foreign [Music] everybody Stephen key here and we have a special event for you today on Eventbrite TV we have a Hasbro coming on everybody knows Hasbro they're one of the largest toy companies in the world with over 1500 Brands wow I've got a show for you today that you're not going to believe because I've got one of the largest companies in the world and in the world um they're going to share to me and to you what does it take to get a licensing deal at Hasbro now you guys I know that's a dream come true I've been in the toy industry for many many years and that's like the big that's the big time isn't it I mean is that the biggest I mean that's like the biggest thing you can do in the toy industry is that right I think so okay I do too so so today we're going to talk a little bit about how to submit ideas to Hasbro we're going to talk about this great platform called spark and we've got two wonderful people with us today and um Jared I want to start with you first all right and I want you to introduce yourself a little bit because I know you've been at Hasbro for a few years now with you now yeah a few years and tell us a little bit about you and what you're doing and what the great opportunity that's happened now not only for us here but maybe other people around the world yes oh my name is Jared Wade I'm the SVP of design Innovation uh at Hasbro I lead uh what we call our Hasbro spark team and that includes our inventor relations team some of our our advanced technology development internally as well as some of our play testing so we see ourselves as kind of the one of the Innovation engines within Hasbro and a lot of that's working with external innovators and so we're excited thank you for having us here uh together with Leo um you know we're really growing our Partnerships around the globe and one of the ways we've done that is launching our new spark.hasbro.com platform which has been out a few years in the US now but we're starting to branch that out globally to really tap into even more of the innovators around the world now wait a minute I want to talk about this because spark is a portal on your site that I went through it's very easy to navigate thank you very much for doing that um but you're looking for ideas from anybody and everyone basically everywhere that's right yeah I mean we have an amazing network of inventors uh we've been talking a little bit before the interview about just the talent of inventors within the toy Community toy and game Community um but we're seeing more and more there's so many great ideas from the outside and in the past it's been hard to know how to navigate that where to go with your good ideas um you may have had to go to an agent or try to break through uh at different uh Communications and connections we're trying to make that as seamless as possible people now are are Savvy enough to know they can go to spark.houseworld.com they're trying to make it easier for them to submit their ideas and have a direct line to our general relations uh Team here internally so taking those barriers away and making it as easy as possible benefits the creators and it benefits us that we're getting the best ideas in the world but you know what's interesting look you back years ago it was not that it wasn't easy right I mean you you had to probably know somebody maybe a toy broker it was isn't really easy to break in but you have realized that hey great ideas could come from any of us anywhere and you've kind of opened that door so let's talk about spark for just a minute I went there we have a lot of people that have submitted ideas it's fairly easy isn't it could you explain the process just a little bit because you have to sign a submission form kind of and that's pretty straightforward I see that but the one question I have about that um I saw that uh you have a computer kind of doing the first evaluations talk about that because that just blows my mind well we've worked with some Partners uh to help a lot of it's about documentation and making sure that we're entering things correctly um and so we get thousands and thousands of submissions through that portal already even before we go Global so some of that algorithm helps us to make sure that the information is complete or that it's you know we're not getting a an idea for a culinary accessory versus a Twitter game so some of that is just a basic filtering um to help make sure that we're getting the things that are on Target and that we're not wasting anyone's time if it's something that's not not appropriate in that in that case but yeah because I'm sure you're getting quite a few submissions through that um but you're looking at when you go world is it worldwide is that what's happening or not yet so we've just launched uh we officially have launched in uh in addition to the us we're now in Canada the UK uh Australia New Zealand and Hong Kong uh as our first phase um but we're already working on the other countries we'll be rolling out through the rest of this year and into next year some of those Innovation hubs like Germany Israel Brazil other places around the world will be getting them out as soon as possible all right so you need a mechanism to look at those ideas pretty quick if they fit a certain category if not that's going to be CR if it's crazy now in the US it's going to be really insane because it's all Global okay um I want to dig a little bit deeper then I want to get over to Leo for a minute because Leo um really went through the portal and we're going to talk about your experience with that in just a minute all right because I think this is going to be really interesting so tell me please um about you know you have steps to submit a concept or an idea sounds very straightforward it's a 60-second video it could be maybe um a concept an idea could be a drawing maybe it could be a sell sheet is that what is that typically what you're looking for yeah I think there's some basic things to get an idea across and usually those drawings sell sheets things like that are important but I would say there's there's nothing like a good video and I think you've probably talked about this quite a bit but the the you know the Picture Tells a thousand words of video a good video tells a million and it's it really is that video and this is one of the things when we get to Leo like he did so amazingly uh in that that portal is if you're able to convey how to play with a toy how to play with the game and get across the fun get across a little bit of that sneak peek of that commercial moment that moment under the you know under the tree how the kids playing with it when he unboxes it she unboxes it and sits around the table with the family like getting that across in that early video is Magic and that's the spark that really you know can draw attention to an idea so should my video be 10 minutes or should I do it in 60 seconds I know some vendors like to go a little long yeah 60 seconds is usually enough you know if you're getting the idea across and you can show the novelty of the idea and the promise you know that's that's going to be you want to catch somebody quickly you want to lead with that you don't want to wait till 10 minutes in to get to the punch line um but I will say like you know sometimes when you get to games and more complicated submissions you may need a little more time that's all right um but uh you know maxing out that that 60 seconds uh with the the you know the the impact in The Innovation is always key I want to talk a little bit about um we talked about the 60 seconds maybe sell sheet you know maybe a one-line benefit hey this is what it does okay those type of things for you to get a good read in the category of course so you make sure it fits it's not a kitchen product you're looking for here so um my question is how do people really know what to submit because you've got uh 1500 Brands is that what I saw I mean yeah that's probably accurate yeah quite a few yeah we we're obviously focused in on more of the you know our active franchise Brands and and partner Brands so there's ones that we have that are more active uh that people can see really online I think and just seeing what's what's itself and what's coming with our partners um but we're always looking to reactivate you know new experiences with friends as well so um you know knowing what to submit it is it's it like you mentioned earlier that there's a lot of players out there um and it's it's always it's not always easy to know where that that white space is um but you really have to kind of go with your gut in some case so much of the toy business is about gut and the proof of fun and if you have something that's fun it it carves its own white space out I would say okay so for if I was starting out let's say and I'm really interested in submitting a Hasbro and I have a couple ideas should I go to your website and really understand kind of what you do your product line a little bit really understand maybe price point two I mean what what other tips and advice can you give us listeners advice to make sure you know we're kind of hitting a target a little bit because you've seen so many ideas in the past yeah how do I invent for the future for you of not knowing what's been done in the past we talk a little bit about um you know one way we look at is revolutionary Innovation versus evolutionary Innovation and their evolutionary Innovation could be new themes or new slightly new ways to do something we've done before and you know that's not really going to break through as much when it's a New England or submitting revolutionary Innovation and things that are new ways to play you know how they're using material in a new way how to create a new experience that hasn't been done um you know those those are the kind of things that are going to break through the most um but I'd say the bottom line it all comes down to making sure it's it's you're showing the fun you know not showing the impact not just showing a mechanism or a material or or things with showing what the impact of that is on the on the the final user how does that make two things capture capturing that magic moment right is that what that is kind of okay it is that's why we love this industry it's all about it's all about bringing the fun it really is so um if I and I know a lot of people are going to have this they you've probably seen this a million times so maybe this is good maybe it's bad but let's say I have a new idea to how to use one of your brands a new Twist on Monopoly is that something you're interested in too or no or yes absolutely and we've we've seen I have some examples behind me Connect Four you know and and then our item from way back that we continue to innovate on with new inventors um year after year so uh those are all you know definitely ideas we want to see okay maybe not so much new themes for Monopoly or like you know just doing a skin of a different theme we we have that kind of thing covered but a new gameplay that Taps into the DNA Monopoly absolutely I'm really curious I asked about this you're going to show me an example of a a brand a a toy that you've had for years but someone came with a Different Twist can you show us that product real quick there yeah and twist is a good example in this case but connector a brand that everybody knows and loves and probably has in their house but we work with Ideo who brought this idea to us for Connect Four Spin and a whole new way to play connect board you can see on my screen where you have the the layers actually flipping around so it brings a whole new twist fun way to play but this this is just an example of how you can take a an existing beloved brand and think of it in a new way oh wonderful thank you for showing us that okay Leo I got some questions for you because you have gone through the portal right that's right so before we get there Leo talk a little bit about yourself because I know you do have a background in entertainment and games right so share a little bit about what you've done and um so we get to know you a little bit I'm sure yeah so my name is Leo Taylor I've been a game designer for specifically in board games has been a big passion of mine I've been making games for about 10 years I would say I've gone pro in the last four by being like I think I want to do this full time I'm going to try to make that happen um I was a kind of person who always made games for my friends and honestly I had a lot of encouragement from friends who are like you got to do something with these ideas I was like nah that's a long shot I would never want to try that but they're like no no try it so they kind of pushed me towards submitting to companies um and I thought hey I grew up with Hasbro games it's you know I played a lot of risk to Monopoly with my family great memories so I was like I'll just take a shot and I was actually really pleasantly surprised like you said the spark platform is very open easy to submit I wasn't like I imagined I'd have to call some people trying to like meet the right people I've always heard that it's a it's an uphill battle but it wasn't that big of a deal I just submitted a video now I did uh talking about videos and submissions I did put a little bit of thought and I did invest just a little bit in someone who's professional uh you know film photographer to shoot my idea and I think that went a long way um just because I was like I only got one shot let me try to make it the best I can before I submit hit that submit button um what was it so tell me about that when you decide I mean you're really reaching for the top here right I mean yeah I didn't know at the time I thought you know toys games let me just submit the hazard I didn't think much of the like that's the top of the top now looking back I'm pleasantly surprised how everything turned out and it's been a great journey um but yeah like you said it's it it's kind of a long shot and it seems like it worked out so you you get ready um games is your thing you you read all the submission agreement you agree you hit the button and you send it okay now what do you do do you just wait and how long do you wait and are you nervous I mean I want to know that experience because it seems to me sometimes when you go into it's like a black hole it goes into a portal what are they doing with this and maybe Jerry could talk a little bit about that process but let's say it goes in there how long do you wait before you get a response so I as someone who submits to more than you know a bunch of companies it can be as you know a variety of different times but with Hasbro is actually relatively quick I would say they got back to me and I actually got a phone call out of the blue from Tanya a lady a really awesome lady who works at Hasbro at inventor relations okay and she gave me a personal call because she says hey we saw your video it looks really good we're impressed by the video but kind of what impressed me is they were actually more interested in learning about me as a designer they're like we love your product we want to learn more but also what else like who are you you know we haven't seen you in the industry let me let me kind of pick it like who you are and do you have any other ideas and so it was kind of um out the gate a relationship building yeah I want to talk about that for just a minute Jared it's really important to have that relationship isn't it because I I've heard um that it's because of that relationship going back and forth sometimes an idea needs to be retweeted or redesigned a little bit is that is that why that's so important to to Hasbro absolutely and I mean the most valuable thing we have is not the idea itself but it's the relationships that keep the those ideas coming in building and Leo's a great example of that as we get into kind of the success he's had um we Tanya who he mentioned is amazing she is she is our games Timmy Thompson is our games Guru and one of the best in the industry when it comes to their game's knowledge but also in reaching out and making connections with the inventors and especially young inventors and mentoringly touring them and teaching them and and it actually improves chances for for future placement but but to your point on the on the relationships you know I'm I'm a I'm a designer from way back like that was my entry into the toy business as a creative so we've built out our team with creatives who understand that that piece of development what it what all right what an idea means to the Creator and how to treat it with respect so building on that you know we want to make sure that we're firing on all cylinders with our partners so Leo all right you you get it in there you get the call I'm sure you're probably like oh it's so excited yeah what did that feel like I mean it was it was surreal because I was honestly hanging out with my mom on vacation I didn't expect anything um and I just got a call and I was like what's this number I'll answer it and so it was uh it was yeah it was crazy I didn't expect to get an actual phone call um and so that was nice to actually get to talk with her and put a human to the because you know how it is you when you submit to a big company you're like oh it'll probably be very sterile but the process was very human and every step of the way when I talked to someone who worked at Hasbro I was very uh no offense but very pleasantly surprised that it wasn't like a hard like oh you need to prove yourself to us it was more like hey what you're a designer so what else do you got uh nice so it's very open arms that was nice so what was the process after that I mean was it um and and maybe Jared you could help with that because once an idea comes in and you're looking at it evaluating what is a process to say to actually getting to the point saying hey we want it we're going forward we're going to send you a licensing agreement is that like in a week 10 days three months what does that look like it's usually about two-month process of evaluation where you know getting to next stages and everyone every case is a little different depending on which category where the opportunities lie and and so on how flushed out an idea is but we have um individual uh in general relations staff who are focused on different categories so Tanya for example games work closely with Leo but we have other folks in other other categories who will work directly with the inventor work directly with the teams to make sure we're having those Communications and finding the best home for the idea okay that's not very long I mean no that's and that's that's that's uh you know sometimes we move quicker sometimes it takes longer depend on the complexity but we're always striving to get those answers quickly can you tell me that is looking at all the submissions coming out and taking one is there an area where you're still excited but it could drop off could it be a I've heard that pricing is a really big issue right that an idea comes in everybody might just love it but when you really look at hitting a certain retail price point point and this thing might be designed in such a way you can you cannot hit that and it kind of falls out is that a big deal little deal or how important is that it's a big deal and that we need to make sure that the consumer is going to get the experience they expected the price they're willing to pay so it's always a consideration but our goal and this is part of the the benefit of having a development arm of our our team as well under the Hasbro spark group is we can help to get to that feasibility study quicker you know and make those decisions faster because we don't want anything to drag on and then have it fall off at the end we want to evaluate the inventor up front make quicker decisions so they can you know base their next steps on on whatever that decision is well two months seems like a pretty short time how excited I know you got the call and you're a little surprised that they're so like friendly and they want to work with you so tell me your experience next what happened Leo what what so in your mind what what did they ask for next and what did you have to do did you have to do any more or was it kind of just off sailing on by itself now I think so the video I submitted um was a kind of Sizzle reel of the full game rules so the next thing they asked me is to can you send me the full video of how to play it any more material um stuff I already kind of had ready it didn't seem like it was big ass it was mostly just like can you send us some more things um they also we also agreed to an option agreements they could hold on to it they seemed excited about the idea so they wanted to grab it um and honestly that was just a open line of communication from then on she was like here's an email also we can go ahead and just kind of start getting it back and forth on what we might need from you um and that was something that I did consciously try like talking about relationship building I did consciously try to be always available for them to kind of be a two-way street you know so it's like anytime you guys need me I will get on a call we can I'll send you anything you need I just want this game to get yeah I want to talk yeah I want to talk a little bit about that relationship and and Jared maybe we can help us understand that how important it is to find someone that's very talented you want to work with but them having the right attitude and willing to work with you I mean is there something you can kind of guide what you're kind of looking for that makes the process easier and maybe there's certain attitudes I don't yeah I I think a lot of it's the openness you know I think it's in you know we're especially in infinite relations uh business where our job is to represent the inventor and and Champion their ideas you know Elevate their ideas and sometimes that means taking a left or right turn from the the core idea that was presented we may have an opportunity in this brand versus the one that was intended um so that openness of the willingness to to the two-way street Leo mentioned of being willing to go along the journey um you know is one of the the biggest things I'd say okay so Leo did they ask for a prototype next I mean when did that happen and did you send them one did you have one I did so that was actually a little bit of my prep uh before I submitted it to companies I want to get a really good video and I wanted to have a prototype that I could uh click a button on a like I use gamecrafter there's a couple prototyping for board games specifically out there um and I had a I had it ready to go so I knew like if anyone wanted it I could hit a button and send it to him they did ask for one then they asked for a couple more um just if you'd like to pass internally and that was all good news to me I was like yes the more the more more prototypes you want probably the better right yes I think you're smart with that protection for just a minute a lot of inventors are worried right about protecting their you know their ideas their Concepts or invention so is there anything you could suggest to them that they should do Jared yeah uh I think the documentation is key yeah and that's that's something we hold very important and one of the aspects of the spark.asbro.com is to make sure that we're documenting what's submitted all along the way because that protects the inventor as much as it protects Hasbro to make sure their ideas are represented and captured correctly so that's that's one of the biggest things um it's hit me should they file for a patent or maybe a copyright or something like that or PP a provisional patent application is that up to them at that point applicable yeah absolutely and you know any a patentable idea is always a more valuable idea because it allows us to do something you know more with it exclusively within the industry and that's that's going to be more valuable that has or any other company um so but it's not necessary it's not it's not required a lot of people ask us that do I have to have a patent before I submit right and we have some of the best patent attorneys in the in the business that if we take an idea in we can help to facilitate that process as well so um not a required I'd say it's great when you can do it on your own but it's not absolutely not required because we can we can work together on it as well I've heard that games instructional games probably copyright would be great Leo is that something you've looked into to copywriting your work I did actually and this is kind of funny how I mentioned it came full circle is actually during this part in my story where I am now just getting uh talking to Hasbro actually have watched a lot of your event right videos because I was looking for any answers on anything in the industry I was like I watched the interview with Rich I watched some interviews with like anyone in the toiletry I was soaking it up um at this point I it was a learning experience I decided not to go with the patent and I think it was an okay choice because from what I've heard in the board game industry it's hard to say like this is a very specific unique invention card games you know or card games um pretty much okay good good advice um a lot of inventors to are worried about and maybe there's maybe you have an answer I think you do for this but I have to ask anyway so let's say I submit an idea to you and it's in the works or have you already seen it before for whatever reason a year later that idea comes out um and they're like wait a minute I submitted it that to you guys and now it's out um you handle situations like that is that is that hard to handle it or do you have documentation to show them because usually you probably do so how do you handle that yeah in the best case this is where organization is so important in documentation systems that we have to track these things um it's handling with transparency and honesty with the inventors um and usually in those situations if we track everything correctly you can see the trail of where ideas came from what was communicated when and that early communication is is always most important you know some things we may have to track down you know and and that's where you know it gets a little more complicated but again as long as we're operating with transparency then then everything works out in a way so what a great opportunity what was it like to um Leo tell me your products on the market now is that correct so the game that I originally submitted is actually coming out in 2024 so it's it's a funny story because I I have a game that I submitted the very first game is coming out and uh you know a year or two but um that opened the door that one game I think showed them my value as a designer and so they then asked hey do you have any more ideas and that kind of started the the flow of me pitching all the ideas I've had backlogged and other prototypes and that led to them actually reaching out and asking us hey would you like to try to make a clue escape room in a box and it's um it's a whole other story but me and my two best friends these are the pictures of them right here we started a company and we met working at an escape room uh designing like the actual physical Escape rooms and so we we said you know what let's team up let's make a company let's go for this cool game and this is actually the first one that came out even though it's not the first one I pitched and and talked to them through the spark what this is really interesting because looking back at my career I did a lot of submitting in different Industries and it ended up hiring me to do a lot of work because and I really liked it because I got to know the people I got to know the industry a little bit and have those relationships is that happening a lot with some of your your talented uh inventors that are submitting ideas to you yeah I'd say I mean Leo's a great example where we've been able to tap into ill skills but it's part of that partnership in that relationship building every inventor is different some have different skill sets and some inventors prefer to only work on a you know concept submission basis which is totally fine uh but others are you know interested in doing some of that work for higher kind of hey we've got this mechanism we can't figure out can you do it the more you know that inventor the more you can tap into them and they have a win-win situation so again all about their relationship and the building well is there anything else um that I've missed Jared that you'd like to talk about that um my audience needs to know about spark and about Hasbro and about anything that can help them help you yeah I think it's about well one reaching out don't be afraid like taking that step I think is an important thing to get if you have an idea you've been sitting on but sometimes the best way to kind of learn the business is to jump into it and you might you know be be lucky enough like a Leo that it Sparks something that we're able to build on but you know I think always coming at it with the aspect of of purity of creating a fun New play experience you know that never losing sight of that experience because that's gonna that's gonna make an idea breakthrough um it's going to make you know it's it's it's gonna the biggest driver of success is is really that spark of fun and play come on thank you uh Leo last thing for you um looks like your career's taken off looks like you got a product coming out in a year or so and so your career is kind of going like this how do you feel about all that and what would you tell the next uh Toy inventor wannabe what should they do well the first part I'm obviously super excited I mean it's a dream come true I love designing and if I can keep designing I'm happy um the second thing is I would say kind of a micro version of what Jared said is if you're prototyping don't be scared to get it out get it on table get in front of friends get it get them playing with it get that feedback early and then my second point would be take your time in crafting a nice pitch because I I do kind of think you have a you know one shot when you submit make sure it's a great impression um make sure you thought it thought it through I think would be a good help you succeed in every way if you help that percentage go up and the problem how important is it to stay in it if you could give me a perspective because I know it's a numbers game you know I know you have to come up with a lot of ideas and probably people give up a little too early how important is it just that to keep keep pitching build those relationships and stay in the game how important is that Jared in your opinion yeah I mean the tenacity it's it's a it's a business where tenacity definitely pays off I think and you know in any invention I would imagine not just playing game um but if you're truly a Creator and you believe in your ideas you know it's a personal decision for each person but it is if you know you have something special staying staying with it um and seeing it through and um yeah it is it is a a numbers game to some extent you know if you're going to make a living at it you have to be prolific and I think that's you know again Leo another great example of of keep putting things out there you know not not putting all your eggs in one basket too if there's you know like banking on that one thing you know being your big uh success story sometimes you you want to you wanna you know give all the love you can to those those big ideas but you also want to have enough of them that you have a chance of of having one land so if that is important oh yeah last question Leo how do you hang in there that's actually motivated I mean this is a game of kind of rejection a little bit right this is a game of finding something you truly love and showing it to somebody and they say no so how do you how do you how do you keep being motivated to keep on submitting great ideas so the way I can sleep at night doing this kind of work is that I I put my stock in my skill set over my products not to say I want my products to be the best they can be my games to be the most fun and bring joy to people but really at the end of the day if I think hey that project didn't work but I learned something it's on my skill set I'm just going to grow as a designer I think that's what keeps me kind of in it having fun kind of being positive because it I don't try to take it too personal the the products are my best effort at that time but I bet you the next one I make is going to be even better so that's kind of my mindset the second thing I'd say is don't be afraid to collaborate I'm a huge fan of collaboration that's why I kind of reached out to my friends uh just kind of have someone to bounce that energy off of to keep that energy kind of positive and fun because I think that we're in this industry for hopefully you know bringing joy to people so make sure you're cultivating that with yourself I love that advice and I think it's so true you need to find the community people you can work with and and keep coming up with ideas I think that's motivate that motivates a lot of us because there's something magical when you need to create something that people really love and they see and there's something about it that just keeps you coming and back to do it again and again and again so tap into that um well thank you both for coming on and sharing the great opportunity with spark that's going around the world now that portal is just going to be easier so everybody you're watching keep submitting ideas learn as much as you can keep on pitching up your game and help Hasbro find the next greatest toy inventor you and invention so keep on submitting those toy Concepts to them this is Stephen key thank you guys for watching and thank you very much for joining me today thank you guys thank you