Head of brand extension agency Parham Santana tapped to serve on Board for the International Licensing Industry Merchandisers’ Association

New York, NY – July, 02 2014 – LIMA, the International Licensing Industry Merchandisers’ Association, just appointed John Parham, President and Director of Branding at Parham Santana, to its Board of Directors for a three-year term.

“John has a long and successful track record of shaping the strategy behind licensing programs for world-class brands,” says LIMA President Charles Riotto. “He’s a true industry leader with the passion and enthusiasm to help guide LIMA into the future.”

“I’m honored and thrilled to join the board of LIMA,” John says. “The organization is such an amazing resource, and I look forward to helping members create retail success by focusing on a strategic brand extension process for licensing.”

John has more than 25 years of experience helping national brands extend and restage in the retail world. He and Parham Santana, The Brand Extension Agency, have been involved in some of the licensing world’s greatest hits. The agency helped grow Coca-Cola clothes into a billion-dollar program over 13 seasons through the development of trend, pattern, and merchandising direction.

More recently, John and his team helped launch the Better Homes and Gardens product line at Walmart, which is a billion dollar retail program with more than 3,600 SKUs. Parham Santana also worked on the Food Network line at Kohl’s—a more than $300 million program that continues to help boost the retailer’s bottom line. For both projects, the agency created positioning, packaging, and merchandising guidelines to launch and maintain these long-term brand extensions.

John’s work with LIMA includes the webinar, “Long Term Brand Extensions: How to Succeed where Most Fail,” presented in conjunction with Dr. Edward M. Tauber, who coined the term “brand extension” and is the founder of Brand Extension Research. For the past two years, John and his agency have worked with LIMA Cares to create the “Save the Bravest” campaign to raise awareness and secure contributions to fund children’s brain tumor research.

ABOUT PARHAM SANTANA

Parham Santana (www.parhamsantana.com), The Brand Extension Agency, helps national brands extend and restage in the retail world. Positioning and brand extension strategies for clients have guided long-term multi-billion-dollar retail programs for thousands of products at major national retailers in every channel of distribution, including Walmart, Kohl’s, and Bed Bath & Beyond. Parham Santana’s clients are among the world’s leading brands, including Food Network, Better Homes and Gardens, Discovery Channel, and American Girl.

ABOUT LIMA

Founded in 1985, the International Licensing Industry Merchandisers’ Association (LIMA) is the primary trade organization for the worldwide licensing industry. LIMA’s mission is to bring together all segments of the industry for the advancement of professionalism in licensing through research, national and international seminars, trade events and publications. With members in 35 countries, offices in New York, London, Munich, Tokyo, and Hong Kong, and representatives in Australia, India, Italy, Korea, Spain, and Turkey, members enjoy access to a wide variety of activities, resources and benefits. For more information on LIMA sponsored trade shows, educational programming, networking opportunities and more, please visit www.licensing.org.