Hasbro’s Katie Frame on inspiration, collaboration – and the key to successful style guides

Katie, it’s always lovely to chat! To kick us off, was a creative career working with brands always on the cards? Or did you get here via a trapdoor!?
Certainly more of a circuitous route! I began my career in FMCG working for M&M Mars where I started on a rotational training programme, including working in engineering, HR and a stint in marketing on the launch of Mars Ice Cream. I found my niche when I moved into more of a design role working with creative and advertising agencies developing promotional campaigns.

From there, I went into more of a pure ‘Head of Creative’ role at Disney and held licensing design leadership roles at Nickelodeon and Mattel before coming to Hasbro.

I imagine the role of a Creative Director varies company to company. How would you sum up what you do at Hasbro?
Creative Director absolutely varies from company to company. At Hasbro, I lead a Global Creative group with teams in the US, Europe and Asia, which include Asset Creation and Product Development.

It’s my job to understand the business vision and goals – and to ensure our creative group effectively plays their part in delivering against them… That they are empowered, enabled and inspired. To sum it up, my role is to facilitate and remove any barriers to help my team achieve the best possible creative results.

“Creating guides is always a balancing act between staying true to the core brand DNA and bringing freshness.”

It’s a pivotal role that also means building strong relationships with brand owners and commercial partners, and providing direction and support to my own team – while always maintaining our number one focus, our consumer.

Can you talk me through some recent launches that you feel highlight how creative that licensees can be with your IP?
A recent standout is our Peppa Pig kidswear collection with Trotters. A talented member of our product development team in the UK – Bhavisha Nandha – worked directly with Trotters and Liberty London’s creative teams to create classic, timeless party dresses, perfect for celebrating Peppa’s 20th anniversary.

This included a beautiful hand-painted and exclusive floral design incorporating Peppa iconography, which was integrated into the garments and featured within pattern-filled appliques and accessories. The range included partywear, rompers, t-shirts, knitwear, and hats – crafting the perfect ensemble for Peppa fans.

Another highlight this year was our My Little Pony x Irregular Choice footwear collaboration driven through Alia Atcha in Singapore. Alia is our Product Development Manager for SEA, MENA and India. The footwear line-up was inspired by original Eighties My Little Pony storylines.

We worked with Irregular Choice to fully immerse them in understanding the personalities of our characters, which they incorporated into footwear and accessories in their signature fun and quirky way… Chunky rubberized embellishments and iconic shapes and patterns from the show nodded to Eighties pop culture and fashion, and surprise playful and interactive elements allowed windows on handbags to open to reveal characters. You could even brush the ponies’ tails! This all really culminated in wonderful whimsical appeal for our nostalgic fan.

Great picks! Any others you’d like to highlight?
Our Transformers Robosen collection of robots needs to be seen to be believed! This product development was managed by Trina Smith in Los Angeles, our Senior Product Development Manager for North America.

When we first started working with Robosen, they were new to licensing but completely embraced the storytelling values of the Transformers brand. They went on to develop groundbreaking technological innovation in a fully automatic converting robot to vehicle form and back again. Each character features motion elements and the ability to be operated via voice commands or an interactive app.

We originally developed Optimus Prime, then Grimlock, and most recently Megatron –and all three can interact with one another. Each robot is made up of approximately 5000 components, powered by 60 microchips controlling 27 servo motor joints!

Impressive stuff! What do you feel is key to successful creative collaborations between a brand owner like Hasbro and your licensees?
The best collaborations are when there’s a natural, authentic ‘fit’ with the brand. It needs to be meaningful and is never good if it feels ‘forced’… And the creative should follow suit.

We need to inspire and excite our partners about our brands and share our in-depth consumer insights so that they understand what makes a product compelling to fans. In turn, it’s those partners who take time to understand, respect and are passionate about our brands that always make the development process easier. They tend to be more considered in their design, sensitive to the integration of our assets and find it easier to make emotional connections with our consumers through storytelling.

“I consider the agencies we work with as extensions of our team; we’re in it together.”

It’s always great when designers from our team can work directly with designers within our licensees. We have a shared language and working together means we can collaborate on creating compelling products from both a brand and product category perspective – sharing ideas and helping one another push the creative boundaries.

And working together means learning together. It’s really important that we listen to the feedback from our collaborators about the useability of our assets and the implications for their product development and manufacturing capabilities.

Terrific answer. I’d also love to talk about style guides. What separates great ones from good ones?
Creating guides is always a balancing act between staying true to the core brand DNA and bringing freshness and relevance. It’s key that our consumers recognise an element of creative cohesiveness at every touchpoint of our brand franchises.

Ensuring end use is considered from the start is also important – how the elements can be used to create meaningful storytelling across products and are versatile enough to work across a range of categories. The fact that the assets are technically adept for easy use should also be a given!

Many times, I have seen guides that could be considered beautiful works of art – sometimes a little indulgent on behalf of the creator – but are not practical or commercial in their use, or the files are too difficult to work with. Ideally, we want beautiful, easy to use graphics that enable the development of fantastic compelling products.

Is there an art to briefing agencies on guides?
The art of writing the brief is another balancing act in itself! Ensuring that our agencies have the right information – consumer, brand, commercial considerations and technical specs – to make it an effective process, while also giving enough room for them to bring their own creative thinking is really important.

In addition, ensuring you’re clear on what internal stakeholders need before even starting the brief will avoid the frustration of changing goalposts during the design process. Investing time in writing a clear brief at the outset will always save time further down the line. While I always like to talk through a design brief, I’ll ensure it’s also put in writing because that’s your go-to reference for all parties throughout the process. Although it may sound obvious, being crystal clear on deliverables and checking on understanding of these is key… Timings, budget, content and number of elements can avoid challenging surprises later on!

“It’s imperative that commercial and creative work in lockstep.”

I like to consider the agencies we work with as extensions of our team. We’re in it together. As much information that we can share about our brands, strategies and consumer knowledge will aid their thinking and creative output. I often like to ask them how we can help in getting the best out of them and I believe that two-way feedback enhances how we work together as well as the design work we produce.

Finally, reviewing the success of guides – easier said than done! – and sharing that with our agencies should also inform our learning and what and how we might brief in the future. We’re looking at ways to instill measures around this, even if it’s anecdotal to start.

In a creative role, does it help to be a fan of the brands you’re working with?
Of course! If you feel passionate about the brands, it never feels like work. I have a particular soft spot for Peppa Pig, having spent so many hours watching episodes with my daughter when she was young. Peppa was such an integral part of her growing up that we both have strong emotional ties to Peppa and her family.

I think it makes for better creative results too when you understand the nuance and lore of the brand, and you can view and feel it through a consumer’s eyes. We have a diverse team who are passionate about our brands, and you can see it in their work – from original My Little Pony fans to Dungeons & Dragons Dungeon Masters.

Our brands and assets are our ‘crown jewels’ and we need to remember that our consumers often feel a proprietary ‘ownership’ over the beloved characters that they may have watched or played with growing up. That’s why it’s so imperative that we consider the way they’re represented in our products. Understanding design from a fan’s point of view is incredibly crucial.

Of course, being fans of our brands also makes for a happy and motivated team. One member of our team just said the other day that it was their dream job to be working on the brands they’re designing with.

Much is spoken of about the ‘divides’ between commercial and creative teams in licensing, but I know it’s very much a united front at Hasbro. What do you feel is the benefit to have these two teams on a level playing field? What benefits come with giving creatives ‘a seat at the table’ so to speak?
I’m fortunate that the level playing field is already defined for my role, as I report directly to the President of Licensing as do my business partners, so we are naturally peers. As part of that Leadership Group, I get to hear first-hand about business performance and long-range planning, and I’m implicit in decision making.

On a day-to-day basis, it’s imperative that commercial and creative work in lockstep and build the mutual respect and trust that’s needed to optimise commercial product opportunities. Bringing us in at an early stage to join pitch conversations, creatively on-board collaborators, give us access to range plans, and discuss potential retail channels etc. brings many benefits.

Visual pitches and design conversation can often help secure collaboration deals. And having two-way, open and upfront communication supports an optimized and proactive creative process, which can minimise bumps in the road along the way and most definitely produce a better overall outcome for all.

Katie, I could pick your brain for days but we need to wrap up! So, last question… What helps you have ideas?
Getting away from my laptop, switching off from the day-to-day and allowing myself to be inspired by my surroundings is when I do my best thinking! For me, a big part of that is about getting outside and connecting with nature – I live in a rural area and walk my dog every morning through fields and woodland. Noticing seasonal changes in my surroundings and tuning into birdsong clears my head – and that’s when the ideas come! Quite often, a challenge that I had the night before when I finished work will have a solution by the end of my walk!

I think it’s vital to remember that anywhere and anything can be inspiring… What someone’s wearing on the tube, a stunning example of architecture, a piece of street art… The most important thing in a creative role is to avoid getting into ‘churn mode’, which can be an easy pitfall designing in a corporate world with meetings, deadlines, and financial targets.

Remembering to lift your head above the parapet, staying inquisitive and looking above and around you all helps with creativity and idea generation.

Great answer. Thanks again Katie!