CEO Chris Cocks Forecasts Major Growth Based on Gaming, Digital and Licensing
By Gary Symons
TLL Editor in Chief
Hasbro’s CEO Chris Cocks unveiled a new master plan for the toy and entertainment conglomerate in his first investor day presentation.
Cocks took over as CEO in January 2022 after the death of former CEO Brian Goldner. Cocks was previously head of Hasbro’s wildly successful Wizards of the Coast division.
In his first investor day presentation, Cocks laid out an aggressive plan for the company, which he termed Blueprint 2.0, and forecast aggressive growth for Hasbro in 2023.
Cocks and other senior leaders from across the business unveiled Hasbro’s new go-forward plan, the result of a nine-month strategic review.
Hasbro management says it could start seeing the positive impacts of Blueprint 2.0 as early as Q4 this year.
“Through this review process, the Company sought to identify opportunities to focus and scale the business, enhance operational excellence and drive accelerated growth and profit,” Hasbro said in a statement. “Guided by a new Blueprint with the consumer as its north star, the Company will focus investment on its most valuable franchises across toys, games, entertainment and licensing.”
Hasbro is also launching what it calls an Operational Excellence program designed to deliver $250-$300 million in run rate cost savings over the next three years, with $150 million expected in run rate savings by year end 2023.
“Hasbro has many strengths: amazing brands that span generations, a gaming portfolio second to none, a history of play and entertainment innovation led by some of the best teams in the business, and unwavering corporate citizenship,” said Cock. “Building on these strengths, today we announced a new day for Hasbro with the introduction of Blueprint 2.0.
“This strategic approach is core to how we’ll continue to bring our strong brands to life for consumers of all ages, and how we’ll manage the business to monetize our intellectual property, drive investments, deliver profitable growth and create shareholder value.”
The key number mentioned in Hasbro’s investor day presentation is projected profit growth of 50% over the next three years, and plans to increase operating profits by an additional 20% by 2027.
If Hasbro hits that target, it also projects the company will increase revenues to $8.5 billion annually at the end of 2027, with operating cash flow of $1 billion.
This year’s outlook is less rosy, however; no surprise given the strong headwinds from the War in Ukraine, ongoing logistics issues, rampant inflation globally, and declining consumer confidence. Hasbro projects its revenue will be flat or even slight down for this year, with revenue down in Q3 particularly by approximately 15%.
What Blueprint 2.0 Means for the Licensing Industry
The key elements of Hasbro’s new master plan is a focus on Direct to Consumer (D2C) and digital products or services. The D2C platform is dominated by Hasbro Pulse and Dungeons & Dragons Beyond, which Hasbro says is on track to become its first billion dollar franchise.
More on point, Hasbro also says there will be major investment in and expansion of it licensing programs. In fact, even as Hasbro released the data from its Investor Day, it also sent out three separate releases on new licensing programs.
In one major announcement, Hasbro says it has signed new licensing agreements with the NFL and the NFL Players Association as part of its ongoing relaunch of the sports collectible franchise Starting Lineup. The program also features the sports licensing giant Fanatics as a key partner, and Hasbro says pre-orders will open this year on the D2C portal Hasbro Pulse.
“We are very excited to collaborate with the NFL and NFLPA as part of our re-launch of the legendary Starting Lineup brand,” said Eric Nyman, President and COO of Hasbro. “The reaction to the brand’s return has been tremendous and it’s a huge win for sports fans and collectors alike as we continue the brand’s legacy and bring action figures from the NFL to the line.”
The Starting Lineup brand developed a massive following by bringing sports enthusiasts figures of their favorite superstar players for more than a decade. Hasbro will now be producing highly articulated 6” scale action figures based on the actual likenesses of NFL players joining the lineup and will also include an exclusive, officially licensed NFL player trading card.
And speaking of sports, Hasbro has literally just announced the creation of the NERF brand’s first-ever officially organized team sport, NERFBALL. The new sport is being launched in partnership with Donald Driver, one of football’s all-time leading receivers, dance competition champion, and best-selling author. Driver has been working closely with Hasbro to design the rules and test the gameplay at his own sports facility, and will formally bring it to market with the first public NERFBALL tournament launching in summer 2023.
“I am a huge fan of the NERF brand and have loved seeing it continue to expand into the world of sports,” said Driver. “This past year has been a pleasure working with Hasbro to conceive such an exciting and entirely new sport. Through gameplay testing I’ve seen, I can confidently say that NERFBALL is sure to bring the exhilaration, rush and fun you get playing and watching other competitive sports, but in a way that only NERF can do.”
Fifty years after the creation of the first NERF ball, the sport NERFBALL is poised to take the brand to a whole new level, where the sport supports the product line, and the product line supports the sport.
Hasbro says NERFBALL brings the excitement and heart pounding play of paintball and airsoft, together with the speed and agility of basketball, all combined with buzzer beating shots and unbelievable highlight moments. It’s a game built by athletes for athletes, said Teresa Pearson, Vice President of Global Franchise Strategy & Brand Management at Hasbro.
“We are thrilled to introduce NERF’s first-ever organized sport and honored to work with Donald Driver, a true sports icon for the launch to showcase the impact it’s sure to make on NERF fans and athletes everywhere,” Pearson said. “The game of NERFBALL will bring emotion, active play and competition to new heights for the brand through several unique elements. The game is inclusive and adaptable, giving fans even more of a reason to get out and play.”
In the third announcement in Hasbro’s licensing blitzkrieg, the company also announced a strategic partnership for its NERF division with YouTuber MrBeast and basketball All-Star Luka Dončić.
The two-year partnership with MrBeast kicks off this fall, bringing NERF together with one of YouTube’s most-viewed creators of all time through another exciting social content campaign. The popular creator and NERF are also working together on a NERF blaster collaboration to be revealed and launched for preorder.
NERF has been rapidly rising in the digital space, being the first Hasbro-owned brand to join TikTok last year that continues to pump out fun, hilarious and unique content. By collaborating with such a prolific content creator, Hasbro aims to keep fans buzzing over upcoming products and events.
With Dončić, the 2-year partnership with NERF includes an action-packed branded social content campaign featuring the superstar athlete that just started to roll out, followed by a LUKA x NERF PRO GELFIRE BLASTER collab item dropping in 2023.
Additionally, NERF will donate a slew of branded products and blasters to Luka’s charity of choice, The Luka Dončić Foundation, which focuses on children’s physical and mental health and well-being through the power of play.
“2022 has already been such a major year for NERF as we unveiled the brand’s all-new mascot, Murph, and released a bunch of exciting NERF consumer products and blasters, and the excitement continues with MrBeast and Luka!” said Pearson.“Partnering with MrBeast and Luka to bring their iconic brands to Nerf has been incredibly rewarding and we can’t wait for fans to see these come to life. We’re honored to work with MrBeast and Luka because we admire the purpose they bring to the world as avid philanthropists and admirable role models for kids and families everywhere. We can’t wait to unveil what’s to come for these two icons who we know will help the NERF brand encourage responsible play.”