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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Tue, 19 Apr 2005 21:57:56 GMT
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Viewed:
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7072 times
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In lugnet.general, Jake McKee wrote:
> If you're still interested in helping out, my colleague running this data
> collection effort has asked me to post the questions below for feedback.
> She'll manually include this in the results as well.
I actually did get a chance to fill out the survey, but I found myself itching
to post on some of this anyway.
> * Would you buy LEGO toys for children 0-11? Y/N
Yep! Of course, it depends on the child, but in general I think it fits most
kids.
> * Why / Why not?
1) Being an AFOL, I of course have to spread brand awareness and loyalty
2) Lego can be an educational toy
3) Kids typically don't *think* of it as an educational toy, so they're more
likely to enjoy it than, say, a book like "Fun With Math!"
4) Some sets are universal-- they'll be as good in 20 years as they were today,
unlike Power Rangers action figures or whatnot, which will most likely be out of
fashion.
> * What feature(s) would you add if you were the marketing director of LEGO?
More focus on the imagination perspective. Less on "here's the set you'll be
getting" and more "here's some of what you can do with this set". And of course,
beyond that, "here's what you can do with lots of *Lego*". That's Lego's
identity.
If marketing wants to *change* Lego's identity, and market to the fad-world of
toys, it needs to go the way of MegaBloks. More juniorization, lower quality
plastic, less thought into sets, lower price point, bigger, flashier graphics,
and exaggerated fantasy themes. But I don't think anyone here on Lugnet wants
that to happen.
> * How would you change existing LEGO products if you wanted to sell them for
> more money?
I don't really think you can. People's impressions of Lego value have already
been set, and even if they haven't, they'll be set by the neighboring shelves of
MegaBloks. Go much higher and you'll lose business, I think.
I suppose the true way to do it, however, (if it's possible) would be to
increase brand loyalty. Better commercials targetted at kids to really make them
want *Lego* products specifically. Parents *will* pay it if the children are
insistant (although they'll probably buy less).
> * What new products would you launch?
I'll skip this one-- I think many of the ideas have been posted, and a few that
I haven't seen posted I know are getting pitched to the company anyway.
> * What should LEGO be doing that it isn’t now?
- Tighten up the design process. Less time from start to finish. My guess is
there's too many steps in the process, resulting in lofty design costs,
overanalysis, for not enough gain.
- Allow marketing of some more violent toys. That's just a hunch. I don't think
mattel or hasbro as a brand suffers because they just-so-happen to make *some*
violent toys; my guess is Lego wouldn't suffer sales-wise by doing the same. But
the group you're primarily marketing to (young boys) *LOVE* violent toys.
- Generalize the existing themes. One selling point of construction toys is that
repeat sales of the same item are allowed. The child already has this? That's
ok! Buy another one! However, when themes contain specialized characters,
scenes, etc, repeats are more taboo. Plus, generic themes blend together more
easily. The chances a child likes a Harry Potter set are likely to be totally
unrelated to whether they'll like an Alpha Team set. Make the themes more
generic, and you'll encourage kids to branch to other Lego product themes.
- Stop with the new colors already. Use what you've got, don't come up with new
colors specifically for some new theme. Fewer colors make your products more
generic, more versatile, and more integrated into a building system.
- Include instructions for neat alternate models. Or at least pictures of more
cool alternate models. Encourage kids to use their imagination, rather than just
building what's on the box. It'll help kids appreciate the fundamentals of a
building system rather than just the appeal of the product.
DaveE
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Message is in Reply To:
 | | Holy Mackerel! LEGO survey...
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| All, I know that some of you have attempted to fill out the survey announced yesterday on LEGOfan.org, only to be turned away with a message about the survey being complete. After some late night phone calls and early morning emails, I've been to (...) (20 years ago, 16-Apr-05, to lugnet.general, lugnet.lego) !!
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