The popular IP driving Hasbro’s content strategy
Hasbro Entertainment’s president Olivier Dumont discusses the company’s content strategy following its launch last summer, its upcoming slate and how it is flourishing in a kids’ market focused on popular IP.
Olivier Dumont
It’s been nine months since US toy giant Hasbro announced it was selling Canadian production company Entertainment One (eOne) to Lionsgate and then formed its own production arm Hasbro Entertainment.
Crucially, the sale excluded mega-franchise Peppa Pig, which has become a key piece of IP for Hasbro.
“Hasbro’s mission is to entertain and connect generations of fans through the wonder of storytelling and exhilaration of play. Entertainment is a key component in making sure Hasbro delivers on its mission and the transition from eOne to Hasbro has been very smooth, as Hasbro has a long tradition of making content a central part of its overall strategy,” says Hasbro Entertainment’s president Olivier Dumont, who previously served as eOne’s president of family brands.
“At eOne, my mandate had always been to develop, produce and distribute content and turn it into brands that could live in the consumer products space at large, including the toys category. This is what transpired for PJ Masks and Peppa Pig. At Hasbro, the teams had the same vision in mind, so we’d already been speaking the same language by thinking ‘brand first.’”
Hasbro Entertainment is focused on developing, financing and producing content based on Hasbro-owned brands. The company is actively developing and producing more than 30 projects based on IP including Dungeons & Dragons, Nerf, Play-Doh, Peppa Pig, Transformers, Magic: The Gathering and My Little Pony.
Mega-franchise Peppa Pig is approaching its 20th anniversary.
Adapted from its board games, the company recently announced deals with Sony’s TriStar Pictures and Sony Pictures Television to re-imagine Clue across film and TV, with Margot Robbie’s LuckyChap and Lionsgate to produce a film based on Monopoly and with The CW and Lionsgate to produce game shows based on Trivial Pursuit and Scrabble.
Other upcoming projects include a Transformers and GI Joe crossover live-action film with Paramount, and Transformers One – an animated prequel film coproduced with Paramount Animation starring Chris Hemsworth, Brian Tyree Henry and Scarlett Johansson. Also based on the Transformers franchise is the second season of animated series Transformers: Earthspark, which will debut on Nickelodeon and Paramount+ globally, as well as on terrestrial broadcasters including the BBC.
Additionally, multiple live-action Dungeons & Dragons series are in the works, while an animated Magic: The Gathering series is in development with Netflix. Rolling out already this year is the Peppa Pig three-part Wedding Party Special, which features new characters voiced by Katy Perry and Orlando Bloom and coincides with the IP’s 20th anniversary.
Having a wealth of already-known brands has been beneficial to Hasbro Entertainment, Dumont says, especially during the economic crisis with risk-averse commissioners who are relying on existing IP that already has a fanbase.
“Hasbro Entertainment has access to an unparalleled portfolio of known and established properties that have become increasingly valuable. The global entertainment industry has emphasised focusing more on popular IP, given the challenges pertaining to the discoverability of new content on SVoD platforms,” he says.
“One of the biggest challenges in kids’ content is how fragmented the market has become. From linear television to all the streaming options available, on top of social media apps like YouTube and TikTok, kids have more ways to engage with content than ever before. This makes it especially important to create excellent, culturally relevant content with recognisable properties that engage both kids and their families.”
Transformers: Earthspark will debut on Nickelodeon and Paramount+
Despite having a vast portfolio of well-known properties, Hasbro Entertainment is also developing and producing original concepts and ideas that have the potential to turn into global brands, “igniting Hasbro’s full lines of businesses including toy, licensed consumer products and digital gaming,” Dumont says.
“This means it’s crucial for any original concepts pitched to us to have strong play patterns embedded in their narrative to fit within Hasbro Entertainment’s portfolio.
“Given how much content gets produced and distributed every year, it is essential to come up with original ideas that stand out. To do so, we are working hard with the creative community to ensure that all the content we develop and produce surprises and delights audiences and brings them something new and fresh each time.”
As Hasbro Entertainment approaches its first birthday this summer, Dumont says the company will continue to act as the “driving force” that connects creative development to Hasbro’s brands.
He says: “With many Hasbro Entertainment properties having already fueled decades-long blockbuster brands, the company’s goal is to continue building upon that rich legacy of play and storytelling, letting existing fans engage with their favourite worlds and characters like never before, while captivating new fans worldwide with the next wave of must-see stories.”
