Brian Goldner

Nearly everyone is familiar with Monopoly, Twister and Transformers—all popular brands from Hasbro. Not everyone knows that Hasbro, today a leader in the toy industry, was founded in 1923 by the brothers Henry and Helal Hassenfeld as a textile company. It then expanded into pencils, school supplies and doctor kits, its first toys. Before long it had provided children around the world with Mr. Potato Head, G.I. Joe and My Little Pony. It later acquired The Milton Bradley Company and Playskool and branched out into movies and television.

Hasbro’s president and CEO, Brian Goldner, gave a keynote address at MIPCOM, followed by a question-and-answer session with World Screen’s group editorial director, Anna Carugati. Goldner wants to make sure Hasbro is reaching children across all platforms, and is therefore intent on transforming it from a toy and games company into a branded play company.

Of key importance to Goldner is “providing immersive brand experiences to consumer everywhere they want, any time, anywhere,” because, as he explains, “the consumer is in charge.”

“We are transforming into a branded play company in order respond to consumer demands, their requirements, their desires around our brands. That is why we than have to compete not only with traditional toy companies but also other folks who are providing great content, not because it’s about being competitive, but because it’s what the consumer wants. We need to answer their call.”

And in order to answer the consumer’s call, Hasbro is committed to “re-invent, re-imagine and re-ignite” its brands, making sure they are available not only as traditional toys and games, but also on every possible platform and in every form, from video games to motion pictures to television to licensed lifestyle products.

Hasbro already has a track record with motion pictures, most notably with Transformers, but also has a slate of films in development: Stretch Armstrong, will be written by Steve Koren, who also wrote Bruce Almighty. Peter Berg, who did the movie Hancock, is directing Battleship. Kevin Lima, who directed Enchanted, will be directing Candy Land and Ridley Scott will be directing the movie Monopoly.

In the area of television, Hasbro has partnered with Discovery Communications. The two companies are pooling resources to deliver a family entertainment and educational service in the fall of 2010, reaching 60 million U.S. homes in place of the Discovery Kids channel. Industry veteran Margaret Loesch, whose experience includes running Fox Kids Network and Hallmark Channel U.S., has been tapped as the president and CEO of the joint venture.

Hasbro Studios, led by Stephen J. Davis, a former president of Granada America, will be filling much of the channel’s programming needs. “Initially we will develop dozens of shows and produce at least ten,” explains Goldner. “And they might not all be Hasbro show. In fact, we are talking to a number of creative studios about other great brands and ideas, but they will be predominantly [based on] Hasbro brands. That would represent roughly five to eight hours a day of original programming over two to four years.”

“It really comes down to great characters and great stories around our brands,” continues Goldner. “If we can tell those stories as imaginatively as we have done in the motion-picture business and in TV historically, we’ll be in a very good position. We feel very strongly that we can then take brands and properties, re-imagine them for the television space and then take them to all screens, simultaneously and over time.”

While Hasbro has brands that appeal to people aged 2 to 82, Goldner points out that his company has to start with the youngest consumers. “For this audience it’s heartening to know that as we think about all the mediums that young people use, television is still at the top,” he explains. 

And while children used to consume media in a linear way, moving from TV to the computer, to console gaming, to chatting online, “today it’s a free for all,” he says, “they are all over the place all at once and we need to recognize that. In fact, young people today are the first generation that can literally bend time. They consume over eight-and-a-half hours of media in just over six hours. Think about that, it’s phenomenal. Think about the challenges and opportunities that represents.”

The final part of Hasbro’s strategy as it transforms into a branded play company is branching out around the world. International markets are critical, explains Goldner. “They represent the fastest growth for our company across every platform. In just the last 12 months, we’ve opened offices with our own marketing and sales personnel in Brazil, the Czech Republic, Russia, Poland and China. We are opening offices either this year or next in Romania and we will continue to put our own Hasbro personnel on the ground to ensure that the brand stories we are telling are being fully executed in each market around the world.”