If you ran the Lego company...

[David Thomsen]

Okay, so imagine that you find a Golden Ticket in a box of Lego, which grants you a tour of the magical Lego factory. At the end of the tour, the owner of the company is so impressed with you that he decides to pass on leadership of the company to you.

What would you do and how would you change things?

Me, I'd start out by producing 'colour booster packs'. So say you want to build a purple building but it's too hard to get enough purple bricks, you could buy a 'purple booster pack' that would give you a large quantity of basic purple pieces and a few of the more specialised parts. Also, things like minifig packs would become more common.

I'd also focus more on expanding the range of basic useful pieces, like creating inverted cheese slopes and L-shaped plates and that sort of thing, and cut down on large parts that could be made up of smaller parts, and things like this that are kind of unnecessary. The idea would be, if there are enough useful basic parts you should be able to make ANYTHING that would otherwise need a special mould.

More sets would have 'alternative builds', even if it's just a few extra pieces that make a minor variation on the same model.

Pirates would be one of the ongoing ranges. Because pirates are awesome.

Edit: A thread like this has probably been done before... if that's the case I don't mind being merged.

Edit: Maybe a better scenario would be 'pretend you're campaigning to be elected President of Legoland'.

Edited January 17, 2010 by David Thomsen

[Legoliner Pilot]

I would develop some decent [extra] wagons for the Emerald Night and not put up with this bla bla limited releases of exclusive in a year bla.

[mikey]

My first directive would be targeted at the manufacturing department, it would read something like:

Quality, Quality, Quality. We are renowned for our commitment to quality control, this is an issue which has possibly begun to slip in recent years. We began to release inferior packs of MiniFigs and our colours began to assume various shades. There is no need to produce bad product. Our customers are used to paying a premium for a top quailty product, and we can produce that product for them.

After I had dictated that message, I would tell the design department to keep on going in the direction they have, but to think 2011 Pirate Range! Then I would explain that I have some very serious business to attend to in the famed Lego Vault, and that I should not be disturbed for at least 2 years!

[prateek]

First, I'd change the colours of all the weird Technic pins and axles back to grey and black. Then I'd make sure my Licence department doesn't pick up any garbage licences.

That's all for now.

Edited January 18, 2010 by prateek

[vexorian]

I would make sure purple remains hard to find, that's what makes that color special after all.

I would then make sure each theme has bucks with pieces for that theme in at least 3 variations of size. Every set must have alternative builds. And not only town should get love in the form of 16+ massive sets. We need space ships in that price/age range as well! Licenses get back to use yellow faces+hands. Hmnn, what else? Oh I would ban retailer-exclusive sets. Just forgot, get rid of that ... thing in China that is producing some pieces right now that are definitely lower quality than real LEGO.

Edit: Oh and what Mikey said.

Edited January 18, 2010 by vexorian

[Tom Bricks]

I would begin by adding baseplates to more sets, to add to the playability. Then I would reduce the box sizes, bag sizes, and number of stickers in order to lower the prices without sacrificing quality. Next I would replace large unnecessary pieces with smaller more MOC-able pieces. I would then expand the PAB selection by allot and decrease the price per piece ratio. I would also add more of the $150 sets to more themes, like licensed sets (other than Star Wars) and Train sets.

I'm sure I could think of more but this would be the initial plan.

[Legoliner Pilot]

I would begin by adding baseplates to more sets, to add to the playability. Then I would reduce the box sizes, bag sizes, and number of stickers in order to lower the prices without sacrificing quality. Next I would replace large unnecessary pieces with smaller more MOC-able pieces. I would then expand the PAB selection by allot and decrease the price per piece ratio. I would also add more of the $150 sets to more themes, like licensed sets (other than Star Wars) and Train sets.

I'm sure I could think of more but this would be the initial plan.

Which will result in said company going bankrupt.

Edited January 18, 2010 by Legoliner Pilot

[David Thomsen]

Which will result in said company going bankrupt.

If I were any good at Flash programming, I'd make a simulation of running the Lego company... too bad all I've ever been able to do is make a square move around the screen.

[Legoliner Pilot]

If I were any good at Flash programming, I'd make a simulation of running the Lego company... too bad all I've ever been able to do is make a square move around the screen.

Hmm... Good idea.

Edited January 18, 2010 by Legoliner Pilot

[larry marak]

I'd revive the Znap line. Bionicle, while popular, ultimately became a dead-end for Lego. Znap expanded technic away from the rectilinear lines of brick construction by introducing french curves and true 3-dimensionality. There is still tremendous unharvested potential and profit from the znap line of elements and their design possibilities.

[Legoist]

Fortunately I will never run TLG, because I'm quite sure that most of what I'd do would result in a financial loss :

- completely eliminate exclusives, meaning to make all exclusives in fact non-exclusives

- make every piece produced available for individual purchase in pick-a-brick

- re-introduce old colours (greys and browns) into production, without discontinuing the new ones

- improve Factory to allow people to easily re-create and order any set of the past

- invest in production research to keep reducing production costs without moving factories to the 3rd world

- reduce the sizes of boxes to be just slightly bigger than the minimum required by the content

- promote the educational and creativity aspects of Lego with more campaigns in school and workplaces (including smaller things like reintroducing Idea Books and pictures of alternate models in the back of the box of every set)

While I personally hate almost all licensed themes, I wouldn't terminate them if they are profitable and there's enough fans.

[larry marak]

Probably Lego's best (and only) competitive advantage in the market today is their reputation for excellent clutch. I'd focus on creating a larger percentage of offering priced between $15 and $30, and try very hard to have the price point work out to slightly less than ten cents per element. Perceived value is what will probably kill TLG, as the product becomes to expensive for parents in this faltering economy.

[ziljin]

For lego's own themes like castle, pirates, and the various action themes. I would keep those sets in production indefitely. If that's not possible, bring back the minifigs at the very least. Like crossover of Power Miners and Rock Raiders.