By the late ’90s, not all the pieces was superior at LEGO.
After a string of product launches that deviated from its core product, LEGO was stretched skinny. In 1998, it misplaced cash for the primary time. The enduring toy firm struggled to compete for the eye of youngsters enraptured by video video games.
With the buyer web coming into full swing, the model appeared destined to grow to be a nostalgic remnant of occasions previous. However then it didn’t. When Jørgen Vig Knudstorp stepped in as CEO in 2004, the corporate refocused on its core product—the LEGO brick—and rocketed into the digital age. It grew to become the hottest model on YouTube and launched a film that made practically $500 million worldwide. The corporate’s earnings grew 31 p.c final yr.
Picture through Socialbakers
On the dmexco convention in Cologne, Germany, LEGO CMO Julie Goldin sat down for a hearth chat in entrance of a packed viewers to disclose how her firm has grow to be one of many world’s hottest content material creators.
(Full Disclosure: LEGO is a Contently shopper.)
Focus in your viewers above all else
To kick off the chat, Goldin held up a small toy brick and spoke at size about the important thing issue that drives all the pieces LEGO does, from its content material to its product: creativeness.
“Six of those bricks could make up 9 hundred and fifty million totally different mixtures,” she mentioned. “By constructing with LEGO, a child, a toddler, anybody who touches it has a world of potentialities. And we all know that when youngsters construct, it builds a lot of their abilities. Creativeness, creativity, drawback fixing. We’re very clear about this mission, and after we innovate, we begin with that core expertise.”
For LEGO, pursuing that mission has led to a slew of experiences that fire up its prospects’ imaginations—a TV present, common YouTube movies, a groundbreaking characteristic movie, video games, and apps.
“Simply because they purchased us final yr doesn’t imply they’ll purchase us this yr,” Goldin mentioned. “We’re at all times interested by what we will create.”
LEGO additionally eagerly encourages and amplifies user-generated content material from followers. The corporate, which calls sure supporters AFOLs (Grownup Followers of LEGO), considers these folks a few of their biggest allies. LEGO seeks out those that create the very best content material and turns them into licensed creators for the model.
“We focus so much on this neighborhood,” Goldin mentioned. “They’re crucial to us. They generate a variety of content material. They’re huge advocates for us.”
Don’t function in silos
Content material groups are sometimes siloed throughout the advertising and marketing division, however not at LEGO. The corporate believes in an agile and built-in method.
“When we have now a product or concept, the entire workforce comes collectively. We’re not that linear. We don’t begin with a product then transfer to promoting then transfer to content material,” Goldin defined. “We carry all people collectively in the identical room, they usually begin engaged on: What are the suitable selections throughout the three-sixty? That mannequin then dictates what’s the suitable content material for us to leverage.”
The most effective knowledge comes from being in a room together with your buyer
At an ad-tech convention obsessive about knowledge, Goldin was one voice advocating for a balanced technique that integrated extra conventional advertising and marketing techniques.
“There are a variety of totally different instruments obtainable to us to see how totally different elements of our advertising and marketing combine are working,” she mentioned. “However in terms of understanding youngsters, one of the simplest ways to seize knowledge is to get them within the room and provides them some merchandise to play with. Or put them in entrance of a TV set as a result of that’s one of the simplest ways to see what youngsters truly like. We actually stability huge knowledge and connecting it again to the true perception about who the child is and what’s fascinating to them.”
For LEGO, that is partly out of necessity, given the EU’s rules on monitoring the habits of youngsters on-line. However the philosophy nonetheless speaks to LEGO’s intimate and customer-first method.
As Goldin put it, “What at all times must be on the coronary heart of all the pieces is: What are essentially the most related and fascinating methods to attach together with your viewers?”
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dmexco