Episode #107: Secrets For Pitching Your Game Ideas To Hasbro with Tanya Thompson
Listen Now
Tap Play Below or Listen On iTunes | Spotify | Google Podcasts
Episode Description
Pitching toy ideas to toy companies can be an intimidating process, especially if you’ve never done it before. But what if you could get the inside scoop from an industry executive at a major toy company? Just imagine if someone from, say, Hasbro, told you exactly how to pitch your toy idea to their company, step-by-step. Or, if they let you know exactly what they want to see in your sizzle reel. Stop imagining! Because that is what today’s episode is all about.
Today’s episode features an incredible interview with Tanya Thompson, the Senior Director of Inventor Relations for Hasbro Gaming. Her division sees around 1,500 game submissions per year, so Tanya really knows what works in a pitchto toy companies and what doesn’t. She shares information specifically on how to pitch directly to Hasbro, but she also shares tips that are useful for pitching to any company, like when to put text in your sizzle, how much information to share about where else you pitch your toy idea, and whether or not you need to make a toy prototype. This episode is a must-listen for anyone, beginner or expert, who wants to gain confidence with pitching or improve their pitching materials using tips from an expert.
EPISODE CLIFF NOTES
Learn how Tanya went from school teacher to toy industry executive [01:01:16]
Find out the differences in marketing between specialty and mass-market games [00:09:20]
Learn how pitching games is different than pitching toys [00:13:44]
Find out the best time of year to pitch new products to large toy companies [00:17:12]
Learn exactly how to pitch directly to Hasbro as a US or international inventor [00:25:44]
Find out step-by-step what it is like to pitch to Hasbro, from first contact to optioning the game [00:29:46]
Learn what information is important to disclose in your sizzle reel [00:39:04]
Find out why prototypes can give you a competitive advantage [00:43:17]
Learn exactly what inventor relations executives want to see in your sizzle reel [00:53:51]
Find out what e-mail tactics to avoid when reaching out to an inventor relations executive [01:04:58]
-
This episode is brought to you by www.thetoycoach.com
To learn more about pitching your toy or game ideas check out these podcast episodes.
Ready to submit your toy ideas to Hasbro? You can do that now via their SPARK portal.
-
EP 107 - EDITED
[00:00:00] Azhelle Wade: You are listening to making it in the toy industry episode number 107.
[00:00:04] Hey there toy people, Azhelle Wade here and welcome back to another episode of the toy coach podcast, making it in the toy industry. This is a weekly podcast brought to you by thetoycoach.com. Today's guest is one that I am sure you are all thrilled to hear from because her name is Tanya Thompson. She is the senior director of inventor relations and innovation for Hasbro gaming. So I am so excited to welcome Tanya to the show and learn a ton about inventing for Hasbro. Tanya, welcome to the show.
[00:00:53] Tanya Thompson: Thank you so much, Azhelle. I'm so excited to be finally here. This is awesome.
[00:00:57] Azhelle Wade: Oh, I cannot believe it. Toy people you don't know, but big companies are tough to get your hands on for interviews. So this is major, this is major. I'm so excited to have you here today. So to start off, will you please share with everybody, how did your toy journey begin?
[00:01:16] Tanya Thompson: Ooh, that's a good one. It's not a straight journey. A lot of people often asked me, like, how did you get to where you are? Like, is there, especially like students, like what can we study or whatnot? And I just took such a like a roundabout way. So I was first a teacher in my career. I live in Canada. So I was a high school mathematics teacher trying to like inspire my students in mathematics and I love games and brain teaser puzzles. So I had my classroom absolutely full with them. And then one year my good friend who was a science teacher, did a science fair. And I was like, ah, I want to do a math fair, but I had no idea what that was.
[00:01:56] So I was writing problems for a national math contest at the time. So I went to that community and was like, anybody know what a math fair was? And the director there was like, oh, I just read an article about one now. I'll give it to you. So he copied it, gave it to me and it was written by a couple of professors out of Alberta. So I contacted them. They sent me like an information and I did what was called a snap math fair. My school loved it, the kids. Like it really, really turned my kids on to math in a different way than a textbook could. So I was asked if I would launch it here in Ontario, where I'm from and my first conference where it was for teachers to learn about Snap Mathfairs.
[00:02:37] One of my mutual friends was like, Hey Bill Ritchie, the CEO of ThinkFun would love to come and be a speaker at your conference. And I was like through the moon, because I was like my first email from Bill I was in the school library. I know. And I was like dancing around like, oh, you got an email from Bill Ritchie. I was so excited to have that connection. And so he came and spoke cause he was very interested. Cause Thinkfun is all about making the world better thinkers. So he was very interested in education. So he came to my first snap math fair conference in Toronto. And then you know, it was like a year or two later.
[00:03:14] He asked me if I would come work for ThinkFun as director of education. It was a big leap because here in Canada, teachers are paid well, you know, recession proof, good pensions, all those things. But I was like, ah, I could touch more kids' lives through games and puzzles of which I love. And so I took the leap and decided to actually go work for Bill at ThinkFun and then a year or so later, he was looking to pass the Baton to somebody to do inventor relations. He'd been doing it for the first twenty-five years of the company and everyone was like, oh, Tanya loves meeting people.
[00:03:51] And like, especially the creators behind the product. So let's have her do it. And like, I fell in love. I was so green at the beginning though, coming from like more of an education mathematics teaching background that I was like, okay, how do I do this? What do I do? Like, it's very different from the CEO doing it to like an employee doing it. So I had to figure that all out. But yeah, that's how it all began. I've been in the industry about 15 years now. So that was quite some time ago, but yeah, I came in that way, which is very odd.
[00:04:22] Azhelle Wade: I have never heard of such a thing.
[00:04:27] Tanya Thompson: So bizarre.
[00:04:28] Azhelle Wade: Wait, hold on. What's a snap math?
[00:04:30] Tanya Thompson: So snap math fair it's basically hands-on learning. So you assign a problem or a puzzle to a student and they have to go through the process of not only solving it, but like rewriting it to something that they're interested in. So it'd be like something.
[00:04:48] The Wolf, the goat and the cabbage. Someone has to get them across the river, but only one can go in the boat. If you leave the Wolf with the goat, he'll eat it. If you leave the goat with cabbage he'll eat it. So how do you bring things back and forth in order to get everybody safely to the other side? But it's so much easier because there's a lot of back and forth to do stuff like that with your hands, rather than tracking it in your head. So those kinds of problems are perfect for kids to build projects around. And then on the math fair day, the whole school would participate. And then everybody would be like going around, trying to solve each other's problems. And it was very playful, which is what I loved.
[00:05:28] Azhelle Wade: Wait, I'm sorry. How did ThinkFun even find out about you?
[00:05:32] Tanya Thompson: So the one of the founders of snap math fairs was a friend of Bill's. And so he was like, you know, Bill was always asking him, like, what's going on in education? What are you doing? What's going on? And so he told Bill about my conference. And so that's how he found out about it.
[00:05:51] Azhelle Wade: That is so cool. Like that is so meant to be. Okay. So fast forward, how many years, so you started working for Hasbro?
[00:05:58] Tanya Thompson: So I've been at Hasbro it'll be five years in January. It's hard to believe, but yeah, five years in January. So I went from like teaching in a classroom to like, not even knowing inventor relations existed as a role to coming into the industry, getting like a lot of learning through that first job that I had at think fun. I was there for eight years though. And then like suddenly doing inventor relations to suddenly now doing it for the largest game company in the world. It's pretty awesome.
[00:06:28] Azhelle Wade: So tell me about that first day at Hasbro. Cause I still remember my first day at my, what I felt was like my big break, which was toys R us. I was so nervous. I just felt like my stomach is going to fall out of my body. I felt so horrified. So what was your first day like?
[00:06:44] Tanya Thompson: Yeah. So my first day at Hasbro because I'd been doing inventor relations for some time. And for a few companies before I got to Hasbro, I felt like pretty confident in my inventor relation skills. And I was already connected with the inventor community, but I had never worked for a corporate company before. So Hasbro was by far, obviously the biggest and the biggest I had worked at. So there was definitely some nerves, but it was more excitement because I'd been wanting to work for Hasbro for some time. So it was my dream job. And to be honest, my first day with Hasbro was flying to Nuremberg toy fair. It was like, I was like on a plane heading to Nuremberg, Germany.
[00:07:25] And I had been there like multiple times before with Think Fun and other companies, but it was like, okay, how is it with Hasbro? Like going from like a small, you know, 10 by 20 booth with a smaller company to now, like one of the giant boosts in the big, big hall kind of thing. But thankfully Dougal Grimes was my predecessor. He now works for another company, but he's like a blast and he was a good friend before. So I just followed him that first Nuremberg toy, fair experience. He had set all the meetings and done all the leg work. And then I just kind of followed him around there and tried to like, learn the ropes of how one does Nuremberg Toy Fair, which is the biggest toy fair in the world, you know, on behalf of a big company kind of thing.
[00:08:10] Azhelle Wade: So that's incredible. Oh, that's great that you had someone to be there for you. What would you say now having had your experience, how would you define a game that is a Hasbro game? Like how would you define what makes a game Hasbro game?
[00:08:24] Tanya Thompson: Yeah, it's a hard thing. I remember learning that as I came on board at Hasbro, truly. How do you go from like, what's a specialty game to, what's a corporate more mass market game. So in mass market, you've got to think about like, we're trying to do large numbers, not, you know, small numbers of games, but then also how does one get the attention on shelf?
[00:08:52] In order to have someone want to pick up and buy it. So we do a lot of marketing, whether it's commercials, influencers, or whatever, but then you almost have to think of it as a busy mom, a working mom in Walmart, like there to shop for groceries and clothing for her kids, probably a few of them in tow, you know, piled into the card itself. And then she's like, oh my gosh, I have to buy birthday gift. Or I want to buy something to entertain my kids. So she's rushing through the aisle. She does not have any necessarily background with games. Whereas when you're in a specialty store, somebody is typically going to that toy store with some like discernment, like I know at ThinkFun.
[00:09:41] They have some disposable cash. They're probably educated. Like there's a lot of things that if you're going to buy a thinking game that you're going to buy that game and ThinkFun, didn't need to do a lot of marketing because they had a following, a loyal following for their brand. So at Hasbro you're like, okay, how do we attract busy mom? But not only that, how do we appeal to her? And that's usually a game that doesn't, it's like very easy to understand. By looking at it, there's something going to be appealing and different than everything else that she's looking at. And ultimately it does have to be fun.
[00:10:18] We're always looking for something that's surprising. When I'm looking through submissions, I'm looking for something surprising, something that's like, I find appealing in like, not games. Well, I have a lot of games. I have a big collection myself, cause I'm a big gamer. I love games, but I'm not trying to appeal to me. I'm trying to appeal to the person who doesn't know a thing about games. So makes it very different.
[00:10:43] Azhelle Wade: When you're trying to appeal to the mom, is there practice that you do to get yourself in that mindset? Like as you're reviewing inventor pitches to get yourself in the mindset of, okay, I'm a mom and I'm walking around with my kids and I'm in the store. Like, what do you do to get yourself in that mindset?
[00:11:02] Tanya Thompson: I have so much experience with viewing, and I've been looking at games for a long time. So what I'm looking for really comes from there's a bunch of things. There's, I mean, you could say intuition, but what does that really mean? It comes from experience like from seeing so many games, like when you see a lot of games, when something surprises you and you're like, oh, that's interesting. Those bells go off in your head to go like, oh, pay attention to that. Because if you haven't seen it, then it's probably something that's pretty new and fresh. And then the other thing is because I could see the newest, freshest amazing game, but it's not up to me to decide what Hasbro will do. I'm like the gateway or the first filter. Right.
[00:11:52] So then I have to put my, I work like on the daily with the Hasbro gaming leads, so that the leads that lead all the teams that has for the gaming teams, that Hasbro and I'm in constant contact with them to, to figure out what it is that they're looking for. So I have to make that match. So if it's really was the best thing ever, I would figure out a way, like, who am I going to show this to you internally because this has fantastic. And I'm very, very fortunate that the games team respects my opinion. So if I show them something they'll pay attention, the question is, can they fit it in their line? There's so many things that they're looking at that to make it a viable product that I have to keep in mind. But we do like to go kind of left of center sometimes like literally, is this so different? It's so different and it's so good. So how can we make this happen?
[00:12:48] Azhelle Wade: Okay. So you've been working at Hasbro five years. In this position inventor relations five years?
[00:12:54] Tanya Thompson: Yes.
[00:12:54] Azhelle Wade: How many ideas would you say you get pitched a month?
[00:12:59] Tanya Thompson: A month? So it depends on the month, so I could tell you within a year. Okay. So our team, toys and games included probably see around, let's say 3000 concepts in a year, but half of that is games. Even though there's more toy brands at Hasbro than games. Games it's a different animal because games will change from one little thing between A and B of actually playing again where playing a game. But with toy, it's more about a feature like what you could show 10 million dolls, but it's the feature of that doll that you're really looking at. So with games it's very, very different. We go through, we view a lot of games in order to kind of get to the ones that were after.
[00:13:45] Azhelle Wade: Would you say games are a bit more nuanced. Like you're looking at all those nuances in the rules, as opposed to what you're saying with toys. It's like, what's the mechanism and let's move on.
[00:13:54] Tanya Thompson: A hundred percent. When I worked at mastermind toys, one of the smartest people in the industry was the founder he's since retired, but he was the founder of Mastermind toys. And I was lucky enough to work side by side with him. He hired me to work with him directly. His name is John Levy. And so he had a nose for toys. And he had an incredibly curated toy store chain, but when we went to ASTRA together one time and I was like, come to game night, you got to come to game night, which is envision like 25 tables where game companies sit and teach all the retailers more specialty retailers, their games. And he hadn't gone to one. And so we were kind of walking along the peripheral. He was kind of looking and he was like, Tanya, I get it. And I'm like, what is it you get? And he was like so the people in this room, the retailers in this room really care about games and they know it has to be a good game. And the way to figure that out is to experience it. Whereas I could look at a toy and know instantly if it's going to hit, I can look at a game box and not have any clue about what's inside, so.
[00:15:00] Azhelle Wade: Yeah. Okay. Since you said. Like 3000 pitches a year. What season or maybe what months do you get the most pitches?
[00:15:10] Tanya Thompson: Yeah. So definitely through toy fair season, which is January and February of every year. And then that's probably the biggest and usually up until like, COVID times it usually revolved around different events. Right. So for instance, it was Nuremberg, London. Well, it started in Hong Kong, but then Nuremberg, London and New York toy fairs. The Tokyo toy fair is a little bit later in the spring, but it was really the bulk of it came in right then because that's where inventors attend our, those events. And then there's, you know, we do another kind of sweep in the spring. So in around May, there's an event in London called This Toy. And then we do an event for a group of inventors, like that happens in September. So, you know, people are constantly pitching. At those times they don't have to choose the events to pitch around, but that's just like good motivation for them. Like, oh, we're going to toy fair. It's we need something to show. So let's get our, you know, let's start thinking about this well in advance.
[00:16:14] Azhelle Wade: So what seasons or what months would you like to get the most pitches during?
[00:16:20] Tanya Thompson: So in Hasbro we're honestly looking 365 days a year. When I worked for smaller companies. When you were launching only like, let's say five or eight products a year. I remember, at ThinkFun we were searching up until July and then we kind of shut down and we were doing more development until October when it opened up again around SN toy fair or SN game fair. So it was like, and then we started looking again through the toy fair season, but there was a period of time where I couldn't get anybody to make a decision on a new game because everybody was super focused on getting out the next year's product. So they weren't like thinking about the next year after the next, they were like, we need to get this out. And then I would start searching. And so I would actually hold off in vendors and say like, can you get back to me in October? But that was because we were mainly launching products at toy fair, but like, it was like eight products or eight to 15 products in the year.
[00:17:17] Whereas at Hasbro. We are publishing products all year round in all the different markets across the world. So there isn't really a down time. I'm constantly seeing a product. Myself and Naomi. So this year I hired Naomi Brugnatelli, amazing to like help me do inventor relations for games.
[00:17:37] Azhelle Wade: Hey Naomi. She loves the podcast.
[00:17:39] Tanya Thompson: Hey Naomi. Yeah. So she's amazing. Such a great team that we make. And it's so amazing to have her as part of the team.
[00:17:49] Azhelle Wade: Oh. Well, okay. How many products Hasbro puts out in a year?
[00:17:53] Tanya Thompson: In games there's a couple of hundred, easily. But then there's different categories, right? If there's like a star wars game or if there's a refresh of a game, so you have to keep refreshing product because you're changing the box, you might be tweaking the rules, whatever. So there's like kind of a whole gamut of different. And we like in terms of inventors, I'll place anywhere from my highest year I think it was 26 licenses in a year down to probably the lowest was about 12 or 15. So it just depends on the cycle that we're in as a company and what we're looking for.
[00:18:32] Azhelle Wade: With those items that you placed, do you feel there's something different that you're expecting from your inventors or something different that you see that maybe other toy companies aren't expecting from their inventors that are coming to Hasbro?
[00:18:44] Tanya Thompson: Well, we love to be first at Hasbro, so let's just make that clear. But we have such a like literally, if you think of any games, mass market games, especially like, you know, whether it's Jenga, game of life, clue, monopoly, like all of those, those are our brands, our portfolio. So we know how to do games really well. And we have like a strong portfolio and we're also launching new brands every year to include in our portfolio in terms of innovation and doing things that are new. Like for instance, this year we launched a party game called CubeLab. So we're hoping that it's going to hit and become a Scattergories taboo, like all those types of party games. So we're doing new and kind of classics. We're taking care of the entire portfolio.
[00:19:35] Azhelle Wade: The next question I wanted to ask was what is the royalty range that inventors could expect when licensing an idea with Hasbro?
[00:19:44] Tanya Thompson: Yeah. So I can't speak to Hasbro specifically because every scenario you can think of, we handle. Whether it's like, you know, we're licensing from something we found on Kickstarter, or there's a small game company that like has a hit on its hand and then we go and license it from them. Or like there's so many different scenarios. There's a game we love, but we're going to put a co-brand on it. Meaning it's going to be the new twister, but you're the innovation for the new game came from you. So now we've got multiple inventors, the original and the new inventor, I can say standard in the industry is around 5%. That is 5% in net sales is what is standard for a royalty. And then if you're adding a character license or something, like let's say a standard one, there's some really high ones, but if it's a standard, it might be closer to 3%. But you never know. There's cases, scenarios that go below and above that as well so.
[00:20:39] Azhelle Wade: I would love to break down what net sales is a little bit, and just for anybody that wants to know, like you have your revenue, but then below it, your revenue is your gross sales. And then below your gross sales is your net sales. So when we say 3 to 5% of net sales, that's after the cost of goods, which is like how much it costs you to make the product in China. And then that's also after the operating expenses of the business, that's where you get your net sales. Just, I love that. I feel like it's a teaching moment. You did say Hasbro likes to be first with inventions. Is there a benefit for an inventor coming to you and saying, I have this amazing idea and I wanted to get it to you first. I just want you to know you're the first one to see it, but it won't stay this way for a long. Is that a benefit to tell you that?
[00:21:24] Tanya Thompson: I think transparency between us in a partnership, because when you're working with us at Hasbro, we're not looking for one-offs right. We're not looking for the first, which could be your one is absolutely fine, but we're really looking more to build relationships and build partnerships with the people that we work with. And so we just asked for transparency. So if you're showing us something and then you're like, you know what, I got a show coming up and I'm going to be here and we're going to show it. Let's say X amount of time from now, then it's always helpful because I have a standard process that I put everything through in order to get it evaluated and viewed. And so if I have to work outside of that process, because you're going to be, you know, somewhere sometime then me knowing it. I can get an answer for you if I can quicker kind of thing. It's almost like at toy fair, it's always a little bit different than like a normal time of year because you're doing meetings in a row back to back with a lot of other companies. So if we see something that we really love, we might option it on the spot, which is unusual outside of toy fair.
[00:22:34] Azhelle Wade: Does it make it more appealing if you know somebody else hasn't seen it?
[00:22:38] Tanya Thompson: It is nice when it hasn't seen the light of day, but quite honestly, what's most important is it fits what we're looking for. So we've even like, oh, here's a product it was once on market, you know, 1995, we're bringing it back. And if it hits something for us, then we will like look at it. And right now there's a real appeal in the market for more like nostalgia and vintage products. So a lot of us are looking at the oldies and kind of going like, oh, do you remember grape escape? Or do you remember you know, girl talk or for, yeah. Right. And so it's like people, there's a window there where people that like have fond memories of playing it when they were kids are then suddenly now having kids and want to share that with their own children. It doesn't really matter, but definitely the new stuff is important because the bulk of what we want to do in terms of the new brands is going to be new. We launched so many, some might be volt products, some might be new products, etc.
[00:23:44] Azhelle Wade: What is the process like to pitch with Hasbro? They all go through your spark and mentor relations platform, right?
[00:23:51] Tanya Thompson: So there's a couple of ways, but yes. The spark Hasbro website is a portal that if you can't reach me or Naomi, and we're only two people trying to do everything. Right. But you have a game that you think is really amazing for Hasbro. You can go to the portal and submit your concept and we're still gonna end up seeing it likely. Or there's some filtering that happens before it gets to us, but it's a legitimate portal cause I've licensed stuff off the spark portal. And then that is a way where you can like, tomorrow submit something. It is right now, only for the us. So because of legal reasons, it is only available for people who live in the U S but we are in the process right now of making it go global. Whereas if you're in Germany or the UK or wherever, you could submit through that portal as well. But right now it is currently just in the U S.
[00:24:54] Azhelle Wade: cause I know even when we meet, because we've, I've pitched to you and even when we meet, you still put things through the platform.
[00:24:59] Tanya Thompson: So spark.hasbro.com is one way where people get pitch without knowing us. Let's say we meet through you or something through a common contact. Then the first thing we do is get them under our NDA. And then we go from there, like you can pitch us, you email us, we schedule an in-person or video conference meeting so that you explain the concept to us. We put it in our platform called ignite, and then it goes from there.
[00:25:29] Azhelle Wade: So spark is the public facing platform that people can submit to. But the one I was thinking of when we met must've been ignite. Cause you were submitting to that, I wasn't.
[00:25:38] Tanya Thompson: Correct. So when we met, you signed our NDA and then we were off to the races. So then we scheduled the meeting we got on teams or zoom or whatever. And then you showed us your kind of like, you know, you went down your list and showed us your different games while you're showing us the games we're writing notes. And it's in a platform called ignite. So thankfully ignite was created for Hasbro. We built the entire platform ourselves. I'm so thankful cause I can't keep it all straight, like not 3000 concepts in my head. And I'm definitely thankful cause I used to do this at ThinkFun, it would be like a carbon copy writing.
[00:26:16] Like, and then you got to go back, you got to scan it like, oh my goodness. So at Hasbro before my time there's a platform built but it's only let's say you even who is connected with us, you're like, oh, I have a new idea from somebody. Let me just go into, enter it into ignite. No legally that can't be done. We have to control what goes into, so you have a profile when you meet with us, we start a new record every time for every game, new game that you show us. And then it helps us track that as well because. Everything that's in ignite is how we then go and pitch it into the company, to the different teams.
[00:26:53] Azhelle Wade: Yeah, so with ignite, once you have it submitted, like you guys have taken it, you've taken notes and you've submitted it. It goes to your team about how long does it take on average to hear back from your team of whether or not this is going to go to the next step or if this has just dropped?
[00:27:08] Tanya Thompson: Yeah. In our meeting, I'm writing all the notes. Like I'm writing a description for instance. Right. And I can either reject it on submission, right. Like, I know it's not right for us. So I'm going to pass on this. Nothing further for you to do except one thing. And I'll get to that in a second. Are there some there that I'm really interested in. So what happens is after you submit and we have our meeting and I've written descriptions, maybe I took a picture of the screen when you were showing it, then you get an email when I'm done, I hit like done in the system. Then it goes to your email from ignite, not from me, but from ignite and says like, first of all, do you agree that you show Tanya these concepts and the descriptions are basically right? So then the system asks you to sign, that's a legal step. And then after that, it sends you a link to say, please upload all the things that I wanted.
[00:28:03] So usually it's a video, it's a hero image, it's a set of rules. Like those are the three main things that we want. So then. It's in your court to upload those things, because then I use those things to pitch it into the company. So, so let's say now you've uploaded everything. You're good to go. It's now back in my court, then what I have to do is I have to slot it into a future meeting where I'm pitching to the game teams and I have to figure out who and how I want to pitch it. So I, I become you essentially and representing your game, which is why we have to do it in person, because I want to, like, if I've got lots of questions or I don't understand a little rule or something, I can just ask you and get it straight in my head. So then I get it in front of a team. Typically that will take one to two months in order for me to get it and pitch it into the internal team.
[00:29:01] And then they decide we like it, or we don't, if they don't like it, I get feedback so that I can pass it on to you as to why it pass. If they like it, the next step is typically a prototype. So, our records better than two months. But I always say that because if we're in the middle of toy fair and I'm on the road for two weeks, then it might take two months to get it in front of everybody. But we try not in games to let it go further than two months in that initial waiting for me to pitch it stage. So then I pitch it and the team loves it. So then the next step is always, can we get a prototype because they need to play the game. They need to test the game. They need to see if it's as good as your video represented.
[00:29:43] Once you send the prototype in, and this is all in ignite. Like it's a new stage. Either I drop it or I'm like internal material requested kind of thing. And so then I say, can you please send us prototype to this address? Then you send in the prototype from the moment we get the prototype. Now the clock really starts ticking. We have typically two months to evaluate it, to see if we are interested before we kind of put money behind it or some sort of agreement. So then that it's called a pre-option stage. So that's usually eight weeks or two months. Where the team now has it in their hands. They have your prototype, they're playing it. They're evaluating it to see if it's amongst all the other things they're looking at, including internal concepts, which bubbles to the top for them. And then after that, we either pass on it, right? Because their evaluation set prove that whatever direction that they can take it or we then move into an option stage. And I don't know if you want me to get into that too, but that would be where.
[00:30:49] Azhelle Wade: Go for it.
[00:30:50] Tanya Thompson: Okay. Where we would pay you money to hold it any, any longer. And it's usually, I guess the option can vary. Standard is like $5,000 a month, but it could be lower. It could be higher. Well, it's not typically higher, but it could be a lot lower for whatever reason. I haven't typically seen more in an option unless it's a development option where you're doing additional development for us anyway.
[00:31:20] Azhelle Wade: I see more in a toy that was patented. But I also think that's depends on the experience of the toy company doing the optioning, because sometimes when they don't have a lot of experiences, they just don't do a lot of inventor items. They're a little bit more free. And then they're like, oh, I've learned from my mistakes and let's not do that again.
[00:31:38] Tanya Thompson: That's it. You are right. Yeah. I'm sure it would. And then we go into option for a month or two, and that's where they're like putting it into fund lab, which is our testing. Part of the company, we are costing it with the factory. We are talking to market, seeing what the forecast can be on the product and if they're interested or not like all those, when I say markets like Hasbro, Germany, Hasbro UK, like our markets around the world. And then at the end of that option period, we decide whether we're going to go to contract or whether we're going to pass.
[00:32:11] Azhelle Wade: Thank you. That was beautiful. I think there's a whole interview right there. Okay. I know you've seen so many pitches. And have you ever though seen a pitch come through or seen something get through to the test phase or the option phase, and you already know that this is going to be an evergreen item or it has evergreen potential.
[00:32:31] Tanya Thompson: It's funny because we are looking for games that are going to last a really long time, but in mass market, sometimes you've got the success of games that have been around for 25 years or more, but there's also been a lot of you know, royalties paid on games that were super successful, but then fell out of favor after three, three years kind of thing. So it's not everybody hopes for an evergreen, meaning a game that's going to be in our line for a very long time, but you're going to see ebbs and flows. And if the game doesn't initially hit. Then it's probably, again, going to come back to you at some point, because we couldn't get it, you know, sold in or sold through really. The market didn't respond to it, but there's other games that are like, let's say pie face, which was a huge hit in 2015, 2016.
[00:33:24] Well, that was an anomaly that you know, of how that happened. Well because there was, so it was like a perfect storm, right? Because that game's been in the market before. And not only that, it was pitched to almost everybody and rejected for a long time. Then it got into market by that person going and bringing it to market themselves. And then that organic video. If you haven't seen it, you should, the grandfather and the grandson playing pie face with just the laughter that was, and then it just went viral. And then suddenly everybody had a point of reference, oh my God, that whipped cream game, that pie in the face game.
[00:34:02] And then what Hasbro was able to do is make sure it was on the shelf so that when you went looking for it, we could do the volume needed in order to everybody that wanted one could actually buy one . So, but that was crazy numbers that the game actually sold, but it's, it's going to level out at some point, right? It's not like we were going to like run out of plastic. If that like kept going it stayed at, there's some crazy stat that I can't remember. Like it sold more than monopoly in monopolies given best year it was crazy, crazy. We sold a lot of units in that year.
[00:34:36] Azhelle Wade: You're bringing up a good question because some of my students have come to me and said, you know, I have this great idea, but I'm not sure if I should just try to develop it and build some virality around it myself. And then try to pitch it, or maybe they've tried to pitch it, like you said, and it didn't get placed and they don't want to give up on it. But they're worried if I bring it to market, all of the documents I signed say, this idea has never been brought to market. Right. You know, so then they're like, well, but how can I show that it's going to be a good idea and make it viral if I'm not allowed to show it. And like, what comes first.
[00:35:10] Tanya Thompson: Yeah, so it depends, it depends on the company I've worked for companies before where we didn't like it when something had been been on the market before, but at Hasbro are we really it doesn't matter as long as we have a place for it in our line, and it's a great game, then it doesn't really matter. In fact, if you did, let's say you kickstarted it. Right. And it was a huge success then that shows us something that there's like there's an appeal for it in the market. So it's not a knock against it at all.
[00:35:42] Azhelle Wade: Would you say in a pitch meeting, it would be good to have a slider or a part in your sizzle that says we've raised I don't know a hundred thousand dollars via Kickstarter with 9,000 backers or something. Is that impressive?
[00:35:54] Tanya Thompson: Yes for sure. Yeah. To include that. If it's been on kids, we're going to go, like, it's better to disclose it anyway, regardless of the numbers, just because it's, it really does come down to the game. Okay. So if it was like an exploding kittens or something that was like a record breaker, then yes, we, that is like something we would definitely like, wide-eyed look at it very closely kind of thing. But if you went to market and it's sold small numbers it doesn't really matter because we're really looking at the idea itself because I've licensed games. We have one coming out later this year that it didn't do well. It sold, like, I don't know it, it was like, I want to say they barely made their minimum. And the numbers weren't great at it, but we didn't care because the game was so great. And the story behind the game was so great. So I would just disclose it anyway, because it'd be really weird if I'm pitching it in, in something new and then they're doing research and they're like, wait a minute, Tanya. We just saw this Kickstarter link. Is this the same game? That's never really good.
[00:37:06] Azhelle Wade: So that's a good point.
[00:37:07] Tanya Thompson: Yeah. Transparency is best.
[00:37:10] Azhelle Wade: Yeah. I feel like people don't realize when they're putting, you might be pitching his hand yet, but what you don't realize is Tanya pitching to her team and she wants to show up as an expert. So if you make Tanya look like she's not an expert, then she's going to look at you like, oh, I never want to deal with them again, because they're going to make me look like a fool.
[00:37:25] Tanya Thompson: It's not quite that drastic.
[00:37:27] Azhelle Wade: I'm dramatic, ignore me.
[00:37:29] Tanya Thompson: But I would just say to them, oh, they didn't tell me that. And so then, but it just leaves like with the team as well, like, oh, I wonder why they didn't say that because most people do. So, and then it's more for me a question of like, oh, Maybe, you know, honest mistakes sometimes it's not like I'm going to like automatically judge you because you didn't disclose something. You did that all the time, then I probably go like, oh, I wonder you know about their transparency, but otherwise it's just best to let us know kind of what you've done with the game before.
[00:38:04] Azhelle Wade: Someone might be thinking now, well I didn't have a Kickstarter that was really successful, but I did sell about a hundred or so units to family, friends of friends, random people on the internet, but it never got bigger than that. And then they worry should I still show it to Hasbro, even though I've already kind of sold it and people love it, but it's not huge. Would you still want to hear that or does that make it look less appealing?
[00:38:29] Tanya Thompson: It's not really going to make a difference. Like if you sold a hundred units, it'd be like, oh, okay. You got a hundred friends and family that are interested in your game. It doesn't really, it's more of a matter, like, okay. So that if somebody happened to, you know, connect with one of those copies out there, when they're evaluating the game, they just know it, but it doesn't really like a hundred units is like, so it's just not that important in terms of Moving the needle for us. It's nice that you did that in everything and it's good, but it's, it'd be more that if it was like, let's say it was in retail, right. And then we go to a retail partner and they're like, wait a minute. We've seen this game before. Like that, that wouldn't be so good. So it's more retail, but if you're just going to game crafter or some, you know Kinko's and you're printing off some units then. I mean, that's, that's fine.
[00:39:24] Azhelle Wade: Okay. Let's get into prototypes and sizzles. Cause these are the things that you need to pitch. Everywhere I've seen so far, everybody wants a sizzle. They want a prototype. So let's start with prototypes. If a product like if a game involves electronics or maybe a mechanism to, to drive the game play, how finished does that prototype need to be? Back in the day, I saw videos of the bop. It just being like taped together and all that stuff. It does that still fly today?
[00:39:55] Tanya Thompson: So I think it depends on the relationship to be honest, like, yes, when Dan pitched bop it at the beginning, it was a foam core remote thing that was like, you just hit it and it, he made the sound pop it, you know, whatever. But if you, if I didn't know you kind of thing and you came to me. That's the first time. And then you had mainly foam core models. If it's something like bop it, I get it. Okay. I, you know, I, I get the fact, but we prefer to see a model because what we're going to do now, these days have put it into testing. So it's, it's going to go faster into testing. If you have a testable playable model that we can use for our testing. So, and it's all confidential in house at Hasbro, but we get people that come in and then we pay them to be play testers. But if your game is claiming to do something really special, like this is, this part is going to fly 20 feet in the air and you show it to me as like a foam core model.
[00:41:01] And then you throw it in the air going, this will pop 20, like, and then people have to run around and catch it kind of thing. I need to see that that is what you're saying can happen actually happen. Or sometimes like when we see something and it's more like renderings and drawings and we're not even sure if, because they've looked at trying to do it in house and we're looking at it and they were like, we don't think that physically as possible, or it's going to do what they claim. Then it it's a little bit, I've seen people pass on it because they're like, we don't even think that's possible. So we're not going to waste our time with, you know, getting you to go forward and do a model as a next stage kind of thing. So it really, it really depends. I would say that it, because people will say the same thing about like, do you want to sketch on a napkin or does it have to be. If it's your first meeting with me, I hope you're not pitching to me on a napkin because that isn't a good impression. But if I've been working with you for five, 10, or whatever years, and you're like, Tina, I've got this idea and you sketch it on a napkin, a hundred percent, I know your background. So I'm going to listen.
[00:42:08] Azhelle Wade: Because you know that they can actually follow through and make a prototype when you need one.
[00:42:12] Tanya Thompson: That's right.
[00:42:12] Azhelle Wade: And know that they wouldn't pitch something that would be unrealistic because they understand the process. That's essentially what it is. I want to say this. I know I can't say much because we were in a meeting, a confidential meeting, but I remember we were in a meeting, a pitch meeting and a student was pitching. One of my students was pitching something and they had a computer rendering. And I remember you loved the idea, but you were like, can I see proof of concept? And they were like, oh, and I was, I remember thinking like, oh no, like where's your proof of concept? And they had this rendering and they had, they had like existing products in the world that if combined could do the thing that they said it could do, but you wanted to see it combined doing the thing they said it could do. So what do you say about computer renderings? When are they enough? Are they not enough? Why in that, I don't know if you remember what the situation was, but why in that moment, did you want to just see that proof of concept? What happened?
[00:43:08] Tanya Thompson: Because you're combining things that I'm wondering if, what you say is going to happen is really going to happen. If it's, if it's a matter of, and ultimately the team does want to prototype because they want to test it. And right now, it's not like they will believe in something from a sketch and then go to our own model facilities and get it built out when they're not sure it's going to happen in the first place. Right. If it's something like, let's say it's a, just a popping, we would never want this because there's too many of them on the market, but let's say it was a popping head off of a chicken. Right. You're you're running around and then his head pops off. Okay. We don't need to see that necessarily because we've already seen it.
[00:43:54] We can make heads or things pop off other things, but then there has to be something super special about it, otherwise, because we've seen that a million times. Right. So it's normally though Like, especially if you're new it's it's like when we see a rendering that the team really does these days want to see a prototype for a proof of concept, because we get so many that we, that already do prototypes, right. So if it's sitting where like, oh, it's just a rendering, we've got somebody else that has built out a model. Then we're probably going to go with this person because they've already done the work and we can just bring it in and like start like evaluating the game itself, not the mechanism.
[00:44:36] Azhelle Wade: So that I think is the best way to look at it because I have definitely have students come with, well, actually before they're my students come to me and say, oh, I have this great idea. It's all thought out, but it's a rendering. And then I tell them, you need to make a prototype. And they're like, really? Can't like, Hasbro's team do that. And I'm like, okay, but that's essentially what they're paying you for. And, but what you just said is such a good point of everybody else's doing it as it's kind of like with social media, when Tik TOK started taking off a real started taking off those people are getting traction because they're doing the new thing. They're taking it to the next level and you can't expect to get the same attraction if you don't take it to the next level. So I think that's a really good comparison. Just you have to do prototypes because everyone's doing prototypes. And if you want to be competitive, this is where you've got to be at. I think that's. Great way to explain that. And then sizzles sizzles are the other way to show your idea. How do you feel about sizzles? Do you love them? Do you hate them?
[00:45:33] Tanya Thompson: Oh, I love them. In fact, I would almost make them mandatory. Because it, like, when I first started inventor relations, they were like few and far between inventors would walk around toy fairs and he always knew an inventor because they had a big suitcase that they're rolling behind them. Cause they had all the prototypes in those suitcases right now. An inventor could be one walking around with an iPad because they've got all their videos on the iPad. Before I see a model, hold a model. Let's say I need to find out if the team is interested in your idea, because if I, if I had to put models in front of them every time in order, we would there be so many models coming like 3000 models coming in and out of the company, it's unnecessary.
[00:46:21] We can tell from a video, if it's of interest and then we get the model, because then, then we want to do all the things to it. But just that initial initial, is there any interest in your concept can be done through a video? So sizzle videos are super important. I pitch in mostly through videos. And the reason why I love them is because you're the one doing the video. And it's your idea. So who better to explain this with enthusiasm, gusto and creativity than me, right? And it used to be where you could pitch through like writing or other things, but it's just not, it's not good. Or even I've had people have PowerPoints now, depending on the game, like if it's just a card game with things changing hands or something like that, you can probably do it on tabletop simulator or one of those platforms and record the card shuffling around.
[00:47:16] That's fine. I don't need to see physical cards shuffling around, but I do need a video of you, a sizzle video of you explaining game so that I can pitch it forward. One of the biggest barriers of evaluating games on spark is the videos are really horrible and the rules don't portray the energy or the excitement of the game. So, or they just, the video is somebody silently just spanning over the table with their prototype on it. And I'm like, that tells me nothing, except I see your prototype, but I need to know about the game, not about how it looks kind of thing. So so we're trying to actually produce a video so that we can share that with people so that they know exactly what we think a good sizzle video is.
[00:48:04] Azhelle Wade: Well, I know you and I always compare Kickstarter to videos to being much like what sizzle video should be. Were there any Kickstarter videos that you thought, oh, that's essentially an amazing sizzle video?
[00:48:15] Tanya Thompson: Not really I do reference Kickstarter videos as if you're wondering what a sizzle videos go look at it. We'll look through Kickstarter. Some of those Kickstarter videos are super polished and we're not looking for super polished, but if you I've done this, if I watch a Kickstarter video and I come out going, what is the game about? And then I got to scroll down to look at the rules. That's not a good video. So, so what I always say, there's a few things. I have like four points, if you want me to go over them about, okay.
[00:48:44] So a sizzle video should be around two minutes now because we are now doing, we have an Avalon hill games team. So they do more complicated games. So I will say to you that generally two minutes is the best, but if you have something that's super complicated, you might be able to get away with somewhere in between four and five minutes, but it better be a complicated game because if it's a simple game and you take four to five minutes to tell the story, then it's way too long and people are going to shut it off at probably a minute.
[00:49:18] Yeah. So it, ideally I would start with like an introduction of your name and the game name and who you are, or the company that you are. And sometimes people do that through a nice, like little flashy logo, but again, I don't really care about your production value for these sizzle videos. It has to have good content and it has to be well done, but it doesn't have to be professionally done. Right. So the most important part in the third part is to explain the game. So what this means is like, how many players, how long does it take to play the game? Like, explain this to me. What, what is the goal of the game? So how do I win? Take me through a turn of the game so I can get a sense of how the game is played.
[00:50:02] Please take me through a turn of the game. Because even when people pitch live, they'll tell me the objective. And these are the fancy things that happen and this explodes and this mechanism does that. But if I'm like, okay, but I still need to understand, like what happens on a turn in order to understand the game. So that's really important make sure you highlight the best features of the game. So what makes your game unique? And get to the point quickly? Like I always said, when for, in person pitches, like stack the deck, like don't, don't wait for the 10th draw to, for something exciting to happen. Stack the deck before you see me and make it be the first thing that happens kind of thing, or don't roll the dice and randomly, you know, you're going to land somewhere, but it wasn't really wanted you to say like, oh, you roll the dice and let's say you get a three. And that takes me right where I want to be.
[00:50:52] Don't focus on showing you, like in the video, you can be in the frame, but don't focus on like you up here and then there's something on the table going down. I need to see the game. So make sure that you are in the game and I wanna see your prototype in action. I've seen people do like, almost like it's like a PowerPoint and they're going from slide to slide and they're like, this card moves here and that does that, but it's a static image. So if you it's really important to kind of like show what you're saying so I can get a sense, like I'm there of playing it as does the team. If it makes sure that it's. Then the video proof of concept of what you're saying, it's going to do. So if you say, you know, again, back to the other chicken head reference, like the chicken head pops 10 feet in the air. Well, show me that it does that. Show me how it does that kind of thing.
[00:51:43] Make your mechanism do what you're saying it should do. Don't use texts or captions while at the same time showing something you want us to watch and see. so many times there'll be something really exciting that you're shuffling on the table, but then there's a rule that pops up and then I'm like, oh, am I supposed to read that or watch that? And oftentimes I'll do what my eye attracts. And then I missed the rule of the game or the information that you're trying to show me.
[00:52:11] Azhelle Wade: I would say text should just re affirm something that's being said at that point in the video.
[00:52:16] Tanya Thompson: Yeah. Yeah. Music is fine if it's not too loud or distracting. In fact, I like music because music is especially like, it's important for the music that you choose. Like if you're trying to be hip and current to don't choose something from the 1950s, unless for some reason it's cool. Again you, it really does set a tone and I like when people use music, as long as it doesn't, it's it doesn't distract. Because sometimes we'll mute things because it's like, oh, then we don't need that music.
[00:52:47] But then it has to be a good choice and it has to be at the right level. So that's what I'm like saying to pay attention to. And if it matches the theme of the game, like if it's almost like great ambience. So if you were playing the game. That's a good piece of music to choose. And then lastly, in terms of the video, the explaining part is have fun. Like, please let your passion shine through because you are the best person to be explaining your game to everybody else in the world. That's going to see it. And we want to see your passion. I see so many videos and if you're sitting there kind of trudging along then it brings me down and I'm like, oh, I'm not really sure if this is going to be fun. So like, just be really upbeat and excited and let your personality show through, or at least your passion for the game show through. So, and then at the end, I always say, like, if you have something to say about your background then you can impart that as well.
[00:53:43] So like for instance, I'm new to you Hasbro, but I've already got 20 games on the market or I've already done this one hit. That was really good. Or I'm an electrical engineer and this is an electrically engineered game. Or I work for NASA and this. Like, if there's something for you to tell me that brings credibility to your concept, then don't forget to put that in. Typically at the end kind of thing. But it could go in the upfront as well. So it's a, and if you're trying to do a game that is showing like, Hey, this is really hot on Tik TOK, then put a little tidbit in the video to say, you know, this is really hot right now. I've recognized this, that shows me that you're paying attention to like current trends and then go into your game. So that can go in the upfront as well. Like kind of like here's where I was inspired to do this game.
[00:54:33] Azhelle Wade: Yeah, I love that. That's great.
[00:54:35] Tanya Thompson: That's a lot. But that is sizzle video.
[00:54:37] Azhelle Wade: No, that is perfect. Okay. So now I feel like people might be wondering how do I get onboarded to spark?
[00:54:44] Tanya Thompson: So spark, which is the public facing portal. All you have to do is go to spark.hasbro.com. And there's some words there read through it. It tells you what you have to do, and then it's like ready to submit your idea and then you click it. There'll be a legal thing that you have to read through first, and then it'll allow you to to upload your content.
[00:55:04] Azhelle Wade: Uh, let me go through the last couple of pitch questions. With pitches do you think it's helpful when people have a supplemental PowerPoint.
[00:55:12] Tanya Thompson: When I'm pitching it in you, you probably have one shot unless there's some peaked interest. They'll, they'll watch your video and they'll get a sense of the game, whether they're not they'll open the powerPoint and they'll click through all the slides of the power PowerPoint. I can not guarantee, but I will they will watch the video.
[00:55:31] Azhelle Wade: What about a one sheet?
[00:55:32] Tanya Thompson: Again one sheet is, you'll probably saying everything you need in the video itself. So all of those things are totally fine. Like I'm, I'm saying if you have them feel free to upload them into into ignite, right. Or to spark or wherever you, you can definitely provide those to me. And I definitely want the rules and I definitely want a hero image, but in terms of presentations or one sheets, those are, you don't have to have those. They're nice to have. And they're nice more for me to read through then necessarily it's being used to pitch .
[00:56:09] Azhelle Wade: You do still want a rule sheet.
[00:56:11] Tanya Thompson: The rules. I definitely want as a separate document. And it's simply because if the team gets into it and starts discussing it, it's kind of like, oh, what happens here? Whether there, or this seems a little hinky. What about that? Then if we have the rules, we can refer to it as, and of course we can rewrite the rules and it can be different, but it's usually like, but we want to know what your best vision is kind of thing and rules it's not advantageous to say you can play this game 10 different ways.
[00:56:38] Azhelle Wade: I know. Oh my gosh. I know don't do that.
[00:56:42] Tanya Thompson: Don't do that.
[00:56:42] Azhelle Wade: One, one pitch. Just make it 10 different pitches if that's the case.
[00:56:46] Tanya Thompson: Yes. Or like, say this is the best version. So play that. And if you want to see more, check out the rules for variations, but don't try to teach me 10 things because I'm like, you'll lose me.
[00:56:57] Azhelle Wade: When an inventor pitches to you, if you say maybe to their idea. Oh, that means you expect them to not pitch to anyone else?.
[00:57:04] Tanya Thompson: No, no. There's like, do I hope that you're transparent with me such that it's really bad. If I get the team all excited about a game and then I come back to you and I'm like, oh, we're really interested. And you're like, oh, I'm so sorry, I just signed this with a different company. That's never good. Cause it's awkward. Cause then now I got to go back and why, you know, why didn't you tell, like, was there ever an opportunity that we could have got in on the game or the table at the table? You know, whatever. So that's why in transparency is important. We don't expect you to stop showing other people unless we're contractually on an option or something like that. Cause then it comes off the table from others. But in that first initial period, but if you're like, that's why it's like helpful that if you're like, Hey, we're about to go show it doesn't really matter. Like we're going to, or like, Hey, we're getting a lot of interest in this just to let you know, if you want to get this in front of your team sooner. Then those are always helpful for us to know, but we don't, we can't, we can't expect you to not show anybody else.
[00:58:10] Azhelle Wade: Exactly. Okay. I'm going to close out if that's okay with a lightening round that you've done with me before for email do's and don'ts are you ready?
[00:58:20] Tanya Thompson: I'm ready.
[00:58:21] Azhelle Wade: Okay. So this is going to be a lightning round called email do's and don'ts and this is to teach you all listening, how you should be communicating via email. There are tons of connections being made via email, more than ever, and everybody wants to stand out, but some people, as we know, can take it too far. So I'm going to name some email, misfires and wins that have landed in my own inbox that I've heard have happened to other people. And Tanya, I just want you to yell out if it's a do or a don't. Okay.
[00:58:50] Okay.
[00:58:50] Tanya Thompson: Okay.
[00:58:51] Azhelle Wade: Here we go. All caps in the subject line?
[00:58:53] Tanya Thompson: Don't.
[00:58:54] Azhelle Wade: Pitching your toy idea in the email body?
[00:58:57] Tanya Thompson: Don't.
[00:58:57] Azhelle Wade: Sending an introduction email for an invitation to pitch?
[00:59:00] Tanya Thompson: Oh, do.
[00:59:01] Azhelle Wade: Sending your sizzle video unsolicited?
[00:59:03] Tanya Thompson: Don't.
[00:59:04] Azhelle Wade: DM-ing Tanya on Instagram to send her your sizzle video?
[00:59:08] Tanya Thompson: Don't.
[00:59:10] Azhelle Wade: Twister or Jenga? Your personal preference, go.
[00:59:14] Asking if a toy company works with inventors?
[00:59:17] Tanya Thompson: You can do that. Yeah. Do.
[00:59:18] Azhelle Wade: Asking if there is a wishlist that you have to share?
[00:59:21] Tanya Thompson: Do.
[00:59:22] Azhelle Wade: Using the phrase, I have the next monopoly in your email?
[00:59:25] Tanya Thompson: Ooh. Don't.
[00:59:26] Azhelle Wade: Sending a we transfer link with the materials with your pitch materials?
[00:59:30] Tanya Thompson: Don't.
[00:59:31] Azhelle Wade: Why?
[00:59:33] Tanya Thompson: Because for us we're gonna see that when we're together. I don't need it in an email. If anything, if you think your Internet's not going to be strong or it's going to be spotty, and we've already got our meeting set, you could send me that. But like definitely don't use Dropbox because Hasbro blocks Dropbox. We have our own platform where it's like here, I'll give you invite to our system and then you can, it's called blast. You can blast me big files, but I don't really need it. I prefer it almost unless the Internet's glitchy. I like it when you share screen and you talk me through it and you show it and you can control it that way. I don't have time to look at things typically in advance of the meeting. So it's like, just as well for me to see it during, but again, the only time I'd make that exception is if it's like we've got a meeting coming up, it's already scheduled. You have some thing, but you're not sure you're going to be able to show it on the day, cause your computer or whatever. Then I would say, okay, blast it to me. And then I'll make sure I download it before the meeting so that we can go through it together.
[01:00:41] Azhelle Wade: Okay. Perfect. Thank you. This was an incredible interview, Tanya. I really appreciate you taking the time. I hope you had fun.
[01:00:48] Tanya Thompson: Oh yeah, of course. I love it. I love it. I love talking to you and I love what you're doing. Oh, I want to support you any way that I can, so absolutely. A hundred percent. I loved it.
[01:00:59] Azhelle Wade: Thank you. This is going to be extremely helpful. I can't wait to get it out there.
[01:01:04] Tanya Thompson: Sweet. Awesome.
[01:01:05] Azhelle Wade: Take care.
[01:01:06] Tanya Thompson: Okay. Thanks.
[01:01:07] Azhelle Wade: Well there you have it toy people, my interview with Tanya Thompson, head of inventor relations at Hasbro. I hope you really took notes in today's episode. And if you didn't, don't worry, you can always hit replay, take a listen again and take notes on what you need to pitch. What we learned today most importantly, that I want you to walk away with is the importance of having a sizzle video and a functioning prototype of your toy or game pitch. Now I know Tanya was focused in the game side of the industry, but the pitching tips and advice she gave applies to the toy world. So if you have a toy idea that you want to pitch, I hope you listen to this episode very closely as well.
[01:01:55] If you would like to check out the spark platform on Hasbro's website, I have the link at the show notes. You can just head over to thetoycoach.com/107 to grab that link. Also if you want help developing the next big toy idea, if you want guidance in putting together powerful pitch materials, if you want to learn how to build your toy company contact list, then I've got to encourage you to check out Toy Creators Academy. Toy Creators Academy is the first of its kind online program designed to help you develop and pitch toy ideas.
[01:02:32] So if you're interested in doing that, I want you to head over to toycreatorsacademy.com to learn more. Next up, we've got to give a shout out to a listener of the podcast. Today's shout out, goes to Naomi Brugnatelli. Hey there Naomi. Now Naomi also works in inventor relations with Hasbro and she's a fan of this podcast. So I thought who better to give a listener shout out and a hello to then Naomi for this episode. Okay, as always thank you so much for being here today. I know there are a ton of podcasts out there, so it means the world to me that you tune into this one. Until next week. I'll see you later toy people.
-
🎓Learn more about how you can develop and pitch your toy idea with Toy Creators Academy® by clicking here to visit toycreatorsacademy.com and join the waitlist.
Not ready for the Toy Creators Academy online course? Start by connecting with fellow toy creators inside our online community. Click here to join.
Episode Breakdown
What Makes a Game a Hasbro Game
Before a toy creator can pitch their toy idea to companies like Hasbro, it is a good idea to gauge whether your toy concept can become a Hasbro game. First, you must identify whether your game is a specialty game or a mass-market game. Specialty games are those that target specific buyers who have a lot of interest in their games. These people tend to have the education and discernment about the toys they want and have full intentions of buying them. On the other hand, mass-market games target consumers who may not have a lot of experience with toys. These games or toys tend to require more marketing efforts. Hasbro games fall under the latter category.
Hasbro wants to create mass-market games that are appealing to people who may not know anything about games and thus, they tend to follow two factors when deciding whether to work with an inventor or not. These factors are their intuitions with regards to whether one of the thousands of games they see brings something new or fresh to the industry, and whether the game is a gateway product that can be fit into their existing lines and made into a viable product.
When Should You Pitch Your Toy Idea to Hasbro?
The toy and games team at Hasbro sees around 3000 game and toy concepts in one year. They tend to see the most pitches during the seasons with Toy Fairs, January and February, as well as when various events involving toy inventors are going on. However, they do not emphasize wanting to see pitches for toy ideas at certain times of the year as they are more concerned with getting out 8 to 15 products for the current year.
The Process of Pitching Your Idea to Hasbro
To start pitching your toy idea, if you are a toy creator in the US, visit spark.hasbro.com, Hasbro's official public-facing platform. Through this, you can get your toy concept to Hasbro more easily, regardless of whether you have connections in the industry. They are currently working on expanding this platform to allow pitches from creators around the globe.
Through this domain, you will be asked to sign a Nondisclosure Agreement (NDA), followed by a meeting either in-person or through a video conference meeting with a Hasbro executive. During this meeting, toy inventors such as yourself will be given a chance to pitch their toy ideas while a Hasbro executive such as Tanya takes detailed notes.
From here, the executive will hit a button on their private platform, Ignite, which sends an email to the toy inventor, asking them to confirm whether the notes taken during the meeting were accurate. This is followed by a signature and requests for follow-up documents such as a hero image, a set of rules, or a video showcasing the toy or game in action.
If the executive likes your idea, they'll go ahead and pitch the toy idea to the game teams at Hasbro as best as they can. Typically, this process takes 1 to 2 months and is followed by a request for a prototype of your toy. From the moment they receive your toy prototype, they enter the Pre-option stage in which the company takes two months to evaluate the toy prototype and decide whether they are actually interested in it before they put money behind it or begin deal negotiations. If they are interested, they will enter the Option Stage. During this stage, the company will pay the inventor money to allow them to hold the toy prototype or idea for any longer with a standard payment being around $5000 a month. They will test the prototype in their lab, figure out costs with the factory, and forecast whether the product can be a hit in any of their markets around the world. At the end of this stage, Hasbro will decide whether they will enter a contract with the inventor or pass on the opportunity.
Prototypes
While Hasbro has no issue with seeing renderings or drawings of certain ideas, they prefer game or toy prototypes for a few reasons. Firstly, they can see right away whether an inventor's idea is physically possible or not. In the industry, this is referred to as proof of concept. Secondly, if they like the idea, they can put the model into testing faster. Lastly, in the present, the industry is growing rapidly and it has become the norm to have a toy prototype to receive traction so if you want to do well, you should also consider creating a prototype of your toy. For help finding quality prototype/sample makers, click here to listen to Episode #7: Finding Quality Sample Makers For Plush, Paper, and Plastics of The Toy Coach podcast!
It is important to note that if you have worked with Hasbro in the past, they tend to be more lenient with regard to having prototypes when you initially pitch your toy idea. This is because they know you are capable of following through and that you have a good understanding of the process of making an idea come to life.
Sizzle Reels
Another important part of pitching your toy idea to Hasbro is your sizzle reel. A sizzle reel is a short two to four-minute promotional video showcasing your product or idea. In the past, inventors would walk around toy fairs with suitcases filled with their toy prototypes. Now, they have the option of creating sizzle reels to showcase their ideas from their iPads or tablets. According to Tanya, Hasbro values good sizzle reels because they allow an inventor to properly explain their game with the required enthusiasm to grab the evaluator's attention. Most videos that are submitted, however, tend to be lacking in multiple ways. Thus, here are four points Tanya stresses should be addressed to create a sizzle reel that gets you the deal.
VIDEO LENGTH
Tanya states that a good sizzle reel is around two minutes long. In the case of a more complicated game, creators can have videos that are four to five minutes long instead.
INTRODUCTION AND VIDEO QUALITY
At the beginning of the reel, creators must state their name and the game's name. While the executives at Hasbro do expect a well-done video, they do not require professional videos with high production values.
EXPLAIN THE TOY OR GAME
Followed by the introduction is an explanation of the toy or game. How many players are required, how long it takes to play, what is the goal of the toy or game, etc. They also like to see creators play with the toy or go through a round to give them a better sense of the game. During this, you should plan to showcase the most interesting features of your toy or game to capture the evaluator's attention. Additionally, while you explain your idea or invention, proof of concept is important whereas static images are not necessarily very helpful.
LET YOUR PASSION AND DEDICATION SHINE THROUGH
Most importantly, Tanya expresses the importance of letting your passion shine through and having some excitement when recording the video for your toy pitch. Many of the videos Hasbro receives are lackluster due to the monotone voice and lack of enthusiasm inventors portray. Additionally, you can add something important or relevant about your background at the end of the reel to not bring credibility to your toy concept.
Email Do's and Don'ts
Finally, here is a list of the email do's and don'ts created by Tanya:
All caps in the subject line - Don't
Pitching your toy idea in the email body - Don't
Sending an introduction for an invitation to pitch - Do
Sending your sizzle reel unsolicited - Don't
Asking if a toy company works with inventors - Do
Asking if there is a wishlist they have to share - Do
Using phrases such as "I have the next monopoly" in your email - Don't
Sending a link with the pitch materials - Don't
Frequently Asked Questions
Q: Should I pitch my toy idea to Hasbro first or post online to gain some traction?
A: When it comes to Hasbro, they do not require inventors to have some sort of standing in the market to pitch their ideas. As long as they can find a place for your product in their line and it's a great toy or game, they're willing to take a risk. However, in the case that you have already kickstarted, it's great to include any numbers in your sizzle reel as it shows that there is an interest in the market for your product. Most importantly, make sure to have full transparency with the Hasbro team to prevent confusion in the future.
Q: What are some email Do's and Don'ts for contacting Toy Companies?
Here is a list of email do's and don'ts for when you're interested in showcasing your toy idea to them:
Do send an introduction for an invitation to pitch. Don't use all caps in your subject line.
Do ask the toy company if they work with toy inventors. Don't pitch your idea in the email body.
Do ask a company if there is a wishlist they have to share. Don't send them your sizzle reel or pitch unsolicited.
And finally, don't use phrases such as "I have the next monopoly" in your email.
Q: How can I pitch a board game to Hasbro?
A: If you are a toy creator in the US, to start the process of pitching your toy idea to Hasbro visit spark.hasbro.com to schedule a meeting with an executive to pitch your idea. During this meeting, you can pitch your idea and submit materials such as a hero image, a set of rules, and your sizzle reel to properly display your game to Hasbro. If you are interested in creating a pitch that stands out to Hasbro, make sure to create a sizzle reel that is within the 2 to 4-minute limit, has a clear introduction and conclusion, and shows the game or toy prototype in action.