Take a look at Lego Click to see how the Cl!ck community is transforming lego. Author Laura M. Carillo outlines some of the quick thinking that enabled the success of this platform in the article “CL!CK – LEGO’s fun social product development platform.”
LEGO has a long history with its community that started in 1998 with the LEGO Mindstorms which is a line of programmable robotics and construction toys. Upon release of this line of products, it quickly became apparent that LEGO enthusiasts were not just children. This largely adult following showed their passion for LEGO by sending suggestions to the company.
The company had a choice and at first pursued a path of lawsuits as user groups had reverse engineered and reprogrammed many of the core components. This resulted in a rebellion of sorts among those users and the Lego company changed their approach by developing a website where products can be co-created.
To bolster the community website:
- There are also a number of short films on YouTube that highlight the values of innovation, creativity and the spirit of the inventor. (see The Brick Thief)
- Lego released a free iPhone app that can turn images into a mosaic Lego images.
The Lego company made a valuable decision by choosing to partner with some of their most passionate customers to build products and ensure they continue to evolve Lego in new and innovative ways.
Web Resources:
Submitted by: Sangeeta Zilka SMBP Student, University of Waterloo. To contact the author of this entry, please email sanzilka@gmail.com.
If you have concerns as to the accuracy of anything posted on this site please send your concerns to Peter Carr, Program Director, Social Media for Business Performance.