Terry Jefferson
Megan Martin
Derron Jones
Dr. Igewe Udeh
BADM 490
November 22, 2010
Hasbro, Inc.
Hasbro, Inc.’s focal point is on building a strong global business and further growth of its presence in children and family’s free time, and also the entertainment industry. Hasbro is well balanced to power its incredible portfolio of classic brands globally, regionally, and locally. It aims to achieve these goals with an increased emphasis on global brand marketing and product development, complemented by synchronized regional and local marketing sales activity.
Hasbro, Inc. is the second largest toy company in the world behind Mattel, Inc. The company not only produces toys, but also popular culture. From America’s Action Hero to a plastic human sized potato head to vehicles that transform into robots to the largest bird in the world, Hasbro toys are instantly known by millions of Americans. Hasbro makes G. I. Joe, Mr. Potato Head, and Transformers, and owns licenses for Sesame Street characters. Due to an abundance of company take-over in the 1980s and 1990s, it also makes Playskool and Romper Room preschool toys, Tonka trucks, Kenner’s Nerf toys, and Cabbage Patch Kids. Hasbro has become the leading company in the area of board games and puzzles through its ownership of Milton Bradley (maker of Scrabble and Parcheesi) and Parker Brothers (maker of Monopoly). Into the late 1990s and early 21st century, Hasbro has continued to obtain popular brands, such as Pokéman game cards with their attainment of Wizards of the Coast and regained the license for toys developed for Disney Studios movie releases. In 1923 Poland immigrants, Henry, Hilal, and Herman Hassenfeld entered the United States. The Hassenfeld brothers engaged in many ventures before the toy industry such as; selling cloth leftovers and using the bits and pieces to make hat liners and pencil-box covers. After realizing the demand of the pencil-box covers, they started to make the boxes themselves with eight employees which were all family members. The Hassenfeld brothers many business ventures originated in Providence, Rhode Island in 1923. In 1926 the company incorporated under the name Hassenfeld Brothers, Inc.
During the Great Depression—with 150 employees in 1929 and 200 employees in 1930—Hassenfeld Brothers commanded annual sales of $500,000 from sales of pencil boxes and cloth zipper pouches filled with school supplies. However, the pencil manufacturer increased its prices and sold its own boxes at prices lower than the Hassenfeld brothers. In response to the pencil manufacturer Henry Hassenfeld entered into the pencil business himself, and in 1935 Hassenfeld Brothers began manufacturing pencils. This product line would provide the company with revenues for 45 years.
In the late 1930s the Hassenfeld Brothers began manufacturing toys, an addition to the company’s line of school supplies. Early offerings included medical sets for junior nurses and doctors and modeling clay. During World War II Henry’s younger son, Merrill Hassenfeld, acted on a customer’s idea to make and sell a junior air raid warden kit, which included flashlights and toy gas mask.
By 1942, as demand for school supplies declined, the company had become mainly a toy company, although it continued its large, lucrative pencil business. Hilal Hassenfeld died in 1943, at which point Henry Hassenfeld became CEO and his son Merrill Hassenfeld became president. After seeing his 4 year-old daughter play with candy as if it were lipstick and rouge, Merrill Hassenfeld began marketing a girl’s makeup kit after the war. In 1952, the Hassenfeld Brothers, Inc. pioneered the still-classic Mr. Potato Head, the first toy to be advertised on television. In 1954 the Hassenfeld Brothers became a key licensee for Disney characters. In 1960, the company reached revenues of $12 million and became one of the largest private toy companies in the country.
Henry Hassenfeld passed away in 1960. At this time, Merrill Hassenfeld gained power over the parent company while his older brother Harold Hassenfeld, unrelentingly ran the pencil making operations. Merrill Hassenfeld’s progression was consistent given his concern and knowledge in the toy business, but it also marked the beginning of the internal rivalry among the two sides of the company. Harold Hassenfeld grew to dislike the fact that the pencil business received a lower cut of capital investment even though it was a more consistent performer and accounted for a higher percentage of profits than toys. In 1961, the Hassenfeld Brothers founded Hasbro Canada, Inc. Hassenfeld Brothers seemed to disobey the notions of the toy business in the early 1960s when it introduced what would became one of its famous and winning product lines. According to Marvin Kaye, author of A Toy Is Born, the Hassenfeld Brothers developed the character called G. I. Joe in 1963, to tie-in with a military television program called “The Lieutenant.” The Hassenfeld Brothers liked the proposed idea of a military doll, but did not want to attach its destiny on a TV show that might prove brief; so, it went ahead and created its own model, and in 1964 Hassenfeld unleashed G. I. Joe, a 12-inch “action figure” with articulated joints.