Has it been a while since you played with Legos? Maybe you think of Legos as a ‘kid toy’ and think it’s too juvenile. Well, there are surprises in store for you. Adult fans of Lego (known as AFOL) are big business these days. Lego has aimed ads at older builders with the slogan “Adults Welcome.”
The best part for Lego is the price of the adult kits – think $850 for a Millennium Falcon kit, $680 for a Lego Titanic kit, and $250 for a working typewriter. Or maybe you would rather replicate that wonderful trip to Paris with an Eiffel tower kit for $630. Packaged in sleek black boxes, the packaging helps identify the kit for adult builders.
The company has 142 sets designed for adults (out of 926 current sets). Sales to adults have helped Lego increase revenue and more than double sales to $9.7 billion last year. This is no doubt partly driven by child fans who grew up and continued their love of the brick. Collaborations with franchises such as Star Wars, Marvel, Batman, and automotive companies such as Mercedes and Porsche have helped keep the kits fresh and exciting.
Lego is also a master at branding; there is a TV show called “Lego Masters” as well as the Lego movie. And the kits are not all sci-fi and warrior based for males; the company has a large range of sets for plants and flowers in its botanical collection which are very popular with female builders. And, lest we forget, Lego also welcomes suggestions from fans for new sets and designs.
One of my favorites is the $400 Grand Piano with moveable keys and strings and a free Powered Up app that lets the piano play tunes.
Let’s build!
Group Activities and Discussion Questions:
- Poll students: Does anyone build Lego products? Why? Why not?
- View Lego website: https://www.lego.com/en-us
- Define the target market for adult Legos. Include demographic, psychographic, values, attitudes, etc.
- Based on the target market profile, develop a marketing program to reach the target.
- What tactics should be used?
- Divide students into teams. Have each team develop an idea for a new adult Lego set.
- How should this set be marketed?
Source: Moss, ,T. (18 April 2024). $850 Millennium Falcons and $680 Titanics: Grown-ups are now a gold mine for Lego. Wall Street Journal.
