LEGO wants to keep us creative

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Everybody knows LEGO. Kids have been playing with the bricks since 1932 and they show any sign of stopping. Through the 85 years of its existence, LEGO was able to keep up with children from all different generations, from baby boomers to millennials. And now it is educating a whole new generation on how to program through toys as Mindstorm, which new schools as the Happy Kids School are using in their classes.

Last week during the Web Summit LEGO showed their will for innovation and was present in various talks of the major tech event. They weren’t only present, but the talks were crowded. One in particular, where Lars Silberbauer, the Senior Global Director of Social Media & Video from LEGO went to explain how they the brand is always running smoothly despite all the changes the world has been through since it’s launch. We weren’t disappointed.

The Power of Stories

LEGO recognizes that the reason why their toys aren’t just a brick is that all the stories kids create around it. With that in mind, they are always fast to relate their brands to the biggest stories of each generation, hence Star Wars, Batman, DC and Marvel superheroes, Disney princesses, Minecraft, Pirates of the Caribbean, Jurassic Park, Ghostbusters and even a whole architecture line with the main landmarks for the older children (also know as me). There is something for everyone.

The Power of the Crowd

Relating to huge stories is cool, but you know what is cooler? Giving the stage to your own customers to tell their own stories. In his talk, Lars told the ridiculous amount of stories they track every day on social media. Right now, if you research LEGO on Youtube you will find close to 27 million results. By encouraging their customers to create stories and share them they became the most engaging brand on Youtube.

In the Society 3.0 book, Ronald van den Hoff uses the example of LEGO crowdsourcing their own Research and Development department to explain Society 2.0. LEGO Idea is a platform where anyone can post their project, and if it gets 10 thousand upvotes LEGO will develop and distribute it. In Lars’ presentation, he mentioned that ‘the power of the crowd will always be stronger than ours (LEGO)’, and that’s clearly not only talk.

Kronkiwongi – Children’s creativity throughout our lives

Knowing that stories are their biggest strength they are turning to their biggest customers and best storytellers: children. And not only while they are children. LEGO sees a trend that the work of the future will require tons of creativity, so their goal with Kronkiwongi is to keep children’s creativity through their whole lives. How? Creating lego set with no instructions. What is a Kronkiwongi? You can decide. According to LEGO, imagination is limitless, when there are no rules. And that’s how they also created one of their most successful social media campaigns, keeping their brand relevant.

 

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