My Little Pony & My Little Pony Equestria Girls Live Show produced by Tycoon Gou Producciones
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Discover ver ew the new With new films hitting the big screen for two of Hasbro’s biggest brands, and a new property to get excited about — LTW sits down with Katherine Buckland, Senior Director, Hasbro Consumer Products EMEA to find out more Katherine, before we launch into all the new that Hasbro is bringing us — can you sum up the past year for Hasbro’s licensing division? From new movie announcements to great product collaborations, 2016 has been a year of successful growth for Hasbro Consumer Products. Our franchise brands have grown 140 per cent in consumer products alone. As you’ll see at Brand Licensing Europe, our beloved brands like MY LITTLE PONY, TRANSFORMERS, MONOPOLY, PLAYDOH, and NERF have expanded into new entertainment and product categories — and we recently announced Hasbro’s acquisition of Irish animation company Boulder Media — which is setting us up for success both now and into the future. One of the bigger news stories coming out of the Hasbro stable is the big screen movie release of MY LITTLE PONY in October 2017. What can you tell us about that? Since 1983, the MY LITTLE PONY brand has captivated fans worldwide with its strong characters and compelling storylines. Next autumn, fans will have a new way to connect with their favorite ponies — My Little Pony: The Movie! This full-length, animated film will feature two new characters voiced by Kristin Chenoweth and Emily Blunt, with additional cast members like Taye Diggs, Michael Pena, Liev Schrieber, and Uzo Aduba. We also announced this July that pop music icon Sia will be cast as the voice of pony pop star Songbird Serenade. Sia will contribute two new original songs to the film soundtrack. How does this impact your current licensing programme? Will Hasbro be bringing new MLP licensees on board especially for the film, and if
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so, what sort of categories will you be targeting? Storytelling is the center of everything we do here at Hasbro, and it’s the key to our successful consumer products growth. With My Little Pony: The Movie, we will have new stories to leverage, opening up new opportunities for collaborations and partnerships. Our goal is to leverage our existing relationships and bring additional licensees on board where we see incremental opportunities relative to new categories and/or innovative product. Stay tuned on exciting partnerships to come this year and beyond! Let’s move onto TRANSFORMERS — Hasbro has really created a cinematic universe here. With each new film, what approach does the team take with its licensing programme? We take a pragmatic approach when developing product ranges for upcoming films. From the start, we pay specific attention to detail to ensure the characters and storylines fans see on the screen translate into the products people see on the shelves. Our robust TRANSFORMERS entertainment offering — which spans television, gaming, and full-length features — lends itself to products, and we’ve enjoyed finding likeminded partners to grow the brand and its consumer product portfolio.
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We’re very excited to announce the launch of our latest franchise HANAZUKI. The brand is all about encouraging kids to be authentic to themselves and express how they feel
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before. With Michael Bay at the helm, Transformers: The Last Knight — the fifth instalment in the TRANSFORMERS franchise — will launch in June 2017, and will feature leading actors like Mark Wahlberg, Anthony Hopkins, Isabela Moner, and Josh Duhamel. For June 2018, Hasbro is working on a film centered on the never-before-heard story of Bumblebee, and in June 2019, Hasbro will unveil an entirely new, exciting storyline for the beloved brand. Do Hasbro ever find themselves at a crossroads with brands such as TRANSFORMERS and MY LITTLE PONY. These began life in the ‘80s so they are multi-generational now, how do you ensure you are catering for all aspects of your fan base with the licensing programme? At Hasbro, we are always innovating for the new generation of kids while ensuring that we maintain the brand promise to our fans. We like to say that we are always at a point of departure with our key
Talk us through the next steps in the movie franchise, Transformers: The Last Knight is due for release soon. What else is happening? We have several action-packed years coming up for the TRANSFORMERS brand. Starting in 2017, we will have a movie every year for the next three years, helping fans connect with the brand and its characters like never
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Katherine says… “At Hasbro, our brands are overflowing with rich stories and dynamic, multi-faceted characters, which gives us unprecedented ways to connect with our fans and consumers. As you’ll see at Brand Licensing Europe, our brands are no longer just toys and games — Hasbro’s properties can be seen everywhere from apparel and accessories to comic books, video games, movies, TV shows, digital shorts, theme park rides, and a growing number of live events. We’re delivering more storytelling across all of our platforms than ever before, and it’s truly an exciting time to be part of the Hasbro community!” franchise brands, so we’re constantly evolving to reach new fans in unique ways across multiple entertainment and product categories. For example, the MY LITTLE PONY brand reaches young fans through series like the global hit My Little Pony Friendship is Magic, as well as older audiences with high-end fashion from designers like Maria Escote. We work hard to ensure our brands are multi-generational and appeal to fans of all ages. It’s probably time to talk about some new properties now — LTW was lucky enough to have a peak at Hanazuki in Vegas and it’s really special — talk us through the brand. We’re very excited to announce the launch of our latest franchise HANAZUKI. The brand is all about encouraging kids to be authentic to themselves and express how they feel. HANAZUKI is a Hasbro franchise brand in the making and we’re establishing this with a fully connected universe including an entertainment series, digital app, and robust consumer products and toy offering. Kids can join the wacky and adventurous journey of HANAZUKI and her friends through a series of mini animated adventures, produced by Hasbro Studios and Titmouse, debuting on YouTube. HANAZUKI is Hasbro’s first series to debut on digital, and will feature over 300 minutes of short form storytelling released weekly on YouTube beginning January 2017.
My Little Pony: Princess Celestia and the Summer of Royal Waves. Published by Little, Brown Books for Young Readers
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We have several actionpacked years coming up for the TRANSFORMERS brand. Starting in 2017, we will have a movie every year for the next three years, helping fans connect with the brand and its characters like never before
Dynacraft My Little Pony Bike
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TF4 Thermos Lunch Bag
October 2016 Benden Beddings
Hasbro will be at Brand Licensing Europe on stand D40.
Transformers Rescue Bots The Ghosts of Griffin Rock Published by LB Kids
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