Why Lego Isn’t (Just) a Toy Company | WSJ The Economics Of 

Let's not forget the quality and interchangeable aspects of their brand. Lego bricks and plates from the 70s and 80s (if they're in good condition) are still compatible with pieces nowadays.

You can build some cool stuff with those bricks.

Was not expecting Bionicle to get as much screen time as it did.

The adults sets have also branched out to ideas that aren't solely attached to licensed themes like their Botanical Collection, which has exploded in popularity online. Tapping into various niches from florists, artists, gamers, etc. has proven to be very beneficial.

What also seperates lego is its utility. You take away the ip, the value in flipping, the nostalgia. Strip away all intangibles, you still have a interlocking brick system that is fun for everyone. you do that with barbie and all you have is a unposable mannequin.

The reason Lego changed from wood to plastic is because of a fire that burned down Ole Kirk Christiansen's wooden toy inventory in 1942. In fact this was actually the second fire Ole faced at his workshop. These tragedies would become part of a big comeback story, however. He took the first fire as an excuse to build a bigger workshop, stock market crashed in 1929, his wife died in 1932, and then facing financial disaster he let go of most of his staff. But he made a big decision, he decided to use his wood that he originally used for furniture to create cheap, wooden toys that would sell. He slid into bankruptcy by doing this but he kept going, refusing to stop making toys. He changed his company's name to Lego (leg godt; play well) to reflect its new direction, and then when the second fire happened in 1942, he had enough to bounce back and move forward, deciding that wood was too prone to fire and jumped to plastic when traditional stuff used to produce goods weren't available. Using a plastic molding machine invented in the UK, Ole bought Denmark's first in 1946 and called the new product the "Automatic Binding Brick", a name in English rather than Danish to honor the Allies who liberated Denmark.

The genius of lego now is that they’ve almost grown up with the consumer where a person might have used to play with the kid legos now they have the huge adult centric legos that are currently offered.

Bionicle totally captured my imagination when I was about 7/8 years old. Surprised to see no mention of the Lego Star wars video games here, or the other Lego video games such as Lego racers. Those had a huge impact on my fondness of the brand

I really love watching the economic series. Thank you

LEGO Star Wars and Ninjago are so awesome. Bionicle was the thing that started it all.

You know WSJ are people of culture when they include the holy figures of BIONICLE! Another thing Lego is doing to prosper in the Chinese market is opening four Legoland parks (owned by Merlin Entertainment) in Shenzhen, Chengdu, Beijing, and Shanghai. As well as creating sets specifically for a Chinese audience (though popular with others too) like Chinese New Year sets every year and a theme called Monkie Kid inspired by Journey to the West.

I like the constant innovation from Lego but I do miss the unbranded Lego from my childhood like medieval castles and space station..

I had lego when I was a child and now my daughter has too. She plays with my vintage 90’s lego and I play with hers 😅

A key point missed here is Legos sustainability efforts. This is hugely effecting the brand and the companies performance as they look to future proof the company and look after the planet

Really good video. Surprising depth for a mainstream news company. 10/10

It’s just a genius business model

One thing my brothers kept building with their Lego was a ship, sorta like a cruise liner, but more along the lines of a giant private yacht. Back then, I didn't own much Lego, so I preferred using Plasticine and still do prefer using modelling clay over Legos, though these days I build in Modded Minecraft (which once had a Lego texture pack for the Java edition).

The simplicity of the LEGO is the reason why they are widely accepted.

There is no greater toy! I'm 39 years old and I still buy myself a new lego technics every month.

Duplo was a great idea too, there are not so many toy options for 2+ and lego is the greatest of them all

It wasn't because the Chinese adults weren't interested in plastic toys, but things like Gunpla and anime figures seem to be more popular among male adults compared to Lego, at least in China

Never expected the Wall Street Journal to talk about Bionicle, lol

The videogames are also a big part of Lego. Usually great games with a big level of detail and very appealing for kids. The LEGO games were the ones I enjoyed most playing as a child

As a business and marketing major, it feels so good to know how my studies is even related to toys 😍❤️

LEGO stimulates both logic and creativity and gives kids a good time. When one generation of kids discover girls we put the LEGO´s in a pillow case and wash them at lowest temperature in the washer and they are ready for next generation. I am close to 60 now and all the LEGO I got as a child are still fully usable today and I cannot say that about any other toy I had then. In my humble opinion, it are not only a great toy, but if you include its durability, it also are the cheapest.

Really bare bones video, summed up in: lego big, lego grows, when problem, bionicle and licensed sets saved brand. Now licenses and media help it grow, particularly china where its new.

Epic Games and Lego collabing is sounding like Lego Universe

When it comes to licensing Lego did really expanded its range of licensed themes in the last three decades. All recognizable movie franchises and heroes were made into Lego themes like Star Wars, Marvel superheroes, DC superheroes, Harry Potter/Fantastic beasts, Lord of the Rings/Hobbit, Jurassic World/Park, Indiana Jones, Pirates of the Carribbean, Ghostbusters, Back to the Future and the latest blockbuster hit James Cameron's Avatar The Way of Water. The list includes the movie franchises that only appeared as part of other themes (like Lego Ideas, Lego Dimensions, Speeed Racers, Creator etc): James Bond, Fast and Furious, Mission Impossible, Home Alone and vintage movies like Beetlejuice, E.T. Goonies, A Team, Knight Rider, The Wizard of Oz , Gremlins, Tron. Lego also made quite a few sets based popular TV shows like Friends, Seinfeld, The Office, The Big Bang Theory, Doctor Who, The Stranger Things, The Simpsons. There are also a lot of Lego themes and sets based on popular animated films and series: many different Disney (and Pixar) sets and themes like Disney Princess, Mickey Mouse and friends, Winnie the Pooh, Frozen, Toy Story and all sorts Disney characters from all eras as collectable minifigures, we also had Looney Tunes, Scooby Doo, The Flintstones, Powerpuff Girls, Adventure Time, Ben 10, Spongebob, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Avatar The Last Airbender, The Muppets, Sesame Street, Voltron, Angry Birds, Trolls, Minions. Lego also made sets based on popular video games, it started with Minecraft and expanded: Portal (though Dimensions), Overwatch, Sonic the Hedgehog, Super Mario, Horizon Zero Dawn, and we'll soon have Final Fantasy and Zelda themes. And last but not the least Lego made a partnership with Hasbro which gave first Transformers set and Dungeons and Dragons are also announced.

The BIONICLE appreciation on display here is excellent! I was surprised, though, that there was no mention of Monkie Kid in the discussion of the LEGO Group's attempt to break into the Chinese market, being a reimagining of the classic work Journey to the West that seems to have managed the feat of both marrying the LEGO brand to a part of Chinese culture that's instantly recognisable to parents and producing media that's still engaging and relevant to its target childhood audience. In doing so, the LEGO Group's gone a step beyond what they managed with BIONICLE and, later, Ninjago by not only creating a genuinely great licensed theme-equivalent world without having to pay licence fees, as those two themes did, but also capturing the immediate marketing boost that a licensed theme would have by associating it with a familiar, understood cultural touchstone.

This is great stuff. But man, do I miss when LEGO came up with good original themes like Bionicle, Hero Factory, Power Miners and Space Police... I just wish they did that along the licensed themes.

I saw HUGE BAGS of LEGOs at a local thrift store recently. Tons of them on eBay too.

BRING BIONICLE BACK PLEASE WE ARE ADULTS WITH JOBS NOW WE WANNA BUY OLD SETS LEGO COME ON

It's sad because what they show as "present" (the LEGO movie, 2014) was 10 years ago...a DECADE

My 15 year old son wants a Lego set. I showed him with that much money he could get an electric scooter for adults. In a heartbeat he chose the scooter, and help him transport from home to school. In essence, Lego set now is very expensive compared to other, but more practically useful, toys

Good journalism..

And their customer service is just the best.

Lego Batman, Indiana Jones and Star Wars on consoles is really what saved the company.

I loved bionic!

stil have fond memories of playing racer and star wars with my brothers

For anyone curious the kid who played Zach the Lego maniac became an architect when he grew up haha he used to work at my firm

This is also because Lego has become the atomic blocks bank to build any to many of the biggest buildings in peoples hearts and minds and brains

Just waiting for the IPO.

The impact on the ENVIRONMENT is incomprehensible

I want to become one of the TOP LEGO designers 🤩

this video makes me want to play with legos so bad even though i literally have legos in my room legos make me happy even thinking about it makes me happy :D

BIONICLE was mentioned for saving the company! As it should be!

Ein sehr sehr sympatischer Grosskonzern der sich noch für seine Kunden einsetzt grüsse an den Helden

I am 59 years old and been building Lego bricks since I was 10 years old. The longevity of the bricks and their use continues to amaze me every day.

I have never bought a Lego set but I have been wanting to buy both of the FRIENDS sets

Would be awesome if they built houses one day.

I'm actually very surprised that they only do 8b in revenue.

Lego is awesome

I still want Lego to make an official Zombie Apocalypse set.

What is the environmental cost of all that plastic?

They are also good at making really good cartoon series when they want to

I can imagine seeing these indestructible Lego bricks in the seabed for centuries later.

You should do the economics of Whistlindiesel youtube channel video

Lego should have a presence in west Africa

BIONICLE

Wow

The "present" example is almost 10 years old

Well even if lego is and was and will be a premium product it is of remarkable quality still have early 90's and late 80's lego from my early childhood that fits perfectly new lego and is in very good shape. Its durable as almost nothing these days. Its fun, creative and very easy to play with. It seems that it mostly fits kids that are growin up (young ones) for fantasy play, and then adults for complex building (and not rly playing with it). They do seem to have a gap in late teenagers (as well they have other things in head ;) ). In very late 90's and early 2000's Lego didnt had any major known theme of their own. As in 80's and 90's you had Castle, City, Future/M-tron/Blacktron/Iceplane, Pirates, Technik. If you actually look at the sets from late 80's/early-mid 90's many of the bigger sets were so well desinged they are to these days considered classic or as a point of comparision. Just Compare Pirate ships or Space sets to the early 2000's - they dropped off. Another thing is from what i've noticed later in 90's decade the market shifted. In 80-90's you had medieval movies, pirate movies, random space movies from Hollywood. But in late 90's and 2000's Some major theme's/fandoms crystalized. Combined with what i feel slight drop in quality of design of sents and Lego lacking any major franchise/system like they call it. They couldnt compete in marketing share/name. They rly made a smart moow and went in to join Star Wars/Pirates of Carribean, Batman etc. and then tried to make again their own brand (Lego movie and tried to return with pirates - but man that 2010 line was bad designed AF). This rly helped. Kids or adults who liked star wars were introduced to Lego, and at the same time Lego could introduce more of their own sets. With the number of sets released yearly now i do find it hard to find such quality like in the more rare released late 80's and early 90's big sets, like Pirates, M-tron, Blacktron, Castle's, Even Techink truck with helicopter (as City wise lego sets are now better) as the franchise sets are limited by design or even $ (since lego has to pay up). But last decade rly made Lego go back to its core disgn and again it seems to pay off. What makes me happy as a fan.

Bionicle❤️

And you don’t even mention the research they do in polymer processing

LEGO and Star Wars would be nothing to me if they hadn't got married in 1999.

I won’t be surprised if they move into real estate at this point

I saw people INVESTING in Lego sets now. Better ROI than trading cards and comic books they say 😂.

Lego has recently gone to "environmentally friendly" plastic that doesn't use as much fossil fuel. But they wear out and crack. So they just end up in landfills. Old lego was so tough that I have some in my house that is being played with by a fourth generation. Yes, they were my grandfather's and now they're my son's. I can't stand when companies greenwash themselves, by cutting back on quality. Making something that goes into a landfill instead of being passed down from generation to generation is not good for the planet. It is good for sales because as a product breaks, new product is purchased. Just ask Apple and Tesla.

Brickmania wow

I like legi but the theme park. The movies. The atarwars tie in etc. It has definatly "Jumped the shark".

0:24

now we just need lego onepiece

0:15

You would think with all that money they're making, Lego would pay their employees better than a flat wage.

I remember bionicles

Bionicle saved lego

see toys still sell if you do it right and give it a twist

Lego: Injuring feet since 1949.

Up 17% last year but yet they had to raise the prices of sets that were already on store shelves. Greed is greed, there is never enough of a profit to be made, even by the largest toy company in the world. Then you constantly see sales across the board as retail outlets and Lego stores try to dump old stock to get warehouse and store shelf space ready for the next seasonal wave. Just points out the hypocrisy of saying that costs for them are increasing so they have to up the prices... until they have too many over-priced sets and then the sales come to reduce inventory. Perhaps if you kept the costs reasonably priced, they would sell and you wouldn't have to look like liars when you turn around months later and sell them at a lower cost than they were to begin with!

I really like Lego but their prices are becoming ridiculous to me. I'm not a huge collector and will buy a set from time to time but ...Zuru Max is a much better price point for bulk bricks. Period. 700 plus Lego for 50 bucks or 1250 pieces Zuru Max for around 30. Duh. No kids even really want creative bulk bricks boxes now...they buy into all the expensive themed kits. Me too but they are NOT affordable now.

In China they have LEGO building kits that allow you to build a factory. It comes with netting to catch all of the workers trying to commit suicide.

i have every single lego star wars set

Man... bionicle. I miss those days. But yeah... if Lego North America made a 5-6 ft minecraft unbreakable sword for $20-$30 I AM SO DOWN TO BUY IT! As well if any Lego North American and EU worker's see my comment lost in the sea... PLEASE! CAN YOU GUYS COLLAB WITH ANY HIGH END FASHION LUXURY BRAND (LIKE VERSACE)?! I AM SO SERIOUSLY DOWN TO BUILD A LEGO X VERSACE COLLAB MEDUSA SET. ALSO GIVE ME CREDIT FOR THAT IDEA LEGO NORTH AMERICA AND LEGO EU... PLEASE AND THANK YOU! 👍

Lego is the Nike of toys

Lego is never a toy company for kids. As an adult I can't afford their skyhigh prices. They cost more than real bricks that I can build a house with.

They need to partner with Square Enix. The possibilities make my mouth water.

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LEGO likes to take all my money.

All really great until they said they are investing in the metaverse Bye Lego 😢

I mean I spent almost $3K on LEGO in 2021

why?wsj says lego makes civil engineering fun

Hey Michael, VSauce here

*LEGO

Lego SUBNAUTICA

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Meh…I’ll stick with bristle blocks for my kid. So glad we don’t have any legos.

Gamestop

Yo you’re missing half of your information here…

Bottom line is all business business business

Sorry, it's just too much capeshit nowadays. They stopped the classic themes like Space, Castle, Pirates, Exploration, Western, etc. (apart from the occasional creator or anniversary sets)