Hasbro 2012 Annual Report Download - page 5

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FURBY returned to our line in English-speaking
markets last year and delivered a great year. By November,
the UK was entirely out of stock and FURBY was named
“Toy of the Year” at the Toy Industry Awards in that country.
In 2013, FURBY goes global and we will continue to add new,
innovative brand experiences that combine the uniqueness
of FURBY with great digital engagement.
Within our partner brands, we had a record year last
year with our Marvel partnership. Supported by two great
films, Marvel’s The Avengers and The Amazing Spider-Man,
our brand initiatives leveraged the tremendous innovation
and storytelling from Marvel, combined with the global
scope and strong consumer-oriented approach of Disney.
We are very excited about the potential for growing our
partnership with Disney and helping to build global brands
together.
As mentioned earlier, in 2012, our Games category
revenues grew versus our objective of stabilization.
The MAGIC: THE GATHERING brand had another
tremendous year, growing more than 30% and marking the
brand’s fourth consecutive year of 25% revenue growth or
greater. The team has leveraged three basic elements: digital
investment, serialized entertainment and in-store branded
play to drive higher levels of player engagement and attract
new players. As a result, our player population and revenue
is growing. Today, there are approximately 3.3 million active
MAGIC: THE GATHERING players worldwide.
Our games success, however, was not limited to the
continued growth of MAGIC: THE GATHERING. In 2011, we
established our new Gaming Center of Excellence, which
brought to Rhode Island our gaming design, development
and marketing talent. In 2012, we are already seeing results
generated by the new ideas and gaming reinvention from the
team. Understanding that gaming is changing, but remains
very relevant to kids and families, we are no longer primarily
focused on board games, but instead on delivering engaging
gaming experiences across all gaming platforms.
As a result, we had a number of new games initiatives
that performed well last year, including TWISTER DANCE,
MONOPOLY MILLIONAIRE and BATTLESHIP. We launched a
very successful new Action Battling gaming initiative across
several brands, including TRANSFORMERS BOT SHOTS,
STAR WARS FIGHTER PODS and, despite launching late
in the year, received a strong contribution from our new
partnership with Rovio Entertainment and Lucasfilm for
ANGRY BIRDS STAR WARS.
We continued to partner with industry-leading, digital
gaming companies, including Electronic Arts, Activision,
Gameloft, DeNA and Callaway, to extend the reach and
engagement with our consumers across digital gaming
platforms. In 2012, these partnerships resulted in a more than
90% increase in mobile digital downloads of Hasbro brands.
Tens of millions of people are experiencing Hasbro brands
digitally every year.
Expanding Globally
To build global brands, an organization has to truly be
global. Several years ago, we organized Hasbro around
global brands, marketing and development teams. We
supported these teams with investments in new oces,
opening multiple new oces in emerging markets. We
established new warehouses, including a new warehouse
in Russia in 2012, and we established new infrastructure,
headlined by a global enterprise resource planning (ERP)
system and the implementation of supporting shared
services functions. We continue to roll this ERP system out
globally.
In 2012, our emerging markets business grew 16% and
represented more than 10% of our total revenues. We have
outpaced industry growth rates in the emerging markets
by more than two times over the last five years. We’ve also
achieved positive profitability ahead of our schedule in
virtually all our major emerging markets.
Within the emerging markets, we are seeing growth
and the potential for growth across categories. Our
brands resonate with consumers. Hasbro television
programming is airing in these markets. In addition,
China, Russia and Brazil are the three fastest-growing
markets in terms of global box oce. Our brand
blueprint is coming to life in the emerging markets, and
our entertainment and non-entertainment supported
brands are benefitting.
Leading Globally
One thing that has always been true at Hasbro is the
tremendous talent we have representing the company
across the world. In early 2013, we made some changes
to our senior management team that recognize
outstanding leadership and assign new responsibilities as
part of Hasbro’s commitment to realizing the full global
potential of our brands.
David Hargreaves, a 30-year veteran of Hasbro and
most recently our Chief Operating Ocer, has assumed
the newly-created position of Executive Vice President
and Chief Strategy Ocer. In this role, David is focused