Subject:
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Re: Improving the adult image of LEGO
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Newsgroups:
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lugnet.general
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Date:
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Thu, 18 Sep 2008 16:24:40 GMT
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Viewed:
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11856 times
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In lugnet.general, David Laswell wrote:
> But that's exactly the point. It's not that they weren't aware of us at
> all. It's that they thought we were an inconsequencial fraction of the total
> market, and thus not worth catering to at all. And strictly in terms of the
> total customer base, that's very likely true.
Honestly, my impression of the Lego hobbyist community is that there was a boom
in growth of AFOL purchasing around 1998-2000. My honest-to-god guess is that
AFOLs weren't worth marketing to back in, say, 1992, but we WERE worth marketing
to in 2002.
Most AFOLs I know were either not buying Lego prior to their reintroduction to
the hobby (typically 1998 or later), or just weren't buying very much until the
online community started fostering their hobby (which was verifiably growing
largely in that timeframe).
I'm not sure exactly what the point was that I would guess AFOLs were suddenly
"worth it", although I'd guess sometime starting around 1998 or so. But there's
very little for me to base that on, other than just a feeling. And certainly
today, we're a crucial segment of the market.
> Now, you can say that there are other individuals within the combined
> employee base that were instrumental in getting this change in mindset to
> occur, and a year ago I probably would have agreed. But then I watched that
> video of a presentation Jake did after leaving to start his own company.
Wait, now you don't agree that others were instrumental in the change? Part of
the point of Lego Direct was to start the whole communication and marketing with
AFOLs, which was started in 1999, headed initially by Brad Justus. And Jake was
hired on in roughly November? of 2000, almost a year after Direct's announcement
to the fan community in December of 1999. And surely somebody OTHER than Brad
helped to even set up that initiative. I'm not sure exactly when the plans for
this got set in motion, but I'd guess sometime in 1999-- maybe even earlier. If
you want to know when Lego caught the Clue Train, that's when they bought their
ticket.
Not that Jake wasn't tremendously helpful in that initiative. I'd be willing to
bet that he was the most active participant in that effort, and probably the
most effective. But to suggest that the company would still be ignoring AFOLs
completely if it weren't for Jake just doesn't match with what I see in looking
at the history. I think they wouldn't be as far along as they are today-- and I
think from the sounds of things Jake helped speed up inter-department
communication and other internal processes a great deal. But I don't think it's
fair to the rest of the company to label Jake as the one-and-only catalyst for
realizing the AFOL market.
> We're not _the_ important demographic by any means, but in many ways we're
> closer to both demographics than they are.
That I'd definitely agree with. What kids want and what adults want aren't
always the same, but it's amazing how you can make both parties happy if you
design your products appropriately. And now, may AFOLs are employed by Lego in
many different areas, which I think is helping to steer them in a better
direction than if they were just attempting to target kids. AFOLs were once
Lego-crazed kids, so they have a good idea of some of the things that attract
kids. So AFOLs (of which Jake was one, before joining the company) can pick up
on some of these points that might otherwise get ignored by a typical marketing
analysis.
DaveE
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Message is in Reply To:
 | | Re: Improving the adult image of LEGO
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| (...) But that's exactly the point. It's not that they weren't aware of us at all. It's that they thought we were an inconsequencial fraction of the total market, and thus not worth catering to at all. And strictly in terms of the total customer (...) (16 years ago, 17-Sep-08, to lugnet.general)
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