Relatable, the company behind What Do You Meme?, has partnered with Cookbook Media Co-Founder Rob Bencal to expand its licensing and brand partnerships. Bencal will serve as an Executive Licensing Consultant and help Relatable create opportunities and foster relationships with intellectual property (IP) owners, brands, and studios in the consumer packaged goods and entertainment industries.
As a Licensing Consultant, Bencal will help grow Relatable’s licensed businesses and invest in new partnerships and collaborations across games and other categories like wellness and lifestyle products. He will also build on previous partnerships, such as Relatable’s licensing partnerships with Paramount Consumer Products and Jazwares. Following the success of Relatable’s adult party games and family games, the company is seeking partnerships with other franchised IP to bring new entertainment to consumers of all ages.
“Relatable was born a social and digital-first media company, so intrinsically they understand their digital native consumer unlike anyone else in the industry in terms of both product development and marketing,” Bencal says. “They’ve already had huge wins with some top entertainment properties and studios, and we will look to expand those relationships even further, but we will also be looking at partnerships and collabs with popular influencers, consumer brands, and up-and-coming properties across video games, podcasts, and other forms of media that appeal to our audience.”
In addition to co-founding Cookbook Media, Bencal has held several senior positions at toy and media companies such as Mattel, where he oversaw toy portfolios for entertainment partnerships with Disney, DreamWorks, and more. Bencal also managed the digital content strategy, media partnerships, and content distribution for Mattel’s various brands.
“Rob shares our creative vision and passion for partnering with licensors who also want to provide best-in-class products that bring joy to fans of all kinds,” says Tom Emelo, Chief Strategy Officer at Relatable. “We’ve had some great successes to date and can’t wait to see what’s next now that we have Rob on board.”
Bencal adds, “With over 17 million subscribers across our various social media platforms, promoting and marketing to Gen Z and Millennials is Relatable’s ‘super power’ and I think that makes us a top choice for studios and brand owners when choosing a partner to collaborate with.”
