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It's strange to think that one of the most iconic, loved brands of our time, LEGO, valued by some at around $150 billion, was once a washed-up has-been. Not many people today know that 10 years ago, LEGO nearly went bankrupt with $300 million in losses. The LEGO case study is a remarkable brand turnaround, perhaps the biggest of our generation. This presentation looks at how LEGO engineered its brand from zero to hero by building the company around its main asset: FANS.
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1. FOCUS
2. FANS
3. FRONTLINE
Build the
Experience
The HOW
Join the dots
Build platforms
Touchpoints
Real-world
analog events
Build relationships
Understand WHY
Identify core
influencers
Break down walls
that prevent
them from
engaging you
Build on your DNA
Find your brand truth
What will people miss
if you were not there?
HOW TO BUILD
A BRAND WORTH
TALKING ABOUT
1. Start here with
your BRAND
truth
2. Find the FANS
that care about
your brand
3. Give your
FANS tools to
join the dots
20. “Nobody at Lego is
measured on sales
because the most
important thing is that
kids and retailers return
for more in future”
- Jorgen Knudstorp,
CEO Lego
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Coupled with an
obsessive focus on
product not people
LEGO became
obsessed with
design philosophy…
…made the mistake of
recruiting the best designers
rather than engineers who
loved interaction
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1. FOCUS
2. FANS
3. FRONTLINE
Focus on
public opinion
and trends
HOW NOTTO
BUILD A BRAND
WORTH
TALKING
ABOUT
Focus on mass
market reach
Focus on
products,
engineers
and design
First, here’s how NOT
to do. Here’s where
LEGO went wrong
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1. FOCUS
2. FANS
3. FRONTLINE
Build the
Experience
The HOW
Join the dots
Build platforms
Touchpoints
Real-world
analog events
Build relationships
Understand WHY
Identify core
influencers
Break down walls
that prevent
them from
engaging you
Build on your DNA
Find your brand truth
What will people miss
if you were not there?
1. FOCUS
HOW TO BUILD
A BRAND WORTH
TALKING ABOUT
So, the new CEO had
to start here… focusing
on that brand truth
and removing the noise
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What a few insightful LEGO
execs understood was that even
in the digital era, people still
valued face-‐to-‐face interaction
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“I also tell customers that
they fulfill a vital role: They
are an avenue to the truth.
And in today’s world, a
CEO needs every
avenue to the truth
that he or she can find”
- CEO Jorgen Knudstorp
42. 1. FOCUS
GRAHAMDBROWN.COM
2. FANS
3. FRONTLINE
Build the
Experience
The HOW
Join the dots
Build platforms
Touchpoints
Real-world
analog events
Build relationships
Understand WHY
Identify core
influencers
Break down walls
that prevent
them from
engaging you
Build on your DNA
Find your brand truth
What will people miss
if you were not there?
HOW TO BUILD
A BRAND WORTH
TALKING ABOUT
Step 2 in the brand
turnaround meant
reconnecting LEGO
with the FANS
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2. FANS
3. FRONTLINE
Build the
Experience
The HOW
Join the dots
Build platforms
Touchpoints
Real-world
analog events
Build relationships
Understand WHY
Identify core
influencers
Break down walls
that prevent
them from
engaging you
Build on your DNA
Find your brand truth
What will people miss
if you were not there?
HOW TO BUILD
A BRAND WORTH
TALKING ABOUT
1. FOCUS
The key here is how LEGO
built their experience around
the interaction of FANS:
platforms to share ideas and
events to connect
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“While we have 120 staff designers, we
potentially have probably 120,000
volunteer designers we can access
outside the company to help us
invent”
…and that starts with
letting go of the idea
that you have to have
all the answers
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“Nine out of ten times [customers]
may tell you something you know
or something you consider
vaguely relevant…”
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“…but if you dismiss those nine
times you never get the tenth time
where they tell you something
that’s really crucial, you were never
aware of. You’d only learn two,
three years later, and then of course
it’s too late”
- Jorgen
Knudstorp,
CEO LEGO
83. GRAHAMDBROWN.COM
1. FOCUS
2. FANS
3. FRONTLINE
Build the
Experience
The HOW
Join the dots
Build platforms
Touchpoints
Real-world
analog events
Build relationships
Understand WHY
Identify core
influencers
Break down walls
that prevent
them from
engaging you
Build on your DNA
Find your brand truth
What will people miss
if you were not there?
HOW TO BUILD
A BRAND WORTH
TALKING ABOUT
1. Start here with
your BRAND
truth
2. Find the FANS
that care about
your brand
3. Give your
FANS tools to
join the dots