WeightWatchers 2006 Annual Report Download - page 19

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Licensing and Publishing
Licensing
We license the Weight Watchers brand and other intellectual property in certain categories of food and other
consumer products to carefully selected partners. We seek to increase our licensing revenues by targeting
sizeable product categories where the Weight Watchers brand can add real value. We have expanded our global
licensing team in order to focus on increasing the number of categories and geographies of our licensed products.
We typically partner with licensees that excel at new product development and have strong marketing and
sales expertise, manufacturing and distribution capabilities, financial strength, prior performance in previous
licensing deals and senior management commitment to building the Weight Watchers brand. In addition, in
connection with our acquisition from the H.J. Heinz Company, or Heinz, in September 1999, Heinz received a
perpetual royalty-free license to continue using our brand in its core food categories. We plan to continue to
choose our licensing partners carefully after identifying and prioritizing categories that enhance the Weight
Watchers brand and have long-term growth potential.
Selected licensees include:
LICENSEE PRODUCT
United States
Applebee’s ........................ Casual Dining Restaurant Menu
Conair ............................ Scales
Dawn Foods ....................... Snack Cakes & Muffins
Organic Milling .................... Ready to Eat Cereals
Russell Stover ..................... Chocolate Candies
Wells Dairy ....................... IceCream and Yogurt
Weston Bakeries ................... Fresh Bread
Morrisons ......................... Hospital Cafeteria Menu
United Kingdom
Anthony Alan Foods ................ Snack Cakes
Conair ............................ Scales
Yoplait ........................... Yogurt
Continental Europe
Anthony Alan Foods ................ Snack Cakes
COOP ............................ COOP “Healthy for You” Range
Sara Lee .......................... Meats
Senoble ........................... Yogurt
Australia
Conair ............................ Scales
Nestle ............................ Yogurt
Each licensee is required to include on their packaging information about our services and our products,
such as our toll-free numbers and a URL for WeightWatchers.com. This marketing and promotional support
reinforces the value of our brand.
We continue to believe there are significant opportunities both in the United States and internationally to
take advantage of the strength of the Weight Watchers brand and other intellectual property through additional
licensing agreements.
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