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I think I'll take you up on that, right now actually. ;-)
(I am not expecting a reply from anyone, so this fits in dear-lego, but I
still hope someone will be listening. Anyway, FUTs to dear-lego.)
Dear LEGO, and dear LEGO Direct reps.:
To introduce myself, my name is Shiri Dori, and I am almost 17. I have
always loved LEGO, as far as I can remember myself. At various points of my
life I played with it less, or was ashamed to admit my hobby, but I never
really put it aside or sold it.
Right now I am active in lugnet and the LEGO community (as you may or may
not know). I have heard about many people's experiences, how they got into
lego, how they got out of LEGO, and how they got in again.
In the past week or so I've been advertising around my high-school, in
Newton, Mass, offering to buy used LEGO. I put up ads asking for LEGO, and also
asked anyone in my classes, my teachers, all the people I know, and anyone I
happened to see during my free classes and lunch, if they were interested in
selling LEGO to me. I must've talked to anywhere from 150 to 200 kids. I
handed out my phone number to at least 30-40 people, etc., and asked my
friends to tell their friends. A *lot* of people said they have too much
sentimental value, others said they have little siblings, or they moved and
left the LEGO behind, or gave it away... you get the picture.
But an absolutely overwhelming amount of people said they still play with
them... I estimate that about a quarter to a fifth of the people I asked
said that either they, or their teenage/adult children, still actively
played with LEGO or where "obssessed" with LEGO. I was really amazed by how
many teenagers (these are kids about 14-18) said that they *love* their LEGO
and still play with it.
My theory is - the LEGO Company doesn't take care of its audience as they
grow up. TLC would be well off to stop putting ages on the boxes,
*especially* cutting off the boxes at twelve. Kids get the "aren't you too
old?" comment once they pass 12 and so TLC loses its chance to keep an
audience that would,
oncreasingly, be able to pay for sets from their own pocket. Instead of
pampering these kids with bigger, more challanging sets, that aren't limited
in age (1), or rather are *targeted and marketed towards* early teens. If
they create a market image that LEGO is cool - that LEGO isn't just for
"kids" - people will be a lot more inclined, and less ashamed, to continue
their childhood hobby. The teens who just now start making their own money
can start buying things on their own... and as time goes by they will be
able to afford more and more sets, letting the hobby become an addiction,
and that can only be a good thing for the company...
All I can thing of is the Driver's Ed. video I just watched the other night
- talking about how alcohol and beer companies create a popular image for
their drinks, that attracts young or heavy users. The video also showed how
they rely on heavy drinkers for most of their income (one of the factoids
was: 10% of the drinkers purchase about 50% of the alcohol manufactured in
the U.S.). Not to bash anyone at all here, I'm just suggesting that by
encouraging heavy buyers you will increase your profit much more than by
trying to recruit more customers and then sending them away, a few years
later. And certainly, LEGO addiction is a lot less harmful than alcohol
addiction! (IMHO!)
These are obviously simply suggestions. But I think they would benefit your
company, and many individuals who lose out on the fun.
Good luck,
-Shiri
P.S. a lot of this is c&p'd and edited from my post:
http://news.lugnet.com/general/?n=30506
(1) The 6-99 age "restriction" on the HP computer game is a good start, I'll
say. But definitely *just* a start.
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Message is in Reply To:
 | | Re: FOTD, or maybe FOTW?... Plus some dark-ages theories
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| (...) Wow Shiri, that's really cool... (...) LOL! (...) Find of the week? Probably after tomorrows batch I'd say! (...) Again, VERY cool! (...) You have hit on a VERY valid point here. There was a time when a kid could graduate through the LEGO (...) (23 years ago, 24-May-01, to lugnet.general)
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