Field Report: How Brands Built Connection at Licensing Expo 2026, Starting with the Badge

Just as the Experiential Marketing Summit was bringing inspiration to brand marketers, across the Las Vegas Strip, brands were finding new avenues for fandom at Licensing Expo, which was taking place May 19-21 at the Mandalay Bay Convention Center.

The 2026 edition brought together about 12,500 industry professionals and a record 400 exhibitors, representing IP from entertainment powerhouses such as Netflix, BBC Studios, NBCUniversal, and Warner Bros. Discovery, as well as leading names in toys and gaming, like Hasbro, Minecraft, Pokémon, and The LEGO Group.

License Global reports that among the top performing categories were food and beverage, with consumers, “Happy to wear their lunch on their shirt, on their sleeves, stationary, in their lip gloss and more.” Alcohol extensions are trending—Tobasco’s spicy vodka anyone? F1 and other sports brands are also enjoying growing attention and partnerships. 

Hasbro is highlighting the return to “balanced play patterns,” where imaginative, analog play in everything, from action figures to guided journals and coloring books, is back. And how is it that the Transformers are turning 40?

At the show, the experience started with the badge printed from a Reese’s Peanut Butter Cup graphic for that instant moment of brand connection. It was a magic carpet ride from there.

 

Exploring the Show Floor

LEGO drew a crowd around its Botanicals carts where attendees could follow the instructions to build a flower they could take home. A few steps away, a massive flower collage provided inspiration and a unique photo opportunity.

 

Speaking of photo ops, brands went to town with creative settings. Attendees could get their cuteness fix in a cup with Mofusand or get their hands on giant popcorn for the Bluey Movie, hang with the Smurfs or get a dash of wisdom from Gamahiro of Naruto. 

 

---

Related:

• Six Trade Show Engagement Ideas from Licensing Expo 2025
• How Exhibitors at Toy Fair 2025 Stood out in a Sea of Playfulness

---

 

To promote its new “How to Train Your Dragon” movie, Universal offered a stage set staffed with actors. Our favorite was a Shrek photo op where attendees could scan a QR code and “let a whimsical Far Far Away flourish” float into their photo for a fun effect.

 

Licensing Expo 2026 is a signing show, with most of the exhibit space taken up by meeting space. It makes sense that exhibitors would capitalize on every square inch of walls as an opportunity to create a brand moment.

Pac-Man placed a screen inside a giant Pac-Man, making it impossible to ignore. Mattel’s cutouts in the walls offered a branded glimpse into the business happening inside. Tetris, on the other hand, took up a huge space at the back of the hall with a branded obstacle course, because how else to experience the game if not with your entire body?

Our favorite surprise moment, though, came from Pan Am—talk about nostalgia. Decades after its final flight, the brand doesn’t just feel real, but apparently has enough cultural cachet to rival carriers that are actually in the air.

 

This year, Licensing partnered with Delivering Good, a nationwide organization that connects individuals and families who face adversity with new products from a network of brands and retailers. Instead of tossing or shipping back unused products, exhibitors could donate them to local families in need right from the show floor. Now fandom for good.

 

More from Licensing Expo:

Photo credit: Anna Huddleston

---