TLG survey time again - input please!

[fred67]

Made myself heard. I hope some of my info will strengthen TLC's future design decisions towards catering more to the AFOL-crowd!

I had the fortune of sitting in on a presentation given at my company by Mike Moynihan today, the Marketing VP of LEGO North America. I wasn't going to post because there was nothing really interesting w.r.t. new sets or what's coming up, it was just about marketing strategy (but I went anyway because, hey, it's LEGO!).

Anyway, there were some interesting things he brought up. It's really still geared towards boys, 6 to 12. Yes, they are trying to appeal to girls again (they are not approaching it well, if you ask me, but that's a different subject). But he made some interesting points, one of which is that they are appealing to dads. Studies show dads spend a lot more time with their kids this generation than they used to, and dads can still identify with LEGO whereas, with other toys, we have a hard time relating to them (like matchbox/hot wheels and action figures). It started a couple of years ago - do you remember the ad where the father and son were building the LEGO house together? Still, he mentioned NOTHING about trying to appeal to adults other than as a way to spend more time with their kids.

Done! Seems like Lego is preparing it's social media strategy

He discussed this as well. He admitted that TLG has been really slow on the uptake for social media, but that they haven't really had to... that there are over 800,000 youtube videos of LEGO (that's what he said... when I look it's more like over 400,000, but he may have been counting results from other countries that may not show up here)... that's more than "transformers," "barbie," "hotwheels" (+ "hot wheels"), and only about 10 have been put there buy the TLG itself, and without doing anything LEGO has more presence than the major competitors. That doesn't mean they aren't trying, they'd really like to stay on top, of course. There are more LEGO facebook pages than competitors have, there are more discussion sites and blogs... all without them having to do anything.

Having just taken the survey myself, it made sense that it's going to be a growing part of their strategy.

Since I'm on the subject, a couple other interesting things: going along with what I wrote above, they are trying to make sets/instructions easier for multiple people to build. I think that's great because I do family builds... most of modulars (not the pet shop) are great for three people. The other thing was why, with the exception of the "abyss" (what he called the early 2000s), LEGO has been so wildly successful... other toys appeal to a limited age range. Things like action figures and toy cars are only appealing to kids for a couple of years of their lives, while LEGO is appealing across a much longer time span, from duplo to technic (which, for the record, he pronounced "tech-nick" while I've always pronounced it "tech-neek").

Oh... about the "abyss," he explained there were a few things: TLG didn't understand that they were experts at LEGO... and not much else. They were trying to do their own video games, make their own video content, run their own theme parks... all those things were spun off to other companies. They were also trying to compete on the low end with Megabloks and losing... they finally realized they were a premium brand and shouldn't be embarrassed to charge "premium" prices while marketing a "premium" product. The last thing was they were making toys that were ostensibly NOT LEGO. They tried doing action figures, for example, and called it LEGO because you had to put it together (Kingdoms II anyone?)... but then their focus group kids were like "that's not LEGO."

I wish I could show the graph of sales (in dollars, not volume). The last couple of years have been phenomenal... they really are cranking up the profit margins on products, and despite the worldwide recession, have come out ahead at every step. He mentioned that if LEGO's "abyss" happened a few years later, despite realizing the problems they probably wouldn't have been able to pull out of it because of the economy.

[Athos]

What was with that color question?

Steve

[Athos]

What was with that color question?

Steve

What was with that color question?

Steve

[Robbie]

The colorquestion is to map the personalities of AFOL in order to aim better in upcomming marketing or social media outings

[gifinim]

That's the first survey I've filled in for them where they didn't ask for an email address to enter into a prize draw

[mobricki]

This was very different from any LEGO survey I have filled out before.

[Zeya]

fred67 : Interesting stuff. I look forward to a more promising web presence from TLG. I've been really enjoying Cuusoo already, although it does need some polishing and a better flow. (It's hard to simply browse existing projects on there!) And the official Lego forums were pretty bad, what with the censorship and all, so there's definitely improvement to be had there. But I think stuff like Cuusoo is the way to go. We don't need "a myspace for Lego", as I don't care so much about reading yet another wall of posts and rants. But something oriented around MOCs and sharing designs would be great.

That's the first survey I've filled in for them where they didn't ask for an email address to enter into a prize draw

Has anyone ever posted saying they've won the prize? Lol, come on.

[gifinim]

fred67 : Interesting stuff. I look forward to a more promising web presence from TLG. I've been really enjoying Cuusoo already, although it does need some polishing and a better flow. (It's hard to simply browse existing projects on there!) And the official Lego forums were pretty bad, what with the censorship and all, so there's definitely improvement to be had there. But I think stuff like Cuusoo is the way to go. We don't need "a myspace for Lego", as I don't care so much about reading yet another wall of posts and rants. But something oriented around MOCs and sharing designs would be great.

Has anyone ever posted saying they've won the prize? Lol, come on.

Erm, me! I won a police station for filling in one of the Nielsen surveys, so it's always worth a chance.

[Zeya]

Erm, me! I won a police station for filling in one of the Nielsen surveys, so it's always worth a chance.

Nice!

[Nightwing]

I did one of these on Brickset!

[Rumble Strike]

That was a lot more in-depth than most of their surveys. Still amazed by the colour one. They'll have us all doing Rorsasch tests next

[Nav]

Done. That was a long list of sites, I've never seen some of those before....

Yah, I know. I like how TLG recognized all of them.

[sonicstarlight]

Done. Like others have said, this one felt different than the others. I also haven't heard of a lot of those sites, and was a little sad to see mine not there (although I can't say I was surprised).

[lorax]

Done. Like others have said, this one felt different than the others. I also haven't heard of a lot of those sites, and was a little sad to see mine not there (although I can't say I was surprised).

Brick Town Talk is one of the websites I do check almost everyday. (Whereas, I also had not heard of some of those other sites). It is great for showcasing some great MOCs and inspirational buildings, so don't feel so sad, it would have just depended on the experiences of those who developed the survey.

[CopMike]

Thanks everyone that have done it so far, and I hope more of you do it also !

[Future74]

Done. Hope it gives Lego some insights into it's fans.

[LandShark]

I always like filling out surveys, and this was no exception.

Some of the questions were a bit weird though, but I do like how Lego recognized all of those other sites.

[Horry]

Done. From a social-science point of view they need to work on their questions but this was fun

[Tron27]

Done!

[Gijserman]

Done!

[cruiser_elston]

Done. Anyone knows what will they be doing with the results of the survey?

It's nice that LEGO is asking for our opinions and, as some of you have mentioned, strange why Bricklink was on the websites list twice?

Edited December 30, 2011 by cruiser_elston