One of the most popular licenses in the World
Back in 1971, Franklin Loufrani, a French journalist, created a simple concept for his newspaper. He displayed a happy icon to highlight good news. People could then choose to read only positive things and
"Have a nice day"
Being a positive and charismatic person, Franklin wanted to share his ideology - to focus only on the good things in life is the best way to move forward. He gave his original icon the name "Smiley". That same year, Franklin Loufrani filed the trademark and started developing all sorts of fun products with licensed partners.
In a very short time, SMILEY® became the most recognizable icon in the world and remains so to this day. Over the years, the Smiley Brand has been linked to the hippie movement of the 1970s, the house music scene of the 1980s and the London underground scene. Later, it became an important symbol on the Internet (as the 'emoticon'), used to illustrate e-mails. The logo now has 96.5% awareness among persons aged between 8 and 24. And is one of the few licensed brands to have exceeded 1,000,000,000 USD in sales.