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In lugnet.events.brickfest, Greg Kramer writes:
> As the subject says, these are inferences, not direct quotes. But I have
> given references to why I think my "read between the lines" statements are
> accurate.
>
> 1. The adult fan community is probably not as important as we like to think
> we are. Brad seemed to include us in the category of "enthusiasts", which I
> think he descibed kind of vaguely as someone who really loves the brand and
> has some "loyalty" to the products. This enthusiast group may include the
> 2M people in the US and Canada that are in the Lego Club (the 2M figure I
> remember directly, but I'm not sure if Brad used them as an example of other
> enthusiasts besides us). We may be more vocal than the rest, but our
> numbers (both in people and amount we spend) pale before the rest of the
> enthusiasts; and similarly the enthusiast group pales before the general
> public. Shiri's humorous advice to "treat AFOLs like alcoholics -- they buy
> the majority of the product that liquor companies sell" got a response from
> Brad that we definitely do *not* account for the majority of his sales,
> using the example of how our Lugnet count of Guarded Inn sales was way off,
> because of the flood of orders that came when the Inn appeared in the S@H
> catalog. I think this means we may be valuable us as a gauge of how other
> enthusiasts may feel about products, but we are not a large enough segment
> to justify creating products specifically for... the products have to appeal
> to the larger enthusiast market.
OK this is driving me *crazy*. This is the second referance to the Guarded Inn
being in the S@H catalog. Can someone provide a referance? I am sitting with
my copy of the Summer 2001 S@H Catalog and see no referance to the Guarded Inn.
Was this some sort of insert? Personally I havn't seen the Guarded Inn
advertised anywhere but here.
It's not that I don't believe what Brad told you all but I just havn't seen it
outside of LUGNET yet. (except maybe shop.lego.com).
>
> 2. Lego does not see juniorization as a failure. I can't quote Brad
> directly, but to paraphrase, he did respond to one question by saying
> something like "you all may hate juniorization, but that's the way kids are
> today: they want more playabilty and they get less enjoyment out of the
> actual building experience". Again, that is not a direct quote. But the
> essence I got was that Lego has no intention of abandoning juniorization.
> Brad did add that he believes the product line should appeal to older ages
> as well, with non-juniorized products (and he used Star Wars as an example
> of current non-juniorized sets).
This doesn't supprise me much. I personally have never called for a removal of
Juniorization all together but I think it does take away the older
child/younger teenager from the mix. Problem is kids grow up so fast these
days that they group out of things faster than ever before. I have a 7 year
old nephiew and can allready see some waivering in his interest. He is to into
video games for LEGO to hold his attention very long. I personally think its
pretty sad but unfortunately I can't do anything about it. All I can do is try
and keep my kid focused on things that don't involve cathode ray tubes. Even
then I don't know how successful I will be.
Of course I don't care all that much for sets anymore anyway so my main
interest is in the expansion of the Bulk Offerings. There are still a lot of
holes there and I would like to see them filled.
>
> Anyone who heard it differently, please chime in.
>
> I'm not really suprised by what I heard. And I don't think it's the end of
> the world either. We may never see another annual catalog full of
> non-juniorized town and castle sets, but the fact that Lego now makes
> products specifically for "Enthusiasts" (like the 'Camel, MOT, etc) will
> hopefully make up for it.
I am glad you wern't suprised. No one should be. Kids have been, and always
will be TLC's target audiance. We are just here having fun as a very loud,
proud, and fun loving small nich market.
Eric Kingsley
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