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LEGO Bids To Build A Greater Appeal For Girls
By Tom Bawden
The Observer, March 6, 2011
After the Danish toymaker unveils a massive surge in profits, UK managing
director Marko Ilincic explains the next step LEGO is planning to target girls
with toys designed to engage the female imagination, as the boy-focused
miniature brick maker looks to sustain its recent strong growth.
In an interview with the Observer after the Danish company announced a 63% surge
in profits for last year, UK managing director Marko Ilincic said that girls
represent “a significant opportunity that is still untapped” for the company,
and that “that is something we are working hard to address”.
Between the ages of two and five, girls play with LEGO as much as boys. But all
this changes when children go to school, after which most girls rapidly lose
interest as they become more conscious of their gender, said Ilincic. As a
result, girls only account for a fifth of LEGO users aged five and over.
“Pre-school, boys and girls are still developing their preferences, and at this
point the differences between their play patterns are not as acute. As a child
gets older, play patterns manifest themselves much more – and nature plays its
part,” he said, a day after announcing that LEGO new Harry Potter range helped
the group to a 48% rise in UK sales to a new record last year.
“We’re very conscious of the skew towards boys; most of our themes are to do
with aliens, Star Wars, police stations and fire stations. And they rely heavily
on construction, which appeals to the boys. Girls like the creative play LEGO
offers, but are far more interested in role play, pay greater attention to
detail, and like collectibles like dolls,” Ilincic said, flanked by replicas
from the Harry Potter films, as well as games and figures relating to the Star
Wars and Pirates of the Caribbean films.
He said LEGO product designers were working hard to come up with female-oriented
products, which will hit the shelves shortly: “We’re looking for the right
balance of creativity that appeals to girls and construction. We don’t want to
take the construction away altogether, but there are degrees of
‘constructability’, and simply producing a pink version of the boys’ products is
not enough. An understanding of how gender patterns differ is key.”
Some might argue that LEGO might risk exacerbating gender stereotypes by
producing heavily female-orientated products, but Ilincic denies any such
pressure: “We can’t force boys or girls to buy any particular product. Instead
we try to understand the social and genetic influences children have and to
appropriately meet them.”
Few would deny that the 77-year-old company produces a product loved by millions
and has survived in a digital era that has seen many other traditional toymakers
collapse. Every second an astonishing seven LEGO sets are sold somewhere, while
it is estimated that there are 62 bricks for every person in the world.
Following strong growth in recent years, after the company ditched a lot of
peripheral operations such as its LEGOLAND theme parks to concentrate on its
main business, the group’s surge has continued in 2011. It has defied an economy
that has dragged down others because parents are very reluctant to deprive their
children of the opportunity to play, especially when it is a relatively cheap
form of entertainment.
LEGO has also significantly stepped up the number of its themed products, such
as licensed items relating to films, as the array of entertainments vying for
children’s attention grows.
“The need for instant gratification is much greater now than 10 years ago, so
children increasingly need a context in which to play, to get their creativity
and juices flowing. To really get a child engaged you need a good ‘hook’, and a
film will do that,” said Ilincic.
Last week, LEGO reported pre-tax profits of £563m as sales grew by 32% to
£1.8bn; the group now claims to be the world’s fourth-largest toymaker, with a
global market share of 5.9%. In the UK, market share increased by 4.6% to 6.2%
last year, jumping to 7.5% in January, boosted by the release of its new Ninjago
board game.
Ilincic suspects that the proliferation of social media sites may also have
played its part in LEGO increasing popularity, particularly among adults: “There
are thousands of websites for LEGO enthusiasts and my perception is that this is
increasing adults’ interest because it enables them to get together and share
ideas about the products.”
However, while Ilincic is keen to target girls, he has no such plans for adults:
they, it seems, must content themselves with the children’s range.
Guardian.co.uk
-end of report-
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