Long before RipeConcepts was even an idea, our founder Paul was already deep in the world of licensing, and that history never really left us. Some of our earliest clients as a fledgling company were in the licensing space, and nearly two decades later, we’re still doing some of our most interesting work for brands that people recognize all over the globe.
So when Licensing Expo comes around every year, we’re not exactly strangers to the floor. For the uninitiated, it’s only the world’s most influential event for brand licensing, held annually in Las Vegas.
Licensing Expo 2026 was extra special, as my colleagues and I represented RipeConcepts for the first time as exhibitors, holding down the fort at Booth M231 at the Mandalay Bay Convention Center from May 19 to 21. After years of attending as visitors, walking the floor, taking meetings and keeping a finger on the pulse of the industry, having a booth of our own felt like a long time coming, and what a three days it turned out to be.
“I Don’t Think Anyone Does What You Do Here”
There is a sense of pride in us as we stood among the best in the business, with our booth bedecked in our best work, and a place for people to sit down and really talk. That said, we came in knowing we had something special to offer. Paul likes to say we’re a diamond in the rouch, and Licensing Expo 2026 proved that to be true.
For a lot of people we met, RipeConcepts was a genuine discovery. They’d walk up to the booth, see the logos and characters on display, and the reaction was almost always the same: surprise, then curiosity. The realization that global brands outsource this level of creative work to a company like ours tends to land well. We’re based in Cebu, Philippines, which means the cost of doing business works in our clients’ favor, but we run a state-of-the-art creative studio with investments in the right talent and the right equipment. The work speaks for itself.
More than once, we heard the same line from different people: “I don’t think anyone does what you do here.”
For others at the show, it wasn’t a discovery at all. Some of our team got to meet clients face to face after working together online for a while. We reconnected with familiar faces from previous Licensing Expos, and there were even booth visitors we discovered mid-conversation had mutual connections with us and had heard good things about RipeConcepts. That reputation travels further than we sometimes realize, built on nearly two decades of meticulous care for our clients’ work and their intellectual property.
What the Industry is Talking About
The topic that came up most consistently across the floor was AI. The licensing industry, by and large, tends to be averse to it, and the reasons are understandable, as conerns around security and the integrity of creative work are real and legitimate.
Our stance at RipeConcepts has never wavered. We use AI only when a client explicitly agrees to it, and only in the early stages of a workflow, for concept exploration and ideation. We are fully capable of delivering at the highest level without it, and we have been doing just that since 2009.
Beyond AI, capability gaps and overflow also came up repeatedly as pain points, and it’s a problem we’ve been solving for companies across the globe for years. Visitors to the RipeConcepts booth were genuinely surprised to find animation, illustration, design, 3D modeling, and more all under one outsourcing roof. For companies with in-house teams that can’t cover every requirement, that breadth is a relief.
Where Licensing Is Headed
Licensing is a long-standing industry, but it’s far from a static one. It touches everything: apparel, home, food, beauty, and beyond. The question that drives a lot of the industry is how to refresh established brands, update styles, and carry beloved properties into the future in ways that feel current without losing what made them iconic in the first place.
From what we saw and heard on the floor, one trend worth watching is the return of location-based entertainment. IP-driven physical experiences are on the rise. LEGO events in Dubai, Hello Kitty Cafes, Barbie Cafes. The licensing industry’s push for real-world entertainment is opening up a whole new range of creative needs. Video content, AR and VR are very much part of the conversation too. As one of my colleagues put it, there’s a lot of opportunity for RipeConcepts in licensing over the next few years.
The Moments In Between
No recap of a trip like this would be complete without the parts that don’t make it onto the show floor.
Dwynn, one of our team members, got behind the wheel of a car in the US for the first time, and can’t quite explain what took him so long to do it. At one of our dinners, our small party of six ordered tackled an ambitious dessert spread, all of it supposedly edible. One of us tried to break off a piece of the plate to try, and it was not, in fact, all edible. Another one of us, fully expecting something sweet, recoiled as he bit into a perfectly ordinary crunchy baby carrot tucked inside a carrot cake. We had a lot of laughs, needless to say.
For me personally, the in-between moments were what made the trip. The travel days, the meetings, the long hours. You power through all of it so much better with the right people beside you. We were in sync, we had each other’s backs, and I wouldn’t have had it any other way.
What We’re Taking Back
We came into Licensing Expo thinking one table and a few chairs would do it, and once we added more seating, every spot was taken and we were kept busy all throughout the three days. Next year, we’re going to need a bigger booth.
Whether you caught us at Licensing Expo or are hearing about us for the first time, we'd love to talk. You know where to find us!
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