Subject:
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Re: Lego article on slashDot
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Newsgroups:
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lugnet.mediawatch
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Date:
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Thu, 30 Aug 2001 01:46:26 GMT
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In lugnet.mediawatch, Ray Sanders writes:
> Lego article on slashDot titled 'Why Can't LEGO Click?' at ...
> which in turn references an article at fastcompany ..
>
> <http://www.fastcompany.com/online/50/lego.html>
>
> some nice historical notes on TLC
Forget the Slashdot commentary... go right to the Fast Company article.
This is a very insightful and interesting piece. I think anyone really
interested in the LEGO company, where it's been and where it's going, should
read this article.
It *seems* as though the company is learning some lessons. Hard lessons....
paid for in falling profits. But it is clear from the article (I think)
that the company is still adrift. Perhaps not learning lessons fast enough,
perhaps not learning the right lessons.
There are a number of excellent points raised in the article, but I wanted
to take a moment to highlight just two of them:
1) FROM THE ARTICLE "Most companies have little relationship with their
history, let alone with their core values. At Lego, the company's history is
alive in the halls every day. The basic eight-stud red Lego brick was first
sold in 1949, it was refined and patented in 1958, and it hasn't changed --
including the recipe for the plastic used -- in almost four decades. Almost
every office and conference room at Lego contains a bowl of loose Lego
bricks so that people can play during meetings. "
MY COMMENTS - I find this quote interesting because it seems that LEGO's
history is alive and well.... and hiding out in their offices. It appears
that the brick and it's meaning are not lost on the executives, but for some
reason they are less and less willing to share it with the consumer.
Marketing the 'brand' is all well and good so long as you still have a brand
to market. If LEGO sets and brick-related products don't improve
dramatically, then all the watches, backpacks and t-shirts in the world
won't bring the books back into the black.
2) FROM THE ARTICLE "The original Legoland theme park in Billund sits
adjacent to company headquarters. The thing that is instantly striking is
the size of the place: Everything is scaled to children. There are even
child-sized toilets. In the Legoland Hotel, there are huge cushions in the
shape of Lego blocks -- and kids use them to make forts and clubhouses,
right in the public spaces of the hotel. No one discourages them. Among
dozens of randomly selected Lego employees from three countries, not one
said a single unkind or snide word about children. Nor was there a sense
within Lego that today's children are baffling or mysterious, let alone
bratty or overindulged. "
MY COMMENTS - I admire and respect LEGO for their unwavering belief in
children and the ability of children to understand their product. My
sincerest hope is that the company will put its products where its belief
system is. Children are, almost without exception, smarter and more
adaptable than most of us give them credit for. The sets I built as a kid
were simple, yes, but were built primarily from the more basic bricks for
which LEGO is so well known. Today's sets are simple, but not because they
are comprised of basic bricks... just the opposite. Today's sets do not
allow children the same depth of rebuildability and expansion that original
LEGOLAND sets once did. But again, my hope is that someday the company will
simply flip back through some of the old catalogs and see what they once
trusted children to play with.
Regards,
Allan
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Message has 2 Replies:
Message is in Reply To:
 | | Lego article on slashDot
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| Lego article on slashDot titled 'Why Can't LEGO Click?' at ... (URL) which in turn references an article at fastcompany .. (URL) some nice historical notes on TLC Ray (23 years ago, 29-Aug-01, to lugnet.mediawatch) !!
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