Wikimedia Foundation/Communications/Brand Studio/Brand Collaborations Report
FY23-24
Brand Collaborations Report
FY23-24
Brand Licence Request Statistics
This section summarises the data on inbound requests to license our visual and sonic marks, such as the Wikipedia puzzle globe and Wikimedia Sound Logo.
Overview
This Sankey diagram shows the number of inbound requests and their status at each stage of the brand licensing workflow. Brand Reviews conducted by the Brand Studio for Legal Affairs recommended that 42 out of the 47 requests receive approval for a license. Requests can be pre-approved (and if requests are brand and mission-aligned, a Brand Review can be waived) per a contract clause or if submitted by the community. Enquirers with approved requests receive a license agreement, and once signed, the Brand Studio works with them to ensure the delivery of collaborative outputs on time and to agreed locations and standards.
Insights
This dashboard gives insights into how many requests were successfully activated and from which sector requests with a particular status originated.
*Just over half (51%) of inbound requests were confirmed for public release (market-bound), with 32% launched (in-market) within the fiscal year and 19% due for release (pre-market) after the fiscal year.
*Just over half (51%) of inbound requests were confirmed for public release (market-bound), with 32% launched (in-market) within the fiscal year and 19% due for release (pre-market) after the fiscal year.
- 62% of requests came from North America.
- 34% of requests came from Europe.
96% of all enquiries were submitted from North America and Europe; a substantial share of inbound requests considering Wikipedia readership in the rest of the world exceeds or is comparable to these regions.
Data
| KEY | |||||
| TM/TTC | Requests submitted via trademarks@/talktocomms@ | ||||
| Form | Requests submitted via the Legal/Brand review form | ||||
| Waived | Community or contractually pre-approved requests | ||||
| Approved | Requests recommended by Brand Review to pursue | ||||
| Denied | Requests recommended by Brand Review to reject | ||||
| Abandoned | Approved requests terminated due to non-response | ||||
| In-market | Licensed requests launched & publicly available | ||||
| Pre-market | Licensed requests confirmed for release | ||||
| Discontinued | Licensed requests not expected for release | ||||
Submission
|
Brand Review
|
Trademark License
| |||||||
| TM/TTC | Form | Total | Approved | Denied | Abandoned | In-market | Pre-market | Discontinued | |
| TV | 4 |
4 |
8
|
7
|
1
|
3
|
3
| ||
| Apparel | 6 |
6
|
6
|
1
|
1
|
4
| |||
| Tech | 6 |
6
|
6
|
3
|
3
| ||||
| Podcast | 4 |
4
|
4
|
2
|
2
| ||||
| Case Study | 2 |
2 |
4
|
4
|
3
|
1
|
|||
| Film | 1 |
2 |
3
|
3
|
2
|
2
|
1
| ||
| Advert | 3 |
3
|
2
|
1
|
1
| ||||
| Book | 1 |
1 |
2
|
2
|
2
|
||||
| Toys | 1 |
1 |
2
|
2
|
1
|
1
| |||
| Event | 1 |
1 |
2
|
2
|
1
|
1
| |||
| Marketing | 4 |
4
|
1
|
3
|
1
|
||||
| Footwear | 1 |
1
|
1
|
1
| |||||
| Gifts | 1 |
1
|
1
|
1
|
|||||
| Voice | 1 |
1
|
1
|
1
| |||||
| Total | 36
|
11
|
47
|
42
|
3
|
2
|
15
|
9
|
18
|
| TM/TTC | Form | Total | |
| Total Requests | 36
|
11
|
47
|
| Brand Reviews completed | 25
|
11
|
36
|
| Brand Reviews waived | 11
|
11
| |
| Approved requests | 31
|
11
|
42
|
| Denied requests | 3 |
3
| |
| Abandoned requests | 2 |
2
| |
| In-market requests | 10
|
5 |
15
|
| Pre-market requests | 6 |
3 |
9
|
| Discontinued requests | 17
|
1 |
18
|
| US | 26
|
3 |
29
|
| France | 1 |
4 |
5
|
| Germany | 3 |
3
| |
| UK | 2 |
2
| |
| Australia | 1 |
1
| |
| Canada | 1 |
1
| |
| Denmark | 1 |
1
| |
| Italy | 1 |
1
| |
| Netherlands | 1 |
1
| |
| Poland | 1 |
1
| |
| Spain | 1 |
1
| |
| Switzerland | 1 |
1
|
Brand Collaboration Case Studies
These case studies look at different types of Brand Collaboration, their impact on the Wikipedia brand and how their impact benefited the Foundation and our mission.
WikiHole [Podcast]
A podcast quiz hosted by D’Arcy Carden where comedians guess how famous events and random celebrities are linked and explore those bizarre connections by going down Wikipedia rabbit holes.
Launched February 2024
Launched February 2024
Efforts by members of the Brand Studio, Legal Affairs, Major Gifts, Fundraising Tech and External Comms teams secured the inclusion of a disclaimer at the end of each episode that credited volunteers, our nonprofit status, invited donations via a custom URL and concluded with the Wikimedia Sound Logo. Listeners downloaded the podcast 650,000 times in its first month, and Time Magazine and Esquire included it as one of the 20 Best Podcasts of 2024. It increased US trust in the Wikipedia brand and donations were made to the Foundation in the winners' names from each episode.
Kahoot! [Tech]
An online learning platform with a Partnerships team-led Wikipedia channel, with over 100 quizzes (or kahoots), in need of a melody that plays in the ‘lobby’ before kahoots begin.
Launched October 2023
Launched October 2023
The Brand Studio is working with Kahoot – which has over 10 billion players in 200 regions – to create a music composition entitled ‘Puzzles’, in homage to the Wikipedia puzzle globe logo. ‘Puzzles’ incorporates aspects of Kahoot! Melodies, the Wikimedia Sound Logo and ‘Calm,’ one of the seven pieces of Wikimedia theme music based on the Sound Logo and composed by its creator, Thad Osborne. ‘Puzzles’ will play before a Wikipedia kahoot begins, and users can select it to play when choosing or creating a kahoot. Wikipedia kahoots were used by over 1 million players in their first six months, contributing to the Foundation’s goal of advancing knowledge as a service.
In-market Brand Licenses
These summaries look at the impact and benefit of selected mission-aligned brand usage released publicly during the fiscal year.
CAMBON: Les Rencontres - CHANEL - Spotify
A podcast series on emerging authors and their first book. Kaliane Bradley cites Wikipedia as a key research tool, and WMF is credited as the brand owner in the episode notes.
Impact: Increasing brand reach and trust through aligning with the #1 most followed (89M social) and #3 most valuable ($60B) luxury brand.
Impact: Increasing brand reach and trust through aligning with the #1 most followed (89M social) and #3 most valuable ($60B) luxury brand.
Hyperlink Rabbithole - Munich Film School - YouTube
A student-made speculative Wikipedia advert inspired by the experience of going down a Wiki rabbit hole. Includes the Wikipedia puzzle globe logo, wordmark & sound logo.
Impact: Increasing brand reach and trust among creatives through compelling narratives. Received Silver One Club, Silver Clio, Gold Andy, Gold NY Ad and Gold Spotlight awards.
Impact: Increasing brand reach and trust among creatives through compelling narratives. Received Silver One Club, Silver Clio, Gold Andy, Gold NY Ad and Gold Spotlight awards.
The LOGO Game - Lansay FR - Amazon
A board game in which players guess incomplete logos for global brands. The French version contains a Wikipedia card, allowing players to ask opponents to guess their logos.
Impact: Reinforcing Wikipedia as a valuable knowledge destination through gameplay integration in a regularly top 10 global bestselling game.
Impact: Reinforcing Wikipedia as a valuable knowledge destination through gameplay integration in a regularly top 10 global bestselling game.
Wikipedia Graph Posters - A.DUMB - Store
Posters visualising all enWiki articles donating a portion of sales and images added to Commons. Includes a wordmark, volunteer and WMF recognition and donation request.
Impact: Increasing brand reach through aligning with viral (2.7M views) content and creatively providing off-wiki access to Wikipedia content.
Impact: Increasing brand reach through aligning with viral (2.7M views) content and creatively providing off-wiki access to Wikipedia content.
Learnings
This section outlines the key learnings from the fiscal year to help elevate the function and benefits of brand licensing and collaborations during the next fiscal year.
Key Learnings and Recommendations:
- Requests are usually on brand ✅
The vast majority (89%) of requests were aligned with our brand values and approved for a license, highlighting our ability to attract on-brand enquiries passively. This level of alignment suggests prioritising more diverse, unexpected, and long-lead collaboration opportunities. - Podcasts and games lead on reach 🕹️
1.6 million people engaged with the Wikipedia brand through two requests (the WikiHole podcast and the Kahoot! quiz platform), underlining how effective leisure and entertainment are at engaging large audiences. This level of reach suggests prioritising opportunities to explore the untapped potential for collaboration in these spaces. - Low return on revenue sharing and donations 🔻
Only one collaboration — the WikiHole podcast – yielded income. Although we successfully attracted brand-aligned enquiries, this level of yield points to how low-value passive inbound requests can be and underlines the importance of shifting licensing frameworks towards more focused and ongoing revenue generation efforts. - Global North dominates 🌎
Only 4% of license requests came from outside the US and EU. With such high brand consideration in North America and Europe, we risk neglecting numerous opportunities with the global majority if we do not actively seek enquiries from other regions. This disproportionate share of requests underlines the importance of evolving licensing workflows to include strategic outbound prospecting to actively seek brand collaborations in Africa, Asia, and Latin America.
Previous Brand Collaborations
Wikipedia + Études Studio — 2020 Spring/Summer Ready to Wear Collection
[edit]13 pieces created with Parisian design studio Études, featuring Wikipedia articles and logos, as part of their 2020 Spring/Summer Ready to Wear
Collection for Paris Fashion Week, entitled “Diffusion/Illusion”.
We partnered with cross-disciplinary studio Études in 2020 for their Spring/Summer ready-to-wear collection. The collection’s “Diffusion/Illusion” theme explored the borderless impact that Études strives for in fashion, complementing how a borderless world would ensure everyone globally can access Wikipedia. We were thrilled to present Wikipedia content to readers in such an unexpected format. Études’ modernist approach to applying all-over-prints of Wikipedia’s ‘diffusion’ and ‘illusion’ articles, the definition of Études (French for studies) and a simplified Wikipedia puzzle globe were central to their standout runway show at Paris Fashion Week. Sales proceeds from the shirts, hoodies, t-shirts, shorts and caps were donated to the Wikimedia Foundation to support free knowledge worldwide.
Wikipedia + Advisory Board Crystals
[edit]Wikipedia + Lil Wayne + Advisory Board Crystals — Tha Carter V T-shirt
[edit]A limited-edition t-shirt created with LA-based streetwear brand Advisory Board Crystals, depicting the Wikipedia page of American rapper Lil Wayne to celebrate the release of his 2018 album, “Tha Carter V”.
To celebrate the 2018 release of Lil Wayne’s record-breaking album “Tha Carter V”, our second collaboration with digitally-influenced streetwear brand Advisory Board Crystals was a t-shirt inspired by the experience of going down a Wiki rabbit hole. Merging collaged artwork, stats, accolades and doodled imagery – with a nod to Lil Wayne’s infamous exclamation “Wiki Me Bish!” from the album’s announcement video – the design used screen-printed graphics as a visual representation of the rapper’s Wikipedia page. A bona fide brand highlight, this collaboration artfully demonstrated how ingrained Wikipedia is into the pop culture ether.
Wikipedia + Advisory Board Crystals — Internet Master T-shirt
[edit]A limited-edition t-shirt created with Los Angeles streetwear label Advisory Board Crystals launched in 2018 to celebrate Wikipedia’s role as the world’s largest free source of information.
The first of two collaborations between experimental streetwear label Advisory Board Crystals (Abc.) and Wikipedia, the limited-edition Internet Master t-shirt launched in 2018 to celebrate the digital age and Wikipedia’s role as the world’s largest free source of information. Emblazoned in a bold, red retro font, “Internet Master” surrounds the Wikipedia puzzle globe. It salutes Wikipedia’s volunteer contributors and their mastery of high-quality, freely accessible online knowledge. Abc’s minimal design ethos paid homage to a recontextualised 1-of-1 classic (as seen on Frank Ocean) to physically express the cultural significance and social impact of Wikimedia’s free knowledge mission. 100% of the proceeds from each t-shirt sold at the New York City boutique Patron of the New were donated to the Wikimedia Foundation, highlighting a shared commitment to (looking stylish whilst) preserving free and open knowledge for humankind.
Wikipedia + Behance — Wiki Unseen
[edit]
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In December 2020, of the 30+ articles in the African Royalty category on English Wikipedia, only 3 had imagery depicting those monarchs. Wiki Unseen aimed to highlight the bias and visual knowledge gaps in the histories of Black people on Wikimedia projects, emphasise the need to fill those gaps and bring attention to efforts by volunteers and the Foundation to create equity and belonging within the projects through rewriting and redrawing history. From a list of over 2000 regularly visited Wikipedia biographies of Black historical figures without portraits, Wikimedia affiliate AfroCROWD.org selected 20. The artists, Esther Griffith of Trinidad, Enam Bosokah of Ghana and Bukhtawar Malik of New York – hailing from the same regions as the 20 shortlisted Black figures – were sourced in collaboration with Behance and visual reference documents were created for the artists by Wikimedian and public historian Kelly Foster. Each artist chose the subject of their commissioned portraits, which were uploaded to Wikimedia Commons and added to the relevant Wikipedia pages by AfroCROWD.org.
Get in touch
To enquire about a Brand Collaboration with Wikipedia, request a Wikimedia Trademark License or learn more about the Brand Studio’s approach to creative and cultural collaborations and commercial uses of the Wikipedia brand, contact the Trademarks Team at trademarks
wikimedia.org.
wikimedia.org.