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In lugnet.events.brickfest, Walter Walters wrote:
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In lugnet.events.brickfest, Gregory Muri wrote:
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snipped
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Had I beed at BF PDX, I would have wanted to ask the following questions:
1. How many staffers lost or will will lose their jobs as a result of
this color chage fiasco??
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I would be willing to bet not a single one. The ones that will lose their
jobs are the line workers. The first to go when a company runs into a
financial downturn.
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I know if I were KKK, I would discharge the entire marketing team, the
research team, and any outside firms or contractors involved with the color
change fiasco. I would proabably also fire those who authorized this
monstrous mistake and the engineers who developed the horrible new colors.
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Could not agree with you more!
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2. How low are first-quarter sales in 2004 worldwide and how much is
attributed to the color change disaster?? What is the expected finacial
loss as a result of the color change??
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Lego is a company that lacks any shred of the forsight it takes to see stuff
like this. They will blindly proceed and then be astonished that there was
still a decline. They brought back Galidor, that speaks for itself.
I know for myself, I spent close to 20K on Lego last year. This may not be
a lot by some AFOL standards, but it sure seems stupid to me that this is
business Lego is willing to throw away without even thinking twice. My
spending this year will be lucky to hit one tenth of that. What I do buy
will not be new products but rather older stuff that I never had or want to
have again.
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3. Has anyone at Lego heard of Coca-Cola?? They tried to change their
formula, lost huge amounts of money, and SWITCHED BACK to the original
formula. It seems any lesson taught there has not been learned by anyone at
TLC.
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Coke must not be available in Billund. :)
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4. Why has this color change NOT beem marketed?? IF it is such a good
thing, such as “New and Improved Colors” then why is it not presented as
such??
This lack of marketing and communication about a product change means to
me, personally, that Lego is trying to sneak it in the back door. Either
that, or their marketing experts and consultants were asleep during
Marketing 101.
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I think this is exactly why the explanation being offered is so hard to
swallow. It takes a phenomonal level of ignorance to handle something this
big in such a manner. It is clear to me that KKK must put an aweful lot of
faith in a group of completely incompetant engineers in the design lab.
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5. How are AFOLS who put on public events suppoed to answer or comment on
the color changes??
I know I only have NEGATIVE things to say about it, and as such may have
trouble in future being diplomatic about it. In a big way, I don’t even
want to do public events with Lego anymore because I don’t want to be put
in that situation. If I cannot say anything good, perhaps I should not say
anything at all, which means I stay home!
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You hit the nail on the head here Kevin, might as well stay home. I could
not in any way support Lego on this particular issue.
Greg
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I completely agree. I don’t think anyone at LEGO will lose their job for
this. I also don’t think “that Lego was trying to sneak the color change in
the back door”. This statement implies that they actually thought the color
change was relevant to someone.
I DON’T THINK WE AFOLS ARE EVEN ON THEIR RADAR.
LEGO blissfully made the color change, thinking they were IMPROVING the
colors. The company as whole is so totally unaware/unconcerned about us that
it didn’t even cross their minds that people might be upset.
I commend Jake on his great efforts to educate TLG about AFOLs. But as he
himself has said many times, it’s hard to get the battleship to turn. In the
corporate giant’s mind, we are only 5% and we will always only be 5%. Even
if TLG does consider us in future decisions, what’s the best we can hope for?
5% that’s what. 5% of any consideration will go to AFOL interests; in
other words, TLG’s decision making process will, at its core, be exactly like
it is now. The best we can hope for is more polite damage control, i.e.
maybe the company will have enough consideration/respect for us to tell us in
advance about the new improved change in the brick dimensions or the new
improved stud shape/separation or the discontinuation of ...
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My thinking on this was even broader than just AFOL’s. I was thinking of the
lack of marketing to the masses.
When laundry detergent or toothpaste or automobiles or shampoo or razors or
pizza are changed, the marketing departments and advertising agencies involved
always ramp up huge campains claiming “NEW AND IMPROVED” etc. Each small change
commands gigantic expenditures for new packaging, new advertising, and the like.
They get the word out.
Otherwise, what is the point to the “improvement” if no one knows about it?
When I referred to sleeping during Marketing 101, I referred to the missed
opportunity to promote products and their “NEW AND IMPROVED” status.
You are right that marking and promotion of Lego brand products does not target
AFOL’s and I am not sure it ever will or even needs to. We don’t need to be
enticed into buying Lego products, we do it anyway. Or at least we did until
this color change disaster.
Kevin Salm
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Message has 1 Reply:
 | | Re: General session Q&A
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| "Kevin Salm" <kdsalm@dreamscape.com> wrote in message news:Ht7EJ5.s62@lugnet.com... [ ... snipped ... ] (...) or (...) involved (...) change (...) like. (...) [ ... snipped ... ] Did TLC make a big splash about the color change at the Toy Fair this (...) (20 years ago, 17-Feb-04, to lugnet.events.brickfest, lugnet.lego)
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Message is in Reply To:
| | Re: General session Q&A
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| (...) I completely agree. I don't think anyone at LEGO will lose their job for this. I also don't think "that Lego was trying to sneak the color change in the back door". This statement implies that they actually thought the color change was (...) (20 years ago, 16-Feb-04, to lugnet.events.brickfest, lugnet.lego, FTX)
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