LEGO Group announces 10 year brand strategy for key product line LEGO City
Posted by Matthew,
The LEGO Group today announced its 10 year brand strategy for the 'LEGO City' range of construction toys.
The new strategy will consist of a rolling bi-annual release cycle for the City themed sets, focusing on the two most popular sub-themes.
Avril Fous-Blague, the brand communications director for LEGO City said "Since its conception in 2005, following on from many previous Town themed ranges going back many years, including 'World City' and 'LEGOLAND' we are delighted to announce the 10 year brand strategy for City. Over the years since launching we have diversified into many products based on real-life scenarios such as public transportation and recreation. Recently it has become clear that we have lost focus, so therefore we are proud to be taking the logical step and going back to the roots of LEGO City."
Starting in January 2015 with the release of sets based on London's Metropolitan Police, the brand platform will alternate between Police and Fire themed products, based on different global locations, to be released at the start of each year.
Ms Fous-Blague added "Although we are only committed to 5 releases of each product group, I very much hope that this cycle will continue for many more years to come."
"We have spent a great deal of time engaging with our target market, in addition to adult fans, who have aided us in coming to this decision. Our products are well renowned for stimulating children's creative and engineering instincts, and we now hope to add understanding of world cultures and current affairs to this portfolio."
Each year, products will be produced based on occurrences in different global locations, for example natural disasters, areas of conflict or corruption and major world cities.
"We are thrilled to be able to unveil that the first set from this exciting new development will be a Metropolitan Police Archive Centre, complete with mobile shredding truck and corrupt officials."
Market research carried out by the Denmark based firm has confirmed that 5-12 year old boys, the key demographic for the range, are not as interested in the mundane day-to-day activities of City life as in replicating what is going on in the world.
It is for this reason that not only will products based on current global affairs be produced, but they will also include commercial branding, by means of advertising billboards and vehicle manufacturer insignia.
--
What do you think of this news? It seems like a step in the right direction for the City line which recently has become far too varied in my opinion.
1 like
62 comments on this article
Is there a third story coming that will also look like an April Fools because it is so ridiculous but in fact be real? This is just one big set up isn't it.
Sounds like yet another April Fools Prank.
you really need to find a name thats less of a give away...and this probably would have been more believable than the first.
"Complete with corrupt officials." Oh boy, I can't wait.
Huw , both articles starts as they are real. Unfortunately you wrote too much, that's enough for us to clearly see what they're all about.
Avril Fous-Blague, huh? Nice.
Or the "beer and bingo" set.
It's giving us what we hard-working adults want.
Jo
@Yellow, the idea is to have a bit of fun, not convince you :-)
@LouiseDade, the one with the MP on a cycle, Downing Street gates and a policeman? I hear that's in the January lineup, too, and will also come with one of those minifig speech bubbles to write your own expletive on.
Avril Fous-blague...
For those who didn't notice:
"April Fools Joke"
You had me until "archive centre" and "shredding truck" LOL
Don't tell me, the next April fool's joke is "50% off all Modular Buildings. Today only."
Probably another prank
You totally had me until I read Huw's article. Which gave me a heart attack. I'm gullible.
""...first set from this exciting new development will be a Metropolitan Police Archive Centre, complete with mobile shredding truck and corrupt officials."
That really did have me laughing out loud! It would be even more convincing if someone MOCed this up to make it look like an official preview picture. And no, I'm not volunteering.
^ That was my plan but I ran out of time!
I saw this news post before the one about MegaBloks, so I was less skeptical of it being a prank. You got me... you legitimately got me!
I read it as a normal LEGO press release up to the "shredding truck" - perfectly plausible until then given their fire-police repetition! Well written :-)
Avril Fous-Blague! Nice
Wish it were true.
You had me until Avril....she's a stinker, that one. ;-)
We'll as most forces are binning their dog section, this will save Lego money as they won't have to included the police dog in their sets, instead a leaflet outlining that most police HR depts decided that due to there being no crime in their office, that police dogs can be dispensed with ... April fool... Sorry true story
The funny thing is, this makes a lot of sense. Go straight to Lego's marketing dept, collect £200 if you pass Go!
Do some research on the brand communications directors name. :D
The Octan company will never let this happen. Lord Farrell isn't THAT gullible.
Sadly this is april fools, I would really like to have seen some change in the City theme. But I would rather get the police and fire out instead of only. Police and Fire are really getting boring! While there are many more subjects in a City that can be made into sets. (buildings for around trains f.a.)
Good joke, but I think the idea of basing the police sets on the police forces of actual countries instead of generic quasi-American/European themes is a good one. I think some sets based off of the look of British, Italian, and American Police forces, or any other unique-looking style of law enforcement from around the world - so long as it can still fit the brand - would be quite cool. I personally think sets based off of the American and British Police forces of the 1930s could be interesting as well.
Nicely done. You almost had me until I remembered the date!
The story is, sadly, just plausible enough to be believable...
LOL! This site could use some more pranking all year round, not just on 1-04!
b.t.w.
How cool would that be, TLG producing a bunch of London based distopian 'V for Vendetta' like Lego city sets with a London Underground leading to the secret lair of V, and a West Minster (house of parliament) set with explosive play features (similar to the LOTR Battle of Helm's Deep set or POTC Whitecap Bay). Then I would finally have a reason to get hooked on Lego City.
ps.
Mmmmh.... I would love to have a minifig with a Guy Fawkes mask.
How about a story about Mindstorms robots overtaking a small Danish town?
Ms. Fous Blague? You mean like faux-blog?
...
Oh Huw :P
Happy April Fools Day, everyone!
It's a joke, I know it.
After two or three years of using this site, I've learned to disregard any news posted on April 1st.
The whole "real world locations" is a good idea, as I like to collect emergency vehicles with actual agencies on them. If this is true, I'd rather have them do London Ambulance Service or London Fire Brigade.
Some day there will be some actual big news on an April Fools day and everyone will disregard it!
I'll admit, you had me for a minute there...
I have the most in depth comment ever.
Fake!
"Confirmed that 5-12 year old boys are not as interested in the mundane day-to-day activities of City" Despite being 16, this quote could not describe how I feel about City sets any more accurately. I haven't really taken to City sets and haven't bought many (with the exception of the Chase McCain set), and I think this new way of looking at City sounds quite interesting.
Assuming this isn't an April Fool's Joke...
Oh brickset you so funny (although I would like some sort of rescue series that's based on real life emergency services around the world. )
Riddler, it is a very huge thing to have 4/1 articles. Pretty much every forum I've read has had some good stuff today.
The alternating police/Fire....Very funny
This one actually sounded genuine, but the second article about selling brickset I figured out right away. Funny.
"Avril Fous-Blague"? "Avril Prima"? Nice ones. ;-)
I always look forwards to the Brickset April Fools' posts.
"We are thrilled to be able to unveil that the first set from this exciting new development will be a Metropolitan Police Archive Centre, complete with mobile shredding truck and corrupt officials."
APRIL FOOLS!
fell for it at first then read 'shredding truck' bit and realized. Good job Huw! got me :)
Hopefully we'll see a Canadian LEGO set based on the tar sands exploitation and corrupt government officials firing environmental scientists? Terrific stuff.
On this day I take everything with a grain of salt..although, that is unfortunate since I would have actually been interested in other police designs. I don't buy CITY currently and have no intention to, but mixing it up with something like that may have added another purchaser.
Again, nice try Huw.
I had already seen Google, so I was well aware of it being April 1st.
@CapnRex101: On April 1, 2010, Louisiana State University, a power in (American) football, announced that they would install purple turf on their field. It was, of course, a joke, but some people believed it because another power has a blue field. The next year, on April 1st, the University of Central Arkansas, a school not nearly as prominent, announced that they would install a field with alternating five-yard stripes of purple and gray turf. It wasn't a joke. http://www.ucasports.com/sports/2010/8/9/FB_0809101221.aspx?path=football
I read the article this morning in an unaware-of-the-date, groggy state of mind, and it had me going for a while. A good April Fool's joke is grounded in reality, and it's plausible that TLG would decide to go all in on police and fire sets. We often joke about that being the case now. Nice one, Huw!
this one does not even make SENSE to me.
The correct French for April Fools is "Poisson d'Avril", which translates to "April Fish".
That said, I suppose a lot of people would not have caught on if you had named her "Avril Poisson" instead of "Avril Fous-Blague". :)
Very well done! I glossed over the names and didn't suspect a thing until I got to 'mobile shredding truck' and then had to double-check what I was reading.
This change in products make a point about how real life cities look like today... all my childhood I thought police were friendly and bad guys always had golden fillings!
Bogus!!
If the other article was true about Mattel wanting to buy the site, would you sell it if they offered you a lot of money?
"the brand platform will alternate between Police and Fire themed products"
So nothing's changing?
I love the "target market, in addition to adult fans" line. When we AFOLs get a bit precious about our favourite toy, we have to remember... IT'S A TOY!
Wouldn't that be wonderful? Children acting out scenes of peril with mudslides suffocating civilians and gangsters mauling down citizens walking in the streets with McDonalfs graphitied on the wall. I can see it now... MegaBlocks would probably actually go for something like this though. Bad strategy anyways for any company. You might make Chinese police cars in the shelves of America. Not goin' to work. Nice joke, but Avril gave it away, as your commentary towards the end (who could be for this!).
"complete with mobile shredding truck and corrupt officials."
This is great! :)
Man, I really do fall for it every year! Still, the effort put into these is always amazing. Gotta love Brickset, eh?
Got me. I should have read through the archive and shredder paragraph before seriously mentioning this to my wife. Congrats!
I go tricked this again anyway I got tricked of this morning 7am
Any way when I got tricked for this it is already the second of April in New Zealand
And anyone notice this tricks are getting more serious each year .
I was reading this article earlier, just as some more LEGO news, then I got to that "Avril"…
— Haven't I heard that name before, maybe in an earlier post?
It was too obvious, especially after Huw pulled his April 1st prank!
Yep fell for this again. I was like seriously as I was reading through. Not that they don't already make too many of these sets anyway. Nice going though :)
And yeah the corrupt official and shredding truck had me thinking.
Very creative. CHEERS !!
Well, I saw the 'sold to Mega Bloks' post and thought that was it, so I spent a good minute pissed off and thinking this was real. I'd almost dare say the terrifying thing here is how believable it is. Excellent use of satire.
Even though it is rather unlikely to happen, a Metropolitan Police Archive Centre would be rather cool! As well as the mobile shredding truck ;). When is the Plebgate set due for release?!