Weighing up my entertainment options this weekend I rather curiously stumbled across The Secret World of LEGO – a one-off documentary offering viewers a sneak peek behind the scenes of the world’s most famous toy brand and the lucky individuals who get to work there.
With secrets locked behind intimidatingly large window shutters and tightlipped staff watching their words, the HQ in Denmark gave no more away than it wanted to. It did however provide inspiring insight into the world-famous brand's marketing strategy.
LEGO demonstrates how a well-thought-out Traditional Marketing strategy can maintain your business's momentum.
Contrary to what many current articles suggest, Traditional Marketing is far from dead. To those who have struggled to understand its benefits in the past, I would suggest that you haven’t been working with the right marketers.
Here are the key areas where I think LEGO has smashed it out of the park…
Aspirational Brand
LEGO's marketing approach is a masterclass in fostering an aspirational brand that captivates children and adults. They do this through the celebration of creativity.
Really, LEGO's brand encourages inspiration and imagination—the power of play for all ages.
There's a LEGO set for everyone, even if you don't realise it, and its world exists far beyond the bounds of its trademark cardboard boxes and brick-filled plastic bags. Think Legoland, where family-friendly rides are paired with model towns built with their plastic bricks. Or the LEGO shops, which offer passport stamps for each store's home city. Or Duplo and Playmobile, aimed at younger children to build their fine motor skills while adults can spend hundreds of pounds on a replica Eiffel Tower.
Everyone, frankly, has had joy playing with LEGO.
Brand Values
The Lego values of imagination, fun, creativity, learning, care, and quality are evident in every aspect of the business, both internally and externally, from product to person. To LEGO, its values are not just writings on a wall but a code for everyone in its ‘family’ to live by.
Customer Engagement
Lego doesn’t shy away from interaction and dedicates time to listening to its audience, many of whom are lifetime supporters. Areas of their business, like LEGO Ideas, are specifically geared towards community-led product development. Tweets go viral asking people to support set ideas based on their favourite IPs. This is part of how LEGO encourages tremendous brand loyalty, plus generates opportunities for turning their customers into repeat purchasers.
For example; one AFOL (Adult Fan of Lego) pitched an idea for a LEGO magazine that specifically targets adults. He pitched this to HQ and was met with excitement; resulting in the backing of his homegrown venture. LEGO’s acceptance of his contribution not only added to the company's wealth and far-reaching portfolio but made him feel supported in his love for the brand.
Employee Engagement
Often referring to the company as a ‘family’, the staff at LEGO embody the brand. The ethos of play is not just limited to their products; LEGO emphasises brand culture and encourages staff to engage and collaborate.
In terms of development, LEGO invests in comprehensive professional development programs that support both personal and career growth. Their commitment to this is reflected in continuous learning opportunities, including leadership development programs and skills training, which ensure that employees feel they are growing alongside the company.
Unsurprisingly, doing well for your staff means they'll do well for you.
Family Values
Family is at the heart of everything LEGO does. Due to the impersonal nature of some big corporations, deciding to incorporate the ‘family run’ angle into a large international business can backfire. Luckily for LEGO, combining their family-centered product and marketing means this has not happened.
Not only has the company kept its HQ based in the town of Billund in Denmark, but the company emphasises the importance of family bonding through spending time together—building and creating. This is carried through into their advertising campaigns, which show families coming together to build whichever set was released most recently.
Target Audiences
Catering to a broad target market could be seen as undesirable. However, LEGO's approach—a blend of demographic targeting and interest-based segmentation—is evident in their wide range of collaborations with well-known IPs, such as Star Wars and Marvel. This enables them to tap into these IPs' fans at multiple age levels, from children who play with small-scale Harry Potter or Mario sets, reliving the magic of the films or the game, to adult enthusiasts who spend hundreds of pounds on a Millenium Falcon set.
And then there's LEGO's Ultimate Collectors Series, which are particularly sought-after by that older, cash-to-spare demographic. The result is two-fold:
- These sets are in high demand, driving up their perceived value.
- Then the sets themselves become more valuable.
Similarly, some Lego stores have exclusive sets, like the Hans Christian Andersen fairytale book set available in the Copenhagen store. LEGO thus becomes a souvenir of a trip, or a gift for family at home, and can hold further sentimental value.
By continuously developing new collectors' edition sets, and expanding their reach further into a carefully-chosen set of IPs, LEGO isn't just relying on the business of Christmas and Birthday presents. Alongside schemes such as LEGO Ideas, this is a large part of LEGO's strategy to turn fans of other IPs into fans of LEGO. And it works.
Adding Value
Where LEGO shines is its abilitiy to lean into trends and explore niche markets or partners, while staying true to their core identity as a brand that fosters imagination and play. For instance, with the growth of mindfulness and adult craft for the sake of mental health, LEGO has released a line of sets aimed at tapping into the non-stressful nature of set building.
Take their Lego Art Sets, which allow customers to build LEGO versions of famous works of art like Van Gogh's 'The Starry Night' and Hokusai's 'The Great Wave'. These sets aren't designed for play, they're designed for display. And they cater to a niche, but growing, demographic looking for creative ways to unwind.
Similarly, we can look to Lego's interest in STEM education and their LEGO STEM series. Rated by difficulty from 'beginners' to 'expert', these sets focus on fostering interest in the sciences—strengthening LEGO's position as an educational tool. By continuously identifying and engaging with niche markets, LEGO is enhancing its brand proposition and ensures it remains a pertinent and cherished brand in a busying toy marketplace losing revenue to technology.
Conclusion
In short: LEGO's marketing strategy showcases how a brand can retain relevancy as the world changes around it. Through partnerships with popular IPs, an expand into niches which soon become more mainstream, and adapting to trends, it remains on top in Toyland. They're able to do what few brands can: creating mass appeal across age and interest demographics, and they don't take it for granted.
In doing so, LEGO proves that everything can be awesome. It's cheesy, but it's true.
