We aim to drive relevance and scale our brands' presence in the 25% branded toy segment in India: Lalit Parmar

In the midst of the ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup, what has launched in India is Monopoly: Cricket Edition which unites the game that enjoys the affinity of being a religion in India and the other which is said to be one of the top board games across the world for the very first time.

Embarking on the clarion call made by Prime Minister Narendra Modi to make more games in India, Monopoly: Cricket Edition has been envisioned and designed in the country itself by Hasbro in collaboration with Bengaluru-based Mozaic Games.

On the launch of the new offering, Bhavesh Somaya, General Manager, Hasbro Asia, said, “This is undoubtedly an exciting time for all of us at Hasbro! We always strive to deliver exhilarating play experiences for our fans. The Monopoly: Cricket Edition is a testament to that commitment and strengthens our resolve to make India’s toy story global. It is a thrilling game that will entertain and give fans of all ages new ways to enjoy both Cricket and Monopoly.”

In Monopoly: Cricket Edition, the properties are star cricketers, and every star cricketer has a skill– batting, bowling, or fielding. Every time a player passes or lands on Go, they'll trigger a Match. Players compete by challenging any other player to be their opponent. Both the players start as a batter or a bowler– and then switch roles! The winner earns points and performs a bonus action. Players can take on the role of a cricket team manager and build a dream team, trade players, and win mini cricket matches during the game to become the ultimate winner. In this game, the objective is to collect as many points as possible by hiring star cricketers and winning matches. 

During the interaction with BestMediaInfo.com, Lalit Parmar, Country Manager, Hasbro India, stated that the cricket edition of Monopoly was incepted keeping in mind that the game should get the fans of cricket and Monopoly together as newly recruited consumers and give them the thrill of cricket now on a board game.

“When we did our testing with various groups and kids of different age groups, we found out that even younger kids play cricket because they want to emulate what their older brothers or friends do and therefore we came up with such an offering where they don't need anyone's support all along as the rules and regulations are quite easy to understand,” he said.

Having spent more than half-a-decade and been a key player in setting up Hasbro India operations, Parmar, on the brand’s journey in India stated that when the company started the business, the scale and size was very small even though there was already a JV partner and another partner, but when the products actually came to India and launched new brands and product propositions, be it board games, action figures or even toy blasters, there has been enough and more traction.

Delving deeper into the goals that he has set aside for Hasbro India, Parmar mentioned that since Hasbro, globally, has a wide array of brands such as Dungeons and Dragons, Magic: The Gathering, etc. the one thing that he finds challenging as well as an opportunity is how can he get the maximum representation of Hasbro brands and create a sizeable market for the products that are available globally, but not in India.

“India is a big and a very focused market for us, both from a global lens as well as from the APAC perspective which is why the entire idea is how do we scale up our sourcing and commercial opportunities here in the country and grow further by not only making our global brands available in India but also creating a resonance for them with the Indian mass and drive excitement for them in the country,” he said.

Furthermore, he also pointed out that even though 70-75% of the toy market is still covered by unbranded products, on the branded side, Hasbro India is amongst the top three players in India with a lot of the Hasbro brands being present in the country for the past 30 years or more.

“As compared to the Indian market, the per capita consumption of toys in the Western markets is quite high, for example in the US or any other market, the per capita consumption would be in the range of around $300-$350, but in India, it probably ranges from $3-$5 which is why there is a big difference in terms of the relevance of toys and it all hinges on the premise that the value of play, which is the central theme which parents look out for today and therefore it takes time for the market to open up and grow,” he opined.

Commenting on the objectives bit, he stated that while Hasbro India is amongst the top three players in the branded toy segment which accounts for 25% of market share in India, the goal is to drive a lot of relevance for Hasbro India brands by having consistent messaging for parents, adults and even kids so that they can get to know about the brands.

“We drive a lot of impetus on ensuring that the availability of products is taken care of via ensuring a robust distribution of products not just through traditional trade but also through modern trade and e-commerce platforms,” he added.

Further, he also went on to add that since almost 80-85% of the current sourcing for product proposition happens out of India, the aim is to dial up more and more products and brands here in the country so as to provide the consumers and shoppers the opportunity to experience the various Hasbro brands and products.

“In fact, our global sourcing team also sources a lot of toys from India and we, from a branding and multinational perspective, are one of the biggest players when it comes to sourcing toys from the country. And this is only because we see a strong and amazing opportunity from not just a commercial angle but also from the perspective of what the TG size is, i.e.- almost 350 million kids in India are within the age bracket of less than 16 years of age,” he mentioned.

Sharing his views on the target audience for Hasbro India, Parmar stated that when it comes to toys and games, the brand addresses almost the entirety with regards to age group via its various offerings such as Peppa Pig and Play-Doh for preschoolers, board games and Nerf Blasters amongst others for core kids, younger teens, adults and elders.

Of this, he opined that it is majorly the urban audiences that are more attuned towards Hasbro India brands and propositions at this juncture which is why a majority of the business comes from top metros followed by Tier I and Tier II cities. However, with the challenge of accessibility resolving now with e-commerce penetration, the brand does get orders from rural markets as well.

Additionally, he also stated that conceptualised by Samir Chonkar’s creative agency League Brand Partners is the first local asset created by Hasbro India in the country which will run on both TV and Digital channels. Earlier on, it was the global TVCs that ran across channels in the country.

TVC:

He then went on to add that to not just announce the new product launch but also drive large scale awareness and tag along with the euphoria of cricket, Hasbro India will include in its media mix arsenal a slew of marketing initiatives starting from in-store merchandising, PR, influencer marketing, digital marketing, e-commerce marketing, performance marketing, traditional media marketing on kids animation channels and more.

“We will be targeting kids via our selected basket of kids animation channel partners in the form of 15-20 seconder TVCs typically along with adults and parents via leveraging digital marketing initiatives on social media and e-commerce along with PR and influencer activities,” he said.

Furthermore, he also mentioned that a lot of the job today is also done by content. Citing an example for the same, he stated that when it comes to preschoolers, Peppa Pig has become a household name owing to the value education that is imbibed by the content which is there on digital platforms as well as on linear TV and animation channels.

He also mentioned that movies such as Transformers: Rise of the Beast also help in boosting the awareness and sales for a product, in this case, Transformers which is a Hasbro Product. But having said that, the case is not such that if the content doesn't come out, the toys of Transformers don't sell, because they do sell.

However, whenever such tenfold events such as a movie releases, there's a lot of excitement and energy in the market which is why a lot of new fans or consumers enter the portfolio and help drive not just business but also scale. Also, there is a lot of spike initially but once the movie or content offering ages with time, the incremental spurt evens out.

Throwing light on choosing the price point for the newly launched product at Rs 999, he stated that because a lot of birthday gifting and buying happens in the board games category, it is a tiered pricing approach, i.e- costing between Rs 500 and Rs 1000, that is often taken into consideration from a perspective of making the product propositions accessible to the majority of the target audience here in India.

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