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Lego boosts customer engagement with its user-led strategy

Image courtesy of Lego

Image courtesy of Lego

As a toy brand, Lego is the world’s largest by revenue. Yet it’s also a digital innovator.

For proof that Lego is a brand in tune with the digital era, consider that since 1995, 85 video games based around Lego have been released. The product that many harried parents associate with pain when they step on a carelessly discarded plastic brick turns out to be a natural fit for the 21st century. 

The brand works hard to maintain and extend its digital presence, primarily through engaging its customers. On the Lego Ideas platform, for example, people are encouraged to submit ideas for new sets. These are voted on and the best ideas can become official sets. So posting user-generated content can lead to a user-generated product.

The company also has an active YouTube channel, which has 14.5m subscribers. Here, Lego fans can find tips and tricks, previews of new products and specific channels aimed at different demographics, from young starters to mature collectors.

Lego is similarly active on social media, via Instagram, Twitter and Facebook, and active in the creation of shareable content. The company operates Digital Hubs in Billund and Copenhagen in Denmark, along with London and Shanghai.

Yet this kind of brand-building by customer engagement is fraught with dangers. This is because Lego is akin to a media or sports franchise where fans will complain loudly if they think the owners of the franchise have got something wrong. Lego sparks an emotional connection that is a key part of the brand’s value, yet brands can and do die when this is somehow lost.

Not that Lego is showing too many signs of making missteps. Consumer sales grew 22% in 2021 and it continues to expand globally. Looking to a more sustainable future, it even recently unveiled a prototype brick made from recycled plastic bottles, while it is increasing its use of bio-polyethylene, which can be made from sugar cane, sugar beet and wheat grain.

This article was originally published in the Nordics 2022 report. Download the full version here for further insight into the leading retailers in the Nordic region, as well as best selling product categories and consumer trends.

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