Beanstalk Launches New Service Offering, TransAct™

NEW YORK, May 16, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- Beanstalk, a leading global brand licensing agency and consultancy, today announced the launch of a revolutionary new service offering, TransAct™, to provide integrated technologies and services across legal, contract administration, royalty management, product approvals trafficking, financial reporting, and auditing.

Beanstalk TransAct™ leverages two decades of experience supporting the world's most recognized licensing programs and offers a 360-degree approach in licensing program administration to deliver brand protection, increased revenue, transparency of reporting and a foundation for scalable growth.

With millions of dollars of royalty fees forfeited each year by brand licensors due to inaccurate reporting of their licensing programs' activity, TransAct™ has been formally established to offer the industry a proven tracking and reporting system, which will allow brands to achieve the maximum return from their licensing programs. Prior to TransAct™'s official launch, this suite of services has delivered 8-15% incremental annual revenue to several clients on Beanstalk's existing roster, including over 70 licensee audits resulting in millions of dollars of additional revenue.  With this launch, TransAct™ will also be available to existing brand licensing programs that do not currently work with Beanstalk. Depending upon the client's needs, TransAct™ is accessible as either bundled or individual services, or as a consulting project.

"Beanstalk has invested in the development of a robust technology infrastructure as well as experienced staff to provide the best service to our clients and protect their brands in the marketplace," said Bill Kehoe, chief operating officer and chief financial officer, Beanstalk. "As our clients' needs have evolved, we have worked to adapt the capabilities of this infrastructure. It has been very successful in growing and scaling our clients' programs, and we see it as a valuable stand-alone service offering to licensing programs outside of our purview."

A comprehensive suite of systems and services heretofore unavailable to the licensing industry, TransAct™ includes:

• A proprietary web-based product approval portal that is integrated with contract and royalty administration services and offers customizable modules, graphics and workflow
• Detailed tracking of over 60 unique contractual terms for each license agreement
• Automated royalty verification and invoicing with the ability to handle multi-currency, withholding taxes, VAT and other complex royalty accounting issues
• Royalty collections using Sarbanes-Oxley tested systems and controls, including a sophisticated global treasury management structure
• Regular reports including accounts receivable agings, contract status and royalty and sales performance, among other customizable reports
• Auditing function including pre-fieldwork, fieldwork, settlement strategy and negotiation
• Legal services including contract drafting and negotiation, boilerplate assessment, and industry-leading terms and conditions

All services are led by full-time, in-house Beanstalk staff with years of experience in their respective disciplines within a secure information technology infrastructure.

"There is a healthy appetite within the industry for a formidable reporting platform," said Michael Stone, CEO of Beanstalk. "Historically, the licensing industry has operated largely on the honor system, leaving significant amounts of money unclaimed due to poor reporting and administration. Any brand licensing program in the marketplace today can benefit greatly from TransAct™." 

To learn more, visit us at the 2011 Licensing International Expo, Booth #5063, June 14-16.

About Beanstalk

Beanstalk, a global brand licensing agency and consultancy, extends brands through the strategic and creative development of licensed products. The company works with blue-chip brands and other high-profile clients to leverage licensing as a strategic tool to enhance brand awareness, increase consumer touch-points, and generate revenue. Beanstalk also offers a breadth of additional licensing services including direct-to-retail program management, license acquisition for manufacturers, celebrity/expert talent management, and TransAct™ customized legal and financial services.

Beanstalk is the licensing agency of record for over 50 world-class brands and has developed thousands of brand extensions in every major product category, resulting in nearly $2.3 billion in retail sales in 2010 alone.  The company is headquartered in New York, with offices in London, Los Angeles, Atlanta, Miami, and Hong Kong, and affiliates throughout the world.  For more information, please visit www.beanstalk.com.

Beanstalk is a part of Omnicom Group Inc. Diversified Agency Services (NYSE: OMC). Omnicom (www.omnicomgroup.com) is a leading global marketing and corporate communications company.

SOURCE Beanstalk