Understanding the strategic value of copyright licensing: A case study by Tank

In this case study, Trevor Palmer, Director of Tank, shares how he came to appreciate the strategic significance of copyright licensing. From early doubts about copyright to a profound understanding of its value, Trevor showcases how CLA’s Media Consultancy Licence (MCL) has played a role in refining Tank’s operations, reinforcing ethical standards, and enhancing client service.

How I discovered copyright

Before I started working in this field, I, like many others, had not given much thought to copyright. It seemed oppressive and unnecessarily restrictive. Fast forward many years and I remember reading the plight of the fantastic John Cunliffe (for me always of Rosie & Jim fame), who had apparently and sadly ended up missing out on the vast riches from his creation, Postman Pat, due to a disadvantageous deal. This was obviously not a violation of copyright, but a window into the sheer value and ‘concreteness’ of it. It highlighted that it wasn’t just a bureaucratic exercise, but a tangible thing, and the sum total (or not) of a vast number of creators’ livelihoods. Because of this, people like John, could monetise their work more, through natural royalties and those obtained from their share of the licence fee, derived from the likes of the CLA. It ensures that creators retain control over their intellectual property and benefit financially from their creative work.

Enter the Copyright Licensing Agency (CLA)

Like most people, I was introduced to CLA through my work with clients. I knew what the organisation was and had an awareness of the rules of its licences, but not what it did with the money. There was, and I believe there still is, a perception in my industry that CLA and others like it exist merely as licence policemen – just there to enforce licences and extract money. I subsequently found out that this was not the case, and that CLA, like others for different licensed content, does a lot for the creators whose rights it seeks to protect and, of course, helps them to monetise their content. I also learnt that the organisation and its people are a mine of useful information that could help agencies and clients to work effectively within the boundaries of copyright. This meant actually helping us to be more consultative in our approach and improve our relationships with clients. I am by no means a licensing expert (I have Marc McArdle and Rob Doig at CLA for that), but I have become the go to person at Tank for any client that has been made aware of licensing and wants to know more.

Ethics – and supporting the world that helped build our business

Tank is a 14-year-old, PR Week 150 ranked agency (143rd) that handles brand PR and digital PR, including the digital channels that accompany the world of the latter. The PR world has changed dramatically since I began working in 1997, mainly in the sense that the media and news is no longer the preserve of journalists and that we are all part-digital agency now. The enormous shift in the make-up of the media has made writers and publishers of many of us, and the traditional media across trade journals and the like has an ever-decreasing share of this pie – unless of course the journalists and publishers have ventured into new channels themselves, which of course many have.

Printed things, in the main, are on the protected species list and the ways in which a specific magazine is consumed by its audience is at best fragmented across channels. The nub of it is that licensing helps to retain proper trade, vertical trade sector and magazine journalism – with some of the funding helping these mediums to adapt at a competitive pace that suits in a dramatically changing sector.

As a PR consultant and now agency owner, it hasn’t been forgotten that I owe a lot to journalists for choosing to run the many thousands of articles from myself and my team on behalf of our clients. Yes, the articles were adding value to the publications, but it’s still a great working relationship that PR professionals and journalists enjoy when the thing works as it should. Therefore, we want to give back and having a CLA Licence is one way of doing that. It’s also worth mentioning that it does nothing to harm our reputation as a business in this field.

I like that we are respecting creators’ rights and in our own small way, encouraging a culture of innovation by helping the larger industry to reward creativity. By making our clients aware of the benefits of the CLA licences, we and our clients are promoting integrity in creative industries and safeguarding both the rights of creators and the value of their intellectual property.

In my discussions with some trade journalists in recent years, licensing has come up and they have commended us for willingly supporting it. It’s the same with some businesses, who are especially grateful that we can offer some background etc. on the subject (again ably supported by the CLA team).

How the Media Consultancy Licence (MCL) helps our business

Our work in PR often involves sharing articles and news coverage with clients. The Media Consultancy Licence streamlines copyright compliance in these instances and means that we don’t have to spend a lot of time thinking about this now, as we know it’s covered by the licence.

Obviously, a huge part of PR consultancy reporting is to demonstrate the coverage that we have achieved for clients when working to gain media exposure for their brands. With the licence, we are able to efficiently supply essential coverage reports/clippings to clients without copyright infringement concerns. The Media Consultancy Licence covers us to send the full coverage reports we have from Cision (combined with our own and Ninja Cat enhanced reporting) through to our client contacts. Without the licence, we would only be able to send reports without any sign of the actual coverage pieces themselves.

Some clients may not need to see the media coverage that we generate for them – many don’t care and just want the metrics, and the sum of what we have achieved for them as a result of the coverage. However, as every agency knows – you fare much better in the long term when you are able to show jaw-droppingly giant articles in the key vertical publications and magazines.

Reputation enhancing

I touched upon how being licensed resonated with some of the more senior journalists we deal with, but it’s broader than that. Whilst Tank is not a ‘B Corp’, we certainly like to do things the correct way, but without the need for a badge for doing so, or to make us do it. I believe that the ethical handling of coverage and adherence to copyright matters to a lot of people in our industry, and (where they know what licences are and do) clients too. It makes us look good to be licenced and to promote it to others, as people can see that we are looking after and supporting our complex media, knowledge and creative ecosystem. The publications have to exist for us to get coverage in them, and more than that – they have to thrive at least on some level to be good enough for clients to want us to get them into them. Licensing goes some way to ensuring that remains the case.

Transparency and trust

Sharing coverage not only impresses clients – it demonstrates transparency and builds trust, showing that we are open and eager to share evidence of the work we are doing and the subsequent results achieved.

Client satisfaction and retention 

Sharing coverage enables the clients to see the impact of their investment – tangible results that can lead to increased satisfaction and confidence in the agency. It also allows them to provide more specific and comprehensive feedback to further strengthen the relationship as they can see the whole spectrum of coverage achieved. This obviously multiplies if clients have their own licence, meaning that they can then share coverage throughout their organisation – with marketing managers promoting their work with the agency to their peers and senior leadership teams, and also the agency itself!

Amplification 

With a licence, agencies can also share some of that coverage across their own channels and through case studies and pitch docs to secure more recognition in desired verticals.

Further client consultancy

Coverage sharing allows the agency to further familiarise the client with its media landscape – what types of stories journalists are looking for and how PR efforts can contribute to the client’s overall objectives.