New licensing transforms Yale's blues to green

By Naomi Zeff

What's in a name? If the name is Yale, $250,000. Recently, the University finally began reaping long-overdue benefits from the sale of products bearing its name and logos. Now, whenever a business wants to print T-shirts, mugs, or other assorted items with Yale's name or logo, it must obtain approval from Helen Kauder, Yale's first Director of Licensing.

Assistant Licenser Joel Cobden overseas the creation of designs using the Yale name and submits them to Kauder for inspection. His designs are sold at Broadway stores such as Boola Boola, Campus Clothing, his own Cobden's General Store, and Cronies on College Street. "We come up with a design and forward it to the Central Licensing Office," Cobden explained. "They either okay it or reject it." Before Yale privatized its licensing, Cobden worked for Yale and other schools that lacked their own regulations and licensing departments.

The inflow of money is not the only positive outcome of the new venture. The new operation also enables the University to have a "closer relationship with companies selling Yale products," Cobden said. "Now they get to meet the people behind the scenes. Everyone is benefitting more." Continuing to compliment Yale's move in creating a licensing department, Cobden said, "We have a good working relationship." He remarked that some colleges, especially non-licensing ones, do not respond for weeks, while Yale often gets back to the designers within the same day.

If a corporation wants to use a Yale mascot logo, it needs to take an extra step through the athletics department. After the department approves of the design, the royalties go to athletics. In a partnership with Starter, a New Haven-based athletic apparel company, a more modern Bulldog design was developed in the fall of 1995. "The athletics department recently created and licensed a new logo in order to create some excitement," Associate Director of Finance and Administration Forrest Temple said. This would not have been as profitable an endeavor without the new protection of the Yale name. For years, New Haven had a free-trade zone in which everyone could use Yale's name without approval from the Central Licensing Office.

As a result of the new University pol-icy, Yale is required to verify that it uses licensed vendors. A vendor of products bearing Yale's insignia must pay a fee to the University before selling the goods. Putting trademarks on Yale's name and images does away with the previous free-trade zones. In the Feb. 16 issue of Sports Illustrated, Kauder said, "This way we can crack down on
`Co-ed Naked Lacrosse' shirts out there with Yale on them."

As an added bonus to the new arrangement, Harvard and Yale now have one more arena in which they can compete. "In the past, Yale did not actively try to market its goods," Temple noted. "Harvard in the meantime was tremendously successful, protecting their name in a licensed manner." Harvard, however, was not the first school to protect its name and reap profits. Football bastion Notre Dame led the way and Harvard followed suit. Yale took its time in creating this privatized licensing program. Marketing department staff said that because Yale is behind in technology transfer and corporate partnerships, it was hard to create the department. Yale's priorities were elsewhere, but the recent development of the new licensing division shows its new focus.

With this move, Yale has become a leader in the collegiate logo market. Athletic powerhouses Michigan, Connecticut, and Syracuse still go through separate licensing companies, remaining public. "It's a difficult endeavor. Some schools just choose not to get involved," Cobden said. But at Yale, privatization has already proven to be profitable.

Photo by Julia Tiernan

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