De La Rue Deliver The FA’s Secure Licensing Solution
NEWS RELEASE : 12 November 2007
De La Rue Holographics has been awarded a contract by Copyright Promotions Sport (CPS) to provide a highly secure brand authentication solution for The Football Association (The FA) enabling it to track and manage the England Three Lions brand once it has been licensed.
The England Three Lions Crest is considered to be one of the most valuable sporting brands, not only in the UK but across the world. De La Rue will deliver a brand licensing solution, within the UK and Europe, incorporating a highly intuitive hologram with a secure online track and trace system. The FA’s own holograms will be originated and manufactured in a fully integrated production site in the UK then shipped to licensees and applied to hangtags and packaging of all England merchandise.
De La Rue’s solution will mean that The FA’s brand is protected against the threats from counterfeit, grey market diversion and piracy. Consumers will also benefit as they can instantly recognise and select authentic products in a climate where there are many companies seeking to produce counterfeit products in an attempt to lure consumers into buying unofficial merchandise.
Each licensed product is effectively given a unique ‘licence plate’ allowing The FA’s enforcement officials to track and verify genuine England products wherever they are in the world, and this combined with increased efficiency in the supply chain makes it much harder for counterfeiters to infiltrate and exploit the brand. The system also provides a strong deterrent for preventing royalty fraud as under-reporting becomes highly visible and out of territory sales are easily traceable.
Estrella Amigo, Licensing Manager of The FA commented, “We are proud to be working with De La Rue to deliver a flexible, highly secure solution that will help guarantee both the integrity of The FA’s licensing programme and protect its brand equity worldwide. Licensees will find this innovative programme easy and cost effective to adopt, giving their products a premium position in the retail market.”
Sean McAuliffe, Commercial Director of CPS added, “As industry leaders of brand authentication solutions, we are delighted to announce De La Rue’s participation in the continued development of The FA’s licensing programme. The FA is a not for profit organisation and the introduction of the highly secure hologram enhances The FA’s ability to invest any surplus from the sale of Official England Products back into the game.”
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For further information and imagery of The FA’s brand licensing solution please contact:
Emma Swain, Head of Marketing
De La Rue Holographics
Tel: +44 (0)1256 859867
Emma.Swain@uk.delarue.com
www.delarue.com
Notes to Editors
- De La Rue is the world’s largest commercial security printer and papermaker, involved in the production of over 150 national currencies and a wide range of security documents such as passports, authentication labels and fiscal stamps. The Company is also pioneering new technologies worldwide in government identity solutions for national identification, driving licence and passport issuing schemes. Employing over 6,000 people across 31 countries, it is also a leading provider of cash handling equipment and software solutions to banks and retailers worldwide, helping them to reduce the cost of handling cash.
About De La Rue Holographics
1. De La Rue develops a secure holographic solution which enables FIFA to derive maximum benefit from its 2006 FIFA World Cup™ Licensing Programme.
2. We designed and originated the OVD for the new American driving licence document.
3. Our holograms can be seen on over 40 different currencies and more than 80 different banknote denominations.
4. We are one of only three suppliers accredited to produce the VISA dove hologram.
5. In 2007, De La Rue won its eleventh Queen’s Award for Enterprise for StarChrome®, a wide, windowed security thread that exhibits a distinctive colour changing effect. StarChrome® is now in use in more than two billion banknotes around the world.
StarChrome® is a registered trademark of De La Rue International Linited