L&K : Littlest Pet Shop Case Study

The Client: Hasbro

Hasbro, a world leader in children's & family leisure time products & entertainment properties, provides some of the highest quality & most recognizable play & recreational experiences globally. A consumer-focused company, Hasbro brings to market a range of toys, games & licensed products, from traditional to high-tech, including TRANSFORMERS, PLAYSKOOL, TONKA, NERF, MILTON BRADLEY, GI JOE, FURREAL FRIENDS, and more. Its LITTLEST PET SHOP is the fastest growing girls brand in the toy industry.

The Objective:

1. Build Brand Loyalty.
2. Increase Sales and First Purchase.
3. Create Brand Awareness.
4. Generate buzz and excitement.
5. Maximize retail traffic.
6. Drive collectability.
7. Create promotion that can be adapted globally.

Marketing Overview:

Littlest Pet Shop Brand faced strong competition from girls' toys & lack of store display. The brand was getting old. Reaching their target (girls 6-12) & building upon a strong customer base by adding a new product SKU, a Collector Journal, was on-target strategy to attract new girls, reward current consumers, create in store merchandising, and engage a "collectability" strategy. Promotion supported online, TV, print, POS displays, on-pack cross-sell, LPS website & Shutterfly website/email blast.

Strategy & Tactics

Girls spend a lot of time playing with their friends, and are very loyal to LPS. They influence each other. Hasbro built upon this loyalty and leveraged the collectability strategy across the entire LPS brand by offering a LPS Collector Journal at retail. The Journal was a new product that allowed girls to complete information about themselves, their favorites, quizzes, games, etc., and offered a limited, Special Edition Koala to anyone who collected 6 stickers found on specially marked LPS packages. This limited edition LPS toy was not available at retail. The first sticker was included in their journal. Girls collected LPS pets, showed them to their friends, and later, their special edition koala to them, and the promotion became viral in nature. Everyone wanted one!

Summary

The LPS Collector Journal was successful because it didn't ask the girls to do anything they wouldn't normally do. Instead of exerting totally new energies, the promotion caused them to shift their energy behind LPS' objectives. They could have played with other toys but the price points and collectability aspects that Hasbro leveraged rewarded them with a Special Edition Pet that was not available anywhere but through this offer. It was quickly communicated and readily understood. It incorporated 2 key ingredients to successful promotions: Involvement & Playability. Kids & parents alike sent new pet ideas, pictures of collections, invites on Facebook, handmade artwork, pictures of themselves, thank-yous, fan letters & asked how they could further engage with the brand. Everyone who participated could get the reward. Competitors could not respond quickly, guaranteeing competitive advantage over the promotion. And the primary audience acted as Brand Ambassadors for LPS