Hasbro’s range includes massive names like Furby, Elmo and Transformers’ Optimus Prime…
Pascoe’s finest
How has the UK market performed so far this year for Hasbro? When compared to 2011, what kind of shape are you in, both in the UK and internationally?
I am really proud of where we are year-to-date. Hasbro UK has experienced good growth YTD (source: UK NPD EPOS June 2012 data), due to the strong performance of the Nerf brand, and a number of our key brands including Transformers, Play-Doh, My Little Pony and our big licensed properties within the boy’s category including Marvel’s The Avengers and Star Wars.
Your Q2 results show that you have grown in the pre-school sector too – what can you attribute this to? The strong performance of Play-Doh (source: NPD June 2012) and Poppin’ Park continues to perform well – driven by the Elefun Busy ball Popper. Plus, the launch of Sesame Street in autumn/winter 2011 has
SEPTEMBER 2012
further added to our pre-school performance YTD. Following the box office success of the Amazing Spider- Man, Playskool Heroes have got off to a good start and are one to watch this autumn/winter. Playskool Heroes is an exciting range of pre-school action figure toys. The range includes toys from Marvel, Transformers and Spider-Man licences.
Licensing and entertainment are up 59 per cent – what can you attribute this to?
This is a result of the work we have been doing on the ‘Branded Play Company’ strategy, now making Hasbro the number seven global licensor (source: License Global). In the UK we have continued to drive our third-party relationships with key manufacturers across brands such as Transformers, MLP and Nerf, as well as our global television programming which has driven year- on-year growth in the quarter.
What lines have performed particularly well for you so far during 2012?
Our success has come throughout the portfolio and across the range. Our broad portfolio of brands has been instrumental to this success, and that means we have a great foundation heading into the second half of the year.
Can you talk us through your plans for Furby? I understand there are some big TV show tie-ups coming, for example? We’re very excited to be re-launching Furby for 2012. With this innovative product we’ve designed a magical creature with a mind of its own. You can feed it, speak to it, tickle it or play music to it; all of which will give your Furby its own unique personality. Furby will initially be available in six colours, with a further four launching later in the year. In addition, we have developed a free
Its broad portfolio – ranging from pre-school classics such as Play-Doh, Playskool and Sesame Street, through to big names like Nerf, Transformers and My Little Pony – has helped Hasbro to some solid growth in 2012. And there’s more to come, with the return of Furby this autumn. Samantha Loveday asks Foye Pascoe, Country Manager, UK and Ireland, about the year so far…
Furby app for iPhone, iPad and iPod Touch for even more interactive fun. The app can be used to virtually feed Furby and to translate the Furbish language to English. Our high cut-through girls’ targeted campaign features heavyweight advertising on primetime TV. We are excited that we will be advertising during ITV’s flagship Saturday night show, The X Factor and The Xtra Factor. Talking to our target audience online, our 360-degree digital marketing campaign will include a partnership with the popular girl’s fashion website Stardoll, takeovers on social website Bin Weevils, Girls Go Games advertising and YouTube sponsored search.
In addition we have an emotive PR campaign with some fantastic surprises in store.
You have board games due based on social networking games – such