Hasbro is readying a licensing program for the newly acquired Power Rangers brand with plans to release a stylebook by year-end and having new products in place by mid-2019, Hasbro’s Casey Collins told us at Brand Licensing Europe (BLE).

The new goods – apparel, back-to-school items, costumes and party goods – will take their cues from the Hasbro toy line due in the spring and the new 22-episode “Power Rangers Beast Morphers” series to debut on Nickelodeon in February. Hasbro bought the property from Saban Brands earlier this year.

In addition to the Nickelodeon series, Hasbro is weighing Power Ranger live events in the future, says Collins. And the Power Rangers’ library of 850 episodes is available through Netflix.

Hasbro inherited a “pretty pared down” roster of licensing deals, the bulk of which expire this year or in 2019. It has been meeting with potential UK and European licensees at BLE this week. And it hired some former Saban executives Jessica Hardy, who is now Senior Director of Global Creative Design and Development at Hasbro.

“Now that we control the entertainment we are able to integrate new product offerings or ideas into the shows which will do more for our (licensing) partners,” says Collins. Licensees also will have broader access in some categories that were previously limited by Saban’s longstanding agreement with master toy licensee Bandai, which formally ends April 1.

While the focus now is on Power Rangers, it also plans to make other Saban properties – Luna Petuna, Popples, Julius Jr., My Pet Monster – available for licensing in 2019, says Collins.

Collins, who joined Hasbro from World Wrestling Entertainment earlier this year, says he is bringing a “more aggressive nature” and “more focus to where the opportunities are.” This potentially could include paring down Hasbro’s roster of licensees, something begun under Simon Waters, who now heads up the Power Rangers brand for Hasbro.

“We want to work with best-in-class partners and sometimes less is more,” says Collins. “I would rather work with top partners in each of the categories rather than taking a shotgun approach and just signing a deal to sign a deal. Those days are long gone.”

The strategy will likely include continued expansion of Hasbro’s location-based experiential licensing, which includes a 225-room Monopoly-themed hotel slated to open in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia in 2019 under an agreement with M101 Holdings. Kingsmen Creatives also is scheduled to open the first of several Asia Pacific-based Nerf family entertainment centers in 2019, starting in Singapore. And Marriot is expected to open a My Little Pony-themed hotel in China as well.

On Broadway, a reading was recently conducted for the production of a stage show based on Monopoly, which being done by Araca Entertainment. There also are plans for a play based on the Clue board game.

In addition to its major IP, Hasbro also is weighing developing content around its Micronauts, Rom the Space Knight and Hanasuki properties as part of a development deal signed with Paramount Pictures in late 2017, says Collins.

Contact:

Hasbro, Casey Collins, SVP General Mgr. Global Consumer Products, 401-280-2311, casey.collins@hasbro.com