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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Fri, 31 Aug 2001 16:13:02 GMT
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Viewed:
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2961 times
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In lugnet.mediawatch, Allan Bedford writes:
> 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
LEGO® needs that 'Eye of the Tiger' again...-Harvey
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Message is in Reply To:
 | | Re: Lego article on slashDot
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| (...) 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 (...) (25 years ago, 30-Aug-01, to lugnet.mediawatch) !
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