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In lugnet.general, Mark Tarrabain wrote:
> Ken Koleda wrote:
>
> > TLC has said on
> > numerous occaisons that AFOLs are just not a big enough market segment.
>
> Are you serious???
Mark... they're serious.
Speaking as someone who used to share your opinion it's important to note that
this argument has come up many times in the past. The general opinion has
always ended up that this statement is correct.
> If by "big enough" they mean more than 50% of the actual head-count,
> they may be right... but I'd bet anything that if they looked at the
> bottom line, how much money gets spent, they'd find that more is spent
> annually on LEGO that ends up being in the hands of adults than kids
> (simply because adults actually _have_ more money than kids in the first
> place).
It might be more accurate to say that more money is spent on LEGO by adults vs.
children. However, do all those bricks end up in the hands of adults? No,
probably not. It's safe to say that the vast majority of adults buying LEGO are
doing so for their children, not for themselves. Adult fan builders really are
the minority, there is no getting around this fact.
> If you ask me, it's probably completely the opposite and LEGO knows it.
But ask yourself this question: If LEGO knew it, wouldn't they immediately
change marketing tactics and put out sets aimed exclusively at adults?
> But if LEGO began to appeal too much to the AFOL market, the adult
> LEGO consumption could conceivably end up dominating the market (with
> expensive specialized parts and sets, and serious hobbyist magazines),
> with kids feeling somewhat left behind, sort of like what's happened
> with the hobby of playing with electric trains.
This contradicts your earlier statement. If the adult fan base who buy bricks
is so large (as you suggest) then the scenario above is a good one, not a bad
one.
It needs to be said that many people feel the company (especially the LEGO
Direct arm of the group) has, in fact, embraced the fan community in many ways.
The Event Kits, the recent Designer, Advanced Designer and Inventor sets, as
well as some of the Legend series of sets are examples of positive changes.
Several of these things suggest a shift not necessarily toward the adult
community but at least toward the core values that made LEGO so special to begin
with. This is a good thing and to someone who use to gripe about this stuff on
an almost daily basis, this is good enough. I am delighted with many things the
company has done in the last couple of years. There has been much change and we
need to recognize that.
So you began your post by asking if the comment about adult fans and the market
share they represent was serious; I think you can see that it is. LUGNET is a
slanted view of the adult LEGO community. Look at another point of view. I
work with around 45 people in my office. There is one adult LEGO fan.... me!
But there are probably 12 - 15 kids getting LEGO for birthdays, Christmas etc.
Do I buy as much for me as those parents are buying for those dozen or more
kids? Not by a long shot. My vote doesn't count as much as theirs does. The
good news, as noted above, is that things seem to be changing in ways that are
exciting and will continue to please both kids and many adults for a long time
to come.
All the best,
Allan B.
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