My Little Pony's Spin Off Series Officially Coming this Fall!

Hasbro has used its multiplatform, multigenerational strategy as a template for other brands, including My Little Pony, a 30-year-old property for girls ages 3 and up. In 2010, the company revamped the brand with a television series called “My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic.”

The series attracted legions of adult fans to the My Little Pony franchise. They obsessed about the characters in fan-generated fiction, artwork and videos. Adult male fans, who call themselves Bronies, even bought ad time on the Hub, a cable television channel co-owned by Hasbro, to thank the company for producing the show.


In response, Hasbro expanded My Little Pony as a lifestyle brand, with 200 licenses in 15 categories, including publishing, apparel, bedding and digital gaming. To celebrate the brand’s 30th anniversary this year, the company plans to introduce a new extension this fall called Equestria Girls.

But adult fans have also pushed to take more control of the brand, creating unauthorized digital games and plush toys that company executives eventually quashed.

“They don’t mind having this fan base, but they can’t forget their core market,” said Jim Silver, editor in chief of timetoplaymag.com, which covers the toy industry. “These are waters you have to navigate very carefully.”