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 21:45:12 GMT
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Viewed:
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1331 times
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In lugnet.lego.direct, Tom Stangl writes:
> "Marc Nelson Jr." wrote:
>
> > 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.
>
> 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
> their molds aren't as accurate), TLG loses.
That is totally bogus. What if MegaBloks had found out from one of the
summiteers about the upcoming bulk trains? What could they have done about it?
Rush a whole series of trains and track out to their worldwide online store?
MegaBloks isn't trying to out-LEGO LEGO. If MegaBloks can beat LEGO to market
with cheap copies, why has that never happened? All they would have to do is go
to trade shows and take pictures.
LEGO's real competetion isn't MegaBloks, it's cable TV and video games.
> > 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.
>
> They have us to answer to, in a way. Just look back in this newsgroup at the
> complaints when a planned release is delayed - DELAYED mind you, NOT cancelled.
A small group of fanatics isn't the same as a large group of investors who are
losing money. Besides, they have demonstrated that they are not terribly
worried about making us happy.
> > 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.
>
> Yet if they release info prematurely, their CORPORATE enemies can capitalize on
> it. And releasing it on a website, or even JUST in here is definitely going • to get
> it to their competitors.
Which, as I said, wouldn't hurt them, or else they wouldn't show their stuff at
trade shows and in retail catalogs.
> > > 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.
>
> Customers wish that of virtually every company. Life sucks, the business world is
> harsh, it's not going to happen. You should feel lucky they tell us what they do.
> I myself would like to know more, but I'm obviously a bit more realistic about the
> consequences than you are.
LEGO has recently learned just how harsh the business world is, and I think
their attitude with their fan base is at least part of the problem.
I should feel lucky that LEGO occasionally condescends to feed me a few crumbs
of info?!? I think you have it backwards. LEGO should feel extremely lucky that
it has such a large, devoted, and forgiving fan base. They are supposed to keep
me happy, not the other way around.
> > 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?
>
> Hopefully they will, but don't hold your breath right now. They've restructured
> TWICE to stay profitable, and hiring more goodwill people isn't going to happen
> when the belt is tight.
>
> > 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?
>
> This last one is a good question. They could have sold them out even FASTER if
> they would have posted about them on Lugnet. Maybe they wanted to give the • rest of
> the world a chance at those packs too, who knows.
>
>
> > > 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.
>
> Marc, I've got to ask - how old are you? Have you ever held a job that has
> sensitive info? It seems not, because you just don't seem to understand the
> business world very well.
I'm 21. And what do you consider "sensitive info"? I don't consider discussing
your potential product offerings with your fan base a business-endangering
breach of security. If someone at LEGO could give an example of top-secret info
leaking out and hurting their business, then maybe I would be a little more
accepting of their whole paranoid attitude. It just seems like secrecy for the
sake of secrecy to me.
> > > 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.
>
> Yes, and they are obviously asking for help with the Summits they've held. But
> that DOESN'T mean they need to make the summits wide open and risk wasting all the
> valuable info when a competitor gets wind of it.
>
>
> > > 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.
>
> Now THIS I agree with. I hate having to call Busy Bee to get stuff from the UK.
> It would be nice to be able to hit shop.lego.com for ANY country and have it
> shipped to me in the US.
>
> Just remember that YOU, Marc, are luckier than most, in that you are a member of
> the Lugnet community, so you have a much greater chance of finding someone in the
> UK, NL, or wherever that can receive packages for you and send them on. I myself
> found someone to do so within a few hours of hearing of the Service Packs.
I'm not going to put up with bad service and stupid policies just because I am
"lucky" enough to be able to find someone on another continent to sell me
something that LEGO refuses to sell to me. When an employee of LEGO tells me,
"oh, just get somebody in the UK to send it to you", because they are too
backwards to sell it to me themselves, I will become annoyed.
-Marc Nelson Jr.
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Message has 1 Reply:
 | | Re: Bad Policy #2 (Why all the secrecy, LEGO Direct?)
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| In lugnet.lego.direct, Marc Nelson, Jr. writes: <snip> Just do what I've done and give up. Lose faith in Lego being a company about toys, values, or children being creative. They are merely a corporation producing a product for consumption. They've (...) (24 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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| (...) 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 (...) (24 years ago, 5-May-01, to lugnet.lego.direct)
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