Subject:
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Re: LEGO-Galidor Perspective In L.A. Times Article
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Newsgroups:
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lugnet.mediawatch
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Date:
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Wed, 13 Feb 2002 13:55:27 GMT
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In lugnet.mediawatch, Matthew Gerber provided us with:
> "We're redefining Lego," said Andrew Black, president of the company's
> Americas division. "It's not just about bricks. It's about learning and
> different ways of using your mind."
If "it's not just about bricks" anymore, the writing is plainly on the wall.
Amusement parks, lifestyle products, and now this -- all I can say is that
the end must surely be near.
I've not noticed that any of these things have done particularly well except
Bionickles (and even there I'd like to point out that Bionickles was the
third revision of Throwbots, which I assume did poorly in its first two
incarnations as the products were discontinued). I don't see a lot of
excitement over Jack Stoned, nor do I expect to see any over Galidor. Even
if the product does well, it will not bode well for brick lovers, for
obvious reasons.
> Black said each of Lego's new products could be seen as a construction
> product, just using different kinds of building blocks.
> "With Galidor, you're building action figures," Black said. "With Music
> Builder, you're building songs.
Galidor, and whatever Music Builder happens to be, are just wrong-headed on
the part of TLC. As their profits head south, its hard to imagine that
there is wisdom in pursuing untried markets. These TLC execs undoubtedly
have to justify their salaries and decisions somehow -- hence Black's gung
ho statements about these new product lines. If I was the head of a company
like TLC and my profits were in the red, I'd consolidate my efforts around
core products -- not try to expand into new markets. To these eyes, the
Galidor line seems almost a ludicrously obvious mistake.
I guess I picked a good time to stop caring what TLC does -- it seems very
clear that a separate agenda is at work inside the company than the agenda
we on the outside would imagine for them. They simply want to make profits
any way they can -- even if they must sell the company to do so; and we
would prefer they get back to producing the products that made the lego
brand so noteworthy in the first place. Now that such strong brand
recognition exists, it would seem the agenda is to reap the rewards of that
excellent branding -- without regard to the products they tag with it.
Lots of stuff in the last year seemed to suggest that TLC was coming around
to our way of thinking, but now I have my doubts (very strong doubts).
Unless we are merely caught up in the suspected 3 years to market product
cycle, nothing excuses some of the trash TLC is producing now. Assuming
limited resources, as one does for everything in the universe, it's very
hard to imagine that these diverse products do not hamper the progress we
have seen in TLC's getting back to the core brick lines. There's no way
they can focus and give adequate resources to EVERY thing they have in play
right now -- not when the products are so different from the simple system
stuff we know and love.
I could say more, but then who cares? Clearly not TLC. Here, one preaches
to either the choir or the combative apologist -- AND there is no point to
any of it. I liken this kind of post to something I used to do as a kid --
I would talk into a cooling fan just to hear my voice get all warbled. Fun
for a few minutes, but then...
-- Hop-Frog
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Message has 1 Reply:
Message is in Reply To:
 | | LEGO-Galidor Perspective In L.A. Times Article
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| Andrew Black covers some of the burning questions many people are asking in other threads in this article from yesterday's L.A. Times: (URL) relevant quotes: "We're redefining Lego," said Andrew Black, president of the company's Americas division. (...) (23 years ago, 13-Feb-02, to lugnet.mediawatch)
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