Why/How is Lego so popular?

[MrHerofan]

Recently I have been thinking about why Lego is so popular as a brand. It has so many themes and licenses underneath its belt. It lead me to wonder why is the theme so popular? Now many can say that it is because of the "nostalgia" of being a kid, and remembering of more simple times. It could also be because of the licenses that it holds, and what memories they hold for more adult fans. The simplicity could be another aspect that people enjoy, and the amount of imaginative play and experience that it holds for the people.

Now these days though, it seems video games are where children attention is going to. Minecraft possibly being the largest of these, think about it though. A parent can buy their child Minecraft for around $23. This would give the child unlimited play, and best of all the parents save money. Why should a parent buy their kid a toy that they will forget about in a week, when the child can create their own world in their computers. It the begs another question. Where is the future of this beloved toy? It seems as though the adult market for these toys is increasing and could potentially dominate the market, taking kids over. Then eventually the adults will start to "go", and that leaves the company in a weird position. Do you see Lego declining in 10, 20, or even 50 years?

Hopefully I can get some good responses out of this and just see, what makes the toy so great and where it will go in the future.

[Legogal]

LEGO has been around a very long time, and seems to be adjusting well to competition from computer games, etc. No one knows what lies ahead, so we can't say anything with certainty. But I would put my money on their survival because they now are into so many different markets. And there are so many countries left for LEGO to conquer.

[Sarah]

I've got one of those kids who plays video games (even Minecraft).

They still enjoy Legos. Before we left for church this morning, I had two kids kneeling next to the Legos busily putting blocks together, seeing how much they could get done before it was time to leave. (And they didn't get their Easter baskets until after dinner. So this had nothing to do with new sets)

Edited March 28, 2016 by Sarah

[Paul B Technic]

I enjoy LEGO as it gives me a creative outlet.

[goody82]

Lego is quality, colorful, and real.

I enjoy video games from time to time, a lot of what I enjoyed (collecting, hoarding, sorting, achievements) is also achived with Lego.

For kids it's even more fun. I'm really impressed with the quality of sets that Lego makes these days.

As an adult I still enjoy the sensation of opening a new box, cutting up the bags, and putting together a brand new set without any blemishes on the pieces yet. The sets always exceed the cheesy pictures on the boxes in my opinion. I still smile as I walk by some of my technic sets with a few collectible minifigures hanging around for no good reason. The ability for this toy system to make me smile as much as it does totally makes the cost of bricks worth it.

[davee123]

Why is LEGO popular?

• It's constructive. I could watch football, read books, or listen to music. But LEGO lets me build something and be "productive".
  
• It's tactile. Sure, I can build a 3D virtual model or draw a picture, but I can't feel it in my hands.
  
• It's nostalgic. I grew up with LEGO, it's got a hold on me.
  
• It's a perfectionist's tool. Unlike other mediums like, say, clay, LEGO is "perfect", geometric, and fits a simple mental model of how shapes "should" be.
  
• It's challenging. A limited palette of elements with essentially unlimited possibilities? That's a fun challenge.
  
• It supports collectors. Some people love collecting "all" of something, and LEGO offers many opportunities there.
  
• It's a great learning tool. It teaches kids spatial relations, organizational skills, and other great things. So it's "good" for kids to play with.
  
• It's high quality. LEGO's had a long track record of being one of the highest quality construction toys-- it's the "best" of many different other options.
  
• It doesn't expire. LEGO can be handed down from generation to generation, and it doesn't go bad (well, not much anyway).
  
• It's wholesome. The brand image of LEGO is pretty pure (used to be even more so). Everyone's happy, colorful, and historically pretty non-violent.
  
• It supports all age levels. Every age person finds LEGO models interesting-- even adults are amazed and intrigued by well-done models.
  
• It's current. LEGO has kept with the times in terms of product offering, media, and so forth.
  
• It's valuable. In recent years, as the value of LEGO has increased, more people want to invest in it.
  
• It's enormously diverse. Especially with the licenses in the past 18 years, there have been a WIDE range of products.
  
• It's a moral company. Everyone loves a family-owned business that responds to moral issues, versus a faceless corporation solely after profits.
  

What's the future of LEGO? Hard to say.

I don't see LEGO's position changing too much in the next 10 years. The collector bubble might burst, their sales might fluctuate, or they might just keep reaching new heights. But they'll continue to be a leader in the toy industry.

As for the comparison with Minecraft, I think that's off the mark. Sure, you can buy Minecraft for your kids, and it's technically "unlimited". And it's cheaper than LEGO! ... But if saving money is your goal... why not just download MLCAD for free? There are a LOT of reasons that both Minecraft *AND* LEGO are good. And any parent will realize that you can get both. They teach different skills. Furthermore, I don't put a lot of faith in the longevity of Minecraft. Will Minecraft still be popular in 10 years? Uh... hm. I'm not sure. Maybe. Maybe not.

Will the adult LEGO market eventually dominate the kid LEGO market? I doubt it. LEGO's owners are committed to children. That's their focus, and likely will be for a LONG time to come. That's where they're putting their big money for investment. The adult part of the hobby? Yeah, they put some money there too, but not nearly as much as they do for kids. I don't see that changing.

In 20 years and beyond, things get tricky. What's the future of 3D printing, for example? How will LEGO prevent me from making my own LEGO-compatible elements at home (or make me not want to)? If the technology gets cheap enough and good enough, it could someday make LEGO's current production and sales model obsolete. Will LEGO change with the times to adjust? I hope so. But we don't really know yet. And it's a long way off. There are enough intelligent adults interested in LEGO's survival that I expect they'll survive and do well... Even if the types of things they do will change.

DaveE

Edited March 28, 2016 by davee123

[Junior Shark]

As much as video games are becoming more and more commonplace, I think physical toys will never be replaced. Physical play can never be replaced by digital stimulation, because it involves motor skills, problem-solving, and narrative ("Once upon a time").

[xboxtravis7992]

^Davee, that is a wonderful description of why Lego is popular, and appeals to children and AFOLs.

[anothergol]

To me the question isn't why are "bricks" still popular, but more why is Lego still the most popular. When I was a kid there was no other compatible brand, now there are many.

As an adult I will only use Lego because it's kinda the rules of the game, but as a kid I know I wouldn't have cared where the part came from, and -because I assume there are more poor people than rich ones-, I find it weird that cheaper brands don't sell more.

Maybe there's the fact that brands matter not for playing but at school, like, you're not cool if it's not real Lego? I don't know, I was a kid 30 years ago.

Of course, the licenses must be selling a lot. But why Lego police vs cheap clones that have the same theme? I don't know.

Edited March 30, 2016 by anothergol

[terryfay1983]

I gave my 3 year old niece her first minifigure on Monday.. She loves it. And she always asks to play with my collection.. (maybe one day)

Even tho she is too young for lego she already has a interest into it.. Which I will help along in the coming years. I can't see lego fading out at all in the next few generations. But then technology is growing also. So it is really hard to tell.

Proper contradicted myself there.. Plonker.

[raarghh]

For me personally its the nostalgia combined with the fact that they have Star Wars! Star Wars alone was the reason I came back to Lego after my dark ages.

[kibosh]

Agreed. It's the nostalgia. I am in my mid 40s, and there aren't many things that are still around from my youth. Only the classics: LEGO, Hot Wheels, Play Doh, Silly Putty, etc. These are the only things I can think of that have continually been on toy shelves since I was a child. I cherish the opportunity to share a little of my youth with my children.

[Peppermint_M]

Cheaper brands are not associated with Quality. Quality in materials, Quality in design and Quality in manufacturing. A cheap brand brick, even one of the more mainstream types (Kreo, Mega etc) does not have the same gloss to the plastic, or the same look and feel. I can spot a non-LEGO brick in a pile pretty quickly simply due to the fact there are tooling/mould marks and a different sheen to a brick.

Then you have the £/$ store bricks that stick together if you're lucky and don't crack into painful shards by sheer chance. Great way to shut a kid up for a while, not useful in the long term.

A brand like LEGO has history, so there is trust in the name. Yes, there is a hint of nostalgia for some parents who want to hand on to their children the enjoyment they had. You also have the desirable licensed properties attracting kids and parents to the toy. The minifigure plays a part too, it is a design classic and people like the original and other IP characters to collect. (See the popularity of Pop! products etc also).

I prefer to work with LEGO as the quality is guaranteed, if there is a problem I can easily and quickly solve it by communicating with a company I know will be happy to help.

So, that's why I think LEGO as a brand is so strong and should remain so for a long while.

[ejred]

A big part of LEGO is the tactile experience. That's a big part of what makes it better than minecraft (or LDD). But that's also what makes it better than knock offs. They are simply not as pleasing to manipulate.

If competitors could ever get the same quality cheaper it would be a new game, but in 30 years they haven't done it. Similarly they have pieces that look cool but when you use them you often quickly find out why LEGO never made a piece like that...

[Robert8]

You can build something different every day

[anothergol]

Cheaper brands are not associated with Quality. Quality in materials, Quality in design and Quality in manufacturing.

Lego also has its share of cheap parts (bad design, cheap or miscolored plastic [especially for minifig accessories], ugly sprue marks)

I've only bought a little Kreo set, and I was surprised that its ball joints were fully rubbered and moved more nicely than Lego's. And that it had parts that Lego only has as compounds. The design of the set, though, was bad.

[Hobo Fett]

Lego forever!

[Andy D]

Davee gave a great description. For me LEGO is the ultimate reuseable 3D Art material. It can be almost anything once, then taken apart and be almost anything again and again.

Just MHO, YMMV,

Andy D

[Erik Leppen]

I think Lego is popular because children are made to touch and hold things, and to create things. We are also wired for play.

Our versatile hands and big brains reflect this.

No video game I know about offers the same touch, hold, play, create aspect the way Lego does.

Also, there's still not many rivals. Yes we have K'Nex which as a different system, and we still have Meccano-based systems, but I don't know about the popularity of those. But systems like this were there for quite some time.

And then we have clone bricks. But, for people who see the difference, it won't harm Lego. For people who don't see the difference, the bricks are Lego either way, but I do think the real Lego has better box art and better set designs than clone bricks, so will often (but not always) be chosen over the clones.