The popular building block company, LEGO, continues to capture the hearts of many. For almost a century, LEGO reached many generations and expanded their brand. Since 1932, Ole Kirk Christiansen, a Danish carpenter, began making toys in his workshop. These started out as wood and turned to plastic in 1949 with the popular building blocks we know and love today. Throughout the decades, LEGO continued to grow and improve their brand to become the best building block toy company. Follow along in our blog as we mention why LEGO can’t be topped by other building block brands.
We will mention the many factors that play into making the company the best including the history, nostalgia, strong identity, and standardized interlocking system. Along with these, diverse product lines, franchise tie-ins, media tie-ins, and experiential marketing all tie into why LEGO takes the lead. Community engagement, educational benefits, retail partnerships, and private ownership also play a role. Join us in our blog as we dive into all these superior factors.
Join Us In Seeing Why LEGO Can’t be Topped by other building block brands
Continue following along in our blog as we go through the different factors that make LEGO superior to other brands. We will not only mention the factors but also the different brands that make building block toys. Some of these include Mega Bloks, COBI, KRE-O, K’NEX, as well as CaDA Bricks and Sembo Block. Often these brands display many awesome qualities but LEGO still stands at the top. These brands may show great detail and even use some great qualities fans love. However, LEGO’s advancement and overall creative strategies for improving their brand make this company remain at the top.
Why LEGO Can’t be Topped
Now, we will dive into the factors mentioned earlier for why LEGO takes the lead spot in the building block market. From it’s creativity in design and marketing to the many years of history that established the brand we all know and love today, LEGO’s many factors continue to shine. The business side of the brand, along with the educational benefits, all play into the success of LEGO.
Strong Brand Identity
First up, the strong brand identity and legacy play a huge factor in LEGO’s success. Starting with the logo, LEGO’s red background and white font with yellow outlining continues to stand the test of time as people see it recognizable worldwide. Along with this, the simplistic design of the LEGO bricks stand the test of time. This brand proves that simplicity in design overall often makes an impact over super intricate and detailed designs. LEGO makes sets of varying levels of difficulty with detail woven throughout, however the simplistic side still shines through. With bricks of the same size able to interconnect with any other bricks, the simplistic design actually makes the items that much more diverse.
Along with this, LEGO’s meaning and motto also hold an impact on the brand’s success. The name LEGO derived from the Danish phrase “leg godt”. This phrase means “play well” which consists of the brand’s entire philosophy in making sure creativity and learning through play take the center of their products. Their motto of “only the best is good enough” also plays a huge factor into the success of the brand. LEGO proves their logo through the high quality bricks and great attention to details, making their company truly the best.
History and Nostalgia
Also with the strong brand identity, the history and nostalgia plays a huge factor in why LEGO can’t be topped by other building block brands. When Ole Kirk Christiansen began the company in 1932, the Danish carpenter only made wooden toys. Then, in 1949, LEGO moved into making plastic toys, including building bricks. In 1958, the universal brick design we all know today began in production. This brick design featured tubes on the bottom, providing a stable and secure interlocking brick. These factors, along with all the other changes throughout the years make this brand incredibly well known all over the world.
The nostalgic factor definitely holds a high impact as well. Through the history and through many people’s familiarity with the brand, those all over the world grew to love LEGOs. LEGO continues to release classic themes including the LEGO Castle, LEGO Space, and LEGO Pirates. This causes memories to flow back for adults who grew up with the same set designs. Also, the emotional connection for long term fans grows stronger over the years. People remember the classic set designs and enjoy seeing the company grow as they release new sets. These sets and pieces pass down well throughout generations since the material and design stay sturdy. Parents and grandparents enjoy the nostalgia that comes when passing their old LEGOs down and seeing those same LEGOs in stores today.
Standardized Interlocking System
The standardized interlocking system factors into the company’s success. As mentioned before, these bricks stand the test of time with their universally identical design. Although the bricks come in many shapes and sizes, they all hold one thing in common with the ability to interlock with all other bricks. This factor truly makes LEGO so popular and enhances the creativity aspect the brand prioritizes so highly. With the tubes on the underside of the brick, each creation children or adults put together stands strong and sturdy, allowing for ultimate creative play opportunities. Although they stand strong, all pieces also come apart easily for more creations and opportunities. Compatibility throughout all sets allows for the best play abilities.
Also, since the bricks never changed their design, the bricks made in 1958 still interlock with bricks released today. Each brick by the company goes through high levels of precision to make sure their company keeps the consistent and reliable aspect. Over the years, LEGO produced more unique parts such as tiles, slopes, and accessories. All of these interlock with the original bricks, keeping their universally standardized interlocking system up to par with their motto and values. These parts also add extra fun when building to add more of a storyline to the creation with more detail and options.
Diverse Product Lines For Different Ages
Next up, the diverse product lines for different ages prove why LEGO can’t be topped. LEGO releases sets geared strategically toward different age groups. This works especially well through LEGO’s DUPLO bricks. LEGO DUPLO enlarges the normal brick size by 2 for toddler and preschool age young children. This helps them to grip onto the bricks and build tall, colorful structures perfect for creative learning at their age. The DUPLO bricks feature themes like animals, cars, and houses, which encourage developmental play even more. After DUPLO, for suggested ages 4 and up, the LEGO juniors make a good fit. These make an easy transition from DUPLO to standard LEGO bricks with the same size as DUPLO and simple designs with guided building. For this age, LEGO also releases themed sets such as LEGO City, Disney Princesses, and LEGO Friends.
For older children ages 9 and up, the sets become larger and more complex. They require more patience with the step-by-step longer processes. LEGO Mindstorms, LEGO Technic, and LEGO Architecture all came out for this age range to add more epic creative learning. Still, the sets for ages 13 and up add even more complexity and grow even more in size. Lastly, the 18 year old and up category features big and incredibly intricate designs. Each age group category markets as only a suggestion and guideline for people to know the range of difficulty. LEGO also specifically releases certain themes within certain age groups to best base their sets off the interests of people.
Franchise Tie-ins
The many franchise tie-ins take the next spot on our blog. Throughout the years, LEGO released many sets that feature some of the most popular movies and characters ever made. Some of these include Star Wars, Batman, Jurassic World, Ninjago, Harry Potter, Indiana Jones, and The Lord of the Rings. Along with these, kids shows like Bluey and Paw Patrol release throughout the DUPLO sets. These LEGO sets allow fans of the different franchises to build items from the scenes they love through step-by-step easy and creative play. Also, many fans of the franchises become fans of LEGO through these set releases. People often watch a movie they grow to love and then find the LEGO sets associated with the movies or shows. With the set designs and minifigures of their favorite characters, people use these imaginative building blocks to reenact their favorite scenes.
Many benefits arise for LEGO through these franchise tie-ins. One of these benefits includes cross promotion. New fans not only appear for LEGO but also for the franchise. Some children and adults see the franchise through the popular building blocks and then grow to love the franchise through it. Another benefit comes from the expansion in product lines. A lot of LEGO’s growth comes from these franchise tie-ins. These tie-ins allow LEGO to create and release more sets, minifigures, and accessories. These accessories often show the most unique designs since they cater towards very specific characters. When people play with these franchise sets, the accessories fit perfectly on every other piece, allowing for epic character crossovers.
Media Tie-ins
The media tie-ins also take a spot on our blog for why LEGO can’t be topped by other building block toys. Many media releases feature these LEGO building block toys. Different movies, television shows, video games, and apps released over the years. The movies and television shows include the LEGO movie, The LEGO Movie 2: The Second Part, LEGO Ninjago, LEGO Star Wars, and LEGO Batman. Many LEGO video games released as well including LEGO Fortnite, LEGO Builder’s Journey, LEGO City: Undercover, LEGO Worlds, and other movie tie-ins. The LEGO apps include LEGO DUPLO World, LEGO Mindstorms, LEGO Life, LEGO 3D Catalog, LEGO Tower, LEGO In-Store Action, LEGO Boost, LEGO Play, LEGO Builder, and LEGO Hillclimbers along with multiple LEGO franchise tie-in apps.
These movies, television shows, video games, and apps all feature the loved world of LEGO through screen entertainment in many different forms. They showcase the design and creativity of LEGO pieces and sets. However, they do this through animation and new creative storylines. A lot of the media tie-ins also promote the brand, bringing in new audiences. The family friendly movies help encourage the love for LEGOs throughout multiple generations as they create new aspects of their brand for fans to enjoy. From these media tie-ins, LEGO even released sets for the movies that already feature the LEGO characters.
Experiential In-Person Marketing
LEGO also includes multiple awesome experiential marketing options for in-person LEGO experiences. These include LEGOLAND parks and water parks, LEGOLAND discovery centers, and LEGO stores. LEGOLAND parks feature colorful attractions, amusement rides, workshops, and live shows. Each park also features a Miniland area that includes LEGO replicas of buildings and attractions from the resort location. These parks all over the world bring a whole new experience to LEGO fans, hosting in-person creative adventures for the whole family. Along with the amusement parks, LEGOLAND waterparks feature the same LEGO atmosphere with bright colors and minifigure statues. The waterparks feature things for the whole family to enjoy. LEGOLAND water parks include water slides, a lazy river, wave pool, and even sections for families with little kids or not strong swimmers.
The LEGOLAND discovery centers also feature many different areas where kids and LEGO enthusiasts come and use their creativity. This fun and engaging experience for families include many building opportunities, exhibits, and large LEGO structures for viewing. Also, the in-person LEGO stores feature a whole new world to the buying experience. The stores entirely consist of LEGO sets, parts, individual bricks, and more. People meet with the LEGO store employees who help get them the perfect LEGO set or even find the missing piece to their old sets to continue building. Many play opportunities take place as well as a minifigure building station in each store. These places allow many people to use their creative abilities and experience LEGO in person.
Community Engagement
Community Engagement stands as another reason why LEGO can’t be topped by other building block toys. LEGO spends a lot of time engaging in the community in many different ways. LEGO employees, worldwide partners, and the LEGO Foundation bring educational play to children all across the globe, helping them to use their creativity and learn important life factors through playing. They also host different challenges to encourage people to use their creativity for good, for instance the “build the change” challenge allows people to create an environment out of LEGOs to think about how to make the world a better place. LEGO also sends sets to children in hospitals through pediatric care in the U.S. and Canada. Along with this, LEGO organized the Build to Give organization which helps kids in need of toys during the holidays.
LEGO also does a lot with engaging fans. These include special guided LEGO tours, LEGO fanbase events and LEGO fan ideas. The LEGO tours allow fans to explore behind the scenes, typically off-limits, places. These tours allow multiple hours of play at the LEGO House along with the possibility of seeing a LEGO factory, Ole Kirk Christiansen’s original home turned into a museum, and LEGO Campus. Along with the tours, LEGO also takes part in a lot of the LEGO fan events. Fans create regional and online communities through events, media, online articles, and more. Through the LEGO Ambassador Network, the company recognizes these communities by engaging and working with them. Also, LEGO connects with many fans through their Ideas community. This allows fans to submit their own LEGO ideas, vote on other’s ideas, and engage in other LEGO activities.
Educational Benefits
LEGO’s educational benefits come next on our blog. LEGO values education through play greatly and expresses this through their STEM & STEAM education opportunities as well as their Braille Bricks. Fans love LEGO’s promotion for hands-on learning, creative problem-solving, teamwork communication, creativity, fine motor skills, and critical thinking. These aspects play over into every set they release. However, through the STEM & STEAM solutions, LEGO offers online teaching resources and products. These products, intended for use in classrooms, encourage children to learn through play that goes along with their curriculum. With different resources and products available to preschoolers, elementary, and middle schoolers, these products help children of all ages to grow and have fun at the same time.
Along with the STEM & STEAM products, LEGO released Braille Bricks. The bricks, designed for children with blindness, allow for a fun and creative way to learn through play. The LEGO Foundation also released a Braille program which helps teachers learn to use them. For teachers working with visually impaired children, LEGO provides these toolkits and training free of charge. LEGO Braille Bricks feature three different stages of learning for children including Pre-Braille, Basic Braille, and Braille. These Braille Bricks also include the letter or character printed on each brick, ensuring an inclusive learning environment. With both the printed characters and the braille on each brick, all children in the classroom can work on the same activities.
Private Ownership
Lastly, the private ownership of the brand takes a role in why LEGO can’t be topped by other building block toys. The private ownership of LEGO allows them to maintain their strong brand identity and loyalty to customers. LEGO keeps their values in line through the family’s engaged ownership. Along with these important aspects, LEGO also keeps their focus on social responsibility and attracts environmentally cautious fans. The company keeps doing this with the help of their private ownership, keeping the focus on their original goals.
Also, through the decades, LEGO keeps its focus on their commitment to innovation. LEGO sticks to the same product design and keeps releasing many epic sets as well as advancing their brand to better help fans and the community. They keep their values the same all while keeping their iconic factors that bring their brand so much popularity and still engage with fans as they come up with new ways to reach out.
Final Thoughts
The iconic LEGO company keeps its place as one of the most reputable companies worldwide. Their values stand strong as they keep their incredible yet simplistic design. Many children and adults across the globe love these building blocks. They help people to use their creativity and build sculptures of their own liking or by using a set and step-by-step instructions. The company encourages children to learn through play and continues into adulthood with their strategic design of a wide-range of products. Fans of all ages enjoy these products, communities, in-person attractions, and creative opportunities. All these reasons prove exactly why LEGO can’t be topped by any other building block toys.
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About the Author
Chris Ingledue is the founder and owner of Wheeljack’s Lab pop Culture and Toy Shop. His vision has always been to reunite customers with their favorite childhood toys and pop culture, triggering fond memories, and reigniting their imaginations. Every day he works in the “lab” where it’s Christmas 365 days a year; scouring the internet – like we did the Sears Catalog of yesteryear – for the next great treasure, awaiting the arrival of the postman as if he was Santa Claus himself and helping collectors worldwide with their own versions of Christmas. For Chris, every day as a vintage toy buyer is an absolute joy!