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Just saw this via Google News:
Selling Lego and The “Culture Code”
for Germany
by Clotaire Rapaille (June 6, 2006)
DNA makes a creature human, but what makes someone an American? Is there a
“culture code” that programs us to become German, or Japanese, or French? Dr.
Clotaire Rapaille believes there is such a code, a silent system of archetypes
that we consciously acquire as we grow up within our culture. The codes vary
around the world and invisibly shape how we behave in our personal lives and as
consumers and as nations.
The German Code for Germany is perhaps best illustrated in a story.
Lego, the Danish toy company, found instant success with their interlocking
blocks in the German market, while sales foundered in the U.S. Why?
The company’s management believed that one of the primary reasons for their
success was the quality of the instructions they provided inside each box that
helped children build the specific item (a car, a spaceship) that a particular
box of blocks was meant to build. The instructions were quite a breakthrough in
the field: precise, colorful, and refreshingly self-explanatory. They made
construction with Lego blocks not only simple, but in some ways magical. If one
followed the path through the instructions, tiny plastic pieces methodically
turned into something grander.
American children could not have cared less. They would tear into the boxes,
glance fleetingly at the instructions (if they glanced at them at all), and
immediately set to a construction project on their own. They seemed to be having
a wonderful time, but they were as likely to build, say, a fort, as they were to
build the automobile for which the blocks were intended. And when they were
done, they would tear their fort apart and start over from scratch. Once
purchased, to Lego’s dismay, a single box of Lego could last for years.
In Germany, however, Lego’s strategy worked exactly as intended. German
children opened a box of Legos, sought out the instructions, read them
carefully, and then sorted the pieces by color. They set to building, comparing
their assembly progress to the crisp, helpful illustrations in the instruction
booklet. When they were finished, they had an exact duplicate of the product
shown on the cover of the box. They showed it to Mother who clapped approvingly
and put the model on a shelf. Now the children needed another box.
Without even knowing it, Lego had tapped into the Culture Code for Germany
itself: ORDER. Over many generations, Germans perfected bureaucracy in an effort
to stave off the chaos that came to them in wave after wave, and Germans are
imprinted early on with this most powerful of codes. It is that imprint which
makes children reach dutifully for the instructions, and it is that code which
prevents them from immediately destroying their neat construction in order to
build it anew. Lego’s elegant, full-color instructions had tapped into the
German code in a way that assured repeat sales.
Obviously, there are some pretty big generalizations there, but I was wondering
if any German AFOLs could say if there is a ring of truth to them.
As for myself, this American kid always put the model togther first, then took
it apart after a few days. What “culture” is that?
Marc Nelson Jr.
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In lugnet.general, Marc Nelson Jr. wrote:
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As for myself, this American kid always put the model togther first, then
took it apart after a few days. What “culture” is that?
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I guess I can’t agree with the analogy, unless they’re driving at something very
different. American kids do NOT want to go build their own things. They follow
the instructions, and they’re done. True, I think the model often comes apart
when it’s time to “put that away now” or something (since it seems a very
American trend to have a little bucket of loose Lego bricks). But the focus for
American kids is still to build the featured model.
But perhaps the difference they’re going for is that it’s put away afterwards in
the American culture, but not in Germany? IE that German kids keep their models
together forever, and need a new one to build, versus American kids who move on
to something else?
I do agree with their conclusion, though-- German culture seems to focus more on
organization, neat-and-tidy, being modular, efficient. And I think that creates
an attraction to Lego as a toy. Basically, Lego appeals to the values of
organization, orderly grids, variability, etc., which German society cares about
more than American society. Not so much in how the models are actually built,
but where the enjoyment is in them.
I guess the image I would expect is that the German kids are *building* with
Lego to get their enjoyment, and the American kids are *playing* with what they
already *built*. In other words, a focus on the finished product (in America)
rather than the construction process.
DaveE
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In lugnet.general, Marc Nelson Jr. wrote:
--SNIP--
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Obviously, there are some pretty big generalizations there, but I was
wondering if any German AFOLs could say if there is a ring of truth to them.
As for myself, this American kid always put the model togther first, then
took it apart after a few days. What “culture” is that?
Marc Nelson Jr.
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As with all generalisations this is likely to have some degree of truth to it.
The article is a little trite but the point is interesting. I’ve certainly
noticed that AFOLs from different countries tend to have different building
styles to the point that I can often look at a picture on BS and guess the
builders location/nationality with reasonable accuracy.
Tim
X-posted to .loc.us
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Well lets see there are a few things missing from this Doctors discussions....
1) Most Lego sets from 1955-65 had one thing in common.... the picture on the
box top had nothing to do with what was inside the box!
2) Until around 1965 most sets didn’t have instructions! You had to look on the
inside lid of the box, or on the bottom of the box to find diagrams of what you
could build. And then they rarely gave you any indication on what the back of
the buildings or creations were supposed to look like! And in the case of all
the basic sets the diagrams on the bottom of the box were very disappointing
compared to the beatiful buildings and beautiful scenes shown on the box tops!!
3) In USA, Samsonite was the licensee for Lego.... and they sold Lego like the
way they sold Luggage... which is why their license was revoked in 1972.
OK.... now maybe that Doctor had better start again with his/her hypotheisis....
because in the 1970’s... when the box tops all matched what was inside the box,
and the instructions were detailed and usefull... Lego sales soared in the USA!
Gary Istok
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In lugnet.general, Gerhard R. Istok wrote:
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Well lets see there are a few things missing from this Doctors
discussions....
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Thanks Gary!
It is always a joy to read some content out of an experts mind like your’s!
I think you have shows how completely crazy the argumentation of this “Clotaire
Rapaille” is. None of the arguments seems to be based on facts but all of them
is just pure fantasy to fit into the argumentation for the social code....
I do believe that social codes may exist, but surly not that primitive as given
in these (wrong) examples.
Anyway:
- all my (German) friends around were doing MOCs in their childhoods.
- none of them stored finished models on shelves as finished toys.
- we all have never sorted our LEGO collections (of usually not more than 10.000
bricks) - we bought and wanted more because nobody has ever enough bricks for
the even cooler next MOC to do (this seems to be valid for most moccing AFOLs
wordwide as well).
Leg Godt!
Ben
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Hi Marc,
"Marc Nelson Jr." <marcnelsonjr@gmail.com> writes:
>
> Obviously, there are some pretty big generalizations
> there, but I was wondering if any German AFOLs could say
> if there is a ring of truth to them.
no, not at all, sounds more like bullshit.
> As for myself, this American kid always put the model
> togther first, then took it apart after a few days. What
> "culture" is that?
I guess that's pretty universal, I did that when I was a child
in the late sixties and seventies, and I still do it today,
along with everybody else I know.
Jürgen
--
Jürgen Stuber <juergen@jstuber.net>
http://www.jstuber.net/
gnupg key fingerprint = 2767 CA3C 5680 58BA 9A91 23D9 BED6 9A7A AF9E 68B4
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