
• How brands like Amazon, Macy’s & Roblox are activating globally
• The rise of Duolingo as a licensing brand (and what it signals)
• Why Stranger Things is still winning at retail post-series
• My honest take on Scooby-Doo’s new live-action direction
• Why some reboots don’t translate into licensing success
• The surprising brilliance of Hello Kitty x Spam

💡 Key Takeaway: Licensing isn’t just about great IP — it’s about timing, proximity, and cultural relevance. And right now, Los Angeles sits at the center of it all.

🌎 Follow the Journey: I’ll be documenting the move to LA in real time — from industry meetings to behind-the-scenes moments.

🎙 Born to License – Hosted by David Born

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Transcript

Hello. And for the last time in a while, I'm saying hello from Brazil. So let's talk about la. If you've been following the show or if you've caught my recent posts on LinkedIn, you'll already know that I've made a pretty significant personal announcement. I'm relocating to LA this week and today I want to go a little deeper on that decision because this is a strategic move rather than a lifestyle one. But before we get into it, a few other things I'll be covering today. Some licensing stories that caught my eye. We've got World cup fever building and how licensing is playing a part. There's a collection at Minnesota China that caught me completely off guard. So talk about that. Netflix has made a move that tells you everything about how seriously it's taking licensing as a long term strategy. So we'll cover that too. 

 One of my favorite licensed characters has a brand new look that's exciting. There is a movie sequel coming that I'm really excited about as well as a fan, but I don't think it's going to move the needle in licensing. I'll share more on that. And finally, a food collaboration I did not see coming. So a lot to get through. Let's get into it. Let's start with LA and why I made the decision to move there. I want to be completely transparent about something. First, I'm not a west coast kind of guy by nature. I spent six years in London and that city really shaped how I like to live. Walkable streets, public transport, being in the thick of it. Whenever I visited the us, it was actually New York where I felt completely at home. For exactly those reasons. 

 New York and London have a similar energy. They even have similar weather, for better or worse. Boston, Chicago. I really love those cities too. There is perhaps an alternate universe where I ended up on the east coast instead of the West Coast. But I kept coming back to the same question. What will benefit the business most? And the answer every single time, was la. Here's the thing about LA and licensing. The entertainment industry as we know it was built there. The first LA film studio, Nesta Studios, opened in 1911. By the mid-1920s, major studios were in full swing. Fox, Paramount, Warner Brothers, mgm, Universal. Over a century later, they're all still there. Some of them look a little bit different with different ownership, but the presence is there. And that history isn't just cultural, it's commercial. 

 The reason the global licensing industry has such a gravitational pull towards LA is because the IP owners are there. Disney is there, Warner Brothers is there. Universal, Paramount, Hasbro, Mattel, Amazon, mgm, Netflix, they're all there. The licensors who sit at the top of the licensing industry had their headquarters within driving distance of each other. That doesn't happen anywhere else in the world. Now, New York has a strong licensing community. Of course it does, don't get me wrong. And I'll be in New York regularly for business. But LA is where more decisions get made at the license or level. And for an agency like ours, being able to get in the car and drive to a meeting at a major studio is a different proposition entirely. Driving in a lot of traffic, but driving nonetheless. 

 Now, some of you may know I've spent the last four years living in Brazil. When I moved here, Covid was still heavily shaping how business worked. Everything from zoom, teams in person didn't really matter like it used to. But that has shifted significantly. Being in the room matters again. Relationships are being built face to face, and if you're not in those rooms, you're at a disadvantage. For me, being in LA meant proximity to the people and the conversations that move this industry forward. And the timing feels right in other ways too. The World cup is happening right now across the us and LA is right in the middle of it. 

 SOFI Stadium inglewood is one of the host venues and I'll be excited to find a watch party for the US vs Australia match this Friday, which will be my first full day in the usa. 

 What a great thing to do on my first day. 

 There is a real energy building in la and it's an exciting moment to arrive. As a kid, I was obsessed with Hollywood. The movies, the studios, the history of it all. There's something about being close to where all that actually happens that really excites me. Even now. The history of entertainment lives in la, and for someone who works in the business of entertainment ip, there's something genuinely meaningful about that proximity. Now, what am I not looking forward to? The traffic. I'd rather be on the Metro or the tube, somewhere I can get my work done, clear my inbox, read or even take a cheeky nap in la. That travel time is in the car. So I'm going to have to get creative. A lot of business calls on the road, perhaps. 

 And I'd be lying if I said I wasn't a little nervous about the cost of living. Four years in Brazil has been very kind to the wallet. So LA will be a completely different story entirely. But I am ready for it. But the opportunity is there. The business case is clear and I'm absolutely ready for la. Right, let's talk about World cup because the moment has arrived. The moment where football or soccer if you prefer to call it that, is unavoidable. The tournament kicked off last week and it is the biggest World cup in history. 48 Teams, 104 matches spread across three countries, the US, Canada and Mexico. The final is on 19 July at MetLife Stadium in New Jersey and FIFA has confirmed there'll be a halftime show, super bowl style. 

 Shakira, Madonna and BTS will be performing and curated by Coldplay's Chris Martin. That tells you everything about the cultural scale of this thing. From a licensing perspective, the commercial machine around this tournament is enormous. Major retailers have created dedicated World cup shopping destinations, Amazon has a Summer of Soccer storefront, Macy's launched a World Soccer HQ with over 500 soccer related products, and JCPenney partnered with Fanatics on a dedicated sports shop. And then there's what's happening in digital FIFA has launched an official World Cup 2026 event across Roblox, running from the 5th June through 31st of July. It spans six games on the platform and transforms features FIFA Super Soccer, the number one official sports game on Roblox, into a full tournament hub featuring all 48 national teams, a World cup stadium, live score updates and exclusive weekly rewards. 

 Those six games collectively record 28 million gameplay sessions per week. That is not a small activation. That is FIFA meeting the next generation of fans exactly where they are. The World cup only comes around every four years as a licensing moment. You either plan for it early or you miss it entirely. The brands that are winning right now, that are really taking advantage of this big moment, they started those conversations 18. 

 To 24 months ago. 

 Now moving on, this one caught me completely off guard, and I mean this as a genuine compliment. Duolingo, the language learning app best known for its slightly unhinged green owl mascot, has partnered with Miniso to launch a 70 product license collection in China. 70 Products for a mobile app? Essentially, this is a really interesting signal for licensing. Duolingo's owl duo became a cultural phenomenon through memes and social media before it became a licensing property. It's a character that was born online and it grew on TikTok and has now crossed into physical consumer products through a major retail partnership. That's not a traditional path to licensing, it's a new one. And miniso, to their credit, has been very good at identifying this kind of IP brands that have strong cultural currency with younger consumers and turning them into product. 

 What this tells me is that social media born IP is increasingly being treated with the same seriousness as traditional entertainment ip. If your character has cultural relevance and visual recognition, the licensing conversation is on the table. Duolingo is proof of that. Now, Stranger Things is the show that has officially ended. The live action series is done, but the licensing is far from over. Ferrero is releasing a limited edition Kinder Joy Stranger Things collection to mark the show's 10th anniversary this July 24. Funko designed collectible surprises inside each egg, spanning characters from across all seasons. It's a really smart convergence of food licensing collectibles and entertainment nostalgia. And it's a really good example of how anniversary milestones are becoming major licensing activation moments in their own right. You don't need a new season, you don't need a film in cinemas. 

 If the IP has genuine cultural affection, anniversaries can give you a reason to show up at retail. Moving on to one of my favorite IPs, Scooby Doo. I worked with Scooby Doo while at Warner Bro Years and he was very successful on FMCG Product, which was my category manager. So I liked working with Scooby very much. The brand has 55 years of heritage that is generational awareness and love for the brand. And Netflix has just dropped the first teaser image for Scooby Doo Origins. It's a live action series set to premiere in 2027 featuring a real dog for the first time ever in the franchise's history. It looks really cute, but here's my honest take on the licensing side. Live action doesn't always translate to product the way animation does. It never really has. 

 Warner Brothers will no doubt put together some limited edition style guides featuring the live action Scooby. And there'll be some products, some collectibles, some premium players of course, but when parents are picking something up off the shelf, I think they'll still reach for the classic animated Scooby. That iconography is too deep. The live action version is exciting. As a show, it's great to see freshness with the Scooby Doo brand, but as a licensing asset, I think it's classic Scooby that will always win hands down. Okay, some personal indulgence for just a moment. One of my favorite films from the 90s was Romeo and Michelle's high school reunion, and almost 30 years later a sequel has just been announced and it's already filming. I'm excited about this as a fan, but do I think it's going to be a major licensing moment? 

 Honestly, no, I don't think so. At best, I think you'll see the kind of brand partnership play we saw with the devil was Prada to Starbucks, Diet Coke, a few things in fashion, strategic, targeted collaborations, but a broad licensing program. I don't think this is that the nostalgia is real, the audience affection is real too, but I just don't see it translating onto shelves in a really meaningful way. And finally, this is one I did not see coming. But the more I think about it, the more I think it's brilliant. Hello Kitty and Spam have joined forces in a licensing collaboration centered on the Waikiki Spam Jam Festival. The result is a limited edition hello Kitty Spam Musubi kit. And I really hope that I pronounce that properly. Hawaii's most beloved can meets one of the world's most licensable characters. 

 On paper, that sounds completely random. In practice, it is perfect. Spam has genuine cultural significance in Hawaii. It's not just a food product, it's part of the local identity. Spam musubi is a staple. And hello Kitty has this extraordinary ability to make absolutely anything feel desirable and collectible. The combination is playful, regional, culturally grounded and the kind of thing that people love to share. And that's the formula for a collaboration that actually works. It's already getting a lot of attention online. Now, before I wrap up, before I get on the plane to la, I wanted to do a quick retail visit here in Brazil to get a sense of what's doing well on shelf right now when it comes to licensing. So have a listen. Now before I get on a plane. 

 To la, I wanted to have one. 

 Last chance to go to cna. It's my favorite place to visit here in Brazil. They have amazing licensed product. So let's go check out what they've got. 

 So here is the licensed tea section. I've actually bought, I would say at least 10 to 15 T shirts from CNA. And this is where I always go. We've got brands like Tom and Jerry, they've got a lot of anime. They even got a hello Kitty for men, which is really interesting. We've got Toy Story. Now Toy Story is really big right now because the next film is coming out in a couple of weeks time. So this whole section is actually all Peanuts. This is more obvious, but this is Peanuts. This is Peanuts. 

 This is Peanuts. 

 This is Peanuts. So obviously Peanuts sells really well at CNA or else they wouldn't continuously have product in stock. All Right, so let's head to the kids section. We've got Sonic here. We've got Minnie Mouse, hello Kitty. 

 Of course we're gonna see hello Kitty everywhere. 

 Here is Mario coming off a very successful film. Just reach billion at the box office. So a huge milestone. So probably selling very well for them. Something we're seeing for the first time here in CNA is K Pop Demon Hunters. Not a lot of Bluey stuff here in cna and also not a huge amount of Bluey stuff here in Brazil yet. I do find that Bluey is kind of like the number one brand in Australia, in the uk, in the US right now for preschoolers. But it does take a little bit longer to get here to Brazil. Same thing with Peppa Pig. Peppa Pig was really big in a lot of other markets before it got big here in Brazil. But now we see Bluey in cna. 

 We're probably going to see a lot more Bluey over the course of the next 12 to 18 months, particularly around the film. When that big film hits August 2027, it's going to be unavoidable everywhere in the world, here included. So our last stop is the ladies section. 

 And the usual favorites are here. 

 Stitch, Peanuts, hello Kitty. We've got some classic Cartoon Network look. Powerpuff Girls are there. 

 Johnny Bravo. 

 Wasn't expecting that. Really. The key word here in CNA is nostalgia. You know, they're thinking about what did their consumers love when they were growing up. That's why we're seeing Cartoon Network. I mean, who's talking about Courage the cowardly dog now? Barely anybody, but people grew up with this. So we can't leave CNA without buying something. And today I'm buying yet another peanuts tea. This one is like old money style, which we like. And I'm going to go and buy this now. You get to listen to a bit of my Portuguese, please. Let's do it. 

 Hola. Today I've created. Ciao. It's been a very productive trip to cna. Lots of licensed product, lots of Snoopy. 

 Peanuts, lots of Stitch, lots of Disney, lots of Garfield, lots of really nostalgic. 

 Properties, which is really good. 

 So it was a good last trip. 

 To CNA for now. And that's it for this episode. It was a big one and it's a big week for me personally. If you want to follow the move to LA in real time, come find me on Instagram. I'll be documenting the journey as and when it happens. And I'll be in touch from LA next week. Very excited to be doing the podcast from there. Until then, I'm David Born, and this is Born to License.