Subject:
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Re: Nicely now. What do you think of the new colors?
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Newsgroups:
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lugnet.lego, lugnet.general
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Date:
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Thu, 15 Jan 2004 12:58:50 GMT
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Viewed:
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12961 times
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In lugnet.lego, Jake McKee wrote:
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I’m looking for your help to deliver the
message. To be totally clear, this is me asking in order to have answers
ready if and when my colleagues ask.
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Jake,
Thank you asking these questions.
If I had the chance to send a message to the folks at your company, it would be
in the form of two questions:
1) Did the focus groups understand the potential ramifications of their
decisions?
For example: Let’s say you have a focus group where no one has ever seen a
skunk. And you say, “hey kids... do you like the cute animal with the pretty
white stripe on its tail?” And all the focus group kids shout out their
positive feelings for this lovely creature.
Conclusion: Kids like skunks. Is that an accurate answer? Without context it
may be, but we know it’s really not.
But suppose for a second that you took the group and asked them, “hey kids...
which do you like better... cats or dogs?” And with great glee all the kids
shout out, “DOGS!”.
Conclusion: Kids like dogs. Now you tell them, “that’s great... since you like
dogs we’re going to get rid of cats and you’ll never be able to have one ever
again.” Would the joyful faces still remain in the room?
The point of these silly examples is that if you take the color issue completely
out of context then there is nothing wrong with the new colors. If, on the
other hand, it means the elimination of the old colors (but you didn’t make that
clear to the people providing you with input) then you may have some flawed
data. Bad data in... bad data out. That never changes. So if the groups
didn’t fully understand the issues then the changes may be very risky.
2) Is it in any way possible that the color changes might be seen by some
consumers as a quality control issue?
Is there labelling on the packages? Are there inserts describing the change and
why it was made? If so, then this question is moot. If not, then what happens
when mom goes to put away Jane’s new LEGO and notices that some of the new
parts, when dumped into Jane’s LEGO collection, don’t look “quite right”? Will
mom’s trust of LEGO and it’s brand name continue to grow? If even a few
customers begin to see this as a quality issue then it is a very risky change in
my books. There are many reasons I buy LEGO bricks and not clone bricks but one
of the biggest reasons is quality. Am I the only one buying them for that
reason?
Those are the two questions I would ask... if I could send a message of any
kind.
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But I know that you don’t like this answer, so please use this opportunity
(as well as continuing to direct complaints and feedback through LEGO
Customer Service) as a way to have your voices heard.
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I did that... and even responded to their responses. But by the time they’ve
sent you back the canned response a second time it becomes a rather
disheartening exercise. :(
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Again, we are not changing the colors back, and from what I know now, we
aren’t considering it.
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But can you consider it? More importantly... *should* you consider it? LEGO is
sitting on a gold mine. That gold mine is your history and your reputation for
amazing quality products. If this change doesn’t substantially improve your
reputation and/or your products then you really need to ask, “is it worth the
risk”? Or is this a good way to cause the mine to cave in?
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Thanks in advance for your help!
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I’ve probably offered more questions than help, but I hope you see the point I
was trying to make. But again, it it nice to be asked for input like this.
Thanks Jake!
All the best,
Allan B.
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Message is in Reply To:
 | | Nicely now. What do you think of the new colors?
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| It's only a couple of weeks in the new year, and it looks like it's going to be an interesting 2004! I have a request, but before I go any further, let me say that personally, I understand the concerns surrounding the color changes. I know many of (...) (20 years ago, 15-Jan-04, to lugnet.lego, lugnet.general, FTX) !!
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