Hasbro: Difference between revisions
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In 1984, Hasbro also bought out a competing toy company named [[Milton Bradley]] (MB), which resulted in the merged company briefly assuming the name "Hasbro Bradley, Inc." After the merger was completed, the company changed its name into simply "Hasbro, Inc." Milton Bradley's European facilities would also be used to manufacture the initial wave of [[Toy|Transformers toys]] to be [[Generation 1 Europe (toyline)|released in Europe]] before the merger was completed. Later in the '80s, Hasbro would go on to release other toy brands such as ''[[Visionaries]]'' and ''[[Battle Beasts]]''--the latter eventually becoming closely (if strangely) related to Transformers. | In 1984, Hasbro also bought out a competing toy company named [[Milton Bradley]] (MB), which resulted in the merged company briefly assuming the name "Hasbro Bradley, Inc." After the merger was completed, the company changed its name into simply "Hasbro, Inc." Milton Bradley's European facilities would also be used to manufacture the initial wave of [[Toy|Transformers toys]] to be [[Generation 1 Europe (toyline)|released in Europe]] before the merger was completed. Later in the '80s, Hasbro would go on to release other toy brands such as ''[[Visionaries]]'' and ''[[Battle Beasts]]''--the latter eventually becoming closely (if strangely) related to Transformers. | ||
In 1991, Hasbro bought out former competitor [[Tonka]]. In 1995, Hasbro temporarily transferred control of the Transformers franchise to its [[Kenner]] subsidiary (which had previously been a subsidiary of Tonka), then phased out the Kenner brand in 2000. | In 1991, Hasbro bought out former competitor [[Tonka]]. In the same year, Hasbro consolidated most of their international markets: Prior to this point, Hasbro subsidiaries such as [[Milton Bradley]] had been responsible for distributing ''Transformers'' toys in some countries (even though the toys' packaging had sported the name "Hasbro" since 1986). Those subsidiaries were officially restructured and given the parent companies' name in an attempt to establish "Hasbro" as a worldwide household name. | ||
In 1995, Hasbro temporarily transferred control of the Transformers franchise to its [[Kenner]] subsidiary (which had previously been a subsidiary of Tonka), then phased out the Kenner brand in 2000. | |||
In the new millennium, Hasbro, following [[Marvel Comics|Marvel's]] example, intends to reinvent itself as an "entertainment" company. Instead of merely commissioning animated TV shows as advertising vehicles for their toys, Hasbro licenses its brands to Hollywood studios, which turn them into big budget blockbuster movies, using the toys' established household names as a marketing appeal. 2007's ''[[Transformers (2007)|Transformers]]'' movie was the first of those feature films. The sequel, ''[[Revenge of the Fallen (film)|Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen]]'', and a ''[[G.I. Joe]]'' movie are both scheduled for a 2009 release, and movies based on the successful board game ''Monopoly'' and [[Kenner]]'s old Stretch Armstrong toy have also been confirmed. Hasbro believes that their new "the movie of the toy" strategy will be more lucrative than the old "the toy of the movie" concept, which involves hefty licensing fees.<ref name="brandweek">[http://www.businessweek.com/bwdaily/dnflash/content/jun2009/db20090611_333306.htm Brandweek article on Hasbro's new movie-related business strategy]</ref> | In the new millennium, Hasbro, following [[Marvel Comics|Marvel's]] example, intends to reinvent itself as an "entertainment" company. Instead of merely commissioning animated TV shows as advertising vehicles for their toys, Hasbro licenses its brands to Hollywood studios, which turn them into big budget blockbuster movies, using the toys' established household names as a marketing appeal. 2007's ''[[Transformers (2007)|Transformers]]'' movie was the first of those feature films. The sequel, ''[[Revenge of the Fallen (film)|Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen]]'', and a ''[[G.I. Joe]]'' movie are both scheduled for a 2009 release, and movies based on the successful board game ''Monopoly'' and [[Kenner]]'s old Stretch Armstrong toy have also been confirmed. Hasbro believes that their new "the movie of the toy" strategy will be more lucrative than the old "the toy of the movie" concept, which involves hefty licensing fees.<ref name="brandweek">[http://www.businessweek.com/bwdaily/dnflash/content/jun2009/db20090611_333306.htm Brandweek article on Hasbro's new movie-related business strategy]</ref> | ||
Revision as of 15:31, 10 July 2009
Hasbro is a toy company, and owner of the Transformers brand in most markets outside of Japan, where it is owned by TakaraTomy.
History
Hasbro was originally founded in 1923 as "Hassenfeld Brothers" by brothers Henry and Helal Hassenfeld from Rhode Island. The company originally sold textile remnants, but soon moved into manufacturing pencil boxes and school supplies.
In 1952, Hasbro first rose to fame with a little toy called Mr. Potato Head. You might have heard of it. The company went so far as to purchase advertising time for the toy on a newfangled invention called television. You might have heard of that, too.
In 1964, Hasbro had an even greater success with the original G.I. Joe toy designed by Don Levine, which caused Hassenfeld Bros. to grow to be one of the largest toy companies in the USA. In 1968, the company would change its name to "Hasbro Industries, Inc."
Through a series of importing licenses and spin-offs, G.I. Joe ultimately led to the Microman and Diaclone toylines by Japanese toymaker Takara, which in turn would lead to Hasbro's release of the original Transformers toyline in 1984. At that time, Hasbro was employing the services of Marvel Comics and the advertising agency Griffin Bacal, who helped them come up with new marketing strategies and background stories for their toylines, including the revamped G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero and The Transformers.
In 1984, Hasbro also bought out a competing toy company named Milton Bradley (MB), which resulted in the merged company briefly assuming the name "Hasbro Bradley, Inc." After the merger was completed, the company changed its name into simply "Hasbro, Inc." Milton Bradley's European facilities would also be used to manufacture the initial wave of Transformers toys to be released in Europe before the merger was completed. Later in the '80s, Hasbro would go on to release other toy brands such as Visionaries and Battle Beasts--the latter eventually becoming closely (if strangely) related to Transformers.
In 1991, Hasbro bought out former competitor Tonka. In the same year, Hasbro consolidated most of their international markets: Prior to this point, Hasbro subsidiaries such as Milton Bradley had been responsible for distributing Transformers toys in some countries (even though the toys' packaging had sported the name "Hasbro" since 1986). Those subsidiaries were officially restructured and given the parent companies' name in an attempt to establish "Hasbro" as a worldwide household name.
In 1995, Hasbro temporarily transferred control of the Transformers franchise to its Kenner subsidiary (which had previously been a subsidiary of Tonka), then phased out the Kenner brand in 2000.
In the new millennium, Hasbro, following Marvel's example, intends to reinvent itself as an "entertainment" company. Instead of merely commissioning animated TV shows as advertising vehicles for their toys, Hasbro licenses its brands to Hollywood studios, which turn them into big budget blockbuster movies, using the toys' established household names as a marketing appeal. 2007's Transformers movie was the first of those feature films. The sequel, Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen, and a G.I. Joe movie are both scheduled for a 2009 release, and movies based on the successful board game Monopoly and Kenner's old Stretch Armstrong toy have also been confirmed. Hasbro believes that their new "the movie of the toy" strategy will be more lucrative than the old "the toy of the movie" concept, which involves hefty licensing fees.[1]
Hasbro today
Employees
Corporate
- Brian Goldner, Chief Executive Officer
- Alfred J. Verrecchia, Chairman of the Board
Boys' Toys
- Samantha Lomow, Vice President of Marketing and Design
- Joe Kyde, Designer (Boy's Toys, Exclusive Division)
Girls' Toys
- Michelle Field, Director of Marketing
Transformers Brand
Marketing
- Greg Lombardo, Sr. Director of Marketing
- Michael Vibede Vanting, Global Brand Marketing Director
- Michael Ballog, marketing
- Jared Jones, marketing
- Forest Lee, copywriting
Design
- Aaron Archer, Sr. Design Director
- Eric Siebenaler, Lead Designer
- Jared Wade, Design Director
- William Rawley, Sr. Designer
- Vickie Stratford, Sr. Design Project Manager
Hasbro's regional offices
Hasbro has smaller offices all around the world, who are not involved in the production of toys, but rather take care of the customer relationships and marketing in their local regions. Known locations of local offices include Denmark (covering the whole nordic region), Canada, Germany, the United Kingdom, France, Australia and New Zealand.
Relationship with fandom
Fandom's relationship with Hasbro is as paradoxical and confusing as our relationships with our parents. They are an incredible source of joy and happiness, as well as the focal point of rage and blame for pretty much everyone in the Transformers community. To much of the fandom, Hasbro's actual involvement in the Transformers franchise is rarely acknowledged when not negative. Many view their activities to consist entirely of:
- Slapping fans in the face.
- Getting things all wrong.
- Screwing up Takara's toys.
- Being lazy.
- Trying to make money.
- Ruining everything forever.
When they found the time to create and maintain a successful, celebrated franchise that was the basis of 25 years of obsession and happiness for the exact same fans is unknown.
Questionable brand decisions
- In the early days of the Generation 1 line's run, Hasbro were entirely focused on "product" and viewed the attached fiction as a mere marketing tool. As a consequence, they viewed "characters" as easily replacable, and their strategy at that time can be summed up as "new toys, new characters". Hasbro certainly didn't anticipate the audience actually to attach to the characters featured in the television show, and were utterly surprised by the fan backlash after nearly all of the 1984-85 cast had been graphically killed off in the animated movie. Hasbro now recognizes that this move was a mistake that hurt the brand.[2] They've learned their lesson, and now mostly kill relative nobodies, and rely a lot more heavily on recurring, recognizable characters across their various toylines and the corresponding fiction.
- Hasbro was eager to make the move to multilingual packaging, and its representatives were always prepared with responses to fan complaints about how ugly and uninformative it was. Then those representatives themselves noticed how ugly it was, so the packaging returned to normal.
- At times, Hasbro has been willing to allow the broadcast of clearly incomplete or poorly-constructed advertising media.
- Hasbro often have their official promotional toy photography done by people (both internal and outsourced third party photo studios) who have a tendency to display the toys in awkwardly mistransformed states, sometimes so glaring that the photos could be viewed as really bad representations of Hasbro's products... yet they are used in official advertising, including Hasbro's public website and even on the toys' packaging.
- As the toys became more and more complex, Hasbro's official toy instructions became less and less helpful. Written directions were omitted entirely in favor of pictures-only instructions with the launch of the Armada line in 2002, and those pictures-only instructions have a tendency to omit useful steps, are sometimes unclear on vital details, and might occasionally be based on early prototypes that differ from the final toy, thereby including transformation steps that aren't possible with the toy in hand. Universe Sideswipe even recycled the instructions from his mold-mate Sunstreaker, even though Sideswipe was supposed to use an alternate transformation as compared to Sunstreaker.
- In the lead up to the 2007 live-action movie, to deal with the expected international audience for both the movie and the accompanying toys, Hasbro started to redirect visitors based upon their IPs to localised versions of Hasbro's Transformers website. However, it was obvious that Hasbro's interest in their international markets was extremely, exceptionally marginal, as demonstrated by the fact that many of these international localised sites were rarely updated, if at all; and if they were, the updates were still marginal, and the product lists remained incomplete. To the frustration of non-American fans, clicking any links to the US version of the site resulted in the user being automatically redirected to their outdated localised versions. This was finally resolved for good in 2009, with the addition of a US-specific website URL that doesn't redirect anyone anywhere anymore.
Trivia
- The Decepticon Flamewar collects Hasbro memorabilia.
- Hasbro isn't all about selling toys and making money. According to Transformers live-action movie writer Roberto Orci, some at Hasbro argued against updating some returning characters in Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen, so that parents would not have to buy the same toy twice for their children just because of a minor change or modification to the characters' designs. [3]
