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Abstract
This article deals with three major instances in the history of the LEGO Company. First, it investigates the transference from wood to plastics as the main material used in creating LEGO toys, and also the innovations in plastic molding machines that influenced the interlocking mechanism of the LEGO bricks. Second, this article deals with a rather unfortunate episode from the LEGO history, namely, the period between the late 1990s and the early twenty‐first century when the LEGO Company felt the need to extend its brand image through diversifying its product range. Unfortunately, this led to a confusing, rather than a strong brand image and resulted in heavy financial losses in 2003 and 2004. Third, this article looks into recent attempts by the LEGO Company to bring the fans into the company in order to revive the LEGO brand and its products. This part focuses on Mindstorms 2.0 and Mindstorms NXT, especially, in order to illustrate the increase in user involvement in LEGO product development.
Acknowledgement
I would like to thank the anonymous referees for their comments and suggestions on the first version of this article.
Notes
1. LEGO, Timeline Online.
2. LEGO, 50 Years of Play, 13.
3. Hansen, Grote Zakensuccessen, 16.
4. LEGO, 50 Years of Play, 15.
5. Hansen, Grote Zakensuccessen, 31.
6. Anonymous, ‘The Press and the Toy Trade,’ 228.
7. Compocastles, ‘The War and the Toy Trade,’ 123.
8. Anonymous, ‘Transfers for the Toy Trade,’ 280.
9. Anonymous, ‘Toy Industry in Germany,’ 246.
10. Ibid.
11. McClary, Toys with Nine Lives, 35.
12. J⊘rgensen, ‘The Lego Brick System,’ 6.
13. Ibid.
14. Geis, The World of Lego, 67; Pickering, The Ultimate Lego, 14.
15. J⊘rgensen, ‘The Lego Brick System,’ 6.
16. Hansen, Grote Zakensuccessen, 8.
17. LEGO, Timeline Online.
18. Hansen, Grote Zakensuccessen, 19–21.
19. Although his middle name might suggest otherwise, Hilary Fisher Page is not the founder of the toy brand Fisher Price. Herman Fisher, Irving Price and Helen Schelle founded Fisher Price in 1930.
20. Lithgow, ‘Analysis: Astonishing Secret.’
21. Page, Playtime, 51, 79, and 115.
22. Lithgow, ‘Analysis: Astonishing Secret.’
23. Hansen, Grote Zakensuccessen, 22.
24. The critique on plastic toys was voiced by the elite rather than by the consumers themselves. The semiotic theorist Roland Barthes (1915–1980) was one of many to object to plastic toys. In 1957 he states: ‘Current toys are made of a graceless material, the product of chemistry, not of nature. Many are now molded from complicated mixtures; the plastic material of which they are made has an appearance at once gross and hygienic, it destroys all the pleasure, the sweetness, the humanity of touch’ (Barthes, Mythologies, 54). Plastic has been met with both liking and disliking. On the one hand, consumers are generally happy with the cheap, easy to clean, colorful and (generally speaking) durable plastic products. On the other hand, plastic is easily associated with artificiality, superficiality and fakeness, as opposed to wood. For a more detailed plea for wooden toys, see for example Debik, ‘Holz spielt mit.’
25. Geis, The World of Lego, 17.
26. Ibid., 45.
27. Ibid., 46.
28. Lane, ‘The Joy of Bricks,’ 4.
29. Geis, The World of Lego, 67.
30. J⊘rgensen, ‘The Lego Brick System,’ 6.
31. Ibid.
32. LEGO, Heden En Verleden, 2.
33. Geis, The World of Lego, 50.
34. Ibid., 57.
35. Pickering, The Ultimate Lego, 12.
36. Gj⊘l‐Andersen & Karmark, ‘Corporate Brand Stretch,’ 167. Increasingly and from an earlier age onwards, children fancy technological gadgets (cell phones, MP3 players and personal computers) or lifestyle products (clothes, make‐up, accessories) rather than toys. In an article by Erika Kinetz, this trend is confirmed by examples of toy manufacturers who distance themselves from toys. They are not just selling toys but something more because toys have become painfully unfashionable. Traditional toy makers state that they are in the business of gifts, the family entertainment business, or they simply drop the T word from their company’s name (Kinetz, ‘Putting Away Childish Things,’ 16). On the other end of the spectrum we could situate the adults staying younger longer (ASYL) trend or the Peter Pan syndrome.
37. Gj⊘l‐Andersen, ‘The Internal Dimensions,’ 163. On the webpage of Young & Rubican differentiation is defined as: ‘Differentiation Drives Successful Brands. Differentiation is the foundation of a brand’s existence and is critical to brand success. Successful brands are strongly differentiated. The more differentiated, the more likely it will be trialed and less likely it is to be substituted. Differentiation measures the strength of the brand’s meaning. Consumer choice, brand essence and potential margin are all driven by Differentiation’ (http://www.brandassetvaluator.com.au/).
38. Lury, Brands, 8.
39. Concerning gender specific LEGO toys, it is important to note that from 1965 onwards, LEGO produced toys that were gender and age specific. Before 1965, LEGO products were not targeted at specific age or gender groups. The first LEGO sub‐brand was LEGO Duplo, for younger children. Followed by LEGO Technic for older boys.
40. LEGO, Heden En Verleden, 3.
41. Spielwarenmesse, Catalogus Internationale, 1959, 233.
42. Spielwarenmesse, Catalogus Internationale, 1986, 358.
43. Spielwarenmesse, Catalogus Internationale, 1992, 403.
44. Mollerup, Collapsible, 77.
45. See Carroll Pursell, ‘The Long Summer’ for a detailed study on construction toys and engineering for boys.
46. Hjarvard, ‘Brand New Toys,’ 7; Hjarvard, ‘From Bricks to Bytes,’ 60.
47. Most computer games produced by the LEGO Company have not been successful. The LEGO Star Wars computer games however were a big hit with millions of copies sold. The reason for this success might well be the fact that – ‘in accordance with the LEGO Group’s strategy of focusing on core products’, the development of this game was outsourced to a more experienced company (LEGO, Annual Report, 8).
48. Lury, Brands, 5.
49. Hjarvard, ‘Brand New Toys,’ 8.
50. Ekman, ‘Lego Braces,’ 11.
51. LEGO, Annual Report 2005, 11; LEGO, Annual Report 2006, 16.
52. LEGO, Annual Report 2004, 8.
53. Koerner, ‘Geeks in Toyland.’
54. LEGO, Annual Report 2005, 20.
55. Ibid., 14.
56. LEGO, Annual Report 2006, 14.
57. LEGO, Annual Report 2005, 12.
58. Ibid., 5–6.
59. LEGO, Annual Report 2006, 1.
60. Ibid., 7.
61. LEGO, Annual Report 2005, 10.
62. LEGO, Annual Report 2006, 19.
63. Simonsen, ‘Lego Press Release.’
64. Mindstorms was developed in close contact with the MIT Epistemology and Learning Group founded by Seymour Papert. It is named after his book, Papert, Mindstorms: Children, Computers, and Powerful Ideas. In 1985 the LEGO Company started working together with Papert ‘with an eye toward introducing a computer‐driven LEGO product’ (Geis, The World of Lego, 102). Papert is the founding father of the educational theory constructionism (‘learning‐by‐making’), based on the work by Swiss philosopher and psychologist Jean Piaget (Papert and Harel, Constructionism, 1). Mitchel Resnick became the LEGO Papert Professor of Learning Research in 1999. Resnick’s MIT research group ‘Lifelong Kindergarten’ has recently launched the PICO Cricket Kit, financially backed by the LEGO Company, which is not so much about robot building but about creating computerized designs going from signing birthday cakes to meowing cats.
65. Koerner, ‘Geeks in Toyland.’
66. Ibid.
67. Ibid.
68. Ibid.
69. Ibid.
70. Von Hippel, Democratizing Innovation, 22.
71. Ibid., 1 and 121.
72. Ibid., 105.
73. Koerner, ‘Geeks in Toyland.’
74. Ibid.
75. Ibid.
76. Greenberg, ‘Interview with Soren Lund.’
77. Koerner, ‘Geeks in Toyland.’
78. Greenberg, ‘Interview with Soren Lund.’
79. Ibid.; Jenkins, ‘From a “Must Culture”.’
80. LEGO, Annual Report 2006, 18.
81. LEGO Digital Designer is not the first digital LEGO software program however; LEGO Creator and LEGO CAD preceded it. LEGO Creator is still on sale but LEGO CAD was a flop.
82. Eriksson, SimLego; Jessiman, LDraw; Lachmann, MLCAD; Olson, BrickDraw3D; Smith, Bricksmith; Zide, LeoCAD.
83. LOWLUG, Lego Factory.
84. McKee, ‘Announcing Lego.’
85. LEGO, Annual Report 2005, 12.
86. LEGO, Ambassadors Program.
87. LEGO, Certified Professionals Program.
88. LEGO, Annual Report 2006, 18.
89. Lury, Brands, 3.
90. Ibid., 3.
91. Von Hippel, Democratizing Innovation, 19.
92. Lurkers are people who read discussions on fansites, chatsites and the likes without actively participating in these discussions. Most forms of lurking are considered bad netiquette (contraction of ‘network’ and ‘etiquette’) and lurkers or non‐participants are therefore not popular.