Camille Thorneycroft: “Lego is there for every occasion” – Brand Strategy > Brands

Emarketing.fr: In a stable toy market in 2024 – sales show an increase of +0.6% in value over the first six months of the year -, what are the financial performances of Lego in France*? And how can they be explained?

Camille Thorneycroft, responsable marketing France et Iberia de Lego : In this fairly “flat” toy market in 2024, Lego is outperforming. Our sales are growing by more than 33% in the first half of 2024. Our market share is 13.3% to date. (versus 10.1% in 2023, Editor’s note). This performance is the result of a strong marketing, commercial and event animation carried out since the beginning of the year. Our vocation is to support the Christmas season in a massive way, but also to bring the toy category to life throughout the year and that is why we are there for all occasions, with dedicated campaigns and products: Valentine’s Day – for the first time this year -, Mother’s and Father’s Day or, again, Easter. We have also imagined campaigns dedicated to our worlds, to interests. We have thus worked on a campaign aimed at girls to invite them to “empowerment” while they are too often subjected to an injunction to perfection which hinders their creativity. With the “Play Unstoppable” campaign, broadcast at the beginning of the year, we wanted to contribute to telling them that they should not hesitate to exploit their potential, to get started.

We also wanted to pay tribute to the capital at the center of sports news this summer. We transformed a Batobus in Lego colors to invite Parisians and tourists to rediscover Paris along the water with many experiences on board. We wanted this boat, which sails until September 30, to resonate with our values ​​​​and our commitments. For example, we offer an activity to discover the Braille alphabet and we represented each stop with Braille bricks – which we have been selling since 2023.

* Lego Group’s revenue jumped by +13% compared to 2023, reaching DKK 31 billion (around €4.15 billion). Net profit increased by 16%, to DKK 6 billion (€800 million).

What new products are you focusing on in 2024?

C. T. : In 2024, we have 840 references… and 361 new products. We have a very high innovation rate, in the children’s and adult segments – in which we are the leader. 150 references are dedicated to adults and grouped under our “Adults Welcome” signature created in 2020. It is therefore difficult to choose among these 361 new products, but I can highlight a few major themes. For example, this year we are marketing “French icons”, such as Notre-Dame de Paris, released on June 1st, while the cathedral has a strong news story with its reopening to the public on December 8th. The table of The Mona Lisa will also join the assortment on October 1st.

The bestsellers of the year will also be around “everyday life”, with the release of a fire station, the police prison on the high seas or, again, the small café of Lego Friends. Another strong theme: video games. We have been working for several years with Nintendo on the license Super Mario and the big news is the Bower Express train. This year, a new Nintendo license joins our assortment: Animal Crossing. We know the success of the game with a very varied target, and this of course interests Lego! The set “Concert de Kéké sur la place” released in August should quickly find its audience. We also have new products in the Lego Minecraft and Zelda range. On October 1st, we are releasing 4 “Lego Fortnite” references inspired by the characters and artifacts of the game Lego Fortnite that we unveiled with Epic Games in December 2023. Entertainment licenses are also still highly anticipated, such as Star Wars whose 25th anniversary of the license we are celebrating – and which contributed to the relaunch of Lego in 1999 -; Wickedbig cinema releases of the fall and of course the Disney licenses or, again, Harry Potter.

One of Lego’s big launches in 2023 was the launch of the in-house license “Lego DreamZzz”. Is it a success?

C. T. : We are continuing to develop this range of around ten products with two new references for Christmas. New products are already planned for 2025. It takes time to install a license, but it is progressing. We are in a period of activation of Lego DreamZzz and we are seeing a growth in sales of + 88%. The particularity of the range is to be associated with an animated series. Since September 6, we have broadcast ten episodes of season 2 of Lego DreamZzz and a third season is already scheduled for 2025.

The Lego Group is opening an interactive art gallery, “L’Atelier des Super-Pouvoirs”, at the Gaîté Lyrique in Paris, from September 11 to 16. What is the concept?

C. T. : The Super Powers Workshop was born from the idea of ​​​​hijacking the codes of an art gallery, often associated with a space for adults, artistically sophisticated and, therefore, inaccessible to children. We imagined a more inclusive gallery in which children would be the creators. We involved them in this project by conducting focus groups in France with children from diverse backgrounds to find out what the “superpower of play” meant to them and what they expected from Lego. Then we teamed up with artists – Sarah Andelman, Ekow Nimako, Chen Fenwan, notary, NDLR – who have reinterpreted this raw material. The artists have created an experience made for children, which invites them to participate. For example, they can create their self-portrait in Lego bricks or their totem character, take part in a digital gaming experience. This initiative is a great invitation to play, even though, according to the studies we conduct, 76% of parents say that their children’s play time is decreasing and 20% of families do not play together.

What marketing campaigns are you preparing for the second half of the year?

C. T. : We are going to unveil a campaign on gaming, which will be our pre-season campaign. The Super-Powers Workshop marks the launch of our major Christmas campaign under the slogan, launched in 2023, of the “super-power of playing”. It will be in two phases: the first, from September 17 to October 31, will focus on demonstrating the super-power of playing. Starting with the All Saints’ Day holidays, it will start with an operation in Parisian train stations: in addition to a poster, 60,000 Lego products will be distributed to children. The All Saints’ Day holidays often mark the start of the list to Santa Claus and this operation will allow us to create presence in mind. The second phase will be marked by a 360 campaign, at the point of sale, on TV, and digitally.

Are you also unveiling a campaign on your environmental commitments?

C. T. : This is the first time that we have launched a campaign in France to work on the awareness of our environmental commitments. There is a lack of knowledge among our consumers about our actions that we want to remedy. The campaign is structured around two themes that we are trying to explain better: the circularity and sustainability of products, on the one hand, and the materials used, on the other hand. We want to show that Lego are products designed to last. A statistic proves it: 97% of players tell us that they pass on their Lego to the next generations. As for materials, our ambition is that by 2032, 100% of our bricks will be made from renewable and recycled materials. We are now at 22%, thanks to the work carried out by our 300 R&D engineers, particularly around sugar cane to create a bio-polyethylene that makes up all the flexible elements and accessories of the game boxes. We also recycle kitchen worktops for all our transparent elements such as doors, windows, the famous lightsabers. Another technology that we have tested gives results that we are very happy with: the creation of parts around biowaste. We will introduce it into production from 2025 for the creation of rigid elements.