Subject:
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Re: Holy Mackerel! LEGO survey...
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Newsgroups:
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lugnet.general, lugnet.lego
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Date:
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Sun, 17 Apr 2005 15:17:11 GMT
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Viewed:
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7003 times
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Talking to myself here, I just wanted to add a few things to this:
> * What should LEGO be doing that it isn’t now?
- More small sets. When I was growing up in the mid-80s, I would take my $3
allowance most weeks and go to K-mart or ShopKo to buy LEGO. Fortunately, each
theme would have a couple sets for $2, $2.50, or $3, and usually other sets for
$5 and $10 that I could save up for. That made LEGO very accessible to children
and parents, and people had a wide variety of things to choose from for $5 or
less.
Now, if you look at a theme like Knight's Kingdom, the 5 available sets are
priced $7, $20, $30, $50, and $90. A child cannot afford most of those. Most
other themes are similar in having a small number of available sets with very
few sets available for $10 or less.
- Consolidate the themes. Each theme needs more sets, with most of them being
added to the low end of the price range. There also need to be a few
long-lasting themes, instead of many short-lived themes.
- Reduce or eliminate licensing. Star Wars was a good idea, and Harry Potter
seems okay, but the existence of these licensed sets has shrunk or eliminated
the presence of the classic themes. It also turns LEGO from a classic toy into a
fad toy. Fads die.
- Be generic. Story lines and licenses create themes where most of the
mini-figures become useless when purchased in multiples. Nobody needs more than
one king so-and-so, or more than one Harry Potter. However, generic castle
soldiers, spacemen, firemen, shopkeepers, and pirates are always useful.
- Stop trying to appeal to the wrong children. If TLC simply "must" use focus
groups, at least make sure the focus-group children are in there for the right
reasons. Doing focus-group testing on people who want sports toys or action
figures is just plain wrong. LEGO is about building. Modifying LEGO's toys to
appeal to whatever fad is in cheapens the experience for the parents and
children who are looking for a great building toy.
Yes, most of my advice basically says to be like you were in the 80s. That is
okay though, because that is when TLC was selling great products at acceptable
prices, and remaining profitable while doing so.
Also, thanks to Jake and everybody else at TLC for giving us a channel to voice
our concerns and opinions.
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Message is in Reply To:
 | | Re: Holy Mackerel! LEGO survey...
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| (...) Yes. (...) I believe that LEGO makes intelligent toys that broaden a person's creativity and 3D visualization skills while also being fun to build and play with for people of all ages. (...) I would bring back the flip-tops that let you see (...) (20 years ago, 16-Apr-05, to lugnet.general, lugnet.lego)
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