Lego Ideas: A Good Crowdsourcing Idea

Lego has come a long way since 1932, when it was originally founded by a small-time carpenter named Ole Kirk Kristiansen from Denmark. The company was passed down within the family, and today the Kristiansen family remains the sole “shareholders” of the once-small toy business. Currently, Jørgen Vig Knudstorp is the CEO of the well-known global enterprise. Lego has continued to remain a household name because they continue to reinvent themselves to be even better than before. They consistently keep up with trends whether it be their latest Lego sets, Lego movies, or their marketing strategies. These popular building blocks have remain in demand over the last 80 years for their product quality and for it’s influence in fostering imagination from people both young and old.

From Star Wars, to Marvel, Scooby Doo and even Disney’s Frozen, Lego’s got it all. But how has this global brand been able to keep up with it’s growing customers’ preferences and staying relevant today? We could say that Lego has done a fantastic job in keeping up with what’s popular to it’s consumers  – such as creating modern Movies like ever-so “Awesome” The Lego Movie (a $468 Million global hit) with references to what’s trendy and current today for all fans around the world. However, it’s biggest assets are its Lego sets that enable customers to build their favourite Transformer characters, create scenes out of their favourite movies, or even build miniature sky scrapers.

BUT how does Lego continue to know what their customers want? This 80 year old global enterprise decided it would keep up with the growing social trends and use social media and crowdsourcing to its advantage.

Within the last few years, Lego has more recently become more active on social media outlets with it’s daily Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, and even Vine posts. Here, they are able to showcase new products in such a way that is entertaining for Lego-lovers of all ages! Below, Lego uses stop-motion on Vine to show-off one of their Bunny and Kitty Lego sets.

Lego Ideas encourages fans to develop, share, and vote for thousands of different Lego ideas submitted by people all around the world. As Jørgen Vig Knudstorp, CEO of the Lego Group, puts it: “It’s about discovering what’s obviously Lego, but has never been seen before”. Anyone can submit photos, models, or even a product proposal to the Lego Idea page and if you’re convincing enough, you may just generate fans or supporters who will endorse your brilliant idea! The Lego Ideas page also has a Community page where members can scroll through a live feed on what projects are currently being created and liked. 

If your proposal happens to produce a minimum of 10,000 supporters it then qualifies for a project review by the Lego Review Board. The board consists of marketing and set designer representatives who ultimately hand-pick the select few proposals that would be put into production. Once your proposal is under review, the Lego team provides “Official Lego Comments” attached to your proposal. This way, the creator and supporters can continue to keep track of a project’s progress.

But wait… what do we get if our idea makes it past the board? The original project designer (aka you the consumer) is featured in Lego Set materials, is henceforth recognized as the product creator, and also receives royalty on sales! Talk about a sweet deal! Lego lovers with great ideas can now create and share their designs and dreams with the rest of the world. 

So far, as per their Lego Ideas page, 19 projects are currently undergoing review by the Lego Review Board (which includes a pretty neat Beatles – Yellow Submarine set), 1 currently is approved and awaiting production, and 12 products have successfully been through the submission, review board, and production phase and now sits on a toys store shelf near you! The sets (which can be viewed here) range from “The Big Bang Theory”, “Wall-E”, and even “Lego Minecraft”!

Lessons for Others

It’s obvious that Lego has been able to stick around for the last 80+ years because their product continues to develop and stay relevant to our ever-changing generations. Lego can be enjoyed by anyone – young and old because this global company continues to develop products for all types of age groups – whether it’s Disney Princesses, The Beatles’ Yellow Submarine, or even a Labyrinth Lego Maze. With the help of social media and their customers, Lego can give their fans exactly what they vote for.

Customers who sees that a global corporation like Lego has heard them (which is demonstrated in the Lego Ideas votes/support for a proposal), can show more appreciation and loyalty towards the organization – which ultimately is more valuable at the end of the day according to Knudstorp. Apparently the “Christiansen’s heirs only have two official objectives: that Lego continue to create innovative play experiences and reach more children every year”. They reportedly are not too worried about the financial targets.

Well done Lego! Some other organizations can learn a thing or two from you! Here is to 80 more years of growth and success!

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.

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