HOW LEGO USES YOUTUBE TO BUILD DYNAMIC COMMUNITY
By Ami Murphy Iannone, Creative Director - July 26, 2018
“We want to be always testing out whatever new creative tools that Instagram or the others are coming up with. We want to learn from it, we want to try it out, we want to play around with it like we were kids who just got new toys.” Lars Silberbauer, senior global director at Lego Group
Through their Designer Video series, LEGO uses YouTube to engage and reward their most loyal fans.
Through the LEGO ideas site, enthusiasts can submit concepts for potential production by official LEGO designers. Once the fans have generated enough interest, 10,000 supporters to be exact, their project gets passed on to official review by the company and potential production for sale in stores. Through the Designers series on YouTube, the brand not only takes these serious brand fans behind the scenes on regular product issues but also tells the rest of the story after one of their original ideas is approved. Designers explain their thought process and give advice to aspirational LEGO builders.
As a brand, LEGO has always put serious thought into the importance of play. By creating a collaborative experience for the most diehard fans, LEGO exemplifies the principles of collaborative play. LEGO ideas and the YouTube Designer series demonstrate that LEGO is both listening to and caring about what its fans want to do with the product. Even the duration and detail of the Designers videos show a deep understanding of target audience. Lifelong LEGO enthusiasts are deliberate and thoughtful, they care about details, and they have the attention span to watch a 5-8 minute video about these passion projects. Quick-hit content wouldn’t suit this audience, they’d be left asking questions.
By asking fans to levy for support of their own ideas in order to make it through to preliminary consideration, LEGO is turning each true fan into a brand evangelist. To hit the 10,000 supporters mark, fans turn to social media, the LEGO ideas site forums, and other LEGO enthusiast blogs and sites to rally the community around their concept.
The final step in making LEGO fandom truly rewarding is the fact that community designers whose ideas make it through to physical production receive both public accolade and royalties on the sale of their LEGO set: “You’re featured in set materials, receive a royalty on sales, and are recognized as the product creator. Your supporters can now own the LEGO set they helped make happen on LEGO Ideas.”
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