Marketing Strategy For Hasbro – Analysis And Plan For Improvements

Hasbro is a toy manufacturing company of America. It has started its journey on 6^th December 1923. It has received many reward and recognition in its path of success. It is considered as world’s third largest toy production house. Hasbro has set a milestone for other toy makers. Headquarter of Hasbro is situated in Pawtucket, Rhode Island. Mainly the clients of Hasbro are the children and their parents. As it is a toy manufacturing company, they produce products for the kids. It is the responsibility of the company to fulfil the demand of their consumers. Hasbro is associated with various TV shows, such as- Family Game Night. It provides them a great platform to promote their products. Hasbro has introduced some famous toy lines to the world in last few decades, such as- Action man, Beyblade, Jurassic Park, Jem and so on. Hasbro is the most preferred brand for board games among the game lovers. Some famous names of Hasbro games are Battelship, Axis and Allies and The Game of Life. Hasbro has been awarded by the fortune magazine as one of the top companies among the 100 companies to work for in 2013. Hasbro is renowned for its quality service. It always looks after the issue of customer satisfaction. The management of Hasbro always ensures the quality of its electronic devices. The manufacturing team of Hasbro plays a crucial role in scrutinizing all the electronic devices before releasing them to the market. They are bound to follow this step as it helps them to avoid any future risk related to customer satisfaction (Hasbro.com, 2017).

The following article has concentrated on the marketing strategy of Hasbro. It has analyzed the condition of the toy industry and the position of Hasbro among the toy industries. It has conducted a PESTLE analysis to provide a transparent picture of the market. A marketing plan has been generated in the article that shows the primary objectives of the marketing and strategies that are required to enhance the productivity of the organization. Therefore, it has provided a plan for implementing the proposed marketing plan.

The target market refers to a group of consumers to whom a particular brand wants to sell its products. Recognize the target market is a very crucial step for every brand. The success of any brand is highly dependent on identifying the actual target market (Chng 2013). It increases the demand of the brand and put a significant impact on the consumers of the brand. As Hasbro is a toy manufacturing company, the main target market of the organization is the children and their parents. They produce such games and toys that draw the attention of not only the children but also their parents. The study shows that the maximum number of consumers of Hasbro is usually very high income and middle age parents.

Hasbro has divided its business into three segments- i) U.S and Canada ii) International and iii) Entertainment and Licensing. The most of its revenues come from the U.S and Canada, almost 60% of the total revenue. Hasbro earns 36% of its total revenues from international segment and rest of its revenues comes from the entertainment section (Sarason, DeTienne and Bentley 2014).

PESTLE Analysis

Political/ Legal: Hasbro might face various types of political issues while spreading its international business network. Some political bodies may wants to control its growth. These types of political issues are often faced by the industries.

Economic: As evident in last few years, the consumption of the toys and games has been decreased. Thus, the economic growth of the country has become low.

Social: The emergence of internet has worked as a threat for the toy industries. Children are spending more time on the internet and video games. This behavior has led Hasbro to face a miserable consequence.

Technological: In recent time, children are relying on video games, PC’s, as these gadgets are available in a very affordable price.

Hasbro is expanding its network in the entertainment industry. They are now associated with various TV shows, movies. Such practices are promoting their brand name and helping them to establish a brand image among the stakeholders. Hasbro always applies new technologies in their manufacturing procedure. It helps them to enhance their productivity. Thus, the emergence of new and efficient technologies influences the growth of the industry (Helm and Gritsch 2014).

There was a time when Hasbro was the most preferred brand among the consumers. However, the scenario has been changed in last few decades (Chakkol et al. 2014). There are many toy companies that are giving tough competition to Hasbro. Hasbro is facing various challenges every now and then while competing with other toy brands. Hasbro is highly seasonal. It is one of the most crucial threat to the industry 

Mattel (MAT):

As the study shows, the competition among the toy industries is increasing day by day. One of the famous rivals of Hasbro is Mattel (MAT). Hasbro is facing various difficulties while achieving the target due to the emergence of MAT.

• Like Hasbro MAT is also associated with the renowned franchises, such as- Disney Classic, High School Musical and so on.
• MAT s also following the footsteps of Hasbro. Like Hasbro, they are also markets toys in Girls and Boys Categories. They have created many renowned Barbie dolls and at the same time, they have produced hot wheels.
• MAT has also concentrated to generate the educational toys and play school products like Hasbro.

Fisher price is owned by Mattel. It is considered as one of the giant in the toy industry. It is one of the major competitors of Hasbro.

• It has generated 5000 toys since 1930.
• Fisher Price has created some famous toys, such as- power wheels, rescue heroes, rock-a-stack.
• It has given a tough competition to Hasbro by creating educational and preschool toys.
• Fisher Price has created vintage toys for the kids.

Lego has begun its journey in 1932. It is owned by a Danish family. It is famous for its some famous toy brands. It has established some famous amusement parks. It is considered as one of the tough competitor of Hasbro.

• Although Hasbro has set a milestone in the toy industry, it cannot match the profit margin of Lego. According to some reports, Lego now leads the toy industry in profit making.
• It has offered kids and their parents a wide range of toys that support the mental growth of the kids and entertain them as well.
• Lego beats Hasbro in market share as well.

1. The current customers of Hasbro are the parents with high income. Hasbro mainly focuses to attract the children. The management of Hasbro is aware of the fact that children are the key element of their industry. The success of their industry is highly dependent on them. Children plays crucial role in influencing the demand of the toys. Hasbro exhibits it products in such a manner that they can draw the attention of maximum number of children and their parents (Wold 2015).

Retailers: Hasbro is associated with many national and international retailers. It covers a huge geographic area. It maintains a healthy relation with all its retailers.

Discount Stores: There are many outlets of Hasbro that provide certain amount of discounts. It provides an excellent opportunity to the buyers to buy their favorite toys in an affordable price. It is one of the major strategies of Hasbro to draw the attention of the consumers. It successfully manages to attract a huge number of buyers and that increases the profit margin of Hasbro as well as the retailers.

Internet E-retailers: Hasbro products are available in many online sites as well. It helps the buyer from every corner of the world to purchase their favorite toy from Hasbro.

Based on the eight-step model to identify the buying behavior of the consumer it can be analyzed that Hasbro has clearly identified the requirement or the demand of their buyer and provided them their favorite products accordingly. Hasbro management has collected and evaluated all the information regarding their consumers. It has led them to generate educational and preschool toys that promote the mental development of the kids.

Opportunities

Hasbro always pay special attention to the demand of their customer requirements. According to the six components relationship model, every organization must concentrate on the demand of their buyer. It will help their organization to develop.

Hasbro has paid special attention to their supply chain management. It maintains transparency level with all its suppliers and consumers. It helps them to gain reputation among the stakeholders. Due to strong supply chain Hasbro is capable of obtaining the response of its customer that helps them to identify the loopholes in their service and rectify it.

Nowadays, parents are very much concerned about the mental and physical development of their children. In last few years, Hasbro has promoted its educational toy range. Parents often find such toys beneficial for their child’s mental growth. 

The emergence of Video games and other computer-based games is working as threat for the toy industry. These games are being mostly preferred by the children. They are not aware of the fact that these games are harmful for them. They often find these video and internet based games more interesting than the normal toys and games.

Hasbro has started Hasbro interactive. Employees report the Vice Chairperson directly in this interactive procedure. This interactive practice is a key element of their regular planning cycle. The management often conduct team meetings to maintain the performance graph of the organization. They have appointed some expert from software background and video game experts to provide quality service to their consumers (Ahmad, Pesch and Gulati 2015).

The management has introduced new and unique value proposition to the organization to promote their brand. They have used new strategies for marketing. They are applying all new technologies to establish their brand image among the consumers. Hasbro has started some CD- ROM products to promote their brand among the computer savvy people (Phillips and Hallman 2013).

New and expert marketing team has been appointed to conduct the promotional events. The Hasbro management believe in diversification. They are affiliated with various TV programs. It is one of the important parts of their strategy; it has enriched their business to some extent. They always willingly accept new and unique techniques so they can provide quality service to their consumers. Such practices have led the organization to become the most preferred brand among the game lovers.

Although Hasbro has left no stone unturned to serve their consumers, they have faced some potential threat due to the emergence of new and effective technologies. The biggest threat for the Hasbro as well as for the whole toy industry is the internet and computer. They are facing difficulties every now and then for surviving in this competitive era (Walker 2014).

SWOT Analysis:

Strength · Large brand image · Efficient employees · Large distribution network · Good control over the American market	Weakness · Competition with MAT · Market share is lower than MAT · Production limitation
Opportunities · Affiliation with various TV shows movies and media. · International expansion in business · Implementation of new technologies	Threats · Threat of substitute · Emergence of MAT · Regulations

Table: SWOT analysis of Hasbro

Source: Created by author

Based on the previously mentioned SWOT analysis the objective of the Hasbro is to maintain their brand image among their consumers. Hasbro has faced a very tough competition for MAT. They need to implement new and innovative tactics to exist in this competitive era. The main motive of the organization is to maintain the quality of their service and to maintain the margin of the consumption rate (Baker 2014).

Threats

Strategy:

The Hasbro authority needs to follow some strategies to survive in this competitive era. These strategies are as follows:

They can conduct some market research to identify the requirements of their consumers. It is the initial stage of introducing new strategies to the organization. It will boost their productivity.

The Hasbro management must outsource their activities, especially their human resource activities. It will help them to focus on their long-term goals. Human resource out sourcing will reduce their production cost to some extent (Botterill et al. 2014). Human resource outsourcing is beneficial for the organization as it reduces the production cost, provides efficient and effective performers to the organization and provides training and development program to the new employees, so they can get a clear picture about the organizational goals and policies. In this competitive era, it is essential for every organization to set a long-term target to achieve and introduces new strategies to the organization. After outsourcing their human resource activities, they can shift their focus from the other things to the main objective of the organization. It will encourage the growth of the organization (Mathey 2015).

The management of Hasbro must focus on the global expansion of their business. It is evident in the previous study that Hasbro has already expanded its network to the international market. However, they must expand their business in Asian, Eastern Europe and South American market as well. It will spread their brand name in all over the world and encourage the business to flourish (Tirunilla and Tellis 2014).

Hasbro must utilize new media as their weapon for the promotion. Internet has become an integral part of human’s life. The study shows that a large number of people depend on internet for any kind of news and updates. Hasbro must use internet for their promotional event. They must advertise their products on social media. They can reach to the maximum number of people through this procedure.

It is very essential for every brand to marketing their product in an efficient manner (Brooks et al., 2015). Thus, they can draw the attention of maximum number of people. The success of any brand is highly dependent on marketing events. Hasbro must advertise their product in an exciting manner by using cartoons and colors. It will help them to attract huge number of people (Thomaz and Swaminathan 2015). They must use park, schools and shopping malls for their promotional events. They can influenced maximum number of children in such places.

The Hasbro management must encourage the growth of new and innovative products, those are useful and at the same time entertaining for the kids. Nowadays the parents are very much concerned about the mental growth of their kids. They always look for such instruments that provide some education as well as entertainment to their children (Dolnicar and Leisch 2017). Hasbro must concentrate on demand of their consumer, as they are the key elements of their organization. They must inspire the production of such educational toys. It will help their brand to become most desirable brand among the parents.

Competitor Analysis

Hasbro management must assure the quality of their product. As they are a renowned name in the toy industry, they must be careful about their performance level. They must be aware of the consumer’s expectations. They always try to match the expectation level of their consumers (Shih, Chen and Chen 2013). Management must scrutinize every product before releasing it to the market to ensure the quality of the product.

Employees are the key element of the success of any organization. They plays crucial role in achieving the objective of the organization. Hasbro must concentrate in appointing skilled, effective and talented employees those can influence the growth of the organization (Bång and Roos 2014). The employees must be willing to work as a team to achieve the organizational goal.

Hasbro management must embrace new technologies every now and then. In this modern era, every organization must introduce new technologies. It will influence the growth of the productivity. Hasbro is having trouble to survive in the race. They must introduce some innovative tactics that can help them to achieve excel in the competition.

Strategic Communication:

Management must understand the importance of the strategic communication. Strategic communication will help the organization to gain a reputation in the market (Choi 2015).

Hasbro management must need to adhere to the previously mentioned strategies to enhance the productivity of the organization. They must follow some steps to implement these strategies. Those are as follow:

• At first management of Hasbro must conduct a market research to identify the demand of the purchaser (Leonidou et al. 2013).
• They must discuss all the strategies with their team and give them a platform to share their views over the issue. It will help them to identify the loopholes of the strategies. Management can rectify their mistakes through this type of discussion.
• Management must provide a transparent picture about the benefits of applying these strategies to the employees and as well as the authorities. They need to convince them about the positive impact of such practices, so they can participate in the change management procedure (Rundh 2013). Management must conduct some team meeting to convey their message to the rest of the member of the team, as organizational development is highly dependent on the teamwork.
• Management must conduct some training and development program for their employees where they can be introduced with the organizational policies and objectives by the management. It will help the management to share their vision about the company.  This training program will provide a clear picture of the organizational goal. This training program will encourage the employees to work together as team to achieve the goal for the organization. They will feel as an important part of the company that behavior will enhance their loyalty towards the organization (Büyüközkan, Mukul and Uztürk 2016).
• Hasbro must conduct promotional events in park, schools, play schools and shopping malls. They can attract huge number of kids in these places. They must distribute some handbills, pamphlets regarding their products.
• They must exhibit their product in social media where they can connect with many people. It will be useful for their brand to gain popularity among the consumers.
• Management must provide a healthy and friendly atmosphere to its employees. It will help the employees to give their best performance for the development of the organization.
• Management must use various communication tools to maintain communication with its employees, such as- group chat, meetings and blogs and so on. It will provide the employees a platform to provide their recommendation to the management. It will be beneficial for the growth of the organization (Judkins et al. 2014).
• They must appoint some efficient staffs to their team. They must realize that an efficient member encourages the development of the organization. They must recruit some reliable and hard working talent to the team. Thus, they can ensure the quality of the production.
• Management must be careful while choosing the human resource organization. It is often evident that many companies suffer due to their choice of wrong organization. They must rely on such organization those have a clear image in the market and consists of transparent policies. They provide a clear picture about their requirement to the organization so they can provide the new employees a clear picture of the organizational objective (Chang et al. 2016).
• They must appreciate the short-term achievement of their employees. It will encourage them to contribute for the betterment of the organization. Management must provide some extra leaves or incentives to their employees. Such practices are very much beneficial for the organization. As employees are the most important part of the organization, management must look after about their satisfaction. It encourages organizational development.

Conclusion:

As per the previous discussion, it can thus be stated that instead of being a renowned name in the toy industry, Hasbro is going through a rough patch due to the emergence of MAT. Hasbro is having trouble in recent time. Hasbro was one of the most desirable brands among the consumer. However, the innovation of new media has given a tough competition to the Hasbro. Internet and video games have become the most preferred name among the modern kids. The article has discussed about the objective and marketing strategies of Hasbro. The main objective of Hasbro is to remain in the competition. It is not possible to apply new price on the product. It will exploit the consumers. Hasbro needs to enrich its inner quality to defeat its rivals. To exist in this competitive era Hasbro must follow some required steps, such as- applying new technologies, organizing attractive promotional events, appointing skilled and talented employees and so on. It is not enough to establishing the strategies, one must adhere to those strategies and implement them in the practical world. Management must discuss such policies with their team. It will provide their team a clear picture about the new strategies and it will encourage them to support their organizational growth. They must follow new technologies for interacting with their employees. This new tactics will provide a strong platform to their employees to share their views regarding the new developments within the organization.

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