40 years of Badge..merchandising..
The Badge Group of companies was formed in 1977 for the introduction of button badges in the European market. Representing a company From Illinois LaSalla (www.badgeaminit.com) followed by the introduction of the popular (baseball)cap under the brand Europa headwear.
Mother of European Merchandising
Badge (at that time named “Mister Badge”) was responsible for the introduction of officially licensed merchandising in Europa. Starting with the merchandising of blockbuster movies as John Travolta in Grease and Saturday Night Fever, followed by E.T, Star Wars, Ghostbusters, Purple Rain etc. And followed by hundreds of entertainment properties including characters and TV series as Beverly Hills 90210. In mid-eighties Badge introduced sport merchandising from the USA by the license of the NFL, MLB, NHL and the Collegiate program. The Licensing magazine billed Badge as the mother of official merchandising in Europe.
By the success of the American sport properties, Badge was asked by various European football (soccer) leagues and organizations to help to develop their official merchandising program. Including famous organizations as UEFA, FIFA, DFB, FA, Champions League as well as clubs as Manchester United, FC Liverpool, FC Barcelona, Real Madrid, Bayern Munchen and Ajax Amsterdam.
E commerce & Badge Direct BV
In the mean time Badge also was the first company to see the potential of e-commerce and created the webshop fanshop.com and Voetbal shop.nl and be. In 1996 Badge Direct BV was created and responsible for the success of these webshops. 15 million viewers visited Voetbalshop in the past year, ordering more than 500.000 orders of 5.000 different soccer products. The largest soccer platform in the Benelux was also responsible for the exploitation of the web shop of various clubs including Feyenoord, PSV, KNVB (KNVB shop.nl), FC Utrecht, NEC, NAC etc etc.
NFL, NHL and MLB merchandising concur Europe..
In 1984 Badge was the first company who introduced the official merchandising of American sport leagues in continental Europe. NFL, MLB and NHL merchandising became the fashion of the nineties in Europe. Badge was involved at the formation and the Development of NFL Europe with teams in London, Berlin, Frankfurt , Barcelona and Amsterdam.
Due to the success of sport merchandising and e commerce
Badge decided to focus on sport. With the exemption of the Eurovision Song Contest as the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) signed a contract with TEAM, the Champions league partner of Badge. Billed as “The Greatest TV Show on Earth” with more than 200 million tv viewers worldwide Badge created the merchandising and the webshop, shipping to more than 50 countries.
Concepts of consumer Customizations
Beside soccer/football related products as the replica, teamwear , shoes and fan related club merchandising, Badge created successfully a so-called POD merchandising program to be offered trough the web shops of their partners. POD stands for “Production on Demand” which is “made for” for merchandising. It offers the fans the possibility to order unique personalized club merchandising! New digital production techniques make it possible to produce custom made products after they have been ordered. A unique system for fan related merchandise due to the short lifetimes of clubs, players, hypes etc. POD had the advantages of having the blank material on stock and adding the design after ordering, allowing to make some minor changes in the designs. Like adding some personal name and or a number of the player. Or the personal number of the fans!
In combination with e-commerce distribution were production goes directly to the consumer and territories are only limited to having internet access substantial turnovers can be made. Production is more expensive but personalization and direct sales instead of wholesale margins make prices acceptable. Also the fact that designs can be added (or changed) within minutes and to be seen worldwide makes POD a fast growing business for sport and character merchandising.
Personalized officially merchandise now can be ordered 24/7 on a smartphone, PC, tablet or watch ..worldwide!
The Badge Company BV.
In August 2013 an investment group formed of shareholders of the world largest hotel website Booking.com bought a significant share of The Badge Company BV including divisions as Pro Badge BV (Wholesale) and Badge Direct BV e-commerce with the successful web shops of Voetbalshop.nl and voetbalshop.be. The company decided to focus on soccer/football and quit activities which are not based on football retail and including traditional wholesale.
The future of official merchandising is based on consumer customization concepts distributed by e commerce.
Holding Mister Badge Int BV.
The Holding Mister Badge Int BV, (HMBI) founder of the Badge Group in 1977 remains a large shareholder, investor, and advisor of The Badge Company BV. Badge Holding is also founder and or partner of successful websites as relatiegeschenken.nl (premiums) and Wijnmarket.be (wine webshop). HMBI Investment is also involved in various startups which will focus on the development of consumer customization concepts. Sport and character merchandising is the main goal. Various negotiations with major property holders are in process and expect to be finalized before the end of the summer of 2017 after which B2C will be introduced as a new startup.