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I am proud to introduce the members of the 3rd cycle of the LEGO Ambassador
Program.
Lenny Hoffman - USA
Eric Brok - The Netherlands
Chris Giddens - USA
Knud Tomsen - Denmark
Kelly McKiernan - USA
Volker Draschka - Germany
Todd Kubo - USA
Luis Baixinho - Portugal
Paul Jansen - USA
Jeff Van Wynden - Canada
Steven Combs - USA
Pierre Normandin - Canada
Ben Ellermann - USA
Mark Bellis - Great Britain
Mark Sandlin - USA
Didier Enjary - France
Eric Kingsley - USA
Richie Dulin - Australia
Dan Rubin - USA
Andrzlej Szlaga - Poland
Mark Neuman - USA
David Tabner - Great Britain
Steve Witt
LEGO Community Relations Coordinator
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In lugnet.announce, Steve Witt wrote:
> I am proud to introduce the members of the 3rd cycle of the LEGO Ambassador
> Program.
--SNIP--
>
>
> Steve Witt
> LEGO Community Relations Coordinator
Congratulations to all. A truly globe-spanning group this time.
Tim
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In lugnet.lego, Timothy Gould wrote:
> In lugnet.announce, Steve Witt wrote:
> > I am proud to introduce the members of the 3rd cycle of the LEGO Ambassador
> > Program.
>
> --SNIP--
> >
> >
> > Steve Witt
> > LEGO Community Relations Coordinator
>
> Congratulations to all. A truly globe-spanning group this time.
Indeed.
Except Asia, Africa, the Middle East, Russia, and South America.
Congrats to all the new Ambassadors! I look forward to working with you guys!
-Lenny
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In lugnet.lego, Leonard Hoffman wrote:
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In lugnet.lego, Timothy Gould wrote:
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In lugnet.announce, Steve Witt wrote:
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I am proud to introduce the members of the 3rd cycle of the LEGO Ambassador
Program.
|
--SNIP--
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Steve Witt
LEGO Community Relations Coordinator
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Congratulations to all. A truly globe-spanning group this time.
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Indeed.
Except Asia, Africa, the Middle East, Russia, and South America.
Congrats to all the new Ambassadors! I look forward to working with you guys!
-Lenny
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So now you care about globe-spanning? Given your stance
last time I didn’t think you did.
Once again, congratulations to all and I hope all the applicants from the
abovementioned regions + the Indian subcontinent which Lenny left out try again
next time.
Tim
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In lugnet.lego, Timothy Gould wrote:
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In lugnet.lego, Leonard Hoffman wrote:
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In lugnet.lego, Timothy Gould wrote:
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In lugnet.announce, Steve Witt wrote:
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I am proud to introduce the members of the 3rd cycle of the LEGO
Ambassador Program.
|
--SNIP--
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Steve Witt
LEGO Community Relations Coordinator
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Congratulations to all. A truly globe-spanning group this time.
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Indeed.
Except Asia, Africa, the Middle East, Russia, and South America.
Congrats to all the new Ambassadors! I look forward to working with you
guys!
-Lenny
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So now you care about globe-spanning? Given your stance
last time I didn’t think you did.
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I’m not sure how you got that opinion. What I said was: “My guess would be that
as the Ambassador program grows, there will be a greater diversity in language
support, and thus a greater variety representation.” And indeed that has shown
to be true. I really like meeting people from around the world, and cheerish
the friendships I’ve made because of the LEGO Community.
But I find it interesting how much you complained about the lack of globalism
before, and then heralded it this time when not much has changed. Most of the
globa stands untouched by the benefits of the LEGO Ambassador program. An issue
that makes me cry every night as I go to sleep.
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Once again, congratulations to all and I hope all the applicants from the
abovementioned regions + the Indian subcontinent which Lenny left out try
again next time.
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Last time I checked, India was still in “Asia” - but maybe I missed some big
geographic change in the past few days...
;)
See, a smiley makes everything ok!
-Lenny
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In lugnet.lego, Leonard Hoffman wrote:
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In lugnet.lego, Timothy Gould wrote:
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In lugnet.lego, Leonard Hoffman wrote:
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In lugnet.lego, Timothy Gould wrote:
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In lugnet.announce, Steve Witt wrote:
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I am proud to introduce the members of the 3rd cycle of the LEGO
Ambassador Program.
|
--SNIP--
| |
Steve Witt
LEGO Community Relations Coordinator
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Congratulations to all. A truly globe-spanning group this time.
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Indeed.
Except Asia, Africa, the Middle East, Russia, and South America.
Congrats to all the new Ambassadors! I look forward to working with you
guys!
-Lenny
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So now you care about globe-spanning? Given your stance
last time I didn’t think you did.
|
I’m not sure how you got that opinion. What I said was: “My guess would be
that as the Ambassador program grows, there will be a greater diversity in
language support, and thus a greater variety representation.” And indeed that
has shown to be true. I really like meeting people from around the world,
and cheerish the friendships I’ve made because of the LEGO Community.
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You also said “Jake has stated elsewhere that the Ambassadors will be selected
from available applicants, and that the Ambassador program would not be
recruiting for representation of all parts of the Globe or all countries.” in
response to my complaint the first time so I figured that meant you didn’t
really care since you bothered to write it.
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But I find it interesting how much you complained about the lack of globalism
before, and then heralded it this time when not much has changed. Most of
the globa stands untouched by the benefits of the LEGO Ambassador program.
An issue that makes me cry every night as I go to sleep.
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It was a tongue-in-cheek, humourous way of saying thanks given that I’d
complained last time. Perhaps if I’d written (SPACE!) at the end or finished
some words with ‘ah’ instead of ‘er’ it would have been seriously hilarious but
I’m still in training for that.
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Once again, congratulations to all and I hope all the applicants from the
abovementioned regions + the Indian subcontinent which Lenny left out try
again next time.
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Last time I checked, India was still in “Asia” - but maybe I missed some big
geographic change in the past few days...
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Last I heard so was the Middle East and Russia ;)
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;)
See, a smiley makes everything ok!
-Lenny
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Indeed...
Tim
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In lugnet.off-topic.debate, Timothy Gould wrote:
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In lugnet.lego, Leonard Hoffman wrote:
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I’m not sure how you got that opinion. What I said was: “My guess would be
that as the Ambassador program grows, there will be a greater diversity in
language support, and thus a greater variety representation.” And indeed
that has shown to be true. I really like meeting people from around the
world, and cheerish the friendships I’ve made because of the LEGO Community.
|
You also said “Jake has stated elsewhere that the Ambassadors will be
selected from available applicants, and that the Ambassador program would not
be recruiting for representation of all parts of the Globe or all countries.”
in response to my complaint the first time so I figured that meant you didn’t
really care since you bothered to write it.
|
I don’t follow your logic there. You seemed to be thinking that the purpose
of the Ambassador program was to be representative of the global, and I was
trying to correct that view. Obviously the more countries that participate, the
better. However, I’ve found that it is generally theme representation that is
more important than national or regional representation. Trainheads from
California and Germany tend to have the same LEGO-related issues, whereas a
Minifig customizer and a Spacer both from South Carolina tend to have very
different issues that need to be brought up.
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But I find it interesting how much you complained about the lack of
globalism before, and then heralded it this time when not much has changed.
Most of the globa stands untouched by the benefits of the LEGO Ambassador
program. An issue that makes me cry every night as I go to sleep.
|
It was a tongue-in-cheek, humourous way of saying thanks given that I’d
complained last time. Perhaps if I’d written (SPACE!) at the end or finished
some words with ‘ah’ instead of ‘er’ it would have been seriously hilarious
but I’m still in training for that.
|
I missed the tongue-in-cheek part. Definately keep working on that, and maybe
someday, just someday, you might be able to make a post that is seriously
hilarious. Keep trying Tim, I know you have it in you. The spark of humor is
there, it just needs to be nurtured, cared for, and lovingly petted from time to
time, and it will grow. Oh yes, it will grow.
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Once again, congratulations to all and I hope all the applicants from the
abovementioned regions + the Indian subcontinent which Lenny left out try
again next time.
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Last time I checked, India was still in “Asia” - but maybe I missed some big
geographic change in the past few days...
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Last I heard so was the Middle East and Russia ;)
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You think Russia is in Asia? Well, part of it is... And the Middle East
tends to cover as much of North Africa as it does of Southwest Asia, which is
why I differentiated that. But not that it is all that important, since both of
us left out the Pacific Islands. Poor Micronesians, TLG doesn’t seem to care
about them, and neither does Lenny or Tim for that matter. Once again, I am
brought to tears...
-Lenny
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In lugnet.off-topic.debate, Leonard Hoffman wrote:
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In lugnet.off-topic.debate, Timothy Gould wrote:
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In lugnet.lego, Leonard Hoffman wrote:
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I’m not sure how you got that opinion. What I said was: “My guess would be
that as the Ambassador program grows, there will be a greater diversity in
language support, and thus a greater variety representation.” And indeed
that has shown to be true. I really like meeting people from around the
world, and cheerish the friendships I’ve made because of the LEGO
Community.
|
You also said “Jake has stated elsewhere that the Ambassadors will be
selected from available applicants, and that the Ambassador program would
not be recruiting for representation of all parts of the Globe or all
countries.” in response to my complaint the first time so I figured that
meant you didn’t really care since you bothered to write it.
|
I don’t follow your logic there. You seemed to be thinking that the
purpose of the Ambassador program was to be representative of the global,
and I was trying to correct that view.
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--SNIP--
That’s an interesting interpretation of my post then. All I said was that it was
a pity that spanned-the-globe didn’t cover its Southern half. Not once did I say
I had expected it to.
--SNIP--
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I missed the tongue-in-cheek part. Definately keep working on that, and
maybe someday, just someday, you might be able to make a post that is
seriously hilarious. Keep trying Tim, I know you have it in you. The spark
of humor is there, it just needs to be nurtured, cared for, and lovingly
petted from time to time, and it will grow. Oh yes, it will grow.
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I can’t wait for the day I can be just as funny as you Lenny-Bo-Benny. The day I
lose my dry sarcasm and replace it by a some zany, Lenstah humah will be truly
invigourating for me. I hope I get the sookiness and condescension too :)
--SNIP--
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You think Russia is in Asia? Well, part of it is...
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If by part you mean the majority of the land mass then yes. Most of the
population is in Europe but I didn’t bother mentioning it since that is a region
already covered.
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And the Middle East
tends to cover as much of North Africa as it does of Southwest Asia, which is
why I differentiated that.
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But both those regions had already been listed. If you were differentiating it
because of cultural differences then you definitely left out the subcontinent.
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But not that it is all that important, since both
of us left out the Pacific Islands. Poor Micronesians, TLG doesn’t seem to
care about them, and neither does Lenny or Tim for that matter. Once again,
I am brought to tears...
-Lenny
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Well strictly speaking they fall under the Australasian continent so if you
differentiate by continent they are covered. If you differentiate by cultural
and language groups then they are excluded.
Since your initial groupings were some weird mishmash of both I have no idea
what you were talking about but nor, I suspect, do you so I’m probably more like
you than I realise :D
Tim
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In lugnet.off-topic.debate, Leonard Hoffman wrote:
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I don’t follow your logic there. You seemed to be thinking that the
purpose of the Ambassador program was to be representative of the global,
and I was trying to correct that view. Obviously the more countries that
participate, the better. However, I’ve found that it is generally theme
representation that is more important than national or regional
representation. Trainheads from California and Germany tend to have the same
LEGO-related issues, whereas a Minifig customizer and a Spacer both from
South Carolina tend to have very different issues that need to be brought up.
|
Well I’ll have to take your word for that, since I really have no idea what the
Ambassadors do. So far the exchange of information seems to be decidedly one
way, if it happens at all. Apart from the occasional marketing survey, we (the
general AFOL population) have heard nothing from the ambassadors in an
ambassadorial role. We hear nothing about what goes on in the secret ambassadors
forum. We have no idea what the ambassadors are telling the company that we as
AFOLs want from them.
So I ask this: for whose benefit is the Ambassador program being run? From the
information I have at hand, which is admittedly scant (see above), it seems to
be solely for the benefit of the marketing arm of the company. Ok, maybe it’ll
feed back to us eventually with products we like, but ultimately, that requires
us trusting the ambassadors to represent the community’s interests. Without any
information one way or the other, I’m afraid I can’t give that trust. It’s not
that I think the ambassadors are untrustworthy, I just DON’T KNOW.
As far as I can tell, the Ambassador Program is merely a fancy name for a
marketing focus group, which is fair enough. Maybe if we’d had this a couple of
years ago they wouldn’t have changed the colours. But please call it what it is,
and how about a bit more transparency? I know you’re under and NDA - perhaps it
needs revising.
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I missed the tongue-in-cheek part. Definately keep working on that, and
maybe someday, just someday, you might be able to make a post that is
seriously hilarious. Keep trying Tim, I know you have it in you. The spark
of humor is there, it just needs to be nurtured, cared for, and lovingly
petted from time to time, and it will grow. Oh yes, it will grow.
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Oh, Lenny. You do make me laugh.
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You think Russia is in Asia? Well, part of it is... And the Middle East
tends to cover as much of North Africa as it does of Southwest Asia, which is
why I differentiated that. But not that it is all that important, since both
of us left out the Pacific Islands. Poor Micronesians, TLG doesn’t seem to
care about them, and neither does Lenny or Tim for that matter. Once again,
I am brought to tears...
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Does that include New Zealand? No-one cares about New Zealand.
a
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In lugnet.off-topic.debate, Allister McLaren wrote:
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No-one cares about New Zealand.
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They’re mostly sheep there anyway aren’t they????
ROSCO
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In lugnet.off-topic.debate, Leonard Hoffman wrote:
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I missed the tongue-in-cheek part.
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I thought it was funny, but then it’s mainly USians that need a laugh track.
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Definately keep working on that, and
maybe someday, just someday, you might be able to make a post that is
seriously hilarious. Keep trying Tim, I know you have it in you. The spark
of humor is there, it just needs to be nurtured, cared for, and lovingly
petted from time to time, and it will grow. Oh yes, it will grow.
|
I’ll take your word for that.
pete.w
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In lugnet.off-topic.debate, Allister McLaren wrote:
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Well I’ll have to take your word for that, since I really have no idea what
the Ambassadors do. So far the exchange of information seems to be decidedly
one way, if it happens at all. Apart from the occasional marketing survey,
we (the general AFOL population) have heard nothing from the ambassadors in >
an ambassadorial role. We hear nothing about what goes on in the secret
ambassadors forum. We have no idea what the ambassadors are telling the
company that we as AFOLs want from them.
|
Let me try to shed some light on the LA program without revealing things I am
not supposed to. First off, I will (later today), ask some of the new
ambassadors to review what we have done in the past 2 cycles. Then, I’ll ask if
any of the new ambassadors wants to carefully format a statement as to whether
we have been doing things for the AFOL community. I’m pretty sure they will be
quite positive. The thing that is currently working against the flow of
information is time. There are several projects underway, in whch the
ambassadors are asked to help design entire lines of product. For instance,
Project Theme XXXX 2007. This is a project that started many moons ago, but due
to competitors in the toy market, the marketing department will not reveal
ANYTHING till a few months prior to launch of the product, which is still over a
year ahead of us. Thus, till then, we CANNOT tell you what we have been doing.
We can guarantee you that many of us have been working hard. Once the initial
few cycles have past, and the first tangiables are devlivered, you will
undoubtedly know that AFOLs had a part in designing, stategizing, etc.
As far as letting you know what we are telling the company, a similar
restricting exisits. We, as LA’s, are gaining more and more trust of the LEGO
employees, and more and more do they approach us for feedback, or ask us to work
with them. The questions that they ask are tightly linked to future product
lines, and thus the answers are rather specific, and for now, we can’t make
public what we advise the LEGO people on.
I do see this can be very frustrating, but take a look at the list of LA’s. They
do represent hard-core fans, and many have been around for several cycles. The
few that have not re-aaplied/we’re not reselected, are likewise very happy with
the program, but lacked the time commitment it sometimes takes.
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So I ask this: for whose benefit is the Ambassador program being run? From
the information I have at hand, which is admittedly scant (see above), it
seems to be solely for the benefit of the marketing arm of the company. Ok,
maybe it’ll feed back to us eventually with products we like, but
ultimately, that requires us trusting the ambassadors to represent the
community’s interests. Without any information one way or the other, I’m
afraid I can’t give that trust. It’s not that I think the ambassadors are
untrustworthy, I just DON’T KNOW.
|
The answer is clear: the program was designed for, is, and will continue to
benefit BOTH the AFOL community, and the company. About trust, I am with you.
Trust is something you gain over time, and that will have to be the way. Anyone
who asks me if the LA program is good for the AFOL community, I tell YES! I am
sure if you ask any other LA, or past LA, they’ll say YES as well. Again, as
time passes, and the first bigger deliverables may be not too far away, we are
confident we will earn that trust, so for now, sit back, relax, and build...
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As far as I can tell, the Ambassador Program is merely a fancy name for a
marketing focus group, which is fair enough. Maybe if we’d had this a couple
of years ago they wouldn’t have changed the colours. But please call it what
it is, and how about a bit more transparency? I know you’re under and NDA -
perhaps it needs revising.
|
I’m sorry, but you are wrong here. We are not a marketing focus group, we do
work at many different levels with LEGO employees, and other fans. Had the
ambassadors been around 5-6 years ago, I am sure we’d not have seen the color
change. I’m saying 5-6 years because it simply takes a long time for the LA’s to
gain trust with the LEGO employees. Now, do you see a paralel here......? Yes,
in the beginning, we had a hard time convincing employees within LEGO to contact
us for FB, help, etc. Now, more and more we are accpeted, and TRUSTED. In the
beginning, they would not even give us pre-views of sets that we’re going to be
publically marketed the next day. Now, from time to time we get to see stuff
many months ahead, and now we get to help design some of it, so we see the stuff
years in advnace. It was easier for them to quickly trust us, because they
immediately see the work we do/Feedback we give. We still have some roads to
travel within the compnay as far as trust goes, but we are moving ahead. As far
as the NDA, this is necessary. If LEGO wants to be financially healthy, they
cannot afford to give away their plans for future sets too far in advance. Other
companies, with lesser care for quality, could cranck out the same idea faster,
but no as good, but kill the market for that line by doing so.
Hope this sheds a bit of light on the program, and believe me, we too are
frustrated we can’t tell you more of what we are doing, as we know that would
gain us that trust quickly, but have we understand why we are under NDA, and
work with that the best we can.
Paul Janssen,
LEGO Ambassador
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In lugnet.off-topic.debate, Paul Janssen wrote:
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Let me try to shed some light on the LA program without revealing things I am
not supposed to.
|
snip
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Hope this sheds a bit of light on the program, and believe me, we too are
frustrated we can’t tell you more of what we are doing, as we know that would
gain us that trust quickly, but have we understand why we are under NDA, and
work with that the best we can.
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Thanks, Paul. That was exactly what I was asking for. It’s certainly more
information about what goes on in the LA program than we’ve ever had before. It
should happen more often ;) I look forward to seeing the fruits of the LAs
labours. I hope they’re as good as you say.
Cheers,
a
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Tim Gould wrote:
> Congratulations to all. A truly globe-spanning group this time.
Only for quite mind-boogling definitions of the term "globe".
Ambassador-wise, half the globe is the US. Which might represent certain
egos, but certainly not reality...
Yours, Christian
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In lugnet.lego, Christian Treczoks wrote:
> Tim Gould wrote:
> > Congratulations to all. A truly globe-spanning group this time.
> Only for quite mind-boogling definitions of the term "globe".
> Ambassador-wise, half the globe is the US. Which might represent certain
> egos, but certainly not reality...
>
> Yours, Christian
Hi Christian,
See my argument with Lenny and the announcements for the last Ambassador cycle.
Tim
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