Veronica Hart from ViacomCBS to lead summit session on branded dining experiences, will use Star Trek as an example

Quark’s Bar x Peach Pit (90210)

How does a pop-up Star Trek-themed restaurant sound to you? Because you might want to start wrapping your head around it.

In somewhat “off-the-beaten-path” news this week, Veronica Hart, executive vice president of global franchise management for CBS and ViacomCBS consumer products, spoke to LicenseGlobal.com ahead of her appearance at the Licensing Leadership Summit in March. The title of the session she’ll be leading there? “Feeding the Fans: Elevating IP Through Branded Dining Experiences and More”. And she intends to use Star Trek as an example.

(Side note: the headline speaker for this year’s Licensing Leadership Summit, which takes place in New York City on March 16th and 17th, is Gene Simmons. From KISS. Which makes the Licensing Leadership Summit significantly more rad than its name might at first suggest.)

The motivator for Hart’s talk seems to be exploring innovative marketing based on what she sees as a shifting landscape in how people consume their favorite franchises. When asked about the biggest change in the licensing and retail business in the last five years, she said, “It’s no surprise that the explosion of social media has changed the way consumers find and interact with their like-minded community online. As a result, retail habits are shifting. Immersive experiences like retail pop-ups and licensed restaurants are a fantastic way to develop a form of licensing that can attract dedicated adult and nostalgia-driven consumers and the FOMO surrounding these experiences. This depends on your brand, but it’s been especially relevant for adult and super-fan targeted series and films.” Like Star Trek?

She reiterates the point later that she believes “fully immersive experiences [...] will continue to grow in relevance and importance.”

So what does Hart hope that attendees will take away from her “branded dining experiences” session at the Licensing Leadership Summit? She says, “It’s a transformative time in licensing. Brand owners are looking at new ways to connect to fans and prospective customers, both at traditional retail and through other non-traditional methods. [...] In this session, we will share more about the recent trends in this area related to restaurants and pop-ups, using examples from our portfolio like ‘Beverly Hills 90210’ and ‘Star Trek.’”

Watch this space! Perhaps we’ll soon see a pop-up Ten Forward or Quark’s experience in a town near you, not unlike last year’s wildly successful 90210-themed pop-up, the Peach Pit.