4 ms·
Perfect toy indeed, and I'm glad to see how they've captured the girl's market with the Friends and related series. Lego had attempted to market to girls severa
by jdcarter 10y ago
Perfect toy indeed, and I'm glad to see how they've captured the girl's market with the Friends and related series. Lego had attempted to market to girls several times before 2012 but failed. I appreciate how this interview spoke to the specific outcome of their market research, i.e. the larger, more detailed figures. It must have been crazy to suggest to Lego that they abandon the "minifig" format for a major new product line, but it turns out that's exactly what they needed to do.
My own family experience is reflective: my daughter enjoyed building Lego sets (and got quite good at it) but didn't really engage with playing with them until the Friends sets came out. With Friends she can spend hours creating a huge narrative about their adventures. Now you can't find a coffee table in our house that doesn't have a couple Lego sets on it. And when other girls come over to play, they're drawn like magnets straight to the Legos.
- 6stringmerc 10y agoVery interesting to get your perspective, re: what they studied, deployed, and you observed. Nice to hear success stories. Habits and 'tradition' can be tough to adjust or break, but when it works, quite cool. The "creating a narrative" is awesome, as in a lot of development research I reviewed for some studies, because that's how 'play' and development seem to grow naturally. Acting out. Imagining stories. Not the end-all be-all of things - but a noteworthy component.
- secabeen 10y agoYep, Friends is an example of the success of research, product development, and commitment over status quo. LEGO's research showed them that many girls wanted characters with names (Sophia, Emily, Sherrie, etc.) not mini-figures with roles (firefighter, policewoman, robber). Friends gives them that.
- Yen 10y agoA bit ironically, the 'Larger, more detailed figures' is is actually something Lego had already done, in boy-centered sets, several years before. http://lego.wikia.com/wiki/TECHNIC_Figure http://lego.wikia.com/wiki/TECHNIC_Figure, http://lego.wikia.com/wiki/8714_The_LEGO_TECHNIC_guys http://lego.wikia.com/wiki/8714_The_LEGO_TECHNIC_guys I'm a bit disappointed they didn't use the same design (or a similar one) for the new figures - there was a lot to be said for the full posability of the Technic figures. Also, the legs had holes in the side, allowing you to mount bricks either on their feet, or to the side of their legs. This allowed for building reasonably convincing exo-suits.