Family begins joint venture to reclaim Bob Marley name
Merchandising deals set to mushroom using reggae star's image
February 15, 2009
By David Usborne
Nirvana may be just around the corner for the Bob Marley fans among us - and apparently we are still many. We are promised a future when just about everything we wear, read, ride, eat and drink could be born of the loins of the late reggae lion of Jamaica.
Do you fancy a mug of Marley Coffee? Meet you at the One Love Cafe.
A new Marley mania is set to be unleashed by a sweeping merchandising deal concluded this week between the children of Marley and a Chicago-based private equity firm, Hilco Consumer Capital. It may seem an unlikely alliance of mellow and mercantile but together they are launching a joint venture called House of Marley. And this joint has nothing to do with spliffs and reefers.
It is not as if we don't already see the usual tat featuring the famous man's face and dreadlocks - the T-shirts, posters and baseball caps.
But for the most part, they are bootleg goods, manufactured without the family's permission and with none of the proceeds going to the Marley estate. Hence the partnership with Hilco.
"As one of the world's most popular brands and images that is regularly counterfeited, the formalisation of approved and official Bob Marley merchandise will be supported with strong brand guidelines, managed by an internal Bob Marley brand team," explained Reyaz Kassamali, the managing director of Hilco. Hilco specialises in acquiring and rehabilitating distressed brand names.
Tackling the counterfeiters will be one of the venture's first priorities, but not the only one. Sales of bootlegged Marley products are estimated to be worth $600 million (R5.9 billion) a year worldwide. Hilco hopes that it can build a legitimate Marley licensing operation that will be capable of generating $1 billion annually.
The timing of the new venture is no accident. Marley, who died aged 36 of brain cancer in 1981, was a devoted follower of the Rastafarian religion and would have turned 65 early next year. The family and its new partners are hoping to capitalise on the anniversary with a series of new products and events.
And this marketing scheme won't just be about repromoting the singer's hits, the most famous of which were One Love, Jammin' and No Woman, No Cry.
Some of the work will be focused on expanding existing Marley brands. Mostly clothing lines, they include One Love, Bob Marley, Catch A Fire, Three Little Birds and Tuff Gong - the name of the record label launched by Marley and his group, The Wailers.
"We want our legacy and our name to be firm in the world," said Rohan Marley (36), who designs clothing and whose long-term partner is the singer Lauryn Hill.
But the family has big ideas for lending the singer's voice, image and lyrics to a range of new products and services largely by way of a network of licensing agreements with the newly formed venture, taking between 5 percent and 10 percent royalties on sales. Get ready for Marley-themed video games, snowboards, headphones, stationery, beer, computer equipment and, one day maybe, even hotels.
"We're open to licensing just about anything," Cedella Marley, the singer's daughter who now lives in Miami, told the BBC. She designs clothes, although her latest departure was a children's book called Three Little Birds - the name of the Marley song that features the lines, "Don't worry about a thing, 'cause every little thing's going to be alright", said to have been written for his mistress. She adds, however: "If it is not right, we will not do it."
A line of children's story books and videos could be in the offing. And she is serious also about a chain of One Love coffee shops, with London as one city where they could be opened.
"That's something that we've always wanted to explore," she explained. "We're talking all over the world - one in London, one in Asia, one in Amsterdam." The cafes would be the sort of place where customers could "come, eat good Jamaican food, talk about the music, and listen to the music and live bands", Cedella Marley said.
From cafes it may not be too large a leap to Marley hotels - the House of Blues franchise quickly extended itself from its themed restaurants and bars to hotels in the US. In fact, visitors to the Bahamas may already be familiar with the Bob Marley Resort and Spa that could provide the model for a global chain.
Two new products are already close to being introduced to the market. The family has been developing an organic coffee farm in Jamaica and expects the first beans to be on sale before the end of February. It is also close to introducing a new brand of Jamaica light beer to be called, simply, Marley Lager.
It is arguable whether Bob Marley remains as magnetic today as he once was. It has been almost three decades since his death, after all. But Hilco chief executive James Salter seems to be in no doubt that his name - and his music - still reverberates around the globe. "The Marleys stand for something," he said. "Peace and love."
"Dad's legacy continues to grow," concurs Cedella Marley in Miami. "The things that dad spoke about are still the things that we all need to fix and work on. The message is still about hope and peace and all of us coming together." - The Independent
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