How about an all-encompassing LEGO Club "super" membership?

[Blondie-Wan]

I was just wondering... for those AFOLs (or well-indulged kids ) interested in experiencing LEGO-related fun in as many forms and to as full an extent as possible, might it be a cool idea if there were some sort of "super-subscription/pass/membership" option combining access to all the ongoing recurring paid services and whatnot offered by LEGO and its associates?

I'm thinking it would be neat if, say, there were this option that combined a LEGO Club membership / Brickmaster / Master Building Academy subscription, LEGOLAND theme park admission, LEGO Universe access, etc. into a single "premium" deal. It might cost more per year than any of those individual things, but could save money when compared against the combined separate prices of all of them, and perhaps offer some additional benefit. For example, $200 could get one a year of unlimited admission to LEGOLAND, a year's subscription/membership to Brickmaster/MBA, and a year of access to LEGO Universe, all with an additional small exclusive set, or something like that. Has something like this ever been considered?

[Blondie-Wan]

Lots of views but no responses. Is there really no interest in something like this?

I was thinking it could be great for all LEGO fans who enjoy more than one of LEGO's ongoing, subscriber-based products/services; it could save money (and perhaps provide additional benefits). At the same time it might be good for the company, since many people might sign up for the premium service even if they don't intend to take full advantage of all its benefits.

[Dazmundo]

I don't know for certain but I would imagine that all these things are actually run by different companies, I think I'm right in saying TLG doesn't own Legoland, so I can't see them getting together to do one membership, especially seeing as it will actually get them less money than paying seperately.

D

[Blondie-Wan]

I actually had considered that, and I know LEGOLAND is run by Merlin Entertainment, but it obviously still generates money for LEGO. I think they could do something to tie all the services together for a single customer account, in much the same way companies often work together to offer coupons, cross-promotions, etc.

As far as it making less money... I'm not so sure. I mean, it might, but it could just as easily go the other way; that's why I was wondering whether it had ever been considered. Someone might want to do some number-crunching to find out for sure.

Some potential customers who aren't presently interested in some of the services might be compelled to check them out in this form - for example, people who haven't tried LEGO Universe and presently aren't about to might give it a try after all as long as they can get access to it anyway when they also sign up for LEGOLAND admission and the Master Builder Academy. Alternately, some people might sign up for the service because they want MBA and LU, and would also like to go to LEGOLAND but aren't sure they'll be able to go; for some such people, they'd never buy a LEGOLAND ticket unless and until they were specifically planning a trip, but if you could get it bundled with the rest of the stuff, a lot of people would likely think, "eh, sure, I'll might use it sometime" and not necessarily have a specific plan to go.

[Aanchir]

I actually had considered that, and I know LEGOLAND is run by Merlin Entertainment, but it obviously still generates money for LEGO. I think they could do something to tie all the services together for a single customer account, in much the same way companies often work together to offer coupons, cross-promotions, etc.

As far as it making less money... I'm not so sure. I mean, it might, but it could just as easily go the other way; that's why I was wondering whether it had ever been considered. Someone might want to do some number-crunching to find out for sure.

Some potential customers who aren't presently interested in some of the services might be compelled to check them out in this form - for example, people who haven't tried LEGO Universe and presently aren't about to might give it a try after all as long as they can get access to it anyway when they also sign up for LEGOLAND admission and the Master Builder Academy. Alternately, some people might sign up for the service because they want MBA and LU, and would also like to go to LEGOLAND but aren't sure they'll be able to go; for some such people, they'd never buy a LEGOLAND ticket unless and until they were specifically planning a trip, but if you could get it bundled with the rest of the stuff, a lot of people would likely think, "eh, sure, I'll might use it sometime" and not necessarily have a specific plan to go.

Well, I can tell you that for quite a while the American Brickmaster subscription included the magazine, the sets, the club membership, one or two LEGOLAND California tickets (with your subscription, not with each magazine), and coupons for sets at LEGO Shop@Home. So it was the closest thing to this LEGO's had, as far as I know.

As for a larger package deal that includes an actual LEGOLAND season pass or pre-paid LEGO Universe subscription for a year, I think that's a little bit far-fetched. For starters, not everybody wants all of those things. Here in the States, we only have one LEGOLAND park, so my LEGOLAND California tickets I got with my Brickmaster subscription always went to waste (I live on the east coast, and would have to book an expensive flight to get to the nearest LEGOLAND park-- never mind hotel costs and the like). And some people might not have home computers or home internet (at least not with a fast enough connection to run an MMOG). The only way you'd save money on the price of all these things seperately would be if LEGO was making money from the package deal that they wouldn't be making otherwise. If it was something few people bought, then it wouldn't be able to offer much savings over buying the separate parts, meaning even fewer people would buy it, and it would become a slippery slope back to the price of buying the things separately.