Merchantwise has appointed Jacqui Shilson-Josling and Felicity Drake to its leadership team, expanding the agency’s licensing capabilities across Australia and New Zealand.
Shilson-Josling joins as Senior Director, Licensing. She leads the Hasbro licensing portfolio across Australia and New Zealand, overseeing brands spanning preschool, family gaming, collectibles, and action and fantasy entertainment, including Peppa Pig, My Little Pony, Transformers, Monopoly, Play-Doh, Nerf and Hasbro Games. She will also manage the Wizards of the Coast portfolio, including Dungeons & Dragons and Magic: The Gathering, with opportunities across consumer products, retail, experiential and lifestyle licensing.
Shilson-Josling joins from BBC Studios ANZ, where she most recently served as Head of Licensing for Bluey, Doctor Who and franchise brands. She played a role in the commercial growth of Bluey’s consumer products program. Her career has included senior licensing and publishing roles with Scholastic Australia, and experience across apparel, FMCG, publishing, retail activations, promotions and strategic brand partnerships.
Drake joins as Director Partnerships and Promotions. In this role, she will develop the Merchantwise partnerships strategy for licensed promotions across the brand portfolio for categories including QSR, retail and location-based entertainment. She will support priority promotional partners and lead exploration of brand collaborations.
Drake has led partnerships across multiple movie studios. Most recently, she headed up promotions and trade marketing across Asia-Pacific for Universal and Warner Bros, supervising tie-ins including for Barbie, Wonka, Wicked, A Minecraft Movie and Wuthering Heights. Prior to this, she managed partner strategies for Sony Pictures Releasing film franchises including Spider-Man and James Bond. Her partner experience spans QSR, travel, luxury, fashion, beauty, FMCG, retail, education, loyalty and technology.
“I am delighted to be welcoming Jacqui and Felicity to the Merchantwise team,” said Alan Schauder, Group CEO, Merchantwise.
“Jacqui is one of the most respected and accomplished licensing executives in the Australian market and brings with her experience leading major global brands, a strategic mindset, commercial acumen and strong industry relationships. We are thrilled to have her leading the Hasbro portfolio. Felicity is a highly experienced entertainment marketer who joins us with skilled stakeholder management and extensive industry relationships. Her passion for creating meaningful brand partnerships has delivered success across cinema box office, major cultural moments and consumer product sales, and we are excited to have her on the team to drive partnerships and promotions across our brands.”
