Major League Soccer (MLS) extended its longstanding partnership with OpSec Security, the anti-counterfeiting and brand protection firm.
“OpSec Security has been our vendor of choice for over the past ten years. All of our licensed merchandise totaling $300M in sales is protected by our product authentication program. OpSec’s advanced anti-counterfeiting holograms are a recognized symbol of authenticity for consumers to identify genuine MLS merchandise,” said Stuart Crystal, Vice President of Consumer Products, MLS.
“The new deployment of OpSec’s licensing management capabilities has added measurable efficiencies in improving our workflow. OpSec has provided a one-stop shop for managing and tracking our licensing program. Authorized licensees can now order MLS holograms required on all licensed products, as well as gain convenient access to official trademark graphics and quicker approval of artwork designs. We continue to gain significant benefits from OpSec’s superior services and technologies.”
“The MLS brand has grown with the increasing popularity of soccer in the United States. We have kept pace with their ongoing needs for brand protection, and are providing them with a full complement of solutions for anti-counterfeiting and licensing management. We are proud to support MLS’ efforts to combat counterfeiting, build the MLS brand, and protect their licensed revenues,” said Jeffrey Unger, President, Brand Protection, OpSec Security.
MLS’ holographic labels use innovative overt and covert anti-counterfeiting technologies to provide an effective deterrent to counterfeiting. It also provides a convenient means for fans to identify genuine merchandise from fakes.
In the last year, MLS has implemented OpSec’s license management solution to significantly streamline, automate, and integrate its licensing business workflow. The system provides efficient distribution of official trademark and brand guidelines, and greatly reduces turn-around time for artwork approvals. The additional deployment of the contracts management module this year will provide further efficiencies in royalty collection, contract renewals, and asset management.
