#277: Game Pitching Tips From a Toy Industry Insider with Tanya Thompson
Have you ever had a game idea pop into your head and thought, “This could be huge… but how do I even pitch it?” Or maybe you’ve been sitting on a finished prototype, wondering if it’s really “good enough” to get in front of a big toy company. If you’ve been dreaming of turning your game concept into a real product on shelves, this episode is made for you.
In this episode of Making It in the Toy Industry, we’re bringing back an oldie but a goodie conversation that I had with Tanya Thompson, the Senior Director Inventor Relations and Innovation for Hasbro Gaming. With over 15 years of experience in the industry, Tanya started out as a math teacher before making the leap into the toy biz, and now she’s the go-to gatekeeper for inventor-submitted game ideas at a major toy company.
During our chat, Tanya breaks down exactly what it takes to pitch a winning game idea including what not to do. She shares what she looks for in a prototype, what your sizzle video must include, and how long it actually takes to get feedback once you pitch. You’ll also learn why being first matters, how many ideas they see each year (spoiler: it's a lot), and the number one mistake new inventors make when pitching.
So if you’ve ever dreamed of getting your game licensed or just want to level up your pitch game, grab a notebook and hit play. This episode is packed with the kind of insider knowledge that could turn your idea into the next family game night hit!
Listen For These Important Moments
[02:08] - You'll learn that there’s no one right path into the toy and game industry. Tanya went from high school math teacher to Director of Inventor Relations, proof that your current job doesn’t limit your future in toys.
[09:20] - Hear what Tanya really looks for when scouting new games. Spoiler: it's not complexity or flashy mechanics… It's clarity, fun, and broad appeal for busy parents walking down the game aisle.
[16:06] - Timing matters! Tanya breaks down the best times of year to pitch your ideas and when companies are too swamped to pay attention. Knowing this could be the difference between a "maybe" and a missed opportunity.
[40:26] - Not sure if your prototype is ready to pitch? Tanya explains what’s essential, what’s optional, and when a rendering just won’t cut it. This could save you months of wasted effort.
[46:29] - Your sizzle video could make or break your pitch. Learn exactly what to include (and what not to do), so your video captures attention and gets your concept moved to the next round.
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This episode is brought to you by www.thetoycoach.com
Submit your concept directly to a top game company through the Hasbro Spark Platform! Spark gives you a chance to get your idea in front of decision-makers.
👉 Visit spark.hasbro.com and take the first step toward licensing your game!
Ready to turn your toy idea into a real product? Toy Creators Academy gives you the tools, training, and support to make your idea happen. Enroll today at thetoycoach.com/tca
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[00:00:00] Azhelle Wade: You are listening to Making It in The Toy Industry, episode number 277.
[00:00:11] Welcome to Making It in The Toy Industry, a podcast for inventors, entrepreneurs, and makers like you. And now your host. Azhelle wade,
[00:00:23] Azhelle Wade: you are just the best for tuning into this podcast. I have to say that the episode that you're gonna hear today is a replay of an episode that was previously aired on this podcast.
[00:00:34] Azhelle Wade: Whenever we play our replays, it's usually because I need to take some time to focus on my students, my clients, or myself, and that's what's happening today. My team and I make every effort to pick replays that can still help you in your toy business. Right now, replays that are our most popular episodes, ones that have brought the most information and insight to people.
[00:00:56] Azhelle Wade: Now, I want you to keep in mind as you listen that these are replays, so some of the statements that I make might be timely and no longer applicable. Still, there is a ton of insight to be garnered from every episode, so I hope that you enjoy today's replay. Hey there, toy people. Azhelle Wade here and welcome back to another episode of the Toy Coach Podcast, making it in the Toy Industry.
[00:01:21] Azhelle Wade: This is a weekly podcast brought to you by the toy coach.com. Today's guest is one that I am sure you are all thrilled to hear from because her name is Tanya Thompson. She is the Senior Director of Inventor Relations and Innovation for Hasbro Gaming. So I am so excited to welcome Tanya to the show and learn a ton about inventing for Hasbro.
[00:01:46] Azhelle Wade: Tanya, welcome to the show. Thank you so much, Elle. I'm so excited to be finally here. This is awesome. Oh, I cannot believe it. Toy people you don't know, but big companies are tough to get your hands on for interviews. So this is major. This is major. Woo woo. I'm so excited to have you here today. So. To start off, will you please share with everybody?
[00:02:08] Azhelle Wade: How did your toy journey begin?
[00:02:12] Tanya Thompson: Ooh, that's a good one. It's not a straight journey. A lot of people often ask me like, how did you get to where you are? Like, is there, yeah, especially like students, like, what can we study or whatnot. And I just took such a, like a, a roundabout way. So I was first a teacher in my career.
[00:02:29] Tanya Thompson: I, I live in Canada. So I was a high school mathematics teacher trying to like inspire my students in mathematics and I loved games and brain teaser puzzles. So I had my classroom absolutely full with them. And then one year my good friend who was a science teacher did a science fair and I was like, ah, I wanna do a math fair.
[00:02:50] Tanya Thompson: But I had no idea what that was. So I was writing problems for a national math contest at the time. So I went to that community and was like, anybody know what a math fair was? And the director there was like, oh, I just read an article about one I'll, I'll give it to you. So he copied it, gave it to me, and it was written by a couple professors out of Alberta.
[00:03:10] Tanya Thompson: So I contacted them. They sent me like in information, and I did what was called a SNAP math fair in my school. Loved it. The kids like it really, really turned my kids on to math in a different way than a textbook could. So I was asked if I would launch it here in Ontario, where I'm from, and my first circumference where it was for teachers to learn about SNAP math fairs.
[00:03:33] Tanya Thompson: One of my mutual friends was like, Hey, bill Richie, the CEO of ThinkFun would love to come and be a speaker at your conference. And I was like. Through the moon because I was like, my first email from Bill, I was in the school library. I know. And I was like dancing around. Like I got an email from Bill Richie.
[00:03:51] Tanya Thompson: I was so excited to have that connection and so he came and spoke 'cause he was very interested. ThinkFun is all about making the world better thinkers. So he was very interested in education. So he came to my first Snap Math Fair conference in Toronto. And then, you know, it was like a year or two later, he asked me if I would come work for ThinkFun as director of education.
[00:04:14] Tanya Thompson: It was a big leap because here in Canada teachers are paid well, you know, recession proof, good pensions, all those things. But I was like, ah, I could touch more kids' lives through games and puzzles of which I love. And so I took the leap and decided to actually go work for Bill, um, with Think Fund. And then a year or so later, he was looking to pass the baton.
[00:04:37] Tanya Thompson: To somebody to do inventor relations. He'd been doing it for the first 25 years of the company and everyone was like, oh, Tanya loves meeting people and like especially the creators behind the product, so let's have her do it. And like I fell in love. I was so green at the beginning though, coming from like more of an education, mathematics, teaching background that I was like, okay, how do I do this?
[00:05:02] Tanya Thompson: What do I do like, and it's very different from the CEO doing it to like an employee doing it. So I had to figure that all out. But yeah, that's how it all began. I've been in the industry about 15 years now, so that was quite some time ago. But yeah, I came in that way, which is very odd.
[00:05:18] Azhelle Wade: I have never heard of such a thing.
[00:05:20] Tanya Thompson: Yeah,
[00:05:21] Azhelle Wade: so, so bizarre.
[00:05:23] Tanya Thompson: So bizarre.
[00:05:24] Azhelle Wade: Wait, hold on. What's a snap? Math fair? So
[00:05:26] Tanya Thompson: Snap math fair, it's basically hands-on learning. So you assign a problem or a puzzle to a student and they have to go through the process of not only solving it, but like rewriting it to something that they're interested in. So it'd be like something like.
[00:05:44] Tanya Thompson: The wolf, the goat, and the cabbage. Someone has to get them across the river, but only one can go in the boat. If you leave the wolf with the goat, you'll eat it. If you leave the goat with cabbage, you'll eat it. So how do you bring things back and forth in order to get everybody safely to the other side?
[00:05:59] Tanya Thompson: But it's so much easier 'cause there's a lot of back and forth to do stuff like that with your hands rather than tracking it in your head. Yes. So those kinds of problems are perfect for kids to build projects around. And then on the math Fair day, the whole school would participate and then everybody would be like going around trying to solve each other's problems.
[00:06:21] Tanya Thompson: And it was very playful, which is what I loved.
[00:06:24] Azhelle Wade: Wait, I'm sorry. How did Think Fun even find out about you?
[00:06:28] Tanya Thompson: So the, one of the founders of SNAP Math Fairs was a friend of Bill's. And so he was like, you know, bill was always asking him like, what's going on in education? What are you doing? What's going? And so he told Bill about my conference and so that's how he found out about it.
[00:06:47] Azhelle Wade: That is so cool. Yeah. Like that's so meant to be okay. So fast forward, how many years till you started working for Hasbro?
[00:06:54] Tanya Thompson: So, I've been at Hasbro, it'll be five years in January. It's hard to believe, but yeah, five years in January. So I went from like teaching in a classroom.
[00:07:03] Azhelle Wade: Yeah.
[00:07:03] Tanya Thompson: To like not even knowing inventor relations existed as a role to coming into the industry, getting like a lot of learning through that first job that I had at Think Fun.
[00:07:15] Tanya Thompson: I was there for eight years though. And then like suddenly doing inventor relations to suddenly now doing it for the largest game company in the world is pretty awesome.
[00:07:23] Azhelle Wade: So tell me about that first day at Hasbro. 'cause I still remember my first day at my, what I felt was like my big break, which was Toys R Us.
[00:07:31] Azhelle Wade: I was so nervous, I just felt like my stomach was gonna fall out of my body. I felt like I was so horrified. So what was your first day like?
[00:07:40] Tanya Thompson: Yeah, so my first day at HR, because I'd been doing inventor relations for some time and for a few companies before I got to Hasbro Uhhuh, I felt like pretty confident in my inventor relations skills, and I was already connected with the inventor community, but I had never worked for a corporate company before.
[00:07:58] Tanya Thompson: So HRO was by far, obviously the biggest, and the biggest I had worked at. So there was definitely some nerves, but it was more excitement because I'd been like wanting to work for H for some time. So it was my dream job, and to be honest, my first day with Hasbro was flying to Nuremberg Toy Fair, which I had.
[00:08:18] Tanya Thompson: It was my, I was like on a plane heading to Nuremberg, Germany and I had been there like multiple times before with Think Fun and other companies. Okay, okay. But it was like, okay, how is it with Hasbro, like going from like a small, you know, 10 by 20 booth with a smaller company to now like one of the giant booths in the big, big hall kind of thing.
[00:08:37] Tanya Thompson: Yeah, yeah. But thankfully Dougle Grimes was my predecessor. He now works for another company, but yeah, and he's like a blast and he was a good friend before, so I just followed him that first Nuremberg Toy Fair experience. He had said all the meetings and done all the legwork and then I just kind of followed him around there and tried to like learn the ropes of how one does Nuremberg Toy Fair, which is the biggest toy fair in the world.
[00:09:02] Tanya Thompson: Yeah. You know? On behalf of a big company kind of thing. So yeah.
[00:09:06] Azhelle Wade: That's incredible. Oh, that's great that you had someone to be there. For you. What would you say now, having had your experience, how would you define a game that is a Hasbro game? Like how would you define what makes a game A Hasbro game?
[00:09:20] Tanya Thompson: Yeah, it's a hard thing. I remember learning that as I came on board at Hasbro. Yeah. Truly. How do you go from like, what's a specialty game to what's a corporate more mass market game? So in mass market, you've gotta think about like, we're trying to do large numbers, not, you know, small numbers of games.
[00:09:42] Tanya Thompson: But then also how does one get the attention on shelf in order to have someone wanna pick up and buy it, right? So we do a lot of marketing, whether it's commercials, influencers or whatever. But then you almost have to think of it as a busy mom, a working mom. In Walmart, like there to shop for groceries and clothing for her kids.
[00:10:09] Tanya Thompson: Probably a few of them in tow or you know, piled into the cart itself. And then she's like, oh my gosh, I have to buy a birthday gift, or I wanna buy something to entertain my kids. So she's rushing through the aisle. She does not have any necessarily background with games. Whereas when you're in a specialty store, somebody's typically going to that toy store with some like discernment.
[00:10:35] Tanya Thompson: Like I know at Think Fun, we were like, they have some disposable cash. They're probably educated. Like there's a lot of things that if you're going to buy a thinking game, that you're going to buy that game and Think Fund didn't need to do a lot of marketing because they had a following, a loyal following for their brand.
[00:10:53] Tanya Thompson: So at Hasbro you're like, okay, how do we attract busy mom? But not only that, how do we appeal to her? Yeah. And that's usually a game that doesn't, it's like very easy to understand by looking at it, there's something going to be appealing and different. Everything else that she's looking at. And ultimately it does have to be fun.
[00:11:14] Tanya Thompson: We're always looking for something that's surprising. When I'm looking through submissions, I'm looking for something surprising, something that's like I find appealing in like not games. Well, I have a lot of games. I have a big collection myself 'cause I'm a big gamer. I love games, but I'm not trying to peel, to me, I'm trying to peel to the person who doesn't know a thing about games.
[00:11:37] Tanya Thompson: Yeah. So it makes it very different.
[00:11:39] Azhelle Wade: When you're trying to appeal to the mom, is there a practice that you do to get yourself in that mindset? Like as you're reviewing inventor pitches, to get yourself in the mindset of, okay, I'm a mom and I'm walking around with my kids and I'm in the store. Like, what do you do to get yourself in that
[00:11:57] Tanya Thompson: mindset?
[00:11:58] Tanya Thompson: I have so much experience with viewing, and I've been looking at games for a long time, so what I'm looking for really comes from, there's a bunch of things. There's, I mean, you could say intuition. Yeah, but what does that really mean? It comes from experience, like from seeing so many games like you, when you see a lot of games, when something surprises you and you're like.
[00:12:22] Tanya Thompson: Oh, that's interesting. Those bells go off in your head to go like, oh, pay attention to that. Because if you haven't seen it, then it's probably something that's pretty new and fresh. And then the other thing is, because I could see the newest, freshest, amazing game, but it's not up to me to decide what Hasbro will do.
[00:12:45] Tanya Thompson: I'm like the gateway or the first filter. Right. So then I have to put my, I work like on the daily with the Hasbro gaming leads so that the leads that lead all the teams at Hasbro, the gaming teams at Hasbro, and I'm in constant contact with them to, to figure out what it is that they're looking for. So I have to make that match.
[00:13:08] Tanya Thompson: So if it really was the best thing ever, I would figure out a way, like, who am I gonna show this to internally? Yeah. Because this is fantastic and I'm very, very fortunate that the games team respects my opinion. So if I show them something, they'll pay attention. The question is, can they fit it in their line?
[00:13:27] Tanya Thompson: There's so many things that they're looking at.
[00:13:30] Yeah. Um,
[00:13:31] Tanya Thompson: that to make it a viable product that I have to keep in mind. But we do like to go kind of left of center sometimes. Like literally, is this so different? It, it's so different and it's so good. So how can we make this happen? Okay.
[00:13:45] Azhelle Wade: So you've been working at Hasbro five years in this position in inventor relations.
[00:13:49] Azhelle Wade: Five years.
[00:13:49] Tanya Thompson: Yes.
[00:13:50] Azhelle Wade: How many ideas would you say you get pitched a month?
[00:13:53] Tanya Thompson: Ooh, a month. So it depends on the month, so I could tell you within a year. Okay. Um, so our team toys and games included probably see around, let's say 3000 concepts in a year, but half of that is games. Even though there's more toy brands at Hasbro than games.
[00:14:14] Tanya Thompson: Games, it's a different animal. 'cause games will change from one little thing. Between A and B of actually playing. Again, we're playing a game, but with Toy it's more about a feature. Like what, right? You could show 10 million dolls, but it's the feature of that doll that you're really looking at. So with games, it's very, very different.
[00:14:35] Tanya Thompson: We go through, we view a lot of games in order to kind of get to the ones that we're after.
[00:14:41] Azhelle Wade: Would you say games are a bit more nuanced? Like you're looking at all those nuances and the rules as opposed to what you're saying with toys, it's like, what's the mechanism and let's move on?
[00:14:49] Tanya Thompson: A hundred percent.
[00:14:51] Tanya Thompson: When I worked at Mastermind Toys, one of the smartest people in the industry was the founder. He is since retired, but he was the founder of Mastermind Toys Uhhuh, and I was lucky enough to work side by side with him. He hired me to work with him directly. Yeah, his name's John Levy, and so he had a nose.
[00:15:08] Tanya Thompson: For toys. And he had an incredibly curated toy store chain. But when we went to Astro together one time and I was like, come to game night. You gotta come to game Night, which is Envision like 25 tables where game companies sit and teach all the retailers more specialty retailers. They're games. And he hadn't gone to one.
[00:15:30] Tanya Thompson: And so we were kind of walking along the peripheral. He was kind of looking and he was like, Tanya, I get it. And I'm like, what is it you get? And he was like, so the people in this room, the retailers in this room really care about games and they know it has to be a good game. And the way to figure that out is to experience it.
[00:15:47] Tanya Thompson: Whereas I could look at a toy and know instantly if it's gonna hit, I can look at a game box and not have any clue about what's inside. So yes.
[00:15:56] Azhelle Wade: Yeah. Yeah. Okay. Since you said you get like 3000 pitches a year, what season or maybe what months do you get the most pitches?
[00:16:06] Tanya Thompson: Yeah, so definitely through Toy Fair Season, which is January and February of every year.
[00:16:11] Tanya Thompson: And then that's probably the biggest, and usually up until like COVID times, yeah, it usually revolved around different events. Right? So for instance, it was Nuremberg, London. Well, it started in Hong Kong, but then Nuremberg, London and New York Toy fairs, the Tokyo Toy Fairs a little bit later in the spring.
[00:16:33] Tanya Thompson: But it was really, the bi bulk of it came in right then because that's where inventors attend are those events. Right. And then there's, you know, we do another kind of sweep in, in the spring. So in around May, there's an event in London called DYS Toy, and then we do an event for, uh, a group of inventors like that happens in September.
[00:16:54] Tanya Thompson: So, you know, people are constantly pitching at those times. They don't have to choose the events to pitch around, but that's just like good motivation for them. Like, oh, we're going to toy fairs. We need something to show. So let's get our, you know, let's start thinking about this well in advance.
[00:17:10] Azhelle Wade: So what seasons or what months would you like to get the most pitches during?
[00:17:16] Tanya Thompson: So at HRA we're honestly looking 365 days a year. Yeah. When I worked for smaller companies, when you were launching only like, let's say five or eight products a year, I remember at ThinkFun we were searching up until July and then we kind of shut down and we were doing more development until October when it opened up again around SN Toy Fair or SN Game Fair.
[00:17:38] Tanya Thompson: So it was like, and then we started looking again through the Toy Fair season, but there was a period of time where I couldn't get anybody to make a decision on a new game because everybody was super focused on getting out the next year's product. So they weren't like thinking about the next year after the next, they were like, we need to get this out.
[00:17:59] Tanya Thompson: Then I would start searching in. So I would actually hold off vendors and say like, can you get back to me in October? But that was because we were mainly launching products at Toy Fair, but like it was like eight products or eight to 15 products in the year. Whereas at Hasbro, we are publishing products all year round in all the different markets across the world.
[00:18:19] Tanya Thompson: So there isn't really a downtime. I'm constantly seeing a product myself and Naomi. So this year I hired Naomi Brig. Nelli. Amazing. Yeah. To like help me do inventor relations for games. Hey Naomi. She loves podcast. Hey, Naomi. Yeah, so she's amazing. Such a great team that we make and it's so amazing to have her as part of the team.
[00:18:46] Azhelle Wade: Aw, well, okay. How many products,
[00:18:47] Tanya Thompson: uh,
[00:18:48] Azhelle Wade: has Rokus out a
[00:18:49] Tanya Thompson: year in games? There's a couple of hundred easily, but then there's different categories, right? If there's like a Star Wars game or if there's a, a refresh of a game. So you, you have to keep refreshing product because yeah, you're changing the box. You might be tweaking the rules, whatever.
[00:19:07] Tanya Thompson: So there's like kind of a whole gamut of different, and we like, in terms of inventors, I'll place anywhere from my highest year, I think it was 26 licenses in a year, down to probably the lowest was about 12 or 15. So it just depends on the cycle that we're in as a company and what we're looking for with those
[00:19:28] Azhelle Wade: items that you place.
[00:19:30] Azhelle Wade: Do you feel there's something different that you're expecting from your inventors or something different that you see that maybe other toy companies aren't expecting from their inventors that are coming to Hasbro? Well,
[00:19:40] Tanya Thompson: we love to be
[00:19:41] Azhelle Wade: first
[00:19:42] Tanya Thompson: at Hasbro, so let's just make that clear. But we have such a, like literally, if you think of any games.
[00:19:50] Tanya Thompson: Mass market games, especially like, you know, whether it's Jenga, game of Life, clue, monopoly, like all of those. Those are our brands, our portfolio. So we know how to do games really well and we have like a strong portfolio. And we're also launching new brands every year to include in our portfolio in terms of innovation and doing things that are new.
[00:20:12] Tanya Thompson: Like for instance, this year we launched a party game called Calab. So we're hoping that it's gonna hit and become a category as a taboo, like all those type of party games. So we're doing new end kind of classics. We're taking care of the entire portfolio.
[00:20:30] Azhelle Wade: The next question I wanted to ask was, what is the royalty range that inventors could expect when licensing an idea?
[00:20:38] Azhelle Wade: With Hasbro.
[00:20:39] Tanya Thompson: Yeah, so I can't speak to Hasbro specifically because every scenario you can think of we handle whether it's like, you know, we're licensing from something we found on Kickstarter or there's a small game company that like has a hit on its hand and then we go and license it from them. Or there's so many different.
[00:20:59] Tanya Thompson: Scenarios. There's a game we love, but we're gonna put a co-brand on it, meaning it's going to be the new twister, but your, the innovation for the new game came from you. So now we've got multiple inventors, the original and the new inventor, right? I can say standard in the industry is around 5%. That is 5% in net sales is what is standard for royalty.
[00:21:22] Tanya Thompson: And then if you're adding a character license or something like let's say a standard one, there's some really high ones, but if it's a standard, it might be closer to 3%. But you never know. There's cases, scenarios that go below and above that as well. So
[00:21:35] Azhelle Wade: I would love to break down what net sales is a little bit, and just for anybody.
[00:21:39] Azhelle Wade: That wants to know, like you have your revenue, but then below your revenue is your gross sales, and then below your gross sales is your net sales. So when we say three to 5% of net sales, that's after the cost of goods, which is like how much it costs you to make the product in China. And then that's also after the operating expenses of the business.
[00:21:59] Azhelle Wade: That's where you get your net sales. Just, I love that. I feel like it's a teaching moment. You did say Hasbro likes to be first with inventions. Is there a benefit for an inventor coming to you and saying, I have this amazing idea and I wanted to get it to you first. I just want you to know you are the first one to see it, but it won't say this way for long.
[00:22:17] Azhelle Wade: Is that a benefit to tell you that?
[00:22:20] Tanya Thompson: I think transparency between us in a partnership, because when you're working with us at Hasbro, we're not looking for one-offs, right? We're not looking for the first, which could be your one is absolutely fine, but we're really looking more to build. Relationships and build partnerships with the people that we work with.
[00:22:41] Tanya Thompson: And so we just ask for transparency. So if you are showing us something and then you're like, you know what? I got a show coming up and I'm gonna be here and we're gonna show it, let's say X amount of time from now, then it's always helpful because I have a standard process that I put everything through in order to get it evaluated and viewed.
[00:23:01] Tanya Thompson: And so if I have to work outside of that process because you're gonna be, you know, somewhere sometime, then me knowing it, I can get an answer for you if I can quicker kind of thing. It's almost like at Toy Fair, it's always a little bit different than like a normal time of year because you're doing meetings in a row back to back with a lot of other companies.
[00:23:23] Tanya Thompson: So if we see something that we really love, we might option it on the spot, which is unusual outside of Toy Fair Time.
[00:23:31] Azhelle Wade: Does it make it more appealing if, you know somebody else hasn't seen it? It
[00:23:34] Tanya Thompson: is nice when it hasn't seen the light of day, but quite honestly what's most important is it fits what we're looking for.
[00:23:41] Tanya Thompson: So we've even like, oh, here's a product. It was once on market, you know, in 1995, we're bringing it back and if it hits something for us, then we will like look at it. And right now there's a real appeal in the market for more like nostalgia and vintage products. So a lot of us are looking at the oldies and kind of going like, oh yeah, do you remember Grape Escape?
[00:24:05] Tanya Thompson: Or do you remember, you know, girl Talk or for Bridge or for all talk. Yeah. Right. And so it's like people, there's a window there where people that. Like have fond memories of playing it when they were kids are then suddenly now having kids and want to share that with their own children. It doesn't really matter.
[00:24:25] Tanya Thompson: But definitely the new stuff is important because the bulk of what we wanna do in terms of the new brands is gonna be new. We launched so many, some might be vol products, some might be new products, et cetera.
[00:24:40] Azhelle Wade: What is the process like to pitch with Hasbro? They all go through your spark and mentor relations platform, right?
[00:24:47] Tanya Thompson: So there's a couple of ways, but yes, the Spark Hasbro website is a portal that if you can't reach me or Naomi and we're only two people trying to do everything right? Right. But you have a game that you think is really amazing for Hasbro. You can go to um, the portal and submit your concept and we're still gonna end up seeing it likely or there's some filtering that happens before it gets to us.
[00:25:16] Tanya Thompson: But it's a legitimate portal 'cause I've licensed stuff off the Spark portal. And then that is a way where you can like tomorrow submit something. It is right now only for the US So because of legal reasons, it is only. Available for people who live in the US but we are in the process right now of making it go global.
[00:25:42] Tanya Thompson: Whereas if you're in Germany or the UK or wherever, you could submit through that portal as well. But right now it is currently just in the US
[00:25:50] Azhelle Wade: because I know even when we meet, 'cause we've, I've pitched to you and even when we meet, you still put things through the platform.
[00:25:55] Tanya Thompson: So a Spark, the has.com is one way where people pitch without knowing us.
[00:26:01] Tanya Thompson: Okay. Let's say we meet through you or something. Mm-hmm. Through a common contact. Then the first thing we do is get them under our NDA and then we go from there. Like you can pitch us, you email us, we schedule an in-person or video conference meeting so that you explain the concept to us. We put it in our platform called Ignite, and then it goes from there.
[00:26:24] Tanya Thompson: Okay.
[00:26:25] Azhelle Wade: So Spark is the public facing platform that people can submit to. But the one I was thinking of when we met must have been Ignite. 'cause you were submitting to that. I wasn't.
[00:26:34] Tanya Thompson: Correct. So when we met, you signed our NDA and then we were off to the races. Right? So then we scheduled the meeting, we got on Teams or Zoom or whatever.
[00:26:44] Tanya Thompson: Mm-hmm. And then you showed us your kind of like, you know, you went down your list and showed us your different games.
[00:26:49] Yeah. While
[00:26:50] Tanya Thompson: you are showing us the games we're writing. And it's in a platform called Ignite. So thankfully Ignite was created for H, we built the entire platform ourselves. I'm so thankful 'cause I can't keep it all straight.
[00:27:03] Tanya Thompson: Like not 3000 concepts in my head.
[00:27:05] No,
[00:27:06] Tanya Thompson: and I'm definitely thankful 'cause I used to do this at Think Fun. It would be like a carbon copy writing, like, and then you gotta go back, you gotta scan it. Like, oh my goodness. So at Hasbro before my time, there's a platform built, but it's only, let's say you even who is connected with us, you are like, oh, I have a new idea from somebody.
[00:27:24] Tanya Thompson: Let me just go enter it into Ignite. No, legally that can't be done. We have to control what goes into, so you have a profile when you meet with us, we start a new record every time for every game. New game that you show us. Yeah. And then it helps us track that as well, because everything that's in Ignite is how we then go and pitch it into the company, to the different teams.
[00:27:49] Tanya Thompson: Yeah. So with
[00:27:49] Azhelle Wade: Ignite, once you have it submitted, like you guys have taken it, you've taken notes and you've submitted it, it goes to your team. About how long does it take on average to hear back from your team of whether or not this is gonna go to the next step, or if this is just dropped?
[00:28:03] Tanya Thompson: Yes. In our meeting, I'm writing all the notes, like I'm writing a description, for instance.
[00:28:08] Tanya Thompson: Right. And I, I can either reject it on submission, right? Like, yeah, I know it's not right for us. I'm gonna pass on this. Nothing. Further for you to do except one thing, and I'll get to that in a second. Or there's some there that I'm really interested in. So what happens is after you submit and we have our meeting and I've written descriptions, maybe I took a picture of the screen when you were showing it.
[00:28:31] Tanya Thompson: Then you get an email. When I'm done, I hit like done in the system. Then it goes to your email from Ignite, not from me, but from Ignite. Yep. And says like, first of all, do you agree that you showed Tanya these concepts and the descriptions are basically right. So then the system asks you to sign, that's a legal step.
[00:28:52] Tanya Thompson: Mm-hmm. And then after that, it sends you a link. To say, please upload all the things that I wanted. So usually it's a video, it's a hero image, it's a set of rules. Like those are the three main things that we want. Mm-hmm. So then it's in your court to upload those things, because then I use those things to pitch it into the company.
[00:29:16] Tanya Thompson: So, so let's say now you've uploaded everything, you're good to go. It's now back in my court. Then what I have to do is I have to slot it into a future meeting where I'm pitching to the game teams and I have to figure out who and how I wanna pitch it. So I, I become you essentially and representing your game.
[00:29:35] Tanya Thompson: Yeah. Which is why I, we have to do it in person because I wanna, like, if I've got lots of questions or I don't understand a little rule or something, I can just ask you and get it straight in my head.
[00:29:46] Got it.
[00:29:46] Tanya Thompson: So then I get it in front of a team. Typically, that will take one to two months in order for me to get it.
[00:29:54] Tanya Thompson: Pitch it into the internal team. Mm-hmm. And then they decide we like it or we don't. If they don't like it, I get feedback so that I can pass it on to you as to why we passed. If they like it. The next step is typically a prototype, so our records better than two months, but I always say that because if we're in the middle of toy Fair and I'm on the road for two weeks, then it, it might take two months to get it in front of everybody, but we try not in games to let it go further than two months in that initial waiting for me to pitch it.
[00:30:27] Tanya Thompson: Stage. So then I pitch it and the team loves it. So then the next step is always can we get a prototype? Because they need to play the game. They need to test the game. They need to see if it's as good as your video represented. Once you send the prototype in, and this is all in Ignite, like it's a new stage.
[00:30:43] Tanya Thompson: Either I drop it or I'm like internal material requested kind of thing. And so then I say, can you please send this prototype to this address? Then you send in the prototype. From the moment we get the prototype, now the clock really starts ticking. We have typically two months to evaluate it to see if we are interested.
[00:31:05] Tanya Thompson: Before we kind of put money behind it or some sort of agreement. So then that, it's called a pre-op option stage, so that's usually eight weeks or two months where the team now has it in their hands. They have your prototype, they're playing it, they're evaluating it. Yeah. To see if it's amongst all the other things they're looking at, including internal concepts, which bubbles to the top for them.
[00:31:30] Tanya Thompson: And then after that, we either pass on it, right, because their valuation set prove that whatever direction that they can't take it, or we then move into an option stage. And I don't know if you want me to get into that too, but that would be where, go for it. Okay. Where we would pay you money to hold it any.
[00:31:51] Tanya Thompson: Any longer. And it's usually, um, I guess the option can vary. Standard is like $5,000 a month, but it could be lower. It could be higher. Well, it's not typically higher, but it could be a lot lower for whatever reason.
[00:32:07] Azhelle Wade: Some more.
[00:32:07] Tanya Thompson: Yeah, it's less. I, I haven't typically seen more in an option unless it's a development option where you're doing additional development for us.
[00:32:15] Tanya Thompson: But anyway, I see
[00:32:16] Azhelle Wade: more in a toy that was patented. But I also think that that's depends on the experience of the toy company doing the optioning, right? Because sometimes when they don't have a lot of experience, they just don't do a lot of inventor items, they're a little bit more free and then they're like, oh, I've learned from my mistakes and let's not do that again.
[00:32:33] Tanya Thompson: That's, uh, yeah. Right, right, right. Yeah, I'm sure it would. And then we go into option. For a month or two. And that's where they're like putting it into fund lab, which is our testing part of the company. We are costing it with the factory. We are talking to markets, seeing what the forecast can be on the product and if they're interested or not.
[00:32:53] Tanya Thompson: Like all those. And when I say markets like has Germany, has uk, like our markets around the world, and then at the end of that option period, we decide whether we're gonna go to contract or whether we're gonna pass.
[00:33:07] Azhelle Wade: Thank you. That was beautiful. I think there's a whole interview right there. Okay. I know you've seen so many pitches and have you ever though seen a pitch come through or seen something get through to the test phase or the option phase and you already know that this is gonna be an evergreen item or it has evergreen potential?
[00:33:26] Tanya Thompson: It's, it's funny because we are looking for games that are gonna last a really long time.
[00:33:32] Yeah. But
[00:33:33] Tanya Thompson: in mass market, sometimes you've got the success of games that have been around for 25 years or more. But there's also been a lot of, you know, royalties paid on games that were super successful but then fell at a favor after three, three years kind of thing.
[00:33:50] Tanya Thompson: Mm-hmm. So it's not everybody hopes for an evergreen, meaning a game that's gonna be in our line for a very long time. But there you're gonna see ebbs and flows. And if the game doesn't initially hit. Then it's probably going, going to come back to you at some point because we couldn't get it, you know, sold in or sold through.
[00:34:10] Tanya Thompson: Really, the market didn't respond to it, but there's other games that are like, let's say Pieface, which was a huge hit in 2016. 2016,
[00:34:19] yeah.
[00:34:19] Tanya Thompson: Well that was an anomaly that you know of how that happened. Well, because there was so it was like a perfect storm, right? Because that game's been in the market before, and not only that, it was pitched to ALM almost everybody and rejected.
[00:34:33] Tanya Thompson: For a long time. Then it got into market by that person going and bringing it to market themselves. And then that organic video, I, if you haven't seen it, you should, the grandfather and the grandson playing pieface with just the laughter that was, and then it just went viral and then suddenly everybody had a point of reference.
[00:34:54] Tanya Thompson: Oh my god, that whipped cream game, that pie in the face game. And then what h was able to do is make sure it was on the shelf so that when you went looking for it, we could do the volume needed in order to, everybody that wanted one could actually buy one. So, but that was crazy numbers that, that the game actually sold.
[00:35:13] Tanya Thompson: But it's, it's gonna level out at some point, right? It's not like we we're gonna like run outta plastic if that like kept going at state. There's some crazy stat that I can't remember, like it sold more than Monopoly in Polies given Best Year. It was crazy. Crazy. We sold a lot of units in that year. So
[00:35:32] Azhelle Wade: you are bringing up a good question 'cause some of my students have come to me and said, you know, I have this great idea, but I'm not sure if I should just try to develop it and build some virality around it myself, and then try to pitch it.
[00:35:45] Azhelle Wade: Or maybe they've tried to pitch it, like you said, and it didn't get placed and they don't wanna give up on it. But they're worried if I bring it to market, all of the documents I sign say this idea has never been brought to market. Right. You know, so then they're like, well, but how can I show that it's gonna be a good idea and make it viral if I'm not allowed to show it?
[00:36:05] Azhelle Wade: And like what comes first?
[00:36:06] Tanya Thompson: Yeah, so it depends. It depends on the company. I've worked for companies before where we didn't like it when something had been been on the market before.
[00:36:14] Yeah.
[00:36:15] Tanya Thompson: But it has, or we really, it doesn't matter. As long as we have a place for it in our line and it's a great game, then it doesn't really matter.
[00:36:23] Tanya Thompson: In fact, if you did, let's say you kickstarted it, right? Yeah. And it was a huge success. Then that shows us something that there's like, there's an appeal for it in the market. So it's not a knock against it at all. Would
[00:36:38] Azhelle Wade: you say in a pitch meeting it would be good to have a slide or, or a part in your sizzle that says, we've raised, I don't know, a hundred thousand dollars, be a Kickstarter with 9,000 backers or something.
[00:36:48] Azhelle Wade: Is that impressive? Yeah, for sure.
[00:36:51] Tanya Thompson: To include that if it's been on, because we're gonna go, like, it's better to disclose it anyway, regardless of the numbers, just because it's, it really does come down to the game. Okay. So if it was like an exploding kittens or something that was like a record breaker, then yes, we, that is like something we would definitely like wide-eyed, look at it very closely kind of thing.
[00:37:17] Tanya Thompson: Mm-hmm. But if you went to MAR and it sold small numbers, it doesn't really matter. 'cause we're really looking at the idea itself because I've licensed games. We have one coming out later this year that it didn't do well. It sold like, I don't know, it, it was like, I wanna say. They barely made their minimum and the numbers weren't great at at it, but we didn't care because the game was so great and the story behind the game was so great.
[00:37:47] Tanya Thompson: So it, I would just disclose it anyway because it'd be really weird if I'm pitching it in something new and then they're doing research and they're like, wait a minute, Tanya, we just saw this. Kickstarter link. Is this the same game? That's never really good, so that's
[00:38:02] Azhelle Wade: a good point. Yeah. Yeah. Like
[00:38:04] Tanya Thompson: people, transparency is best.
[00:38:06] Azhelle Wade: Yeah. I feel like people don't realize when they're pit, you might be pitching to Tanya, but what you don't realize is Tanya's pitching to her team and she wants to show up as an expert. So if you make Tanya look like she's not an expert, then she's gonna look at you like, oh, I never wanna deal with them again.
[00:38:19] Azhelle Wade: 'cause they're gonna make me look like a fool. It's not quite that drastically.
[00:38:23] Tanya Thompson: I'm dramatic. Ignore me. But I would just say to them, oh, they didn't tell me that.
[00:38:28] Yeah. And
[00:38:28] Tanya Thompson: so then, but it just leaves like with the team as well. Like, oh, I wonder why they didn't say that. Because most people do. Right. So, and then it's more for me, a question of like, oh.
[00:38:40] Tanya Thompson: Maybe, you know, honest mistakes sometimes it's not like I'm going to like automatically judge you because you didn't disclose something. You did that all the time. Then I'd probably go like, oh, I wonder, you know, uh, about their transparency. But otherwise it's just best to let us know kind of what you've done with a game before.
[00:38:59] Azhelle Wade: Well, someone might be thinking now, well, I done didn't have a Kickstarter that was really successful, but I did sell about a hundred or so units to family, friends of friends, random people on the internet. But it never got bigger than that. Then they worry, should I still show it to Hasbro even though I've already kind of sold it and people love it, but it's not huge.
[00:39:22] Azhelle Wade: Would you still wanna hear that or does
[00:39:23] Tanya Thompson: that make it look less appealing? It's not really gonna make a difference. Like if you sold a hundred units, it'd be like, oh, okay, you got a hundred friends and family that are interested in your game. It doesn't really, it's more of a matter like, okay, so that if somebody happened to, you know, connect with one of those copies out there when they're evaluating the game, they just know it.
[00:39:45] Tanya Thompson: But it doesn't really, like a hundred units is like, so it's just not. That important in terms of moving the needle for us. It's nice that you did that and everything and it's good, but it's, it'd be more that if it was like, let's say it was in retail, right? And then we go to a retail partner and they're like, wait a minute, we've seen this game before.
[00:40:09] Tanya Thompson: Like that, that wouldn't be so good. So it's more retail. But if you're just like going to game crafter or some, you know, Kinkos and you're printing off some units, then I mean that's, that's fine. Okay.
[00:40:21] Azhelle Wade: Let's get into prototypes and sizzles. 'cause these are the things that you need to pitch everywhere. I've seen so far.
[00:40:26] Azhelle Wade: Everybody wants a sizzle, they wanna prototype. So let's start with prototypes. If a product, like if a game involves electronics Yep. Or maybe a mechanism to, to drive the gameplay. How finished does that prototype need to be? Back in the day I saw videos of the bop, it just being like taped together and all that stuff.
[00:40:48] Azhelle Wade: It does that still fly today?
[00:40:51] Tanya Thompson: So I think it depends on the relationship, to be honest. Like, yes, when Dan pitched bop it at the beginning, it was a foam core remote thing that was like, you just hid it and it, he made the sound bop it, you know, whatever. But if you, if I didn't know you kind of thing and you came to me for the first time and then you had mainly foam core models, if it's something like bop it, I get it.
[00:41:20] Tanya Thompson: Okay. I, you know, I, I get the fact, but we prefer to see a model because what we're gonna do now these days of put it into testing, right? So it's, it's gonna go faster into testing if you have a testable playable model that we can use for our testing. So, and it's all confidential in house at Hasbro, but we get people that come in and we pay them to be play testers.
[00:41:43] Tanya Thompson: But if you're game. Is claiming to do something really special like this is, this part is gonna fly 20 feet in the air and you show it to me as like a foam core model, and then you throw it in the air going, this will pop 20. Like, and then people have to run around and catch it kind of thing. I need to see that that is what you're saying can happen actually happen.
[00:42:08] Tanya Thompson: Or sometimes, like when we see something and it's more like renderings and drawings.
[00:42:14] Yeah. And
[00:42:15] Tanya Thompson: we're not even sure if, because they've looked at trying to do it in house and we're looking at it and they're like, we don't think that physically is possible, or it's gonna do what they claim. Then it, it's a little bit, I've seen people pass on it because they're like, uh, we don't even think that's possible, so we're not gonna waste our time with, you know, getting you to go forward and do a model as a next stage kind of thing.
[00:42:39] Tanya Thompson: So it really, it really depends. I, I would say. That it, because people say the same thing about like, do you wanna sketch on a napkin or does it have to be, if it's your first meeting with me, I hope you're not pitching to me on a napkin because that isn't a good impression. But if I've been working with you for five, 10 or whatever years and you're like, Tina, I've got this idea and you sketch it on a napkin a hundred percent.
[00:43:03] Tanya Thompson: I know your background, so I'm gonna listen. '
[00:43:04] Azhelle Wade: cause you know that they can actually follow through and make a prototype when you need one. That's right. You know that they wouldn't pitch something that would be unrealistic. 'cause they understand the process. That's essentially what it is. Exactly. I, I wanna say this, I know I can't say much 'cause we were in a meeting, a confidential meeting, but I remember we were in a meeting, a pitch meeting, and a student was pitching.
[00:43:21] Azhelle Wade: One of my students was pitching something and they had a computer rendering. And I remember you loved the idea, but you were like. Can I see proof of concept? And they were like, oh. And I was, I remember thinking like, oh no, like where's your proof of concept? And they had this rendering and they had, they had like existing products in the world that if combined could do the thing that they said it could do.
[00:43:48] Azhelle Wade: But you wanted to see it combine doing the thing they said it could do. So what do you say about computer renderings? When are they enough? Are they not enough? Why in that, I don't know if you remember what the situation was, but why in that moment did you want to just see that proof of concept? What happened?
[00:44:04] Tanya Thompson: Well, it's because you're combining things that I'm wondering if what you say is gonna happen is really gonna happen. Yeah. If it's, if it's a matter of, and ultimately the team does wanna prototype because they wanna test it and. Right now, it's not like they will believe in something from a sketch and then go to our own model facilities and get it built out when they're not sure it's gonna happen in the first place.
[00:44:32] Tanya Thompson: Right? If it's something like, let's say it's a. Just a popping, we would never want this because there's too many of them on the market. But let's say it was a popping head off of a chicken, right? You're, you're running around and then his head pops off. Okay. We don't need to see that necessarily because we've already seen it.
[00:44:50] Tanya Thompson: We can make heads or things pop off other things, but then there has to be something super special about it otherwise, because we've seen that a million times.
[00:45:00] Right.
[00:45:00] Tanya Thompson: So it's normally though, like, especially if you're new, it's, it's like when we see a rendering, the, the team really does these days wanna see a prototype for a proof of concept.
[00:45:13] Tanya Thompson: Yeah. Because we get so many that we, that already do prototypes, right? So if it's sitting where like, oh, it's just surrendering, we've got somebody else that has built out a model. Then we're probably gonna go with this person because they've already done the work and we can just bring it in and like start like evaluating the game itself, not the mechanism.
[00:45:32] Azhelle Wade: So that I think is the best way to look at it because I have definitely have students come, well actually before they're, my students come to me and say, oh, I have this great idea. It's all thought out, but it's a rendering. And then I tell them, you need to make a prototype. And they're like, really can't like Hasbro's team do that?
[00:45:47] Azhelle Wade: And I'm like, okay. But that's essentially what they're paying you for. And but what you just said is such a good point of everybody else is doing in this. It's kind of like with social media, when TikTok started taking off a real, started taking off, those people are getting traction because they're doing the new thing, they're taking it to the next level.
[00:46:06] Azhelle Wade: And you can't expect to get the same traction if you don't take it to the next level. So I think that's a really good comparison. Just you have to do prototypes because everyone's doing prototypes and if you wanna be competitive, this is where you've gotta be at. I think that's a great way to explain that.
[00:46:21] Azhelle Wade: And then sizzles. Sizzles are the other way. Uh, to show your idea. How do you feel about sizzles? Do you love 'em? Do you hate 'em?
[00:46:29] Tanya Thompson: Oh, I love them. In fact, I would almost make them mandatory because it, like when I first started inventor relations, they were like few and far between. Inventors would walk around toy fairs and you always knew an inventor because they had a big suitcase that they were rolling behind them.
[00:46:45] Tanya Thompson: 'cause they had all the prototypes in those suitcases, right? Now an inventor could be one walking around with an iPad because they've got all their videos on the iPad. Before I see a model, hold a model, let's say I need to find out if the team is interested in your idea. Because if I, if I had to put models in front of them every time in order, we would, there'd be so many models coming, like 3000 models coming in and outta the company.
[00:47:16] Tanya Thompson: It's unnecessary. We can tell from a video if it's of interest and then we get the model, because then, then we wanna do all the things to it. But just that initial, initial is there any interest in your concept can be done through a video. So sizzle videos are super important. I pitch in mostly through videos.
[00:47:36] Tanya Thompson: And the reason why I love them is because you are the one doing the video and it's your idea. So who better to explain this with enthusiasm, gusto, and creativity than me. Right. And it used to be where you could pitch through like writing or other things, but it's just not, it's not good. Or even I've had people have PowerPoints now, depending on the game, like if it's just a card game with things changing hands or something like that, yeah, you can probably do it on Tabletop Simulator or one of those platforms and record the card shuffling around.
[00:48:11] Tanya Thompson: That's fine. I don't need to see physical cards shuffling around, but I do need a video of you, a sizzle video of you explaining game so that I can pitch it forward. One of the biggest barriers of evaluating games on Spark is the videos are really horrible.
[00:48:29] Yeah. And
[00:48:29] Tanya Thompson: the rules don't. Portray the energy or the excitement of the game.
[00:48:34] Tanya Thompson: So, or they just, the video is somebody silently just spanning over the table with their prototype on it and I'm like, that tells me nothing. Yeah. Except I see your prototype, but I need to know about the game, not about how it looks kind of thing. So, so we're trying to actually produce a video so that we can share that with people so that they know exactly what we think a good sizzle video is.
[00:49:00] Azhelle Wade: Well, I know you and I always compare Kickstarter to videos to being much like what sizzle videos should be. Were there any Kickstarter videos that you thought, oh, that's. Essentially an amazing sizzle video.
[00:49:11] Tanya Thompson: Not really. I do reference Kickstarter videos as if you're wondering what sizzle videos. Go look at it.
[00:49:17] Tanya Thompson: Yeah, go look through Kickstarter. Some of those Kickstarter videos are super polished. Yeah. And we're not looking for super polished, but if you, I've done this, if I watch a Kickstarter video and I come out going, what is the game about? And then I gotta scroll down to look at the rules. That's not a good video.
[00:49:33] Tanya Thompson: So, so what I always say, there's a few things. I have like four points if you want me to go over them about Yes, please. What I, okay, so a sizzle video should be around two minutes now. Because we are, um, now doing, we have a Avalon Hill Games team, so they do more complicated games. So I will say to you that generally two minutes is the best.
[00:49:57] Tanya Thompson: But if you have something that's super complicated, you might be able to get away with someone between four and five minutes. But it better be a complicated game because if it's a simple game and you take four to five minutes to tell the story, then it's way too long and people are gonna shut it off at probably a minute.
[00:50:14] Tanya Thompson: Yeah.
[00:50:14] Yeah.
[00:50:14] Tanya Thompson: So it, ideally I would start with like an introduction of your like name and the game name and, and who you are or the company that you are. And sometimes people do that through a nice, like little flashy logo. But again, I don't really care about your production value for these sizzle videos.
[00:50:30] Tanya Thompson: It has to have good content and it has to be well done, but it doesn't have to be professionally done. Right. So the most important part, and the third part is to explain the game. So what this means is like how many players, how long does it take to play the game? Like, explain this to me. What, what is the goal of the game?
[00:50:49] Tanya Thompson: So how do I win? Take me through a turn of the game so I can get a sense of how the game is played. Please take me through a turn of the game. Because even when people pitch live, they'll tell me the objective and these are the fancy things that happen and this explodes and this mechanism does that. But if I'm like, okay, but I still need to understand like.
[00:51:13] Tanya Thompson: What happens on a turn in order to understand the game. So that's really important. Make sure you highlight the best features of the game. So what makes your game unique And get to the point quickly. Like I always said, when for in-person pitches, like stack the deck, like don't, don't wait for the 10th draw to, for something to exciting to happen.
[00:51:32] Tanya Thompson: Yes. Stack the deck before you see me and make it be the first thing that happens, kind of thing. Yeah. Or don't roll the dice and randomly, you know, you're gonna land somewhere. But it wasn't really wanted you to say like, oh, you roll the dice and let's say you get a three. Yeah. And that takes me right where I wanna be.
[00:51:48] Tanya Thompson: Don't focus on showing you, like in the video, you can be in the frame, but don't focus on like, you up here and then there's something on the table going down. I need to see the game. So make sure that you are in the game and I wanna see your prototype in action. I've seen people do like, almost like it's like a PowerPoint and they're going from slide to slide and they're like, this card moves here and that does that.
[00:52:12] Tanya Thompson: But it's a static image. So if you, it's really important to kind of like show what you're saying so I can get a sense like I'm there of playing it as, as does the team if it, it, make sure that it's a good. In the video proof of concept of what you're saying it's gonna do. So if you say, you know, again, back to the other chicken head reference, like the chicken head pops 10 feet in the air.
[00:52:34] Tanya Thompson: Well show me that it does that. Show me how it does that kind of thing. Make your mechanism do what you're saying it should do. Don't use texts or captions while at the same time showing something you want us to watch and see. Yes. So many times there'll be something really exciting that you're shuffling on the table, but then there's a rule that pops up and then I'm like, oh, am I supposed to read that or watch that?
[00:52:59] Tanya Thompson: And oftentimes I'll do what my eye attracts to and then I miss the rule of the game or the information that you're trying to show me. I always think
[00:53:07] Azhelle Wade: text should just reaffirm something that's being said at that point in the video.
[00:53:12] Tanya Thompson: Yeah, yeah, yeah. Music is fine if it's not too loud or distracting. In fact, I like music.
[00:53:18] Tanya Thompson: 'cause music it especially like, it's important for the music that you choose. Like if you're trying to be hip and current, don't choose something from the 1950s. Yeah. Unless for some reason is cool. Again, you, it, it really does set a tone. And I like when people use music as long as it doesn't, it's, it doesn't distract.
[00:53:39] Tanya Thompson: Sometimes we'll mute things because it's like, oh, it, we don't need that music. But then it has to be a good choice and it has to be at the right level. So that's what I'm like saying to pay attention to. And if it matches the theme of the game, like if it's almost like great ambiance to if you were playing the game, that's, that's a good piece of music to choose.
[00:53:57] Tanya Thompson: And then lastly, in terms of the video, the explaining part is have fun. Like please let your passion shine through because you are the best person to be explaining your game to everybody else in the world that's gonna see it. And we wanna see your passion. I see so many videos and if you are sitting there kind of.
[00:54:17] Tanya Thompson: Dredging along, then it brings me down and I'm like, ah, I'm not really sure if this is gonna be fun. So like, just be really upbeat and excited and let your personality show through, or at least your passion for the game show through. So, and then at the end I always say like, if you have something to say about your background, then you can impart that as well.
[00:54:39] Tanya Thompson: So like for instance, I'm new to you Hasbro, but I've already got 20 games on the market, or I've already done this one hit that was really good. Or I am an electrical engineer and this is an electrically engineered game. Or, I work for nasa and this is a, like, if there's something for you to tell me that brings credibility to your concept, then don't forget to put that in typically at the end kind of thing.
[00:55:03] Tanya Thompson: But it could go in the upfront as well. So it's uh, and if you're trying to do a game that is showing like, Hey, this is really hot on TikTok, then put a little tidbit in the video to say Yep. You know, this is really hot right now. I've recognized this. That shows me that you're paying attention to like current trends and then go into your game.
[00:55:24] Tanya Thompson: So that can go in the upfront as well, like kind of like, here's where I was inspired to do this game.
[00:55:29] Azhelle Wade: Yeah, love that. That's great. That's
[00:55:31] Tanya Thompson: a lot, but that's video. Perfect.
[00:55:34] Azhelle Wade: Okay, so now I feel like people might be wondering, how do I get onboarded to spark?
[00:55:40] Tanya Thompson: So Spark, which is the public facing portal, all you have to do is go to spark.hasbro.com and there's some words there.
[00:55:49] Tanya Thompson: Read through it. It tells you what you have to do, and then it's like ready to submit your idea and then you click it. There'll be a legal thing that you have to read through first, and then it'll allow you to, to upload your concept.
[00:56:00] Azhelle Wade: Uh, let me go through the last couple pitch questions with pitches. Do you think it's helpful when people have a supplemental PowerPoint?
[00:56:08] Azhelle Wade: When I'm pitching
[00:56:09] Tanya Thompson: it in you, you probably have one shot, unless there's some peaked interest. They'll, they'll watch your video and they'll get a sense of the game, whether they're not, they'll open the. PowerPoint and they'll click through all the slides of the power PowerPoint. I cannot guarantee, but I will do, they will watch the video.
[00:56:26] Tanya Thompson: So it's not
[00:56:27] Azhelle Wade: a one sheet
[00:56:28] Tanya Thompson: again, one sheet is, you'll probably saying everything you need in the video itself. So all of those things are totally fine. Like I am, I'm saying if you have them, feel free to upload them into, into Ignite Right, or into Spark or wherever you, you can definitely provide those to me.
[00:56:46] Tanya Thompson: And I definitely want the rules and I definitely want a hero image, but in terms of presentations or one sheets, those are, you don't have to have those. They're nice to have and they're nice more for me to read through than necessarily it's being used to pitch. You do still want a rule sheet? The rules I definitely want as a separate, uh, document.
[00:57:10] Tanya Thompson: And it's simply because if the team gets into it and starts discussing it, it's kind of like, oh, what happens here? Whether or this seems a little hinky, what about that? Then if we have the rules, we can refer to it as, and of course we can rewrite the rules and it can be different, but it's usually like, but we wanna know what your best vision is kind of thing and rules.
[00:57:30] Tanya Thompson: It's not advantageous to say, you can play this game 10 different ways. I know. Oh my gosh. I
[00:57:35] Azhelle Wade: know. It's like, don't do that. Don't do that one, one pitch. Just make it 10 different pitches. If that's the case.
[00:57:42] Tanya Thompson: Yes. Or like say, this is the best version. So play that and if you wanna see more, check out the rules for variations, but, ah, don't try and, and teach me 10 things because I'm like, you'll lose me
[00:57:53] Azhelle Wade: when an inventor pitches to you.
[00:57:55] Azhelle Wade: Yeah. If you say maybe to their idea, oh, does that mean you expect them to not pitch to anyone else?
[00:58:00] Tanya Thompson: No, no, there's like, do I hope that you're transparent with me such that it's really bad if I get the team all excited about a game and then I come back to you and I'm like, oh, we're really interested. And you're like, oh, I'm so sorry.
[00:58:15] Tanya Thompson: I just signed this with a different company. That's never good 'cause it's awkward. 'cause then now I gotta go back. And why? You know, why didn't you tell? Like was there ever an opportunity that we could have got in on the game or the table? At the table, you know, whatever. So that's why. Transparency is important.
[00:58:33] Tanya Thompson: We don't expect you to stop showing other people unless we're contractually on an option or something like that. Yeah. Because then it comes off the table from others, but in that first initial period. But if you're like, that's why it's like helpful that if you're like, Hey, we're about to go show, it doesn't really matter.
[00:58:51] Tanya Thompson: Like we're gonna, or like, Hey, we're getting a lot of interest in this. Just to let you know. If you wanna get this in front of your team sooner, then those are always helpful for us to know. But we don't, we can't, we can't expect you to not show anybody else. So.
[00:59:06] Azhelle Wade: Exactly. Okay. I'm gonna close out, if that's okay, with a lightning round that you've done with me before for email do's and don'ts.
[00:59:15] Azhelle Wade: Are you ready? I'm ready. Okay. So this is gonna be a lightning round called email Do's and don'ts, and this is to teach you all listening how you should be communicating via email. There are tons of connections being made via email more than ever, and everybody wants to stand out, but some people, as we know can take it too far.
[00:59:34] Azhelle Wade: So I'm going to name some email misfires and wins that have landed in my own inbox that I've heard have happened to other people. And Tanya, I just want you to yell out if it's a do or a don't. Okay. Okay. Okay, we go. All caps in the subject line. Don't pitching your toy idea in the email body. Don't sending an introduction email for an invitation to pitch.
[00:59:56] Azhelle Wade: Oh, do sending your sizzle video unsolicited.
[00:59:59] Tanya Thompson: Don't
[01:00:00] Azhelle Wade: DMing Tanya on Instagram to send her your sizzle video.
[01:00:04] Tanya Thompson: Don't
[01:00:06] Azhelle Wade: twister or Jenga your personal preference. Go asking if a toy company works with inventors, you can do that. Yeah. Do asking if there is a wishlist that you have to share. Do using the phrase, I have the next monopoly in your email.
[01:00:21] Tanya Thompson: Ooh, don't
[01:00:22] Azhelle Wade: sending a we transfer link with the materials? With your pitch materials.
[01:00:26] Tanya Thompson: Oh, don't.
[01:00:27] Azhelle Wade: Why?
[01:00:28] Tanya Thompson: Because for us, we're gonna see that when we're together. I don't need it in an email. If anything, if you think your internet's not gonna be strong or it's gonna be spotty and we've already got our meetings set, you could send me that.
[01:00:43] Tanya Thompson: But like, definitely don't use Dropbox because Hasbro blocks Dropbox, we have our own platform where it's like, here, I'll give you invite to our system and then you can, it's called blast. You can blast me big files, but I don't, I don't really need it. I prefer it almost, unless the Internet's glitchy. I like it when you share screen and you talk me through it and you show it and you can control it that way.
[01:01:08] Tanya Thompson: I don't have time to, to look at things typically in, in advance of the meeting. Yeah. So it's like just as well for me to see it during, but again, the only time I'd make that exception is if it's like we've gotta MO meeting coming up. It's already scheduled. You have something but you're not sure you're gonna be able to show it on the day, 'cause your computer or whatever.
[01:01:30] Tanya Thompson: Then I would say, okay, blast it to me and then I'll make sure I download it before the meeting so that we can go through it together.
[01:01:37] Azhelle Wade: Okay. Perfect. Thank you. This was an incredible interview, Tanya. I really appreciate you taking the time. I hope you had fun.
[01:01:44] Tanya Thompson: Oh yeah, of course. I love it. I love it. I love talking to you and I love what you're doing.
[01:01:49] Tanya Thompson: Aw. So I wanna support you any way that I can, so Absolutely, a hundred percent. I loved it.
[01:01:55] Azhelle Wade: Thank you. This is gonna be extremely helpful. I can't wait to get it out there. Sweet. Awesome. All right, take care. Okay, thanks. Well, there you have a toy people, my interview with Tanya Thompson, head of inventor relations at Hasbro.
[01:02:10] Azhelle Wade: I hope you really took notes in today's episode, and if you didn't, don't worry. You can always hit replay. Take a listen again and take notes on what you need to pitch. What we learned today, most importantly that I want you to walk away with, is the importance of having a sizzle video and a functioning prototype of your toy or game pitch.
[01:02:31] Azhelle Wade: Now, I know Tanya was focused in the game side of the industry, but the pitching tips and advice she gave applies to the toy world. So if you have a toy idea that you want to pitch, I hope you listen to this episode very closely as well. If you would like to check out the Spark Platform on Hasbro's website, I have the link at the show notes.
[01:02:57] Azhelle Wade: You can just head over to the toy coach.com/ 1 0 7 to grab that link. Also, if you want help developing the next big toy idea, if you want guidance in putting together powerful pitch materials, if you want to learn how to build your toy company contact list, then I've gotta encourage you to check out Toy Creators Academy.
[01:03:21] Azhelle Wade: Toy Creators Academy is the first of its kind online program designed to help you develop end pitch your toy ideas. So if you're interested in doing that, I want you to head over to toy creators academy.com to learn more. Next up, we've gotta give a shout out to a listener of the podcast. Today's shout out goes to Naomi Brunelli.
[01:03:42] Azhelle Wade: Hey there, Naomi. Now Naomi also works in inventor relations with Hasbro, and she's a fan of this podcast, so I thought, who better to give a listener shout out and a hello to then Naomi for this episode. Okay, as always, thank you so much for being here today. I know there are a ton of podcasts out there, so it means the world to me that you tune into this one.
[01:04:08] Azhelle Wade: Until next week, I'll see you later toy people.
[01:04:12] Thanks for listening to the Making It In The Toy Industry Podcast with Azhelle Wade. Head over to thetoycoach.com for more information, tips, and advice.
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