Marketing in the News: Hasbro makes big play on Amazon Prime Video

By Theodore Daniels

 

The article I chose for this post is titled "Hasbro Makes Big Play on Prime Video Ads With Play-Doh, Peppa Pig" by Bill Bradley of Adweek. In the article, Bradley describes how Hasbro is advertising through Amazon Prime Video’s new ad-supported tier. With a Peppa Pig campaign in the UK and Play-Doh in the US, Hasbro is seeing great success in this new advertising method. Rahter than the actual content of the advertisments, my interest in this article stems from the combination of older style mass media (e.g. television advertising) and merging it with modern and tailored media experiences. 

In early 2024, Amazon Prime Video began the introduction of an ad tier to their streaming platform (Cahillane & Bradley, 2024). This ad-supported tier is the new default option for the service with users being able to pay an additional $2.99 to remove the ads. Because this is an opt out system, many users are now seeing these personalized advertisements. 

Hasbro, as many of you may know, is a toy manufacturer and entertainment company. Their bread and butter is providing entertainment for children that is both fun and nurturing. From Transformers to My Little Pony, Hasbro holds and develops brands that children and adults all over the world know and love.



Due to the proliferation of streaming and online entertainment, children’s entertainment has become fragmented. Established brands have difficulty with reaching these new markets. Wholesome activities such as playing with Play-Dough or watching Peppa Pig are losing out to toddlers watching brainrot videos on YouTube. In the long-term, firms like Hasbro must adapt to the short form content that is a signature of social media. 

In the short term, Hasbro has seen potential in this new audience of potential customers on Prime Video. In particular, they have been aggressively marketing Peppa Pig and Play-Dough towards households with children or adults aged 18 through 34 in the US and UK. This new campaign has reached about 7 million households in each country and has produced measurable increases in ad recall and brand awareness. 

One aspect of this campaign is the merging of traditional mass media with the algorithmic feed of a streaming platform. Streaming is a place where one can use the traditional format of a television commercial and utilize the information that Amazon collects to show the consumer an advertisement that is relevant to them. This way, a firm can utilize their traditional TV advertising structure while opening to changes in the market. 

Hasbro is wise to work with these disruptive markets. When a company has intellectual properties that they can still exploit, it is a game of “use it or lose it.” If they do not remain relevant they risk losing the value of their investments. This new marketing campaign is another example of a company innovating to meet the market where it is. 

I have learned that a company can successfully transition from traditional means of marketing to the digital world. Instead of stubbornly persisting with live TV advertising, firms like Hasbro are using new mediums to capture consumer interest. If these toymakers play their cards right, brands like Peppa Pig and Play-Dough may maintain their relevance for years to come.

 

Works cited:

About the company – Hasbro. Hasbro. (n.d.). https://corporate.hasbro.com/en-us 

Bradley, B. (2024, July 2). Hasbro has big play on prime video with play-doh, Peppa pig. Adweek. https://www.adweek.com/convergent-tv/hasbro-prime-video-ads-play-doh-peppa-pig/ 

Cahillane, M., & Bradley, B. (2024, February 1). Everything to know about using prime video’s ad tier. Adweek. https://www.adweek.com/convergent-tv/prime-video-ad-tier-everything-to-know/ 

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