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Subject: 
Re: Holy Mackerel! LEGO survey...
Newsgroups: 
lugnet.general, lugnet.lego
Date: 
Sun, 17 Apr 2005 11:22:47 GMT
Viewed: 
2127 times
  
In lugnet.general, Jake McKee wrote:
<BIG SNIP>

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. Feel free to answer them in line
or email them to me.

Thanks so much everyone for showing that the AFOLs are a force to be reckoned
with!

* Would you buy LEGO toys for children 0-11? Y/N
Yes. Currently, that is the bulk of my purchases. Duplo is where my money is
spent right now. I find that anything purchased for me is usually bought via
eBay or AuctionBrick.

* Why / Why not?
Twin niece and nephew. I have to do something to help stimulate their young
minds and the worked just fine for me when I was young, so I'll just let history
repeat itself. Fine motor skills and creativity are best developed in this
manner at a young age and that's what this uncle is helping with. As far as why
I'm not actively purchasing for myself...well, the million parts I'm sorting
currently are telling me they don't need any company ;)

* What feature(s) would you add if you were the marketing director of LEGO?
Expand Mindstorms exclusively via schools. Offer a DEEP discount to educators to
help push Lego into a viable space in school curriculums. Start young and focus
on science/robotics/computers.

Fewer 'gadget' parts in all lines. Examples include: Rashki back Fins, train
track, 'light up' interfaces, bendy Duplo animal bodies, and space saucer parts.
What do all these parts have in common? Outside their native building realms,
there is little use for them anywhere else.

Concentrate on age appropriate parts. Smaller parts for bigger hands-smaller
technic bits, bricks, plates, etc. For Juniors has it's place and it certainly
isn't in a juniorized pirate theme. What child wants to grow up to be a pirate?
SPACE and town...that's where FJ needs to be focused.

* How would you change existing LEGO products if you wanted to sell them for
more money?
Keep quality high - matching colored parts and a lessened reliance on poor
computer graphics. Any graphics used should match exactly what is capable for
the product. Bionicle in particular takes big liberties with this one.

Focus on product lines of an integrated toy. Illustrate that Knights Kingdom and
Designer work together with Duplo. Show that the toys don't have a finite life,
but an infinute number of possibilities instead.

In short, give the consumer more value for their hard earned dollar. There's
nothing worse than getting a set home, only to find something 'wrong' with
it...whether it is a 'bley' consideration or a canister whose picture
inaccurately displays the angle of a certain Toa's arms...both are annoying and
tend to put off future purchases.

* What new products would you launch?
The return of space lines. MULTIPLE space lines. Space has languished for years
in favor of expensive junk like trains and racers sets with single purpose trace
parts. A complete space ship used to be available for under $3, while a complete
train set can't be had for less than $50 even on deep clearance. Economies of
scale will tell you that you'll sell far more sets for less than $10 (a 'childs'
budget) that more than $50 (AFOL budget).

Work out a licensing deal with Hasbro (I know, I know...I'm dreaming, but this
is the place for that). Get Transformers and give us a TRUE mecha line. Do Xevoz
some justice by integrating it into Bionicle. Both lines are equally brilliant
and completely incompatible with each other.

Vikings, Roman and Greeks, other historical lines (Carthage?), More sculptures
and legends.

Lego has proven it can handle good vs. evil, but invariably, the bad guys get
short changed for sets. The lone exception to this was the Blacktron theme.
Simutaneous good/bad sets in equal quantities would be good (this is why I stay
away from KK and AT). There is no reason anyone whould end up with 5 Luke
Skywalkers if they pick up all of that year's sets. 1 is more than enough as you
proved with Vader.

* What should LEGO be doing that it isn’t now?
Expanding Paradisa. Clickits is nice, but isn't easy to integrate into town
creations. Find ways to do this and you'll get girls back into building.

Offering a comprehensive guide to all the year's offerings. I remember back in
the day when I could look through a guide and see what Lego had available that
year. That's impossible to do today given the compartmentalization of themes.

Making the theme parks as enjoyable as shopping at the retail stores. Last time
I was in LLCA, I felt as if I had entered a budget park with employees to match.
I expect a 'Disneyland' type of experience and I'm certain others do as well.
(No, not crowded park with overpriced food) I expect knowledgable employees who
are friendly and helpful...like the staff at both your Glendale and Aneheim
stores.

Lastly, turning a profit. I know this is something that is the number one
concern for the company, but the past few years worth of decisions have made it
look like you just don't care about profits.

So dangerous questions, to be sure, but the office of the CEO has asked them, so you know the responses will be listened to!

Thanks again, everyone. This incredible response has made my week.

Anytime, Jake! We're all very happy to help.
-Dave



Message is in Reply To:
  Holy Mackerel! LEGO survey...
 
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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