Learn from Lego: How to sell a single product for a hundred years

This article will analyze the successful marketing status of the LEGO brand over the years, interpret it from the multiple stages of brand development, and point out the common problems that every brand that wants to develop in the long term must face.

Always imitated but never surpassed.

In the field of building blocks, Lego is such an existence. According to Euromonitor, in 2021, Lego's market share in the global and Chinese building toy markets reached 71.9% and 48.6% respectively. Even the industry is divided into two categories, "compatible with Lego" and "incompatible with Lego", based on "compatible with Lego".

Founded in 1932, Lego surpassed Mattel for the first time in 2015 to become the largest toy manufacturer, and it still maintains a strong growth momentum today - both sales and GMV increased in 2022. At the end of August, Lego also stated that it will open an average of 100 new stores in China each year in the next five years.

However, Lego's development has not been smooth sailing. The huge losses in 2004 were almost fatal, and it was almost acquired by Mattel. Its profits have also declined in the past 20 years.

The process of business development is a process of constantly solving problems. LEGO, which was born during the Great Depression, has experienced World War II, multiple rounds of economic crises, and participated in the third technological revolution throughout the process, facing multiple changes in the external environment and consumer demand.

Products are the link between brands and consumers, and are also the key to solving problems. From a purposeful perspective, all product improvements can be viewed from three dimensions: Depth of reach (stickiness): increasing the appeal of target customers through iterations of product functions; Breadth of reach (region): covering users in a wider area; Length of reach (age): broadening the age of the population covered by the product.

Taking products as the main line, we review the development of LEGO over the past 90 years. After research, we believe that it can be divided into three stages based on its environment and the main problems it faces. The product innovation strategy of each stage is different:

Phase 1: Complete the transformation of building blocks from "product" to "category"

Improve pain points: Design universal standardized components + strengthen connection structure to create a "Lego building block system"

Hitting the right spot: Launching the role-playing "Lego Man" to add a "human touch" to building blocks.

Phase 2: Find more presentation methods to win back children’s attention

Extended form: Digitalization + IP licensing, appearing in more forms "where the children are"

Deepen stickiness: Pay attention to AFOLs, develop co-creation platforms, and let fans participate deeply in the production process.

The third stage: Break through new customer groups horizontally and vertically to find new growth points

Expanding breadth: Combining local culture to launch limited edition sets and using cultural resonance to penetrate new regions

Extend the length: shift from "fun" to "display" and hit the certain pain points.

Phase 1: Establishing a new business for JiMu and completing the transformation from product to category

Lego, which has always been imitated, started out as an imitator. Lego was founded in 1932 during the Great Depression in Denmark. Due to economic difficulties, Ole Kirk Christiansen, a carpenter, began to produce easy-to-sell wooden toys such as cars, airplanes and yo-yos. It was not until 1935 that the company focused its business on toy manufacturing and changed its name to LEG GODT, officially becoming a toy company.

LEG GODT means "play well" in Danish. With this name, LEGO wants to express two meanings: one is to use the best quality toys to let children play well; the other is to make interesting and valuable toys so that children can enjoy the play experience. These two points have always been throughout the development of LEGO.

Ole Kirk Kristiansen, who believed that technology could improve quality, spent twice the company's revenue from the previous year to purchase Denmark's first plastic injection molding machine in 1947.

Arriving at the same time as the injection molding machine were toy samples made by the machine supplier for the British toy company Kiddicraft - plastic interlaced building blocks.

Left: Kiddcraft building blocks designed by Hilary Page

Right: LEGO bricks

In the 1930s, Hilary Page, founder of the British toy company Kiddicraft, discovered that children liked colorful toys and liked to "chew" them. However, the pigments of wooden toys are easy to be swallowed by mistake, and saliva can easily adhere to the surface of the toys and breed bacteria.

To solve this problem, Kiddicraft used the rapid development of plastic molding technology during World War II to develop a series of brightly colored, hygienic and durable toys. Interlaced building blocks are one of them.

After seeing Kiddicraft's interlaced building blocks, Ole Kirk Kristiansen, who had been working in the toy industry for many years, smelled a business opportunity and immediately began to "imitate". In 1949, Lego launched its first plastic building block toy, "Automatic Binding Bricks".

Improve pain points: Design universal standardized components + strengthen connection structure to create a "Lego building block system".

Lego, which started out as an imitator, did not stop there. Instead, it adhered to the concept of making "the best toys" and embarked on the road of innovation.

Plastic interlocking building blocks solve the hygiene and safety issues of traditional wooden building blocks in terms of practicality, and can become one of the "reliable toys". However, there is no substantial difference between them and other toys, and no brand has made them its main business.

It is LEGO’s improvements and innovations that have made building bricks stand out from many toys and become a category of their own.

The first improvement of LEGO is to use 70%+ universal standardized components to transform building bricks from "disposable products" into a system that can be integrated and recreated.

The toy industry in the 1950s was relatively chaotic, with no prominent toy categories. Building block products were either random parts or combinations of parts made according to specific images. The life cycle of a toy ended when it was put together.

This has led to most toys being bought based on novelty. This requires manufacturers to constantly develop new molds and new styles, and also traps consumers in an endless cycle of “buy – play – throw – buy”. Consumers who buy building blocks can only assemble them according to the instructions and cannot create according to their own imagination.

Lego, which discovered the pain points of the industry, decided to introduce the "system" into the toy world to extend the product life cycle and play experience. After evaluating all product lines at the time, Lego believed that building blocks had the greatest potential to become a system. To achieve this, Lego made two innovations to building blocks:

1. The number of parts and the types of building blocks are regulated so that they can be freely combined, so that consumers can create anything with Lego bricks;
2. The products are developed systematically, and the themes of different sets in the same series are interconnected. Consumers can complete a larger scene with two or more sets purchased.

In 1955, LEGO released its first toy "system": a town planning series that combined 27 toy sets. In order to help dealers better understand the concept of the "system", LEGO also wrote 6 special instructions:

• The toy has to be compact in its dimensions without limiting the free expression of imagination.
• It has to be reasonably priced.
• It has to be simple and durable and yet offer unlimited variety.
• It has to be suitable for children of all ages and for both boys and girls.
• It has to be classic in its presentation, i.e. a classic among toys, needing no renewal.
• It has to be easily distributed.

Instructions distributed by LEGO to dealers

To this day, LEGO sets still insist that more than 70% of the building blocks are universal components to ensure compatibility between different products. In the hands of children, LEGO can become anything. Connecting with each other allows children to unleash their creative nature, but creativity needs to be encouraged to continue.

Therefore, LEGO made a second improvement: using internal tubular connectors to reinforce the connections between the bricks so that the bricks can be put together without falling apart .

At 1:58 pm on January 28, 1958, LEGO applied for a patent for the improved version of the building brick, "TOYBUILDING BRICK".

The improved building blocks are the basic LEGO building blocks of today. The main improvement is to set several corresponding columnar protrusions inside the open side of the building blocks, so that the building blocks can be connected to each other more firmly.

The improved building blocks not only allow children to fully utilize their creativity and create various scenes, but also can be preserved stably and shown to more people. This not only creates a positive cycle of "creation-display-inspiration", but also allows children to exchange ideas with each other and let more people know about LEGO.

The "timeless" life cycle and the solid quality of "standing still" quickly made LEGO popular in Europe. As the sales of building blocks gradually increased, in 1960, the LEGO Group decided to stop producing wooden toys and other plastic toys, focusing on LEGO bricks and the "LEGO Game System" as the core of its business.

The focus on business allows LEGO to focus more on innovative insights into building bricks.

1. Hitting the right spot: launching role-playing "Lego people" to add warmth to building blocks

Lego has solved the pain points of using previous building blocks, but it still lacks some emotional motivation.

Since the first city planning series was released, many children have started to use Lego components to create their own. But facing the built town, there is a problem: who will live in the house? Who will drive the car? In order to "put" themselves into the picture, children began to build their own building blocks.

LEGO discovered that children wanted to add a "human touch" to building bricks, and began to create "LEGO people". In 1974, LEGO launched the LEGO building figure, which was the same size as normal building bricks - a LEGO model supported by building bricks and plates, with a movable head and hinged arms. They consisted of five members (mom, dad, grandma and two children), with arms, hairstyles, smiling faces and hands that could hold each other.

LEGO building figure, 1974

Although the Maxifigure is very popular, it is too large to "live" in a Lego brick.

So the work of “shrinking” the Lego man began. After more than 50 rounds of design, the first generation of people who could “live” in a Lego house was completed in 1978.

Minifigure - the Lego man of today, finally born. Minifigure can be customized according to needs. Their head, torso, arms, hands, legs and hips can be separated. The head, upper body and lower body can be interchanged and combined like building blocks.

LEGO Space Minifigure, 1978

The birth of Lego people allows children to better restore their imaginations to the Lego world: use Lego people for role-playing, use Lego bricks to build scenes and props, and create complete storylines. This promotes the development of children's imagination, creativity and storytelling ability.

The fusion brick system composed of standardized components and the stable shape formed by tubular connectors have successfully satisfied children's creative nature, but it is like a city without people, lacking soul and vitality. The birth of Lego Man has given Lego bricks warmth and the ability to express emotions.

Patent protection has allowed LEGO to focus on self-evolution in an environment with almost no competition over the past 20 years.

Through the system concept and building block stabilization technology, the pain points of traditional toys have been solved, and building blocks have been transformed from toys that fall apart at the touch to toys that can be preserved and created; the development of the "LEGO man" has further enabled LEGO to become a "heartfelt" object that can satisfy emotional values.

Phase 2: Find more attractions to win back children’s attention

In the second phase, LEGO was no longer in the "ivory tower". The patent protection period for LEGO's building blocks with tube-shaped reinforcement connections was only 20 years. With the expiration of the patent and the many new forms of entertainment brought about by the digital revolution, LEGO in the 1990s not only had to face competitors emerging from the building block market, but also had to deal with the diversion of the traditional toy market by the digital entertainment world.

Obviously, Lego, which was used to rapid growth in the "ivory tower", underestimated the threats brought by technological innovation and market changes:

In 1998, Lego posted a small loss; in 2003, sales fell precipitously, by 35% in the US and 29% worldwide, and a year later the company posted its biggest loss in its history: £217m. In 2004, Lego fell apart, as predatory private equity firms circled like sharks to snap up the ailing family business.

In order to solve this crisis, LEGO replaced its new head, Jørgen Vig Knudstorp. To change the company's loss-making status, the first thing to do is to find the crux of the sales decline. The first thing the new head did after taking office was to conduct a large-scale user survey to understand the problems with LEGO products.

The survey found that Lego, which was disturbed by new technologies and new competitors, chose to move towards all-round development , developing games, making movies and TV shows, building theme parks, etc., but ignored its core business of "building blocks". However, these new product lines did not achieve the expected success, and the emergence of competitors and changes in market trends caused Lego's building block market share to decline, losing its main attraction to users.

Lego realized the problem and began to focus back on its core business. As Jørgen Vig Knudstorp said in an interview: "We realized that the more we are true to ourselves, the better we are."

After "returning to the right path", LEGO still maintains its exploration of innovation, but always adheres to one premise: stick to itself and stick to LEGO bricks.

1. Use technology: Bring the splicing experience into the digital world and make Lego games

Technological progress can provide children with more ways to entertain themselves in the virtual world and give them more possibilities to explore the world. Embracing digitalization is an inevitable choice. But this time, LEGO did not respond hastily. Instead, it thought about "how digital technology can promote the building block business" and used technology to innovate the toy business.

Specifically, LEGO’s pursuit of digitalization this time is not just about transforming into a digital company, but about providing a more dimensional technical experience for LEGO bricks by continuously integrating the boundaries between the physical and digital.

In 1998, LEGO and MIT Media Lab jointly launched the first generation of LEGO Mindstorms programmable building blocks, RCX, which combined physical experience and digital programming: the image of interesting LEGO building blocks was adopted, and programming elements were added to the playability. In 2009, once Mindstorms NXT 2.0 was released, it was used for programming teaching by more than 25,000 educational institutions.

Each Mindstorms set contains a microprocessor, a motor, several sensors, and Lego bricks for building mechanical structures. For example, the LEGO R3ptar set is a robotic snake with a mechanical jaw and fangs. After the player assembles it, he can program it through a mobile phone application to control its sliding.

In order to give users a more multi-dimensional puzzle experience, LEGO has also developed a series of programs and games. For LEGO, these digital products do not replace the physical products themselves, but use all the digital technologies and means at its disposal to enhance the physical experience.

For example, consumers can scan the QR code on the product packaging to enter the Lego Life app to unlock virtual building block gameplay; or put on VR glasses to create their own Lego works in the game "Lego Builder's Journey".

The results of LEGO’s survey show that digital applications have not reduced the time players spend building blocks, but have increased it.

2. Pull teammates: Use Lego figures to interpret IP images and let more people see them on the big screen

Lego, which has returned to its main business, is still facing the dilemma of losing a share to new brands and new categories. After all, with more and more entertainment options, children's attention is easily distracted. In order to be seen by children as much as possible, Lego has started the journey of "looking for teammates".

I believe everyone must be familiar with LEGO co-branded products, such as Star Wars, Harry Potter, Disney, Marvel... Although co-branding is a basic brand operation today, it was not the norm in the last century. In 1999, LEGO's first co-branding with "Star Wars" was fiercely opposed. At that time, LEGO's designers believed that combining with pop culture was contrary to the purity of LEGO.

But reality slapped Lego's "arrogance" in the face.

In the early 2000s, the Star Wars series almost became Lego's "lifeline". The turnaround in performance in 2005 was largely attributed to the release of "Star Wars 5" at the same time. Lego, which had to admit that "teammates are really good", began the road of co-branding.

LEGO's co-branded sets have two characteristics: on the one hand, they adhere to LEGO's "creativity" and "playability" so that fans can enjoy the fun of building LEGOs; on the other hand, they strive to remain loyal to the original work.

Using LEGO to restore IP not only allows children to experience the joy of splicing, but also allows them to enjoy the "sense of accomplishment" of personally creating their favorite characters or stories. Today, LEGO's co-branded series has become the main force contributing to sales.

The popularity of the co-branded product attracted the attention of Warner.

In 2009, Dan Lin, then a producer at Warner Bros., met Jørgen Vig Knudstorp by chance and told him that Lego should use movies to attract the attention of older children, because as they grow older, it is difficult for children over 12 to be attracted to Lego bricks. After being convinced, Lego and Warner Bros. jointly started the road of bringing Lego people to the big screen, and the first cooperative work was a great success.

In 2014, The Lego Movie, with an investment of 60 million US dollars, earned 469 million US dollars at the global box office. Not only was the movie a success, but it also made Lego surpass Mattel in sales for the first time that year, becoming the world's largest toy manufacturer. Since then, Lego has started a road of progress with Warner, launching a series of Lego DC movies; at the same time, it has also accelerated the pace of film and television adaptations of other IPs.

At present, according to incomplete statistics, LEGO owns the copyrights of many film and television works such as the "Star Wars" series, the Marvel series, the DC series, and the "Jurassic World" series. It has also developed at least 30 LEGO animated films (including short films) and more than 30 LEGO animated series.

Lego on the big screen still retains the unique charm of Lego bricks, and all the characters in the movies are created based on the Lego images of IP. The multi-dimensional interpretation of film and television has given vitality to the geometric square bricks; the humorous and vivid storyline has given soul and emotion to the stereotyped image of the bricks.

These animations and film and television works have expanded the influence of the LEGO brand and brought more exposure and attention to LEGO products.

3. Sticky fans: Open source LEGO creation, turning players from consumers into producers

The huge crisis brought about by ignoring what consumers "want" has made LEGO realize the importance of "understanding" consumers.

Continuous consumer research has made LEGO clearly realize that fans enjoy being able to use LEGO to build their own stories. In the "LEGO Online Communities" LEGO online community, players frequently show off their DIY works. At the same time, imitation LEGOs based on MOC works have also appeared on the market.

The market is a direct reflection of demand. Lego, having discovered the demand, decided to follow public opinion and stamp the official seal on good "folk works". In 2014, Lego launched LEGO Ideas for the world.

On LEGO Ideas, LEGO players can submit their original designs and initiate voting. If they receive more than 10,000 votes and meet the review of feasibility, copyright, etc., LEGO will turn them into official products for sale worldwide. Designers will not only receive royalties, but also have their names printed on the packaging.

Today, Lego Ideas has more than 1.8 million registered members, who have submitted more than 36,000 projects. More than 200 of them have received 10,000 votes of support. This has not only increased interaction with consumers and strengthened mutual stickiness, but also created a number of popular product series.

For example, the "Friends" Central Perk toy set, NASA Saturn V rocket set, tree house set, etc. were sold out within a few hours of release.

To participate in the Lego Ideas selection, players need to have the ability to assemble Lego. In order to allow more people to participate, Lego has also expanded the scope of co-creation to storyline co-creation. In cooperation with the Tongal platform, Lego has developed LEGO World Builder.

On LEGO World Builder, players can upload their own original LEGO characters and stories, or help other players expand their plot concepts, comment on or give feedback on other people's ideas. If their scripts are selected by LEGO for new product development, the uploader will receive copyright fees.

The most moving works come from oneself. The transformation from "fans" to "owners" not only greatly encourages fans' willingness to participate and strengthens brand stickiness, but also allows fans to spontaneously promote "self-created" products, bringing more exposure.

In the second stage, LEGO is more like a breakthrough. It breaks the boundaries of "being closed off" and opens its doors to emerging forms, mainstream culture, and excellent creativity while being firm in itself, so as to grow with the strength of all parties.

The third stage: Break through new customer groups horizontally and vertically to find new growth points

Lego's "mastery" in responding to external changes has made it almost a leader in digitalization. Since its performance rebounded in 2005, Lego has maintained performance growth for more than 10 years.

Until 2016, LEGO's revenue growth rate dropped below 10%. In 2017, it experienced its first decline in nearly a decade, with the decline in performance in mature European and American markets being particularly pronounced. The reason for this is that the continuous decline in fertility rates has led to a decrease in demand for children's toys, and the European and American children's toy markets have become saturated.

At this time, LEGO needs to face a different problem from the previous two times: the existing customer base can no longer meet the increased demand, how to use products to expand the customer coverage?

1. Horizontal: Local culture limited set, triggering emotional resonance

The decline in performance in the European and American markets has made LEGO pay attention to the potential of emerging economies - more and more middle-class people are emerging in third world countries. Deepening the development of emerging markets has become a must-solve issue for LEGO to maintain sales growth.

Since the construction of the Jiaxing factory in 2015, LEGO has maintained a close eye on the Chinese market and has achieved good results: from 2017 to 2020, the share of the Asian market has increased year by year.

Why has Lego been able to quickly gain growth in new markets? What measures has it taken in terms of products?

First, combine local cultural customs to launch festival scene sets

Every LEGO store, wherever it is in the world, has its own local elements.

For example, the LEGO store in Cape Town, South Africa, displays a model of the suburb of Bo-Kaaap made by local fans. LEGO does not take its global brand status for granted, but ensures that every link from product, production to marketing is in line with local realities.

Take China as an example.

As early as 2017, LEGO began to develop in-depth localization in China in the architecture series. The "Shanghai Skyline" set was added that year, and the "Great Wall" set was added in 2018. The local characteristics not only stay on the "surface", but also extend to the cultural and spiritual level. For example, the "Dragon Boat Race", "New Year's Eve Dinner", and "Dragon Dance" sets launched for traditional Chinese cultural festivals.

Second, explore characters from local classic stories and produce IP series packages.

Lego has been deeply rooted in Europe and the United States, and its product designs and story lines are mostly related to Western culture. Most of the IP images are also taken from Western works, such as the character themes in DC Marvel, Harry Potter, etc. For non-Western cultural regions, there is a lack of resonance.

In order to be closer to the education that children receive from an early age, LEGO will also launch sets that combine local classic literary and artistic works.

For example, Lego launched the Monkie Kid series in 2020 to cater to the "Wukong complex" of Chinese children. The set features Wukong as the main character, and corresponding building block sets are launched around Wukong's adventure story, such as mecha, vehicles, ships, cities, etc. The color of the set is also mainly Chinese red, and many traditional Chinese elements are added.

2. Vertical: Shift from "fun" to "display", enter the field of interest of adults, and hit the certain pain points

The surge in performance during the epidemic made LEGO realize that there is an incremental treasure trove of “adults” that needs to be tapped.

Although LEGO has always had adult consumers and a dedicated AFOL organization, the official has never made a separate definition for the adult product line. It was not until the epidemic that adults staying at home to build LEGOs became an important source of growth for LEGO. Driven by performance trends, LEGO officially launched the 18+ product line in 2020. This product line includes a series of LEGO sets, such as the Town Planning Series, Star Wars, and DC Superhero Series.

The purpose of Lego's launch of the adult line is also very clear: to expand the existing user base. On the one hand, it hopes to bring adults who played with Lego as children back into the game; on the other hand, it also hopes to make Lego a family activity shared by adults and children.

Since their launch in 2020, 18+ sets such as flowers and sports cars have frequently become popular. Why are they so appealing to adults?

Similar to the "localization" of horizontal expansion, LEGO also expresses to adults: I understand you.

All Lego sets have one thing in common: they come with extremely detailed building instructions. Following the instructions, you can build a certain path. And "certainty" is extremely precious in the adult world.

As adults, we need to find solutions to daily work and life challenges on our own. We all expect mature and definite guidance to help us, but often there is none. Therefore, when the brain realizes that it can accomplish something through definite instructions, it feels particularly relaxed.

Lego also directly reflects this in its advertising campaign. The advertisement shot by Lego for 18+ on Youtube shows adults troubled by excessive responsibilities and situations in life that go against their wishes, and proposes "We know that things are not always that simple; find your direction and build with Lego bricks."

Hitting the emotional "certainty" is only the first step. To make adults willing to participate in the splicing experience, they also need to be motivated by "finished products" that interest them.

Therefore, in the design of the 18+ product line, LEGO is more inclined to the areas of interest to adults and pays more attention to the realization of the "display" function.

Children want to fulfill their play needs through LEGO, so LEGO will also pay more attention to injecting storytelling and playability into its products, allowing children to participate in the world through role-playing, etc. Adults, however, are limited by time and energy, and prefer to obtain certain objects through splicing, preferably ones that can be preserved for a long time.

In order to meet the "display" needs of adults, LEGO has newly developed the "Art and Decoration" series . This type of product pays more attention to artistry and decoration, and pays attention to the "decoration effect" in addition to the splicing experience.

The specific selection of materials is based on the current popular and hot adult interest areas. For example, for women who like flowers and flower arrangements, a flower series was launched; for men's hobbies, a sports car series was launched.

The purpose of toys is to provide emotional comfort, but the emotional problems faced by adults are not similar to those faced by children. The success of LEGO's adult series is precisely because it has found the real needs of adults for LEGO.

Analyst Comments

LEGO's 90+ years of "evolution" can be said to be an interpretation of the inevitable path of a brand's transition cycle. Looking back, the three-stage product strategy corresponds to the three problems that every brand that wants to develop in the long term must face:

1. Phase 1: How to turn products into categories?

The answer given by LEGO is: improvement and extension. The key is to improve the product experience, expand its extension boundaries, and make it a sustainable growth system.

2. The second stage: How to maintain attractiveness to users as the external environment changes?

The answer given by Lego is: appear in the places where users are as much as possible to increase its user penetration. The core is to find its own core competitiveness and use the strengths of others to continuously improve itself.

3. The third stage: The existing market has reached its peak, how to find a new growth pole?

The answer given by Lego is: understand the emotions of the crowd and "change clothes" to show "I understand you". The important thing is to find the "emotional touch points" of the new crowd.

4. The strategies of each stage are not independent, but superimposed on each other and complement each other.

There are not many companies that have lasted for a century, and even fewer that can still maintain their competitiveness after a century. Lego did not have a bright start, but later became the industry leader; although it suffered setbacks in the middle, it quickly regained its growth momentum. These experiences and resilience are also worth learning for brands.

Innovation is important, but the premise is to clarify one's own competitiveness. "Random innovation" may bring disastrous consequences. For example, the huge crisis in 2004 was caused by ignoring the core business and expanding horizontally and vertically without detailed calculations.

Being in a dominant position for a long time can easily lead to complacency. You need to step out at any time to understand what users are thinking and what users think of the brand. Sales are the best feedback. For example, Star Wars went from being unrecognized to becoming one of the best-selling products. You need to break through the limitations of your thinking.

The premise of expanding new groups is to find new consumer needs. The same product has different definitions for different consumers. For example, children see Lego as playing with building blocks, while adults not only need the process of building blocks, but also care more about the decorative effect afterwards. Understanding the definition of "decoration" is the premise of product design.

Fun Facts:

1. Kiddcraft doesn’t mind Lego imitating it and wishes Lego to sell well.

In the late 1950s, the LEGO Group contacted Kiddicraft and asked if they objected to LEGO using their brick solution. Kiddicraft said no. On the contrary, they hoped that LEGO would do well because they themselves had not achieved much success with bricks. In 1981, LEGO purchased the Kiddicraft bricks and trademark rights from the descendants of Hilary Fisher Page.

2. Lego's "Star Wars" series almost died due to opposition from senior company executives.

In 1999, the sequel to the extremely popular "Star Wars" in the United States was about to be released. Frontline staff believed that the co-branded products with "Star Wars" would be a hit. However, some older executives in the company were noncommittal. This was mainly because they believed that "Star Wars" was contrary to Lego's values, especially "not creating a world that reminds people of violent things." In addition, Lego at the time hoped to make money through licensing, but to make the "Star Wars" co-branded sets, it was necessary to pay copyright fees to Lucasfilm. This ran counter to their expectations. In the end, after months of heated debate, the "Star Wars" series was allowed to pass.

3. Galidor: The Lego bricks that look the least like Lego.

In 2002, LEGO launched a battle-themed LEGO set called "Gailidor", but the components in the set were almost incompatible with LEGO's general-purpose building blocks. The LEGO "Galidor" series was also launched with the live-action children's drama "Galidor", but neither of them was recognized by fans and was criticized for being out of touch with the image of building blocks. The series was completely discontinued one year after it was launched.

4. The Lego Mindstorms programming program was cracked within a week of its launch.

Less than a week after the second generation of Lego Mindstorms was launched, students at Stanford University in the United States cracked the Lego programming software and were able to rewrite the program at will. However, what was unexpected was that it was precisely the freedom of programming that allowed a large number of users to spontaneously participate in the development, many of whom had never played with Lego bricks. Some childhood players also picked up Lego toys again because of the "Lego robot".

Author: Li Zi, Editor: Jing Min

Source: Knife Skills Research Institute (ID: DigipontClub).