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Subject: 
Re: Holy Mackerel! LEGO survey...
Newsgroups: 
lugnet.lego
Date: 
Mon, 18 Apr 2005 16:41:20 GMT
Viewed: 
8739 times
  
Jake McKee wrote:

>
> Thanks so much everyone for showing that the AFOLs are a force to be reckoned
> with!
>
> * Would you buy LEGO toys for children 0-11? Y/N


Yes.

> * Why / Why not?
>

Lego is a toy range that gains value with every set you buy, so in
the long run it's good value for money even if it's a bit expensive
compared to other toys.

> * What feature(s) would you add if you were the marketing director of LEGO?
>

I had an idea about how to add value to each set, if on the back you
put a link to your website where you could find instructions for
alternative models that you could build with the set. e.g.
http://www.lego.com/alternativemodels/####/
If you let some of your designers loose with the parts I'm sure they
could come up with some more, and maybe you could accept more models
from kids who've bought the set? That way individual models would
have long term appeal and you could use the alternatives to teach
kids interesting ways to use pieces they might not have thought of
themselves.

> * How would you change existing LEGO products if you wanted to sell them for
> more money?
>

I don't think you could sell Lego at a higher price without
increasing peoples perceived value of the product. Increasing
piece counts, less single use pieces, less 'juniorisation' would
all increase the long-term play value of the set, and would perhaps
encourage parents to pay more for a longer term, rather than a fad,
toy. This days parents are young enough to have had Lego as children
themselves, some I've spoken too have been disappointed at the
reduced piece count and lack of ways of building alternatives with
the pieces.

> * What new products would you launch?
>

I'd look to create new long running themes, so a kid could
buy a set when aged 6 and still be able to get one along
similar lines aged 10. Alternatively you expand some of your
current ones with new products each year. A long running
theme would have more products in than a short one, perhaps
each set running for 3 years, with a third being retired
and replaced each year. This gives a chance for the larger
sets to be saved up for, if you know it's not going to
be replaced within 12 months.

I'd change the spread of a theme so more sets were priced
towards the low to middle range of prices. So there's
plenty of choice for kids to spend there own pocket money
on as well as lots of opportunities for them to be given them
as presents.

I'd introduce some 'Designer' sets that have traditional
mini-figs. Mini-Fig scale models are a nice idea, Jack
Stone/Creator size figures require more bricks to build
similar structures, but with mini-fig scale you get
to build much larger using the same amount of bricks.


> * What should LEGO be doing that it isn’t now?
>

Hire me :)

Avoid anything that damages the long term usefulness of a
Lego collection. E.g. a certain 'colour problem' that I'm sure
you're aware of now :)

About 4 years ago the small shop attached to the local petrol
station sold small 3-4 UK Pound sets. These were often short
runs, but seemed to sell incredibly well. Could these smaller
sort of shops be used to sell more smaller sets to grab people
into the brand and it's themes?

When designing a new piece, make sure the designers can think
up at least 2 ways in which it can be used. The public will
then think of several more, and we'll never be stuck with
pieces we're not sure how to use.

The computer games side of the business seems a bit of a mixed
result. Some of the games are great fun to play, I like Racers,
but the building parts of them seem very clunky, I don't think
3D building works well on 2D screens. Concentrating on gameplay,
creating fun games that mesh well with the stories from the
Lego kits seems better than trying to cludge in building that
doesn't work too well and may discourage people from buying
the kits.

> So dangerous questions, to be sure, but the office of the CEO has
> asked them, so you know the responses will be listened to!
>
> Thanks again, everyone. This incredible response has made my week.
>

I hope these are useful to you, and that they'll be read :)

Peter



Message is in Reply To:
  Holy Mackerel! LEGO survey...
 
All, I know that some of you have attempted to fill out the survey announced yesterday on LEGOfan.org, only to be turned away with a message about the survey being complete. After some late night phone calls and early morning emails, I've been to (...) (19 years ago, 16-Apr-05, to lugnet.general, lugnet.lego) !! 

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