This is a story that started back in the mid-80s with G.I.JOE and Masters of the Universe. I was just a kid, and those toys blew me away and captured my imagination with their impressive illustrations on the packaging. It ignited a passion for graphic design that ultimately -and without knowing it- led me into licensing.
Through my teenage years I ended up adding movies, television, rock music (credit to my cousin Luis Alberto), comics and design to my passion for toys and illustration. When the time came to pick a career the closest thing in Colombia to that particular set of “hobbies” was advertising. I started my studies in 1996, learned a lot from it, but I always felt something was missing. The idea of promising that a new detergent was going to magically make someone’s life better always seemed absurd to me.
Between 2001 and 2005 I held different positions at advertising agencies, until one day my father suggested that I meet a friend of his that owned a printing company in Bogota. Dvinni was known in Colombia for producing agendas (planners, appointment books), but had recently launched a line of back-to-school supplies, mainly composition notebooks.
I was interviewed by Carlos A. Salazar, Vice-President of the company and chief of the back-to-school unit. I remember waiting outside his office while looking at a Superman’s cardboard cutout, the place looked old and outdated (it was an old factory outside the city), but seeing Superman there was a good sign for me.
A couple of notebook covers were shown to me and I was asked what I thought about them. Next thing I knew I was hired as creative director. Looking back now I was actually more of a product manager because I ended up with the huge responsibility of looking after the content and appearance of all the notebooks that came out of the factory, including recommending the licenses the company should sign.
During my tenure, I met all the local agents and pretty soon I was talking on a daily basis about Spider-Man, Shrek, American Chopper, The Fairly OddParents, Happy Feet, High School Musical and Disney’s Princesses.
By the end of 2007, the company received the Disney award for best product development for Disney’s Princesses notebook collection. I was definitely on the right path.
Despite the good work and accomplishments, dealing with all the hustle inside a factory proved to be life-consuming and I felt it was time for me to leave Dvinni to follow this new trail that I have found, licensing.
In January 2008 I joined two former classmates on its entrepreneurial dream of running a creative agency. Originally the purpose of C14 Studio was web development and multimedia, but my partners supported me on this weird idea of providing graphic design services to licensees. Dvinni turned out to be one of our biggest clients because, despite its president’s reluctance to work with former employees, the chief of the back-to-school unit still wanted me to look over the development of their licensed products.
It was quite a challenge, licensing was completely unknown to my coworkers, but we did a fantastic job. Every new notebook collection, every submission, not only was approved with minor adjustments but also praised by the licensor due to the graphic skills and creativity. Nonetheless, at the same time, something was starting to really bother me, the lack of interest of some agents for the properties they represented.
For me, it was inconceivable that someone would represent a superhero without any idea of who his archnemesis was. But it wasn't only that they didn't care about the characters, it was the poor service provided to their licensees.
We could do it much better as an agent, but the question was, what could we possibly represent? All the mainstream properties already had a local or regional agent, all but one, the FIFA World Cup. The 2010 World Cup in South Africa was two years away (perfect timing) and I managed to contact someone from their Latin American branch. This person confirmed my suspicion, they had not yet assigned an agent and he was willing to meet me in New York at the Licensing Expo.
He doesn’t know it, but I always give him the credit for it. My partner, Ramiro Arellano, was the one who encouraged me to get on a plane and attend that meeting. I didn’t know what to expect, I’ve never been to the Licensing Expo and it was my first visit to New York. I remember walking into the Javits Center on a hot summer day and the first thing I saw was Hasbro’s huge exhibition of their upcoming movie, G.I.JOE, The Rise of Cobra.
I knew it then, there was no turning back, licensing was going to be my life from that day on.
For reasons that I know can easily comprehend, we didn’t get to represent the World Cup, but the following year we signed our first properties, Charuca (from Spain) and Chicaloca (from South Korea). David Recasens was our first client. Unknown to the market and without any sponsor, things weren't easy for the young independent agency, but we managed to close a respectful number of licensing agreements for both brands.
Unfortunately, things terminated for C14 Studio by the end of 2010. For personal and financial reasons partners called quits and each one followed its own path. Broke and unemployed, I stubbornly -and probably recklessly- decided that I wasn’t ready to let my dream die. That's the day when KOPA was born.
One night I sat down with my Star Wars notebook and began drawing doodles and sketching ideas. I narrowed it down to two words, knowledge and passion. The two initials gave birth to the word KOPA. It had a real meaning and it could also be pronounced exactly the same in any language.
I was still flat broke, but no doubt I had a killer name for a licensing agency!
Two designers from C14 Studio followed me on this new endeavor. One left after a few months and the other, Juan Manuel Agudelo, grew up to become a superb designer and a loyal friend. After so many years we are lucky to still have him on the team as our Senior Design Manager.
By the beginning of 2011 we only had one client, Industrias Nigua, but thanks to this back-to-school licensee, we were able to survive for another year and afford a new trip to Las Vegas. It was the third day of the Expo and while taking a final lap around the show floor I came across a beautiful booth. I was so tired, that I hardly had any energy left to introduce myself, but someone approached me and we started talking about the beautiful plush dolls exhibited on the shelves. Today, Carte Blanche Greetings remains our oldest client. For ten years now we’ve been representing the lovely Tatty Teddy and its brand Me To You.
The property opened the door to new business opportunities outside Colombia; first, it was Cuadernos Quick from Honduras, and then Manpa Líder, from Costa Rica, followed in. Still two of our oldest licensees with whom we share not only a strong business relationship but a genuine friendship.
Cuadernos Quick was the first deal closed by the newest member of the team, my dear friend Nahima Rujeles. She used to work in the tourism industry, but at the time was going through financial difficulties, so one day I explained to her we could use some help identifying and contacting possible licensees. It started as a part-time job, but soon Nahima became my right-hand at the agency. Her dedication, loyalty, solidarity, and kindness are real treasures to us, that is why she is our Director of Operations.
2012 turned out to be another tough year, our main source of income at the moment, Indusnig, made a budget cut on the forthcoming back-to-school season, consequently, we didn’t design anything for them that year. I will never forget the day I went out for lunch with Nahima, things were so hard that we only had enough money for a burger that we ordered cut in half. The upcoming Licensing Expo was our last chance to change things around.
We prepared with weeks of anticipation, studying the showfloor map box by box, opening each one like in a Sesame Street book, trying to find that hidden license that would finally get us out of trouble.
One of those boxes had a personal favorite of mine, The Walking Dead. Several hours went into the tailor made presentation I made for that specific meeting. Borrowing money from my parents I was able to pay for my trip and Nahima used her flight miles and own money to join me in Las Vegas.
We had a great show, at every meeting we were praised for our ideas, creativity and our now “famous” Keynote presentations. The final meeting of the third day of the Expo was with Striker Entertainment. I played the presentation on my iPad and by the time I was done, Martine Berreitter was thrilled, she said to me “You are our Walking Dead guy!”. Those zombies and Rick Grimes put KOPA on the map. It took us to new territories, like Chile, Peru and Mexico.
“You are our Walking Dead guy!
It wasn't instantaneous, but after that summer things started to finally get better financially. Soon after came our first DTR in Colombia with Grupo Éxito and new licensees were signed as well as new representations. Marie-Laure Marchand, at the time working at Studio 100, entrusted KOPA with the new version of Maya the Bee (2013). After Maya the Bee other properties were added through time to the portfolio, like Jewel B&L (2013), Pocoyo (2013), The Trash Pack (2014), Condorito (2016), Dakar (2015), Pacific Rim Uprising (2017), Godzilla (2018), Emoji (2018), Route 66 (2019) and Panini (2019).
The following year started very slow, the 2019 Licensing Expo wasn’t as fruitful as we hoped for and as a direct result it ended with a lot of questions about the future of the business. By January of 2020, it seemed unlikely that we would be flying to Las Vegas that year. A few weeks later the pandemic hit.
Like most companies around the globe, we were heavily impacted. When lockdowns and curfews were declared in Colombia and across Latin America, the production of goods and commercial activities were reduced to a minimum.
Due to the grim news and uncertainty, the market opted for a wait-and-see approach; licensees ceased all payments or requested it to be pushed back until 2021. New deals could only be discussed if the licensor was willing to forfeit the payment of any advance or minimum guarantee. Consequently, commissions nearly disappeared, leaving the agency without any real source of income. It was a close call, we barely made it through 2020.
But as life has taught me so many times, things can always change, and that's exactly what happened by the end of that dreadful year.
We were literally saved by an organization that respectfully prefers to remain anonymous. It wasn’t only the financial aid, it was what it represented that brought us back to life. We felt appreciated and recognized. All those years of sweat, blood and tears were finally being acknowledged.
A couple of weeks later a former colleague, José Santiago, contacted us to check up on us and let us know he was working for a different company now. We exchanged a couple of emails and in the process, we discovered that we both were into rock and heavy metal music. Well, starting this year KOPA is representing the Global Merchandising Services roster in Mexico, Central America, Colombia, Ecuador and Peru. The metal head inside me couldn’t be happier and prouder. It’s been only a month and a half since we took on our duties as agents and we already have several proposals from different licensees.
Right around the same time, while still struggling with the devastating effects of the pandemic, we signed a manufacturer of nutritional supplements that soon will launch the world's first-ever Godzilla’s whey protein. This could easily be the best example of the things we can do at KOPA. The match between Godzilla vs Kong and a protein is an idea that didn’t pop up by accident, it is the result of our knowledge of the property and our ability to creatively transfer it into the right product.
Reflecting on these past 10 years wasn’t easy. This is an article I meant to publish on November 10th of 2020, to celebrate the 10th anniversary of KOPA, but at that moment I couldn’t find the will nor the energy to write it.
To say that it’s been challenging and difficult would be an understatement. I would be lying if I say that I never felt disheartened and even got to doubt myself. Thankfully, my family has always been there for me. It is because of my mom, Amparo, and my dad, Tobías, that KOPA exists. My sister, Ana María, has always loved me and my niece, Melissa, she's my reason to live.
Unrespetully, but in a kind of cute way, my girlfriend, María Alejandra, insists on calling my childhood hero, He-Man, "El Thor Cavernicola" (Caveman Thor). She's been with me for the past three years, encouraging me to go on and never falter. My cousin, Luis Alberto, our Content Writer, is another huge fan of Caveman Thor and G.I.JOE. He's been on the other side of the phone listening and helping me through all these years.
Sometimes our achievements can be blurred and even erased by uncertainty and economic distress, but the challenge of writing this has helped me to comprehend the value and importance of what we have accomplished.
KOPA is a professional licensing agency and a creative powerhouse. It is also honest and sincere, like this article. Our motto, knowledge and passion, reflects across everything we do and defines our character as an agency.
If that kid born in Cali, Colombia, the one who kept the packaging of all his toys and later in the 90s used to listen to Iron Maiden at top volume, could look into the future and see what we have achieved, I think he would be very proud.
March 2021
Carlos Andrés Carvajal
Managing Director & Founder
