Hasbro's new CEO sees possibilities beyond toys

Hasbro Inc.'s new chief executive is running more than a toy company.

With a treasure trove of well-known brands such as Monopoly, Transformers, G.I. Joe, Littlest Pet Shop and Playskool, Brian Goldner said it's essential the world's second-largest toy maker think beyond its traditional business and across all platforms.

"What does that look like as an online game? Can that be a cell phone game? Should that be a TV show? Can that be a movie?" he said. "That's the way we're thinking about our brands today and our strategy for the company."

Goldner, 45, Hasbro's chief operating officer since 2006, takes over Thursday at the Pawtucket-based company. He has been widely praised for helping retiring CEO Alfred Verrecchia lead a turnaround at the once-ailing company. He joined the toy maker in 2000 as chief operating officer of its Tiger Electronics division, and within 90 days was named head of U.S. Toys. The company cut hundreds of jobs that year and reported a $144.6 million loss.

After a few years of what Goldner calls "fix-it" mode to get the balance sheet in order, he and the rest of the management team turned its attention to reviving long-dormant or ignored brands as well as its preschool and girls' business and putting a renewed focus on product innovation.

Revenue has grown from $3.14 billion in 2003 to $3.84 billion in 2007.

Sean McGowan, a toy analyst at Needham and Co., said it was apparent early on that Goldner was being groomed as a future chief executive. He wondered whether that was wise because Goldner was an outsider and Hasbro is a company steeped in tradition with executives who have been there for decades _ the founding Hassenfeld family is still involved in the company, and Verrecchia was there for 43 years.

He said it's now clear Goldner has become a great leader.

"I have been steadily and increasingly impressed by his stature in the company and the results that are being delivered," McGowan said.

A one-time ad man at agencies Leo Burnett and J. Walter Thompson, Goldner worked on new product introductions such as Pert Plus shampoo and Lunchables and for clients including movie studio 20th Century Fox before becoming chief operating officer of toy maker Bandai America Inc. in 1997.

At Bandai, he was closely involved with the wildly popular Power Rangers and was a driving force behind a global yo-yo craze fueled by Bandai's Yomega yo-yos in the 1990s.

He left Bandai in 2000 for Hasbro, but says all those experiences have given him an appreciation for new product development. He also has taken a page from the movie industry.

"They understand what it means to activate a brand or a movie on multiple levels simultaneously in order get the audience in on the weekend," he said. "I learned a lot in working with them."

Goldner has made working with Hollywood a key part of his vision. The first test was last year's "Transformers" movie, based on the Hasbro toy line, which has taken in more than $700 million worldwide and has a sequel scheduled for next summer.

The movie's success helped revive the brand, and fueled Goldner's plans to put more Hasbro brands on movie screens. A movie based on Hasbro's long-ignored G.I. Joe action figures is also scheduled for next summer. Hasbro also has deals with Universal to make four movies based on Hasbro games and toys and with video game publisher Electronic Arts Inc., giving it exclusive rights to create digital games based on Hasbro's products.

Margaret Whitfield, an analyst with Sterne, Agee & Leach, said Hasbro has been much more successful than the world's largest toy company, El Segundo, Calif.-based Mattel Inc., at developing its brands for different platforms.

"We've had new leadership in Mattel's brands, and I have not seen the same level of innovation nor has there been any diversification, as Hasbro has achieved," she said.

Mattel's Barbie brand has been languishing and Littlest Pet Shop has thrived, she said. The line of collectible toy pets already has a Web site, Littlest Pet Shop VIPs, where girls can enter a virtual world with their pet, and coming soon will be three different games for the Nintendo DS based on the line, Goldner said.

Goldner said the company expects to grow this year, despite the economic downturn. About 75 percent of the company's product line costs $20 or less at retail, and he says the industry has performed very well in the last four recessions.

He said he's excited about sales of Hasbro toys tied to this summer's "Iron Man" and "Hulk" movies and about the prospects of "Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull."

"The key for us today is staying hungry and focused on our significant opportunities to go forward," he said. "We want to be everywhere consumers are, anywhere they are."