Subject:
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Re: LEGO wobbles as Star Wars and Harry Potter sales tumble
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Newsgroups:
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lugnet.mediawatch
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Date:
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Tue, 30 Dec 2003 23:26:15 GMT
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Viewed:
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1130 times
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In lugnet.mediawatch, Kevin McMillin wrote:
I got these links in my Google news alert today. I was saddened to read this.
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That’s too bad - it seemed to me like 2003 was a good year,
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I totally agree. With the release of the Designer sets it felt like a really
great year.
I just hope they don’t get into one of those cycles where low sales means lower
production which mean lower sales which means lower production....
That can be a hard dive to get out of.
Interesting to note the sales figures for Hogwarts Castle. Goes to show that
adult fans probably remain a very small part of the market.
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I certainly bought more than in a long time.
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I’m not 100% sure, but I think I’m in the same boat. I certainly bought more at
full price this year than in years past.
A couple things in the first article really worried me:
1. The statement about this being the 3rd ever year where they reported a loss.
Weren’t the other two years (of losses) just in the last 5 or 6 years? Not a
good trend.
2. The use of the words “nearly catastrophic” by Poul Plougmann. If there was
even a bright spot to be found, don’t you think you would have tried to focus on
that? To give such a gloomy report seems so...... gloomy.
3. The fact that the job cuts represented 20% of the workforce. Yikes!
But... what worried me most though was this paragraph:
Lego launched a slogan “Play On”, last January, which it says “emphasises that
at the heart of the Lego brand is an idea, not a product.“
I know that I’m going to get lambasted for this but here goes: I think they’re
wrong. They still don’t get it.
Kids don’t want ideas under the Christmas tree. Kids don’t want ideas to play
with. Kids want LEGO bricks, and LEGO castles, and LEGO pirate ships, and LEGO
space ships and so on. You can’t play with an idea. Well, you can but your
friends will probably make fun of you.
It’s true that the LEGO series of products is based on an incredible idea; a
landmark system of building. But that’s not what kids care about. You can use
whatever means you like to arrive at quality products but at the end of the day
you are selling products. If this seems like a silly idea, think about this:
When all the great Designer and Inventor sets were released, how many people
said, “wow... what a great idea they are trying to sell me.” Or did you hear a
lot of people saying, “wow... cool sets... just like the old stuff. This is a
good series of products.”
Look at another big seller: Bionicles don’t sell because they are a clever
concept. They sell because they are cool characters... they are a cool product.
If a clever concept got them to that stage then so be it, but it’s the product
that is selling the line, not the concept.
And... that’s all I’m gonna say ‘bout that. ;)
Regards,
Allan B.
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