Hasbro: Masterminds or Morons?

[Fghik 360]

I'm pretty sure Hasbro knows about the "bronies" and how big the fanbase is for their new show... One would assume that Hasbro would jump at the marketing opportunity and release tons of merchandise to fit our needs. But for some reason, Hasbro hasn't.

 

It's taken them this long to even mention the DVD coming out...

The DVD not even the full season, just a handful of episodes.

The Blind Bags aren't (and most likely never will come) in the US.

The FiM toys aren't really found anywhere except Toys R Us & Target (or at least in my area...)

The toys themselves have limited selection (toys based off the show. Not just the general My Little Pony products that we've seen our entire lives.)

 

So I got to thinking... Why are the people at Hasbro marketing the show very calmly and slowly? Their profits would easily increase exponentially if the merchandise they are selling was more readily available, and they were actually making more merchandise for the show; or at least bring the products from other countries to the region where the biggest chunk of the fanbase resides (totally not a blindbag rant...)

 

 

It seems to me that Hasbro could easily make a large profit by abusing fitting our pony desires. Usually whenever a new show is out; they load up their shelves of over-priced crap based off of a show that sometimes even lasts less than a season (just about half of those Hot Wheels TV shows...) in ten seconds flat! Is their marketing department just failing at life, love torturing the human race, or do you think they have a brilliant strategy going? We know Hasbro knows about us; it's almost impossible not to see pony-related content just by opening up your web browser! You can search for almost anything on youtube, and find a pony video as a "Related Suggestion." Unless Hasbro has been working in Quill&Parchment for the past 300 years, and completely ignored the internet (despite their website); they know about the "bronies," or at least know that a lot of people are watching the show. Why do you think they're taking their approach slower with Friendship is Magic than the other shows?

[ingster 16]

I don't know...........Too much of a risk to dive right in?

 

It's weird, but alot of companies dose what the managers and such think makes a good profit, but not what is needed to make what the fanbase/consumers wants and get more profits through that witch will bring in more peaple and funds

[Finesthour 7,287]

I would say masterminds. Get us excited, get us pissed at them, and realease all their shit when they are ready. Do you realise how much money they would make making people wait?

[Slendermane 477]

I think they are being careful and just marketing towards the targeted demographic. They probably think we like it because of the toys and that if they change anything they will scare us away. I wonder how many of them actually have seen the show?

[Fghik 360]

I don't know...........Too much of a risk to dive right in?

 

It's weird, but alot of companies dose what the managers and such think makes a good profit, but not what is needed to make what the fanbase/consumers wants and get more profits through that witch will bring in more peaple and funds

 

But right now they are not working on making a profit OR making the fanbase/consumers happy. If you look in your local "girl aisle" at your retailer, how many FiM toys will you see? You'll probably see a few "My Little Pony" toys, such as all the G3 stuff nopony ever bought. The rest of the aisle will be random Barbie and Cabbage Patch Kid toys. The overall pony merchandise is nonexistent compared to the other lines of toys they have readily available.

 

If you can recall any of the "stupid shows" over the past couple of years, more likely than not; Hasbro made a line of toys for the show right away. When the show died, the toys died a month or two later. But FiM will not die, because people actually like this show. However they are still lacking the amount of products any show has. If they are intending on drawing out the merchandise for the show (anticipating it was going to be a hit,) then that would imply that the big "bursts" of merchandise for the "stupid shows" were because Hasbro was also aware that those shows would suck.

[ingster 16]

If you look in your local "girl aisle" at your retailer, how many FiM toys will you see?.

 

I don't have a local retailer........I live around a hour or more from the nearest place that sells them

[Fghik 360]

I would say masterminds. Get us excited, get us pissed at them, and realease all their shit when they are ready. Do you realise how much money they would make making people wait?

 

They are making me want the products more by holding them off... But the holiday season is approaching, and unless they release more products; they could miss a very large opportunity for profits. Or you know, they could have something even bigger in store for us AFTER the Holidays (so they can ignore that whole "Holiday Sale!" thing...?)

 

 

I think they are being careful and just marketing towards the targeted demographic. They probably think we like it because of the toys and that if they change anything they will scare us away. I wonder how many of them actually have seen the show?

 

As long as they don't change the show, I won't be scared away. If anything, I'd welcome a change to the merchandise... (Baby Pinkie Pie... Really?)

 

And chances are, hardly any of the toy makers watch the show... Otherwise they would know Celestia is only pink when:

 

I don't have a local retailer........I live around a hour or more from the nearest place that sells them

 

Awwww...

 

-hugs-

[Finesthour 7,287]

They are making me want the products more by holding them off... But the holiday season is approaching, and unless they release more products; they could miss a very large opportunity for profits. Or you know, they could have something even bigger in store for us AFTER the Holidays (so they can ignore that whole "Holiday Sale!" thing...?)

 

 

 

As long as they don't change the show, I won't be scared away. If anything, I'd welcome a change to the merchandise... (Baby Pinkie Pie... Really?)

 

And chances are, hardly any of the toy makers watch the show... Otherwise they would know Celestia is only pink when:

 

 

 

 

Awwww...

 

-hugs-

 

Just imagine when they do release stuff if bronies alreayd want things this bad?

[ingster 16]

:

 

 

Awwww...

 

-hugs-

 

*Hugs back*

[Fghik 360]

Just imagine when they do release stuff if bronies alreayd want things this bad?

 

http-~~-//www.youtube.com/watch?v=LfJR6sAo0CU&feature=related

 

When that day comes... I can only hope the world doesn't explode twice.

[Lady Rarity Pony 4,892]

Well I'm sure they have a valid reason for not releasing certain items yet.

That said I still feel as if they in some cases treat the show as if only little girls watch it, despite full knowledge of their fanbase.

[NeverNeverland 1,940]

As far as I'm concerned, they're already masterminds for getting us into the show to begin with. That fact that they're doing this seems like they're assholes rather than morons (in my view at least).

[Doctor XFizzle 8,669]

I think they're willing to miss out on the potential cashflow from bronies because in the long term, the brony phenomenon will not last. From the beginning and forever they will market to their true demo, little girls. While they're definitely missing out now, they're not taking a risk by switching targets. Imagine if they began dumping tons of money into market research, reproducing all their toys and manufacturing men sized clothing and suddenly the brony community falls off because a change of show direction or it jumps the shark (I hope not). That's a lot of sunk costs into a blip on the radar phenomenon.

Edited November 19, 2011 by XFizzle vi Equestria

[rachael 8]

I think they are hesitant because of the cost of diversifying into other kinds of toys. They may not be able to achieve good economies of scale to go into a different target demographic. The best thing they could go for is licensing their brand to a pop-culture manufacturer - someone that can make older-demographic stuff better/faster/cheaper, and that's what they did with WeLoveFIne.

 

Oooooh man, I need to take my marketing hat off now.

[Scritches 92]

Oooooh man, I need to take my marketing hat off now.

 

by all means please continue.

[NeverNeverland 1,940]

Oooooh man, I need to take my marketing hat off now.

 

Don't. As a business student, I'm learning a lot right now.

[rachael 8]

by all means please continue.

 

Don't. As a business student, I'm learning a lot right now.

 

Well alrighty then! This is my fifth and final year in my business program, so I'll do my best to apply the concepts to Hasbro and the Brony Demographic. I don't have numbers in front of me, but I did some cursory research.

 

Hasbro Company Product Profile: Hasbro makes toys and board games. They own the G.I. Joe, Tonka toys, Mr. Potato Head, Nerf balls, and My Little Pony lines. They also license Disney and Marvel characters to manufacture. All of their toy lines target children. They manufacture board games under the name Milton Bradley (Scrabble, Candy Land), Cranium and Parker Brothers (Trivial Pursuit, Monopoly). Milton Bradley targets children to younger adults, Cranium targets teens to young adults, and Parker Brothers targets young/older adults.

 

Hasbro's My Little Pony Line: Their My LIttle Pony line has been around for a couple decades, and that line has always targeted young girls ages 5 - 10 or so through their toys and other licensed merchandise like books, clothing, bedding, a short TV show run etc. This year is no different, except they sprung for the big bucks with Lauren Faust to revitalize their line - and I believe the success exceeded expectations. Why spring for the high-level creative? I'm guessing they keep re-inventing their MLP product line because it keeps entering the mature decline phase of it's cycle every 6-10 years, and My Little Pony's art and storytelling did not seem to intrique or relate to the young girl's generation.

 

Who is the Brony demographic? By this point, a Brony can be anyone... male or female. However, it's generally accepted that males outnumber females. From what I've learned, they are generally high school age - mid thirties, so let's say it's concentrated in ages 15-30. They appreciate the level of animation, and on a twist from general convention, look at MLP as a reprieve from darker, more serious, or more violent story telling styles. It's refreshing, and for some, it's nostalgic. It brings back that coveted aura of Saturday morning cartoons, and it's become a kind of cult following and has created it's own sense of belonging.

 

Why isn't Hasbro targeting more than one market? So, Bronies actually have decision making and buying power, unlike the young girls. So why doesn't Hasbro add them to their marketing mix? As I said before, it may be expensive for Hasbro to begin producing it's own line of pony toys that are made for the Brony Demographic. If they stuck with the young girl manufacturing, they might be achieving better economies of scale. In other words, they don't want to stretch themselves too thin. Remember, they aren't just looking to make more money at whatever cost, they are looking to do the things that they do the best, the fastest, and the cheapest. They want to maintain or exceed a certain profit margin - producing for the Brony demographic might thin that out.

 

I do think they could bring blind bags to the U.S. However, there is probably a reason their aren't here - their distribution network may not be as strong, or the network overseas might be unique enough to distribute their product while maintaining the right profit margin.

 

Hasbro really is doing the smartest thing they could do - licensing their own My Little Pony line to people that can make products (i.e., WeLoveFine) that would suit the Brony Demographic better, faster, and cheaper than Hasbro. Licensing brings money into Hasbro, and it simultaneously doesn't slim the margins.

 

 

Woo. That has to be the serious post I've ever written about My Little Pony.

Edited November 20, 2011 by rachael

[Crispy 5,563]

Just to add a little to that epic marketing post, toy lines take

 

 

to go from planning to production. That's why so many blind bag ponies are just recolors of the Mane 6.

 

As for box set DVD/Blu-ray, I present this, since they put it so well.

 

http://www.equestriadaily.com/2011/11/official-response-from-shout-factory-on.html

[NeverNeverland 1,940]

(LOTS OF RESEARCH)

Woo. That has to be the serious post I've ever written about My Little Pony.

 

...and I understood all of that. And yet, it's all completely true.

[Lady Rarity Pony 4,892]

Hasbros definitely doesn't realize how much I would pay for Season 1 on DVD or a soundtrack...

[Scootaloo1 106]

As much as I'd love for them to change their target audience to "Brony" group... It probably wouldn't be the best business idea, (seeing as the "Brony" group may die out, after a set amount of time... (I.E. when the next cute show comes in) as much as I hate to say it... fads usually die down but not all the way) THAT BEING SAID, I'd much rather have them create more items that both groups can appreciate, something perhaps that the mixed groups (Girls aged 5-10, and bronys) I'm sure the thought of making toys for the older group has been brought up, but shut down.

 

Perhaps that should just stop making hard plastic Ponies that aren't huggable in the least, (I should know... I have Rarity) and create something hardcore, something along the lines of... Stuffed Animals... I would much rather hug a stuffed Rarity then a hard plastic one

 

THAT BEING SAID, I'll stop rambling on about stuff now Are they sure they wanna make the jump, and not make the landing?

Edited November 21, 2011 by Scootaloo

[Lady Rarity Pony 4,892]

As much as I'd love for them to change their target audience to "Brony" group... It probably wouldn't be the best business idea, (seeing as the "Brony" group may die out, after a set amount of time... (I.E. when the next cute show comes in) as much as I hate to say it... fads usually die down but not all the way) THAT BEING SAID, I'd much rather have them create more items that both groups can appreciate, something perhaps that the mixed groups (Girls aged 5-10, and bronys) I'm sure the thought of making toys for the older group has been brought up, but shut down.

 

Perhaps that should just stop making hard plastic Ponies that aren't huggable in the least, (I should know... I have Rarity) and create something hardcore, something along the lines of... Stuffed Animals... I would much rather hug a stuffed Rarity then a hard plastic one

 

THAT BEING SAID, I'll stop rambling on about stuff now Are they sure they wanna make the jump, and not make the landing?

 

I would love stuffed Rarity, I don't know why they haven't made most of these things...they don't even have party supplies :L

[Neko-Chan 34]

I don't think they are morons, Hasbro has been doing this forever so they probably know what they are doing. Of all companies they should know how to market their products since they have been making tv shows to do that for so long.

I think Hasbro doesn't want to mess with success. As mentioned My Little Pony has been around for decades, so they probably know it will sell if they market it to the target demographic like they have been doing for the last ~30 years. They don't want to try to market it to another group when they don't know how well that would work or how long they would be able to sell it, so they will probably continue to market it to their target audience and figure if other people want to buy the toys, great. Adults have been buying and collecting MLP for a long time already, so they definitely know about that market...

They do cater a little bit to their older audience too though because I went to a MLP fair like 5 years ago and Hasbro had given the organizers an exclusive pony to give out to attendees. It ended up being a big thing though because this was supposed to be an early release but the company actually ended up not releasing that pony to the general public later so it was suddenly worth a lot of money, but they had made everyone sign a contract that they would not sell it.

 

 

There are stuffed ponies, but they don't look that great:

 

 

 

 

 

I have a few of the older plush ones from before FIM.

Edited November 21, 2011 by Neko-Chan

[Scootaloo1 106]

*werds*

 

 

 

 

 

I've seen some quality custom made MLP plushes in my day, these are not some of them...

 

The problem with these ones is that it looks like they had the plastic toy in mind when creating them... and they look ugly because of so...

 

The show is meant to be cute... why can't they try to put "Cute" and "Soft" together to make something beautiful like this?

 

Edited November 22, 2011 by Scootaloo

[Neko-Chan 34]

Yeah for some reason the official MLP plush toys made by Hasbro never look very good...