Lego makes use of its insane fan posse

Speaking of beloved old brands, there’s a cool story in the new Wired magazine about Lego. Once (and probably still) known primarily for its little plastic blocks, Lego in recent years has moved into robotics. Mindstorms, its programmable robotics kit, has been around since 1998 and has become the Danish company’s top product of all time, selling 40,000 units a year at $199 a pop, with no advertising. The most interesting part of the story is Lego’s decision to enlist its biggest fans to help it develop the new version of Mindstorms. “Inviting customers to innovate isn’t just about building better products,” the author writes. “Opening the process engenders goodwill and creates a buzz among the zealots, a critical asset for products like Mindstorms that rely on word-of-mouth evangelism.” Sounds familiar. Of course, it helps to have a crazy bunch of fans in the first place. As a sign at Lego’s HQ reads, “We will do for robotics what iPod did for music.”

—Posted by Tim Nudd

January 26, 2006 | Permalink