Brand Licensing Europe’s (BLE) free online Event Planner is now live
Registered visitors can use the AI-driven platform to discover brands, connect with exhibitors, request meetings, receive tailored recommendations, and add conference sessions and networking events to their calendars.
BLE is the European epicentre for the business of licensing, brand extension and collaborations, bringing together thousands of the world’s biggest brands – Bluey, Pokémon, Barcelona FC, Natural History Museum, Le Petit Prince, Coca-Cola, LEGO and so much more – to meet thousands of leading retailers and manufacturers, including Primark, Marks & Spencer, Inditex, C&A, H&M, Dunelm, El Corte Inglés, Tesco and Lidl.
The Event Planner helps BLE’s 11,000-plus annual attendees maximise their return on investment. More than 6,100 meetings were booked through the planner last year.
New features have been added to the Event Planner for 2026 to simplify and speed up search and further improve brand discoverability.
- The new Super Search bar allows users to search across people, brands, exhibitors and content in one place, making it far easier to find specific brand owners, with results matched to individual visitor profiles.
- Saved Search: visitors can now set up daily or weekly email alerts highlighting when new people who meet their BLE goals join the platform.
- Recommendation Engine: The Recommendation Engine recommends people, brands and exhibitors to users based on their registration form responses. New for this year: the engine will learn how users are using the platform and make further, highly tailored recommendations. For example, if they search for sports, the engine will push more people and brands from this sector.
- New and exclusively for visitors – the To-do list lets visitors save lists of people, brands and exhibitors they’d like to chat to, but may not have the time or confidence to commit to a 30-minute meeting.
BLE attendees can access the online Event Planner and start requesting meetings by registering for one of several pass types:
- The Standard Pass (free before October 5, £30 after): includes 20 credits to arrange meetings with exhibitors.
- The Explorer Pass (£295) for brands, retailers and manufacturers: includes 50 credits to arrange meetings with exhibitors.
- The Networking Pass (£1,295): includes 100 credits to arrange meetings with exhibitors and 25 credits to meet fellow visitors.
- The Service Provider+ Pass (£395): Includes 50 credits to arrange meetings with exhibitors.
BLE takes place from October 6-8 at Excel London and, with three months still to go, almost 250 exhibitors and thousands of brands are already confirmed and 2026 is expected to be BLE’s biggest ever.
A reminder that BLE’s Call for Speakers is open until July 31. Interested applicants are invited to find out more at www.brandlicensing.eu/about/call-for-speakers/ and complete the online form.
