By Gary Symons TLL Editor in Chief The ‘Play and Entertainment’ conglomerate Hasbro has for the first time outlined its future plans in a live investor event, and as expected, the news will be game changing for the company and for its licensing partners worldwide. Sit down and grab yourself a coffee or tea, because it’s a LOT. At the core of the announcement, Hasbro has outlined its “strategic growth drivers” for the near and medium term, and has unveiled new product segments aligned to these drivers. In other words, the company is restructuring, and it’s doing so in ways that it feels will better prepare Hasbro for a rapidly changing environment. The new financial reporting segments are: Consumer Products, including toys and games; Wizards of the Coast (Wizards) and… . . . read more
Peppa Pig Theme Park To Open at LEGOLAND Florida
Thanks to the soaring popularity of Peppa Pig, families will squeal with delight in 2022 as they jump into the playful world of Peppa Pig for an unforgettable day of adventure at the World’s First Peppa Pig Theme Park, built out as part of the LEGOLAND Florida Resort. Designed to be the ultimate day trip for little ones, the all-new standalone theme park will feature multiple rides, interactive attractions, themed playscapes and water play areas — complete with “muddy puddles” of course — and live shows daily, all based on instantly recognizable locations from the globally popular brand. Families will meet Peppa and her friends as they snort, giggle and play to build their family’s first theme park memories together. The project to build a Peppa Pig theme park within… . . . read more
Hasbro Not Toying Around With Gina Carano
By Gary Symons TLL Editor in Chief Talk about a rough week at the office. Toy giant Hasbro says it will no longer produce any toys featuring former Mandalorian star Gina Carano, who plays the part of the popular character Cara Dune. Carano was fired from her role in the hit Disney+ series after posting a series of controversial social media messages, she was dropped by her agents at United Talent Agency, and now licensed toy merchandise is also being discontinued. “The Star Wars Black Cara Dune figure was released in 2020 and sold out not long after the inventory was received,” a spokeswoman for BigBadToyStore told The Hollywood Reporter in a Monday email. “Hasbro planned for another production run and we were accepting preorders from that production run. Due to recent events,… . . . read more
A Tale of Two Toymakers Influences Their Content Goals
Hasbro Restructuring Eone, Mattel Creating More Content By Gary Symons TLL Editor in Chief The toy industry enjoyed a surprisingly strong year in 2020, despite and partly because of the COVID-19 pandemic, but that doesn’t mean toymakers haven’t faced serious challenges in their operations. Despite the strong year for toy sales overall, Hasbro has seen a drop in their share price this week after the company forecast a decline in its operating cash flow this year. As well, Hasbro has announced cuts to its newly acquired Entertainment One film and TV division. Entertainment One is known for highly successful children’s programming like the Peppa Pig and PJ Masks children’s shows, which it sells to media outlets. Hasbro bought out Entertainment One a little over a year ago for $4 billion,… . . . read more
My Little Pony Riding High With Hasbro
The My Little Pony franchise is ending its popular The Friendship is Magic series, but don’t expect to see the brand riding off into the sunset any time soon. Hasbro has big plans for the franchise after acquiring Entertainment One in 2019, including a wide range of new consumer products, the release of a CGI film, a cross platform mashup with The Transformers, and a new animated series called My Little Pony: Pony Life. eOne is now Hasbro’s global entertainment arm, and will now air Pony Life, which debuted in late 2020 on platforms like Disney Channel and Cartoon Network. The upcoming film is currently slated for release in September, with a newly developed CGI look. “The final season [of Friendship is Magic] brought that storytelling to a satisfying conclusion, and it felt… . . . read more
Peppa Pig Celebrates 10 Year Anniversary With New Content and Merch
Hasbro is going ‘hog wild’ on Peppa Pig in 2021, marking the show’s 10th anniversary on Nick Jr. with a year-long pipeline of new content, a new Hasbro toy line coming in Fall, and a full roster of marketing activations, brand collaborations and promotions for fans across the US. The Peppa Pig franchise was part of a $4 billion investment for Hasbro, when the international toy giant bought out UK-listed Entertainment One in August 2019. The deal also gave Hasbro control over other valuable assets, like PJ Masks and E One’s film and TV production capacity, but Peppa Pig was likely the single most valuable asset. At the time, Peppa Pig was bringing in a reported $1.35 billion globally, according to MarketWatch, with much of that coming from China where the… . . . read more
Hasbro Gets a Kick Out of Partnership With World Taekwondo Federation
Toy and kids branding giant Hasbro has formed a multi-territory agreement that will see its popular animated property, PJ Masks, join forces with the World Taekwondo Federation for a partnership designed to engage children around the world in the Korean martial art. The campaign, called Get Active with the PJ Masks, will feature 12 World Taekwondo top athletes. The campaign aims to combine the global appeal of the popular animated series with the fun and accessibility of taekwondo to encourage children to take part in the sport. The WTF promotes a version of Taekwondo that is featured as an Olympic event and is among the most popular martial arts in the world. A unique digital tutorial series and interactive website have been created to help young fans of World Taekwondo and PJ… . . . read more
Hasbro is All In on Streaming to Help Drive Sales
Toy and Game Giant Hasbro is following up on the success of its six part Transformers series, The War for Cybertron, with the development of a new Dungeons and Dragons program. CEO Brian Goldner says Hasbro has other projects in the works as well, including a new live action Power Rangers movie and a CGI animated My Little Pony feature film for release in theatres in September 2021. Goldner says the success of Transformers both on television and in terms of driving toy sales was ‘transformational’ for the company. He said during the company’s recent Q3 earnings call that the show was a top performer on Netflix and “… drove considerable growth in Transformers’ brands.
M&A & Partnerships: December 2019
We break down this week’s must-know mergers and aquisitions.
Featuring: NFL/Nike/Fanatics, Le Tote/L&T, ABG/Barneys/Saks, Hasbro/eOne, and more…
Who’s News: November 2019
The latest hires, promotions, and departures.
Featuring: Sequential Brands, Hasbro, Fred Rogers, Sony Pictures, Disney, Sunrights, Viacom, and more…