
On this episode of Brain Driven Brands, Sarah and Nate break down one of the most interesting brand “comebacks” in history. We also create a brand marketing plan for Original Grain (and poke holes in all of Nate’s plans for next year), and...
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A
Foreign all the things to anybody who celebrates the coolest time of year. I love Christmas. We are. I know you can't see on the podcast, but Nate and I wore ugly sweaters, which is 100 Nate's fault because apparently he said holiday sweater.
B
I said Christmas sweaters. We just discussed. I'm a Christmas guy, not a holiday.
A
And I heard you said Christmas. I heard ugly. So shout out to Barry. Hot. I'm wearing an ugly sweater today, and it is hidden like it's the hideous. Most hideous sweater I've ever seen in my life.
B
Just Mary and jolly and sparkly.
A
Mary. Jolly, sparkly. Also, you see my Christmas lights. I put an effort. What's going on with your background, sir?
B
I have so much in my office that I need to hang. Still. It's all just on the floor. Like, you saw me unwrapping boxes at the top of this podcast. Still. I've lived here for 60 days, and I'm nowhere close.
A
How dare you not have everything unpacked in 60 days? I'll give you a pass because you just moved, but holiday cheer, man. We are rolling into this episode, which is the Christmas spirit. We're here to give as much as we can, all kinds of value today by literally talking about nothing valuable. I want to talk about one specific tweet that bounced off this week that I didn't realize was a big deal. I found this random infographic about a specific brand that everybody knows and how they made $9.8 billion in 2020.
B
Three billion. With a billion.
A
With a B. Billion. With a B.9.8 billion.
B
I'm guessing they're not in our tiny little e commerce bubble.
A
They are now. I mean, they used to be. This is the funny part. I didn't really realize this, but this company is like 50% privately owned by one family. Yeah, I was like a day. I wish I.
B
The worst part, I have the wrong vowel in my name to get any pieces of it.
A
Should we reveal it.
B
Yeah, we're talking about Lego.
A
We're talking about Nate. Legos, everybody, which I love. So sad that you don't own this company.
B
I was a vowel away from being a billionaire.
A
I would. I would be a much more helpful friend if you were. I'm kidding. I'm joking.
B
I think I'd have a lot of those. I think I'd have a lot better friends.
A
Yeah, you own the Lego company because they made 9.8 billion in 2023. Okay, but I want to talk specifically about this tweet because I. I was just Kind of like, here's the story of LEGO and how they kind of, like, made a lot of money last year basically by ignoring any trend that anybody in D2C is following. They're going after a completely different marketing strategy. And the reason I want to talk about it with you is because something you and I have talked about a little bit on the last, like, four or five episodes is that Original Grain company that UVP marketing amazing for is now kind of focused on brand. This year. You guys are, like, going into brand marketing and, like, exploring. Exploring this new uncharted waters. Instead of primarily focusing on growth, which is a lot of ad work, and like, partnerships, those types of things, which caveat is still important. These guys are focused pretty heavily on one specific marketing tactic, which is content. Content as a revenue engine. So I want to kind of see if we could take what LEGO did and just apply it to Original Grain and see how you grow this year. Can we do that?
B
Okay. Yeah. I love that. I don't know. Are aware, but LEGO guy, big LEGO guy.
A
Okay, show us the other one you have. So Nate has this.
B
Yeah. By the way. Well, way too high percentage of that 9.8 billion came from me this year.
A
Look at.
B
I'm like, hesitant to check. You know what's crazy? These are not cheap.
A
No. They're so expensive.
B
I think it's like $300. He's, like, a lot of money. And, like, not to flex that hard. I'm doing okay. But, like, it's a lot of money. Like, it's not like a cheap kids toy, you know?
A
Okay. And this is coming from somebody who has two kids who are now currently into lego. If you have children, you understand LEGO is a big deal. And one of the ways that they have, like, differentiated entirely is through partnerships. That's why I said at the beginning, it's not that partnerships are not important. LEGO actually spent a decent amount of time just building their ecosystem off of the fact that their bricks are fun.
B
Right.
A
They had. They had a patent that apparently just expired. I didn't realize this, but they had a patent on their particular, like, block kits, and they were doing okay in 20. What was it? 2003. Sorry, 2003, they made a billion. In 2005, they released the LEGO Star wars video game, and they grew, like, exponentially in revenue from there. Let's see. In 2005. Yeah. 2005, they made 1 billion. In 2009, they made 2 billion. By the time they got to 2015, like 2014, they were at, like, the 4 billion mark. So they were. They were like, growing, right? But not, like, growing. Oh, my God. Do you have it? Yes.
B
These are my PlayStation 2 games from when I was 10. And Lego Star Wars. LEGO Batman.
A
Oh, my God.
B
Big LEGO Guy Forever. This is real?
A
I didn't realize you were this big of a LEGO fan. I thought you just like.
B
No, Big LEGO Guy forever.
A
Yeah, well. And if we ever see Consumer Casey back on here, my lovely husband Casey, you'll see all of his LEGO sets. He has a Star Destroyer that he, like. I don't even. He built lights into the Destroyer and then mounted it on the wall, and they like, flash and shit. I don't know. LEGO guys are apparently, like, a thing, right?
B
It's a thing. Yeah.
A
So we're talking about their growth started in 1 billion in 2003, got up to like 2 billion by about 2010. By 2015, they had made 4 billion. Right. So it's like they're climbing. They're. They're healthy. And then all of a sudden, in 2015, 2014, 2015, they released the LEGO Movie. Do you want to guess what they made from, like, releasing the LEGO Movie up to now? Like, what the difference is?
B
Oh, yeah. Probably way more since then than the entire history of the company. Right?
A
Yeah. So they were sitting at 4 billion.
B
The movie good, by the way.
A
Oh, my God, it was so good.
B
And then the Lego Batman Movie was so good.
A
Yes. And then they just started, like, make all these little Lego, like, movies and things like that. So they jumped from 4 billion in 2014 to almost 10 billion by 2023.
B
That's why to grow that quick size.
A
Is unbelievable, especially at that site. Okay, good call out to that. I feel like if you're a new brand or a young brand, Right. Seeing this kind of hockey stick is normal. Ish. Right. Well.
B
And going from like 4 million to 10 million in a year is not crazy.
A
It's like, not crazy. But to go from 4 billion to 10 billion within the span of about what, five, six years? About seven years.
B
Insane.
A
That's bonkers growth. And this is why I'm like, oh, Nate, we got to see if we could do this for you.
B
Well, can I bring up one more example that I don't think are on your notes? Because I'm a better LEGO guy than you are.
A
Okay. All right.
B
The LEGO Masters TV show on Fox.
A
Yeah.
B
Has been three seasons now, and, like, prime time Fox, weeknight tv, like, they.
A
Have a following, too. It's a big deal. So I want to break down kind of what they did to see this growth, because it's again, it's not just that they like introduce movies or like shows or anything at specific times. They went hard at this content play. They obviously like, they run ads and they have billboards and they have all kinds of other growth focused things. They also do incredibly good partnerships with entities that carry large followings. I think that's probably what we should talk about first. So they do their content play. This is what we're going to be talking about today is just like psychology focused content. They made strategic partnerships though. Right. So they didn't just partner with anybody. Right. They didn't go partner with My Little Pony. They partnered with like Harry Potter. They partnered with Minecraft. They partnered with like Star Wars. And this I find really interesting because they've talked about a lot for a long, long time that Lego is not just a boy's toy. Right. They're very kind of unisex. They've had this since the 80s. Like, they haven't really been focused on boys in particular, but the partnerships that they made were specifically with entities that carried like a pretty heavy, like masculine focused audience, which I find interesting. With the exception of Harry Potter, which is kind of like a blended audience. Star wars is kind of leans a little bit more masculine. Batman and Minecraft leans more masculine. Batman leans more masculine. So strategic partnerships, which I think would be interesting for original grade to explore based upon what you guys know about your specific audience. Because your dudes are very much into like whiskey lifestyle. They're blue collar guys, their family guys. Who can we find that fits that? Which you're already kind of doing a little bit because you're partnering with like some country singers, some other things. But I'm like, what else do these guys love that we could get into?
B
So we're talking to an NFL team right now.
A
I'm so excited for that one. Oh my God.
B
Football and pro football is like the biggest interest of our audience by far. Country music falls right behind it. And then we're looking into some kind of like smaller niche worlds.
A
Okay.
B
Think like pro rodeos. Things that are like, are definitely not the size of the NFL or anything, but like their audience is rabid.
A
Yeah.
B
And like really care about it. And that audience carries so many of those like family focused, blue collar values kind of all wrapped into to one thing. So yeah, we're working on it. But no, the, the, the scale that they've done it at is crazy. I think we've done it all right. We got Jack Daniels, obviously. Yeah. Taylor Guitars isn't. Is a good fit there. But yeah, this is something like that. We want, we want to do as many as possible because there's so many good fits out there and we see the power of these collabs, you know, on their own. Doing four or five more next year.
A
Yeah. Strategy wise for this. When you're going after a good partnership, I think for anybody listening, here's just some good tactical, practical advice that should be a podcast.
B
Welcome back to Tactical and Practical.
A
Tactical and practical Advice. I wonder somebody who's probably already made that. When you're going after partnerships, do not just look for someone that has a large following that kind of like fits your audience strategically. Look for people that align with the identity. Like we talk about a lot, the identity of the person who's coming into your ecosystem. Right. So football, NFL. Fantastic. Because it broadens your audience. But I want to know, do you got a lot of Southern, like, men in your ecosystem? Let's go after, like college football level. Right. So instead of going after whoever agreed by packers, let's go after, like, Alabama. The only reason I say that is because, like, if they're, if they're Red Tide fans, it's Roll Tide. It's Roll Tide, not Red Tide. And that's all they live and dream is Red Tide. You want to get Red Tide with them. It's. It's Roll Tide. Roll Tide. You know, you don't want to try and just like, sort of generalize. You want to get real specific as to what they're into. So again, I don't think you should change your strategy if you're already, like, involved in talks, but maybe next year.
B
No, but that's a big market for, for us. And yeah, I think you're absolutely right with, like, hitting the niche first rather than going broad, especially for anyone listening to this who's not an executive at a $10 billion a year company. Like, go as narrow as possible first, I would say, and then look to expand from there because, like, as you called out, like, there are, you know, Alabama fans that don't want a football watch. They want a Crimson Tide watch.
A
They want a Crimson Tide watch.
B
And there are Jack Daniels drinkers that are exclusively Jack Daniels drinkers and don't care if we have other whiskey barrel watches. They want the Jack watch.
A
Yeah.
B
So I would really try to nail those interests. And then for any brand kind of in our world, most of these partners are going to be big enough to still make an impact for you. They're not Lego or Batman Obviously.
A
But yeah, yeah.
B
Any partner that is a household name is going to do well for you.
A
Yeah. 100. 100. So key tip number one, please, please, please select your partners psychologically to the identities of these people, which means go niche, don't go broad, go niche if you can. Secondary to this is storytelling. I can't tell you how good LEGO got at this, which is amazing because their product is very engineer focused. Right. You build stuff with this and most of the time they'll send you kits where you can build a fire truck or like a Formula one car, whatever. Those things that you're into, Right. That align with your identity. But outside of that, they actually built an entire ecosystem that makes it easy for you to kind of root for their characters and get emotionally attached to, to a product, like to a toy, which is the craziest thing I've ever heard. So for. I think this would be interesting for you guys. I don't know how much money you got, so, like, how much do you want to put into this? But it would be fascinating to see if you could budget, like, content. Yeah, Content around it. Now, toughest part about this is you need to create content that's similar to like Yellowstone. Right. Do you know the show Yellowstone? Right. So we'll go broad with this one. Storytelling as a foundation of the business. So they did a great job just building up good products that everybody loved. It was a part of their childhood. There's a lot of nostalgia in it. But outside of that, they looked for ways to inject characters into their content that have some sort of journey to be on. Right. They have a problem to solve. These characters are like things that people want to root for. Right. Because the story builds that connection between customer and product. I don't think everyone should start like a series, a TV series or whatever, but even if you can have something small, like a care again, you already kind of have one. Honestly.
B
Yeah.
A
Because marketer Nate is a character in the company that people root for. They connect with incredibly well. So you actually already have it. Just kidding.
B
We talk about that all the time with these experiences that we get to go have. Like our trip to the Jack Daniels Distillery to do the first tour and photo shoot was so much cooler than it came across online. And that's something that like, like, like.
A
Day in the life work.
B
Yeah.
A
And.
B
And that's something we're really trying to solve for next year because, like how many people get to travel to Lynchburg, Tennessee? Yeah, I probably never town, like it's two hours outside of Nashville. You have no reason to go there unless you're going to Jack. And, like, we got to drink whiskey straight from a barrel with the master distiller of Jack Daniels and, like, talk about it. And, like, it was just such a crazy experience. And, like, a fraction of that came across in the content, and I think that's such a big missed opportunity for us. And, like, I see a lot of E Comm brands do it all the time where they have something really cool and then they barely talk about it. And I think this was, like, it slapped me in the face about a month ago because I had a friend of mine. Now, we're not, like, super tight, but we're friendly. We talk on Instagram, you know, probably weekly. He sent me a DM a month ago that was like, hey, man, just saw the launch of the Jack Daniels Collection.
A
You said that?
B
And I was like, it launched in May. Like, what do you mean?
A
Like, where have you been?
B
Yeah. And I'm like, dude, I've put up so many Instagram stories from the Jack distillery, like, how does my buddy not know about this? And I'm like, oh, our customers definitely don't know.
A
Don't know. Exactly. Well, I think it all comes down to distribution. How far are you taking this and how long are you using it? I have this issue with my content. I'm constantly generating new pieces of content every single week for my own ecosystems. However, the majority of the people that are even in my ecosystem right now haven't even seen last year's content yet or the year before that or the year before that. I don't actually need to create new content. I just need to take, like, the top 25 pieces, basically, and split them up in a hundred different ways.
B
Well, and like, I. I think that's something. It's actually great advice for personal brand content. And for brands is like, yeah, you. You actually don't have that much to say.
A
No.
B
But you can find a bunch of different ways to say it.
A
Yeah.
B
And I think, like, that's the key of, like, hey, all we're trying to do is showcase this experience on the thesis of, like, Jack Daniels creates good times. So we made a collection of watches to commemorate those times. And so cool. Let's find a hundred different ways to communicate that in a reel or in a YouTube series and, like, let that go for six months and see what happens.
A
Well, and I realize most brands are going to be like, sarah, this sounds like a lot of work. It is. It is 100. You need someone dedicated to creating this kind of content. But billions are on the line. If you don't like, you're. You're literally wasting billions of dollars. You're just, you're like, there's something to be said for good content instead of just focusing on good ads, content that literally has nothing to do with sales, it's just there for people to enjoy. And this is one of the ones that I. What was on this tweet, I have to go back here because it was amazing. Right. Like when you do content correctly, it's really kind of immersing people into your ecosystem, into the universe that you're creating around your brand. And if you can do that, you, you're really making a place where people just don't want to leave. And that I loved about Lego is they're creating a universe where people just don't want to leave it.
B
Yeah.
A
Now, obviously it's different. If you're a watch brand, then you are Lego because Lego has a very specific use case. Right. Very specific, like identity that they adhere to. But in general, if you can make good content, if you have good partnerships, if there's something about your ecosystem that hits deeply, emotionally, you have a much higher chance to hit in 10 billion than you do just go straight after utilitarian. These are the features, this is the benefits. Even if you talk about this is the transformation. I also don't like that concept in marketing. I'm like, there's a whole world here that brands are doing.
B
Can I go back to a step before content, like choosing the partnerships themselves? Because I think something that LEGO has very clearly done is pick new partnerships based on like, kind of new demographics they want to get into.
A
Yes.
B
So I think early on was very kid focused. Right. Was Batman, Lego, pirates, like dragons, that stuff. Then they dropped this. That is a vintage Formula One car from the 90s that cost 300, you know, something dollars. You're not buying this for your 8 year old. This is for me. This is for guys older than me.
A
Yeah.
B
Oh, that's cool. And now they just announced they're releasing a line of all the current Formula one cars next year.
A
Yep.
B
And we have, you know, we partnered with Bob Marley this year kind of on the theory of, like, this is not a demographic or a niche that's crushed for us. But we're going to go see if we can get in there and like, we're going to kind of see if we can get a warm introduction to a new audience by aligning ourselves with a brand that already has a chokehold on those People's attention and interest and passion. And I think it's a really interesting way to look at partnerships. Like, is there someone you can partner with that might not be perfect for you at first, but grows your tam and, like, intros you to a new audience? I wouldn't do it first. First, I'd go niche to what you crush. But as you get into it, I think it's an interesting angle to explore.
A
Well, and Lego was able to open up a market to a specific type of person who actually still considers themselves like a kid at heart.
B
Right, right. I'm only 28, as we know.
A
Let's make this clear. Right?
B
All right, 28.
A
Let's everybody get this straight. He's getting offended left and right on Twitter. People are like, how old are you? 35.
B
Yeah, I don't.
A
36. Nate is 29. It's fine.
B
8. 28.
A
28.
B
20.
A
You don't even know how old you are. Okay. Anyways, so kid at heart, right? So there's two identities that Lego went after, and. And they just. They solidly put their. Their message down on it, and they never changed it. They ne this. Oh, I can't. I can't give this to people's heads enough. Like, don't change the message. Don't change the message. Figure out whatever the message is, don't change it. Right. Just figure out a million different ways to present it, Wrap it in different things, but don't change the message. So Lego did this incredibly well. Good partnerships, making sure that their content was, like, hitting incredibly well. We can go through the entire tweet. We're gonna. This is. I'm not gonna go through the whole thing on this episode because it's gonna take us five hours to get through it. But the last thing I want to talk about specifically is one piece, which is, like, content that feeds the funnel. So for you guys, like we talked about, pick those niches really well, pick your. Pick your partners really well, and then try and figure out a way to make content around a specific character, make somebody that they can root for, which right now is marketer Nate. And then the last one in here, every piece of content has to tie back into the system. So for Lego, watching a build on YouTube, say, like, whatever they have tutorial inspires you to buy whatever set you're watching. It's just inspirational content. It's like, oh, right, the Formula one kit looks amazing. I need to buy it. Buying the set kind of inspires you to create it. Obviously, you're being creative while you're actually, like, working with product and being creative inspires you to go watch more content. So it's just kind of this flywheel. Right. Of like every piece of content kind of forces you to go back into consumer mode. So for you guys, it would be fascinating to see if we could create content that does that for your dudes. Because there, one watch is not usually enough for any guy. From what I've noticed. If you are. Even if you're gifted a watch, like I did with my husband, it, like, opens up this weird door.
B
Great, I can get more.
A
Now I need 18 of these.
B
So you're describing addiction.
A
That's what I'm saying.
B
Yeah.
A
Watches are apparently addicting. So you. And that's dopamine focused. Right. There's. Dopamine's a motivator, neurotransmitter. So it's pushing people to do something, but that's what the content does. So I gotta see. Can we create some content for original grade in particular around some sort of a hero's journey or around a person that would inspire somebody to want to get a watch. And when they wear it, it inspires them to go back and watch the content. Right. So you create this kind of loop where every time they see the watch, they have to go, oh, crap, I need to go check YouTube to see what marketer Nate is doing this week. Because I just love to watch him.
B
I don't know. That's hard.
A
I don't think it's as hard as you think it is. I think it'd be easy.
B
Did I show you the reel that did two and a half million views organically.
A
What? No. I need to see this one. Oh, my God. Content, man. Content. Sorry, Scotty. This episode's gonna be really long.
B
So I. So we have. And then Scotty, cut this intro. I'll. I'll give you a real intro for this video, and then I'll give you the behind the scenes version. Internally, we're trying to get one of our creators to create more organic content, and he's not doing it.
A
So I was like, who loves it?
B
I was like, cool, I will. And second reel I posted to two and a half million.
A
Oh, my God. Well, and it's interesting because, okay, I'm watching this right now, and the only thing you can see in this video is a shot of your oven and your hands. Basically, there's a pot in the oven. You're stirring something. You can see the watch.
B
Yep.
A
And you're. Why are you pouring whiskey from the pot into the Glass.
B
So the audio is the, the headline says it's, it's two ingredient Thanksgiving soup recipe. And you hear my wife yelling at me saying that doesn't smell like the corn chowder I asked you to make. And I said there's corn in it. Don't worry. I don't know this episode or not.
A
But oh, 100% this is the type of content I'm talking about. It's funny, it's funny content. It's relatable content because you get to watch the relationship between two people evolve in this mini story. I wish more people would create mini stories around things. Right. Because we, we try to think of these giant campaigns and these huge marketing strategies that are all complicated and messy. I'm like, just shoot something funny like that Sounds weird, but 2 million people liked this one.
B
Because I want our entire content strategy to start for the first six months of it to be 15 second videos.
A
Yes. Itty bitty little ones. And again this is interesting because this parody style, you know, parody skit style content is what TikTok is about. And people have generated an entire like personal brand like out of thin air just because they're doing funny stuff. And this is the type of content that LEGO is producing. Now obviously it's Lego, so, so they're doing episodes and like they have developed characters and all this stuff. But this is how simple I wish you everybody would go well.
B
And what I think is important is the movie was not their first venture into content. And like I think probably what inspired a lot of it was other creators creating content for lego.
A
Yep.
B
And they seeing like oh how many, how many hundreds and thousands of hours are being watched of Lego on YouTube that we don't own, that we don't link to because people were just using.
A
It and like talking between the two characters.
B
Yeah, yeah.
A
So like stop motion kind of.
B
Yeah. So don't go straight to a movie or an hour long podcast series. No one wants that. Like start small, figure out what hits and then double and triple down on what's resonating with the right people.
A
Yeah. Best way you can do that is go check the organic creators content and see which pieces of content they're doing that's hitting incredibly well. That's what LEGO did and that's how you do it. Ah, okay. Where can people find you if they want to check out what you're doing.
B
At Nate Legos on Twitter and follow me on LinkedIn if you want but I really care. The Tactical and Practical podcast. Welcome back to Tactical and Practical is A fantastic marketing podcast. There's a rumor going around that it's better than this one. I'm not going to comment on it.
A
All right?
B
But I said I'm not going to comment on it. What's the problem? I'm not going to. I'm not going to hide from allegations.
A
You know, somebody literally commented. It said, I love, like, the subtle digs that you and Nate do at the end of the podcast. I was like, that's your favorite.
B
Well, there you go.
A
It's mean. It's Nate being mean to me. All right, all right, all right. Is that it? That's your plug?
B
Yeah.
A
Are you done? Can I go now?
B
I'm done.
A
You're lovely. It's great. I'm so glad you're on my podcast, mostly because I think it'd be really boring if Sarah was just sitting here talking about Lego by myself. But my.
B
My podcast gets boring sometimes.
A
Okay, follow me anywhere you consume content at Sarah Levenger. Please go follow all the stuff that I'm doing over at Tether Insights IO. I think they're a technical sponsor just because I can do that.
B
You own the company.
A
I own the company, and that's cool.
B
Sponsored by Legos Enterprises.
A
Thank you for listening. You guys are great. Merry Christmas or holidays.
B
Subscribe to Brain Driven Brands.
A
Subscribe and give us five stars, please, because see you next time. Thanks for coming.
B
The Brain Driven Brands podcast is part.
A
Of the Learn and Laugh series on the Quickfire Podcast Network. I need a nap, need a beat. You release me to laugh.
Brain Driven Brands: Episode Summary
Title: Lego Made $9.8B Using this One Simple Marketing Hack
Host: Sarah Levinger
Release Date: December 19, 2024
In this episode of Brain Driven Brands, host Sarah Levinger delves into how LEGO achieved a staggering $9.8 billion in revenue by leveraging a singular yet powerful marketing strategy. The discussion centers around the innovative approaches LEGO employed to transcend traditional Direct-to-Consumer (D2C) trends, focusing instead on building a comprehensive brand ecosystem through strategic partnerships and compelling content creation.
Sarah and Nate begin by tracing LEGO's financial trajectory:
Sarah highlights, "They were growing, right? But not, like, growing. Oh my God. Do you have it?" [04:02]
Nate affirms, "They were like, growing, right?" [04:02]
This exponential growth underscores the effectiveness of their strategic pivot towards brand building.
A significant portion of LEGO's success is attributed to its strategic partnerships. Sarah emphasizes the importance of aligning collaborations with brand identity:
"Strategic partnerships, which I think would be interesting for Original Grain to explore based upon what you guys know about your specific audience." [07:03]
LEGO's partnerships include high-profile franchises such as:
These alliances not only expanded LEGO's market reach but also reinforced its brand as a versatile and inclusive toy suitable for all genders and ages.
Nate adds, "We are partnering with like some country singers, some other things. But I'm like, what else do these guys love that we could get into?" [08:44]
Moving beyond partnerships, LEGO's focus on content creation played a pivotal role in its revenue growth. Sarah outlines how content serves as a revenue engine by immersing consumers in the LEGO universe:
"Content that literally has nothing to do with sales, it's just there for people to enjoy." [16:05]
Key strategies include:
Storytelling: Developing narratives that resonate emotionally with the audience. For instance, LEGO created engaging movies and TV shows that feature characters and storylines fans can root for.
Short-Form Content: Leveraging platforms like TikTok with 15-second videos to capture and retain audience attention. Nate shares, "We have one reel I posted to two and a half million." [23:14]
User-Generated Content: Encouraging organic content creation by fans, which LEGO capitalized on to expand its reach without solely relying on official channels.
Sarah notes, "They're creating a universe where people just don't want to leave it." [17:24]
Sarah and Nate explore how Original Grain, an e-commerce watch brand, can emulate LEGO's success:
Strategic Partnerships:
Storytelling and Content Creation:
Maximizing Content Distribution:
Nate emphasizes the importance of aligning content with brand experiences, sharing his own missed opportunities: "Our customers definitely don't know." [15:25]
Towards the episode's conclusion, Sarah offers actionable advice for e-commerce brands aiming to replicate LEGO's success:
Niche Down Before Scaling:
Consistency in Messaging:
Embrace Storytelling:
Leverage Organic Success:
Sarah concludes, "If you can make good content, if you have good partnerships, if there's something about your ecosystem that hits deeply, emotionally, you have a much higher chance to hit in 10 billion than you do just go straight after utilitarian." [17:24]
This episode of Brain Driven Brands provides a comprehensive analysis of LEGO's extraordinary revenue growth through strategic partnerships and compelling content creation. By dissecting LEGO's methodologies, Sarah and Nate offer valuable insights and practical strategies that e-commerce brands like Original Grain can implement to enhance their marketing efforts, reduce costs, and drive sales. The key takeaway emphasizes the power of building an emotionally resonant brand ecosystem that captivates and retains a dedicated consumer base.
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