Hasbro has long been synonymous with the kinds of toys kids can hold in their hands: iconic brands such as Transformers, Nerf, and Play-Doh, which came in the form of plastic figurines, dart guns with foam bullets, and moldable wads of wheat flour, salt, and water. But lately, digital sales are seeing double-digit growth, while demand for physical toys is slumping. In fact, the trade-off between the two is roughly one-to-one. In the second quarter, sales in the company’s Wizards of the Coast and Digital Gaming segment increased 20%, while its consumer products segment declined 20%.

But amid this transition from battle bots to bits, Hasbro is also starting to see higher profits, which have more to do with actions the company is taking behind the scenes than the composition of its sales. After facing monumental logistical challenges during the pandemic, Hasbro is working to sort out its global supply chain and bring down costs in the process, delivering $40 million in net cost savings in Q2.

Keep reading here.—AV

We’re talking about the holidays already? Not exactly. This is more of a PSA: It’s never too early to start brainstorming your holiday content strategy.

Need a head start? Bazaarvoice’s guide, Maximizing 2024 Holiday ROI with a Full-Funnel Content Strategy, says it all in the title, really.

Supercharge your holiday campaigns by unwrapping top insights with holiday shopper research for baby boomers, Gen X, millennials, and Gen Z. Learn how to evolve from last year + budget for this one.

Brand managers and marketing leaders, now’s the time to maximize your potential. Enter Bazaarvoice’s holiday headquarters to begin.

The proposed reclassification of cannabis, which would have a profound impact on its retailers—who would finally be able to deduct a large portion of their business expenses—just got the citizenry version of a crowd wave.

Public comments on the measure to the Department of Justice closed on July 22, and 92% of comments were for relaxing the law, according to the National Cannabis Industry Association, citing data analysis by Headset, a cannabis data platform.

Breaking down that 92%:

• 35% were for reclassification, which in the eyes of the law would shift cannabis from a Schedule I substance (like heroin) to a Schedule III drug (like Tylenol with codeine).
• Even more—57%—advocated for relaxing the law even more by descheduling cannabis, which would make it legal but still subject to regulations like alcohol and tobacco.

Keep reading here.—AAN

On Wednesdays, we wear pink spotlight Retail Brew’s readers. Want to be featured in an upcoming edition? Click here to introduce yourself.

Brian Anderson is founder and CEO of Nacelle, an e-commerce platform used by brands like Ilia Beauty and Thinx.

How would you describe your job to someone who doesn’t work in retail? I usually say, “Have you ever purchased something online, like a piece of clothing, either on a desktop or your phone? Well, I make software and technology that makes that work.”

One thing we can’t guess about your job from your LinkedIn profile? Something that you wouldn’t really know from my profile is that a lot of my job involves learning new concepts, figuring out what’s important about those concepts quickly, and then putting them into action. I try to embody this idea of kaizen, which means constant learning. As a founder and CEO of a technology startup that isn’t excessively large, I often come into the day not knowing what I need to become an expert in, but I must become an expert in that thing very quickly or at least have enough knowledge to make a good decision about it. Luckily, I have a great leadership team that supports me and ensures that we’re not making any big mistakes.

What’s your favorite project you’ve worked on? The first prototype of Nacelle. I built it with the first two engineers who worked at the company and I was writing a nice chunk of the code.

Keep reading here.—EC

Your burning questions about work, answered. Each week on Per My Last Email, Morning Brew’s resident career experts Kaila and Kyle debate the trickiest challenges in work life and share insightful (and sometimes hilarious) tactics on how to overcome them. Check out their latest episode, where they react to listeners’ “Am I the a**hole?” work scenarios, like dealing with office cliques, working two full-time jobs, and more.