Eric Nyman, president and COO at Hasbro, talks about outbound licensing and upcoming projects in the Toy Book’s annual State of the Industry Q&A.
The Toy Book: How did Hasbro’s NERF Chief TikTok Officer initiative perform last year? How does this creative marketing strategy encourage fan engagement for the brand?
Eric Nyman: The NERF Chief TikTok Officer Campaign was wildly successful and a huge milestone for both the brand and the company in 2021. As the first Hasbro brand to launch on TikTok, we went straight to the source — our loyal fans — to ensure we got this right. We selected around 10 contenders to formally interview for the position and to meet face to face with a panel of representatives from global marketing, PR, and social communications at Hasbro, who spent the time getting to know them on a more personal level, finding out what they love about TikTok, and how they’d combine their platform knowledge and love of NERF into running the official account. Sophie Lightning, our outstanding Chief TikTok Officer, continues to bring the NERF TikTok channel to life in a way NERF fans love, because she is [a fan, too].
TB: How important is outbound licensing to your overall business strategy?
EN: Hasbro has cultivated a passionate community of fans and collectors for a variety of brands and products from My Little Pony and Play-Doh to Monopoly to NERF, and we continue bringing experiences to life off-screen for beloved entertainment properties like Transformers, Peppa Pig, and PJ Masks. Expanding the footprint of these iconic brands through licensing is a powerful tool that allows us to reach our community of fans and deliver innovative and engaging brand experiences. Licensing will continue to be a part of our business strategy as it allows our consumers to express their fandom and engage with Hasbro brands beyond just play, whether that be through clothing, sporting goods, fashion, accessories, cosmetics, live events and location-based entertainment, and much more.
TB: Hasbro had a big entertainment year with Snake Eyes and My Little Pony: A New Generation. What details can you offer on any upcoming projects in 2022?
We are in the middle of a total Pony revolution. We have developed a truly brand-led, audience-focused strategy for My Little Pony (MLP), working collaboratively with all our fantastic teams across the blueprint. Our goal — which was to launch a new generation of ponies to a new generation of kids — has had a spectacular start, with the hugely successful movie release in September on Netflix. Thanks in part to a highly strategic, millennial mom- and kid-focused marketing campaign and collaboration across our blueprint, we saw massive global impact, driving millions of eyeballs to Netflix — topping No. 1 in kids on Netflix in 86 markets on release weekend and creating huge merchandise desire and sell-through, launching unprecedented engagement with music, and generating record-breaking activity on all our social platforms.
This year marks our biggest year of content yet, with nearly 500 minutes of animation that will give our audience more access to MLP content than ever before. Starting in April, our 2D series Tell Your Tale will launch, highlighting the Mane 5 featured in the movie in snackable, humor-driven, five-minute episodes dropping weekly all year. Then on May 26, our special Make Your Mark drops on Netflix, picking up from the movie where the Mane 5 are learning to live with each other and their new powers. The special sets up the action to come in our series by the same name, and a holiday special, Winter Wishday, will drop in November. New music, apps, a podcast, social content, and more will be ongoing as fans continue to want more My Little Pony.
This article was originally published in the February 2022 edition of the Toy Book. Click here to read the full issue!
