Subject:
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Re: Bad Policy #2 (Why all the secrecy, LEGO Direct?)
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Newsgroups:
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lugnet.lego.direct
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Date:
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Sat, 5 May 2001 19:29:55 GMT
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Viewed:
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1290 times
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In lugnet.lego.direct, Tomas Clark writes:
> In lugnet.lego.direct, Marc Nelson, Jr. writes:
> > And another thing...
> >
> > Why is there so much secrecy surrounding any information coming from LEGO?
> > It's like dealing with the NSA.
>
> Well, there are probably three questions that need answering:
>
> 1. Why all the "secrecy?"
> Because the subjects in question -- whether they're products, services,
> websites, or whatever -- are not ready to be announced to the public yet.
> There are all sorts of legal and business reasons for not announcing
> something until it's finalized and is ready for public viewing. For one
> thing, a lot of things can change before final release -- projects or parts
> of projects can be canceled, and it's not pleasant to have to cancel
> something that's already been announced. Not to mention disappointing. In
> many cases, we also have to consider other companies, patent issues, and
> licensed intellectual property (think Star Wars, Harry Potter).
I guess I still don't get it. I'm trying to think of an example of how LEGO
letting us know about something would hurt you. I mean, LEGO really doesn't
have any competition (MegaBloks can only compete on price), so it's not like
somebody would steal your idea and beat you to the market with it.
And what it's the big deal with cancelling or postponing something that has
been announced? Other companies do it all the time -- and LEGO doesn't even
have shareholders to answer to. I just think more open communications could
only help LEGO. To cite the Cluetrain Manifesto:
#28: Most marketing programs are based on the fear that the market might see
what's really going on inside the company.
Why? I hate to belabor this point, but we are not the enemy -- we are your
loving fans who want to give you our money.
> To take things to an absurd extreme, you could ask "why don't you tell
> everyone whenever someone at LEGO has a new idea?" But to be less absurd --
> every project is different and it's a judgement call as to when it's ready
> to be unveiled. And that's usually not a decision that's made by one person.
>
> The thing to keep in mind is that we're not taking information that would
> have been public and shrouding it in secrecy -- we're taking confidential,
> unreleased ideas and discussing them with a few people so that we can do a
> better job on the project. It's not that different from a focus group --
> except that a focus group tries to find average "man on the street"
> consumers. For certain projects at LEGO Direct we decided to bring some
> folks who really know trains, for instance, into the discussion.
>
> 2. Why can't you tell more people?
> Well, you obviously can't tell everyone or it would be publicly announced.
> And telling lots of people is not the best way to keep something under wraps
> until it's ready. But mainly, it's because some discussions are better with
> fewer people rather than a crowd, and small numbers make it possible to meet
> in person in some cases.
I applaud LEGO's efforts to seek our input with the summit, I just think
communcation should be done more often and on a bigger scale. I see that Brad
Justus is scheduled to talk at Brickfest -- this is good! Why not send people
out to more events like this, such as train shows and LUG meetings? Why won't
"the Amazing Redini" answer questions about juniorization and bulk offerings?
Why didn't we hear about those old service packs from you?
> 3. Why do people have to sign NDAs?
> Well, that's a fact of life for our business. It would be nice if we lived
> in a world where we could do everything 100% on handshakes and trust. And I
> do trust the folks I've had meetings with. But our legal team is more
> hard-nosed and realistic about things (which is an valuable quality in a
> legal team) and they need to get things in writing.
>
> The big difference between a focus group and the kind of summits, etc. that
> we've been having is that if you belong to an active online community,
> there's a very natural desire to jump online and say "I heard about this
> really cool thing!!! ... that I can't tell you about." So that's definitely
> a challenge when it comes to working together and discussing unreleased
> projects, but we're hoping that the benefits will make it all more than
> worthwhile.
I just can't understand why you didn't ENCOURAGE those people to jump online
and tell everyone. We are your best ambassadors and we are more effective at
spreading the Gospel of LEGO if we are better informed.
>
> So to sum up, it's not more secrecy, it's actually a little bit less. It
> just might seem like more because most of the time, there's no public
> information at all about a project before it's announced.
Which is how you end up with gargantuan money-losers like ZNAP and video games
and juniorization. Maybe if we had known about those projects, we could have
told LEGO what bad ideas they were. Isn't it about time LEGO realized that the
secret, don't-tell-the-customers approach isn't working?
To be honest, if LEGO was rolling along like it was in the 80's and early 90's,
pumping out classic sets and raking in the dough, I wouldn't be as concerned
that we weren't being consulted or listened to. But that is no longer the case.
Obviously, something has gone badly wrong, and right now LEGO needs all the
help it can get.
> I'll let someone else field your other question about US/Europe Shop at Home
> because I'm not familiar at all with the feasibility of international
> shipping. But it's my impression that the US S@H is set up to ship to
> certain areas, and Europe S@H for other certain areas. The extra old
> inventory was found in Europe, so they are selling it. Also, I could be
> mistaken, but I believ the US has had "finds" like this in the past, which
> have been exclusive for S@H customers on this side of the pond -- fair's
> fair. Finally, if you read Jake's post yesterday, he did say that they're in
> the process of sending some service packs from Europe to the US. Thanks,
> Europe S@H!
How hard is it to get "set up" to ship something outside of your territory? You
charge the customer extra for shipping and then send it to him wherever. It
just seems like that would be easier than telling us we can't buy the item
until it's been shipped from Europe S@H to US S@H. The same goes for European
AFOL's. If they want something from the US, charge them shipping costs and sell
it to them.
I worked in a bookstore which shipped returns and purchases all over the place.
You typed in the address into the UPS program, it told you the shipping costs,
and that's what the customer got charged. Now if an 4-location bookstore in
Batimore can handle that, I'm sure a multimillion dollar organization like LEGO
can.
All my criticisms aside, I was very glad to see such a rapid and comprehensive
answer from LEGO Direct. Thanks, Tomas!
-Marc Nelson Jr.
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Message has 3 Replies:
 | | Re: Bad Policy #2 (Why all the secrecy, LEGO Direct?)
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| (...) Then you're extremely naive. MegaBloks IS competition (as AFOLs have seen other parents buy MB time and time again simply BECAUSE it is cheaper), and if they see a mockup and then get a model to market faster (which they probably could, since (...) (23 years ago, 5-May-01, to lugnet.lego.direct)
| | | Re: Bad Policy #2 (Why all the secrecy, LEGO Direct?)
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| (...) I can think of some examples. E.g. number of sale of the Y-Wing+Tie set would be reduced if we know ahead that a cheaper mini-fig set will include Darth Vader. The same applies for the C3PO in Millenium Falcon and Droid Escape. LEGO sets are (...) (23 years ago, 5-May-01, to lugnet.lego.direct)
| | | Re: Bad Policy #2 (Why all the secrecy, LEGO Direct?)
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| (...) Simple answer: It breaks the process, and it's unnecessary duplication. (more complex) 99% of the time, S@H Europe is dealing with Europeans who want things delivered to Europe. Ditto the other distribution centers. Because they spend 99% of (...) (23 years ago, 7-May-01, to lugnet.lego.direct)
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Message is in Reply To:
| | Re: Bad Policy #2 (Why all the secrecy, LEGO Direct?)
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| (...) Well, there are probably three questions that need answering: 1. Why all the "secrecy?" Because the subjects in question -- whether they're products, services, websites, or whatever -- are not ready to be announced to the public yet. There are (...) (23 years ago, 5-May-01, to lugnet.lego.direct)
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