Subject:
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Re: Why Can't Lego Click?
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Newsgroups:
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lugnet.general
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Date:
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Mon, 2 Sep 2002 13:20:07 GMT
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Viewed:
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906 times
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In lugnet.general, Jake Rentar writes:
> The article is almost a year old now and I bet I'm not the first person to
> post it here, but I just found it on Google and I think it's very
> informative and interesting to read. If you've got a spare 5 or 10 minutes,
> please read it.
>
> http://www.fastcompany.com/online/50/lego.html
you are right that in saying you aren't the first. There have been loads of
discussion on the article.
Stuff that I noticed or recently thought about since re-reading the article.
The article goes into the building dilemma....buy a set because of its theme
potential vs. buying a set for its imagination potential.
The child in the article prefers the theme item vs what his mom preferred when
she was a little girl (the generic building set). I think the kids today
are quite like this....
I think it gives a good reason why Lego pulled the plug on its 1200 piece
of "generic" bricks in favor of a "theme-based" creator line up, which is
still heavy on the plain bricks but has included some other specialized
pieces to encourage playability.
We all know that Lego had a turn around year thanks in part to its
LEGO Direct division (with help from the Legends), the Harry Potter
line-up, and I guess they are starting to reap some of the rewards from
the cut-backs in 1997.
I see them barely break-even or even have losses for 2002. I see their
retail sector with Jack Stone II, Alpha Team II, and Soccer II all dragging
them down. The only retail items I see selling that well, and I really
hate to say it, are the Bionicle line-up.
The Island Extreme sets are a little too late in coming (brings back memories
of the Megablocks issues) and I think the market appeal for small extreme
sets may be too narrow.
The new train items out this fall should be very good. The Harry Potter
sets (Chamber of Secrets) should appeal to a wide spectrum of people.
I don't think there is anything that good that will "save" them like it did
last year.
The biggest set this year is the "Chamber of Secrets". Its nice, but not
as "styled" as the Hogwarts Castle. The biggest set in that line-up is the
Privet Drive set with the pretty house and the Ford Anglia.
Then we have to look at overall market environment. Last year we saw overall
market growth. This year, we have seen more and more financial troubles
and recessionary tendancies. It makes for a bad combination for Lego.
These are my opinions. Let's hope that TLC comes out with some innovative
new sets for next year that will appeal to both new and old enthusiasts.
Ben
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Message is in Reply To:
 | | Why Can't Lego Click?
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| The article is almost a year old now and I bet I'm not the first person to post it here, but I just found it on Google and I think it's very informative and interesting to read. If you've got a spare 5 or 10 minutes, please read it. (URL) (22 years ago, 2-Sep-02, to lugnet.general)
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