Toy World speaks to Joao Nielsen Sebastian, president EMEA, LATAM & Asia Pacific about transformation at Hasbro and his vision for the future of the business.
Following a challenging few years, Hasbro is undergoing a significant transformation, focusing on fewer brands, an enhanced consumer experience and a simplified business model. Toy World sat down with the man brought in as part of the team overseeing the reinvention of Hasbro, Joao Nielsen Sebastian, president EMEA, LATAM & Asia Pacific, to find out about his vision for the future of the business, the importance of licensing to Hasbro’s success and why play really does matter.
An insight-driven strategist, Joao has been brought in to help Hasbro turn around its fortunes. CEO, Chris Cocks, described Hasbro’s full-year 2022 results as ‘below our expectations’, yet the company is making big strides in the implementation of its transformation strategy, ‘Blueprint 2.0’,simplifying and consolidating its business model.
Ultimately, Joao and the rest of the leadership team are approaching Hasbro almost as if it were a new company – only one with iconic household brands already in its portfolio. Joao says: “When dealing with a 100-year-old company, you’re clearly going to have a lot of history tied in that you need to try and work with. At the same time, it’s great having that century of experience, knowledge and brand ownership – it’s a privileged position to be in.”
With licensing a key factor of the Blueprint 2.0 strategy, Licensed Brand Experiences (LBE) such as the Peppa Pig Afternoon Tea Bus, Peppa Pig World and Monopoly Lifesized are a major focus moving forward. Joao is passionate about creating more consumer experiences like these and Hasbro is investing heavily in this area.
Although many of Hasbro’s upcoming product releases remain under wraps for now, Joao told us about some of Hasbro’s content slate, which recently saw Dungeons & Dragons: Honour Among Thieves enjoy its red-carpet UK premiere, complemented by a full toy range and licensed products. He is also looking forward to the June arrival of Magic: The Gathering’s Lord of the Rings: Tales of Middle Earth, that is fuelling plenty of excitement.
Another June launch, and bolstering the eOne movie slate this year, Bumblebee sequel, Transformers: Rise of the Beasts arrives in cinemas soon, and the film’s new Maximals characters have translated brilliantly into licensed action figures.
“I’m confident in our line-up for the rest of this year and that we’ll see a much stronger Q3/Q4 than we did in 2022,” says Joao. “Keeping our brands intact is always a priority and we therefore tread carefully when balancing short term hiccups against long-term strategy and success.”
To read the full article, which appeared in the May edition of Toy World, click here.
