Executive Summary
The purpose of the paper is to describe the launch of the new product by LEGO. It is very famous toy company, which produces kits of varying degrees of difficulty for the acquisition, as well as sets of differing details. The most famous series of LEGO are called “The Lego” or “The Lego system”. It is represented by a variety of series, “City”, “Castle”, “Space”, “Pirates” series, “Star Wars”, “Harry Potter” and so on. FIFA World Cup is one of the greatest events. Launched in 2012 series of FIFA World Cup brought profits of almost DKK5 billion (The LEGO Group, 2015). Due to the unique technologies and unique design all details of drawings of different years of manufacture can be easily assembled in one unit. It was found that the history of LEGO is a striking example of a successful company, which has managed to find its niche in time. It was suggested to launch the series devoted to FIFA World Cup 2018. It will attract new target audience of football fans of different ages. Thus, the company should concentrate its efforts on the development of proper marketing campaign.
The most famous toy in the world, the dream of many young boys and girls – LEGO designer appeared in Denmark, the kingdom of fairy tales, the birthplace of Hans Christian Andersen. A wonderful invention, LEGO building blocks, has become part of life in Denmark: in 1968, the Legoland, a small world of 45 million LEGO bricks, where children and adults even today spend time with pleasure, was built. LEGO received numerous prizes and awards around the world. Quite rightly, it was named one of the most important inventions of the 20th century (The LEGO Group, 2015).
LEGO is the most recognizable brand in the toy world, was established in 1932 by Ole Kirk Christiansen, carpenter from the small town of Billund in Denmark. LEGO manufactures products for children of all ages, and adults as well are involved in folding not-so-primitive cubes with pleasure. The most famous series of LEGO are called “The Lego” or “The Lego system”. It is represented by a variety of series, “City”, “Castle”, “Space”, “Pirates” series, “Star Wars”, “Harry Potter” and so on. There are series for young children called “DUPLO” and for the smallest – “Primo” (The LEGO Group, n. d.).
The basis of LEGO’s success is its simplicity and versatility. Responding to the needs of its customers, constantly changing and improving, LEGO firmly has taken its place in children’s rooms. The company occupies 86th position among The World’s Most Valuable Brands in 2016 (The LEGO Group, 2015).
As LEGO has several football series, it can launch the new one – 2018 FIFA World Cup. World Cups are sporting events with the largest viewing audience of all conducted in the world. The number of viewers of TV coverage from the World Championships is more than even of the Olympic Games audience. New characters will attract more fans of LEGO and cooperation with FIFA will bring more profits to both.
Strategic Focus
Formation and achievement of sustainable competitive advantage of the product is a top priority for any company. Competitive advantage provides stability, long-term growth, creates barriers to entry of new players, allows the company to receive a higher rate of profit from the sale of its products (Hollensen, 2014).
Kits dedicated to the heroes of comic books, cartoons, sports and computer games are the most popular among children. LEGO produces kits of varying degrees of difficulty for the acquisition, as well as sets of differing details. Elements of one set can be used for combination with any other set of elements. This enables the child not to limit his/her imagination by assembly instructions, but also independently invent and design new models. Given that a set of LEGO can contain from tens to thousands of parts before the designer opened really wide possibilities for realization of creative plans. LEGO is designed for a wide audience. The manufacturer offers kits for most young engineers and adolescents. Certain designer series like Lego Technic may be of interest for adults. These involve the use of a series of not only classic designer elements, but batteries, motors, control systems and so on (The LEGO Group, 2015).
FIFA World Cup is one of the greatest events. Launched in 2012 series of FIFA World Cup brought profits of almost DKK5 billion (The LEGO Group, 2015). Due to the unique technologies and unique design all details of drawings of different years of manufacture can be easily assembled in one unit. LEGO sets on the subject are quite broad. This is an audience that is interested in history, dolls, shipbuilding, nature, the world of adventure.
Situation Analysis
In carrying out the investment policy, the Danish government focuses on positioning the country as one of the world leaders in the creation of favorable conditions for business and investment climate. Due to successful policies aimed at improving business regulation, Denmark over the last number of years has a high reputation and annually holds the first position in the rankings, dedicated to evaluation of investment attractiveness. For example, in the composite ranking of Doing Business-2016 of the World Bank, Denmark took the 3rd place among 189 countries; for the past 4 years, Denmark is the highest corruption perception index (Transparency International); regularly ranked in the list of countries with the most favorable for foreign investors economic climate of authoritative British analytical magazine The Economist. In addition, foreign investors are attracted by the high level of science and technology, well-developed infrastructure, highly skilled workforce (Doing Business, 2016).
The history of LEGO is a striking example of a successful company, which has managed to find its niche in time. Since the moment of transition to the production of kits, company remained one of the leaders of this trend, showing a steady growth and development. Problems arose only when the wishes of consumers changed, and the company has tried to make an instant innovation to change the market. However, because of the crisis LEGO Group was able to get out pretty fast, reviving its traditions and introducing a number of innovations that have allowed it to not only restore the position, but also to achieve a better position than before. In 2015, the company once again has become a world leader in the manufacture of toys, beating Mattel.
Thus, in 2015, the LEGO Group continued the trend of steady growth in sales, which began several years ago, and has demonstrated the most impressive positive trend in the global toy market. In all regions, where the products of LEGO Group are present, double-digit sales growth has been recorded, while in the traditional market in many countries, the comparable figure is less than 10%. In the US, the largest LEGO Group segment of the market, as well as in the UK, France, Russia and China, sales growth rates reached double digits, and the Central European and Northern European markets showed an increase in the range of 10%. In the coming years it is expected a slight increase of the global toy market (The LEGO Group, 2015).
Marketing Program
The marketing program is aimed at the implementation of the enterprise mission, image creation, increased competitiveness, and creates tasks that will lead to greater efficiency of the enterprise through the fullest use of its resources (Keegan and Green, 2014). In many ways, the LEGO brand’s game designers can get high marks for how they use social media and other digital-marketing tools, create a lot of popular content, update e-commerce site and thus create a great mobile applications. LEGO come to grips with their accounts in social networks: launched several new channels, closely monitors their update, is engaged in attracting audiences and tries to personalize communication with each individual customer. The company also organized a LEGO Ideas own online community to create interesting ideas for new LEGO-designers.
LEGO FIFA World Cup 2018 will attract new target audience of football fans of different ages. Football is the most popular team game in the world, rooting back in centuries. Football has long gone beyond just sport event in its modern state of combining sport, economy and culture, thus becoming an integral part of how the sports industry and the entertainment industry. This situation is due to the fact that in addition to the direct participants of football competitions (athletes, coaches, judges, functionaries, etc.). An integral part of football as any spectacular events is the audience, in its case – the sports audience, as well as manufacturers of specialized products and services.
Thus, LEGO, instead of focusing on the inner part of the goods, began to improve interaction with customers. It organized a multimedia storytelling on microsites with short series, forcing the audience to become attached to the brand, as children always want to see the new series. The company has created a digital playground for children, such as the LEGO Club Magazine, where they can communicate, share information, find content on the “building” structures, and from time to time LEGO arranges for them thematic meetings.
Works Cited
“About Us.” The LEGO Group. The LEGO Group, n. d. Web. 13 June 2016.
“Annual Report 2015.” The LEGO Group. The LEGO Group, 2015. Web. 13 June 2016.
“Categories.” The LEGO Group. The LEGO Group, n. d. Web. 13 June 2016.
“Economy Rankings.” Doing Business. Doing Business, 2016. Web. 13 June 2016.
Hollensen, Svend. Marketing Management: A Relationship Approach, 3rd ed. New York: Pearson. 2014. Print.
Keegan, Warren J. and Green, Marc C. Global Marketing. 8th ed. Upper Saddle River: Prentice Hall. 2014. Print.
