Subject:
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Re: Now that I've had a chance to see the new colors
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Newsgroups:
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lugnet.general
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Date:
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Thu, 18 Dec 2003 02:56:53 GMT
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Viewed:
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824 times
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In lugnet.general, Mark Tarrabain wrote:
> Douglas R. Clark wrote:
>
> ...
> > So, personally, I do not believe the focus-group-color-palette explanation.
> ...
> Why not?
>
> What *POSSIBLE* motive would LEGO have to lie to anyone?
It's possible that they haven't lied... but also that they haven't told the
whole truth.
I do believe the focus group explanation. However, as we've seen time and time
again on LUGNET, a poll or question is only as good as the way in which you ask
it. Polls or focus groups that are purposefully skewed can eventually arrive at
a conclusion that is exactly what was hoped for. I believe that someone within
LEGO, for whatever reason (probably not that important) decided that it was time
to change the greys. Perhaps the greys didn't fall into the proper color
spectrum... or something artsy like that. "Let's put together a group and see
if they like this 'new' and 'improved' colors better." Chances are you could
convince them of this, if that was your intention.
But the larger question is why would they want to align the colors at all?
Simple... to sell more product. There is no fundamental reason for a company to
make any change unless it helps them to either save money, or make more money
directly through increased sales. LEGO didn't change the greys to make kids
happy. They didn't change them to make adults upset. They didn't change them
to make the cosmic color gods rain drops of golden goodness on their heads.
They made the change because they felt it would ultimately be financially
beneficial for them to do so.
> If the reason is one of the more plausable ones you suggested elsewhere,
> it would have been perfectly reasonable for them to have said as much --
> it may have still sucked, but I think any mature person could have
> still accepted the decision and reasoning.
If we'd been given *all* the facts. But for a private company like LEGO to
reveal all these facts would have been silly. They didn't, couldn't and
shouldn't. They need to have their trade secrets and we have to respect them
for that.
> Something else to remember is that it is not the kids that buy these
> sets, in general... it is adults buying these sets for their kids -- in
> particular, adults that don't appear to care one way or the other about
> color.... so why would LEGO do this? Simple... it has been proven
> before beyond any reasonable doubt that the color of a product *WILL*
> impact its sales,
You've got it exactly. It will impact their sales. And in their minds, it will
be in a positive manner.
> often even as a result of a subconscious impression,
> and I'll bet that the focus group most likely consisted of adults with
> children, and involved simply finding out which colors caught their eye
> the best. After all, if the product can catch their eye in the first
> place, the chance of them buying it is increased. This obviously isn't
> a change designed to appeal to the longtime LEGO fan, it's evidently a
> change made in to affect impulse purchases.
I agree. This was a marketing decision plain and simple. Nothing more, nothing
less. Hate it or love it, but they probably felt it had to be done.
> Most of us might think that LEGO already could have stood on its own
> merits as a quality product and didn't need superficial changes like
> this to improve their sales, but it seems evident to me that the guys
> who made this decision don't have the same opinion.
Yup. I couldn't agree more.
All the best,
Allan B.
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Message is in Reply To:
 | | Re: Now that I've had a chance to see the new colors
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| Douglas R. Clark wrote: ... (...) ... Why not? What *POSSIBLE* motive would LEGO have to lie to anyone? If the reason is one of the more plausable ones you suggested elsewhere, it would have been perfectly reasonable for them to have said as much -- (...) (21 years ago, 17-Dec-03, to lugnet.general)
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