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In lugnet.general, Jake McKee wrote:
>
> * Would you buy LEGO toys for children 0-11? Y/N
> * Why / Why not?
I would consider including Lego as one toy I might buy for young children.
However, other toys that I might consider buying *before* Lego include:
Rokenbok (for the older kids in that age range who might see it as being a more
functionally cooler system)
Playmobil (for the younger children, especially) because they make excellent
quality toys that promote developing socialization skills through imaginative
play without the sometimes extreme conflict-based play that Lego uses in its
products.
Geotrax by Fisher-Price because it is cheap and durable and has tons of
play-value.
>
> * What feature(s) would you add if you were the marketing director of LEGO?
Lego always seems to have done a good job of marketing itself. Seeing the
product in stores in attractive boxes and perhaps occassionally seeing a display
made out of Lego seems better than expensive TV advertising to me.
As far as making the themes conflict-oriented and sometimes violent, I think
Lego would do well to re-examine its core values and see if its lineup fits.
Interestingly, making a military-based model, say of a warplane, could be
construed as less violent than the knashing-teeth faced minifigs that Lego
currently favors.
> * How would you change existing LEGO products if you wanted to sell them for
> more money?
Make the bricks out of gold. ;)
> * What new products would you launch?
The Designer series is great - expanding the philosophy of that line across the
product range would be brilliant.
A town/city/realistic theme that appeals to older children and includes more
than fire/police sets.
DVDs with alternate building ideas/stories involving the theme/music to have on
while building included in the sets might be something to try out to see how it
works.
>
> * What should LEGO be doing that it isn’t now?
* selling its train sets and mindstorms products in hobby stores
* making small, independent toy stores want to carry the product
>
--
Thomas Main
thomasmain@myrealbox.com
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In lugnet.general, Jake McKee wrote:
> If you're still interested in helping out, my colleague running this data
> collection effort has asked me to post the questions below for feedback.
> She'll manually include this in the results as well. Feel free to answer
> them in line or email them to me
> * Would you buy LEGO toys for children 0-11? Y/N
Yes
> * Why / Why not?
Because I think it is amongst the best products for enabling kids to use their
imaginations.
Because I'm an AFOL and because my enthousiasm for the product is obvious to
kids, they seem more interested themselves.
> * What feature(s) would you add if you were the marketing director of LEGO?
I hate to say this, because as an AFOL I don't like it, but tie-ins with popular
children's themes, mainly from TV seem to really sell product. Look at the whole
Thomas phenomenon.
> * How would you change existing LEGO products if you wanted to sell them for
> more money?
I suspect the available family's toy purchasing budget will tend to bias toward
toys that are currently "cool". And as an adult, I don't think I am very good at
knowing how to predict what kids might find cool about a product. For example,
if a special set where made where all the bricks were plated metalic ones in
various colors, would kids consider that cool enough to just have to have some?
If it cost 50% more to make plated bricks, would a kid pester parents or grand
parents to buy the $30 bucket of "really cool bricks" over the regular $20
bucket. I personally don't know. But finding various ways to "coolify" the base
product - bricks - seems like an approach I'd look into.
> * What new products would you launch?
Half the kid population is female, but I don't see much effort to put sets with
features that girls are typically attracted to on the store shelves. I know some
is available online, but when granny goes to the very pink section of TRU, are
there any Lego construction/play products to be seen? (I am excluding clickits
here and thinking more in terms of toy house products, etc).
> * What should LEGO be doing that it isn’t now?
I think my number one criticism of the current state of affairs is that somehow
the retail supply chain isn't working right.
I think whatever the problem is with Walmart needs to be fixed. Walmart is here
to stay whether we like it or not, and if they are not making shelf space
available (which they clearly aren't), then that needs to be fixed.
With more specialised retailers like TRU, why can't I buy Lego trains there? Why
can't I buy Mindstorms sets there? With Lego's own S@H, why can't I buy a
broader range of spare parts? Why can't I buy Mindstorms accessories there?
Pick-a-Brick is an interesting idea, but only for people within a few tens of
miles radius of a store. What percentage of the population is that? Could you do
an online pick-a-brick? Could an automated picking machine be able to fulfill a
customized order (from a limited list of parts) directly from an internet placed
order?
From my own point of view as an AFOL and enthusiastic participant in local train
shows as well as more public events like BrickFest, I would make it easier for
public interest in Lego model building which is built up during a show like that
to turn into sales. I have personally had to tell hundreds of interested people
that the only way to get parts to make trains or parts (like bulk windows) to
make buildings can only be had online or by mail-order. The spontaineous sales
opportunity passes and the sale is lost.
JB
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