🧱LEGO: Earth’s Biggest Toy Biz | 11

Summary

Podcast Summary: "🧱LEGO: Earth’s Biggest Toy Biz | 11" from The Best Idea Yet

Host/Author: Wondery
Episode Release Date: December 24, 2024
Hosts: Nick Martell and Jack Crivici-Kramer
Podcast Description: The Best Idea Yet delves into the untold stories behind beloved products and the risk-takers who propelled them to fame. This episode explores LEGO's remarkable journey from a small Danish carpentry workshop to the world's largest toy company.

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1. Introduction to LEGO's Legacy

The episode opens with the hosts highlighting LEGO's unparalleled success in the toy industry. Nick Martell humorously equates the distinctive sound of LEGO blocks clicking together to the "sound of money" due to its status as the largest toy company globally.

Notable Quote:

• Nick Martell [02:03]: “But suddenly, as soon as LEGO was playing with success, it's now completely under threat. Gott's system of play is literally falling apart. And so are Lego's chances in the all important German Toy Market.”

2. LEGO's Humble Beginnings

LEGO's story begins in the 1940s with Ole Kirk Christiansen, a Danish carpenter who transformed his woodworking skills into creating wooden toys. Despite early successes, Ole faced significant challenges, including a devastating fire in 1932 that destroyed his workshop and home, followed by his wife's death and economic downturns during the Great Depression.

Notable Quotes:

• Jack Crivici-Kramer [09:10]: “To make matters worse, that fire, it was actually started by two of his sons goofing around with some matches.”
• Nick Martell [08:02]: “But he didn't let this bring him down. He rebuilt again.”

3. Transition to Plastic: Embracing Innovation

In the post-World War II era, Ole discovered plastic at a Copenhagen toy convention—a material revolutionizing toy manufacturing. Despite skepticism from his son Gott, Ole invested heavily in plastic molding technology, believing in its potential to scale production and reduce costs.

Notable Quotes:

• Jack Crivici-Kramer [11:02]: “Plastics.”
• Nick Martell [11:15]: “This meant the field was wide open for innovators to create new plastic products aimed at consumers.”

4. Overcoming Design Flaws: The Birth of "Clutch Power"

Early LEGO bricks, known as Automatic Binding Bricks, lacked internal tubes, causing them to not stick together properly. This flaw led to customer dissatisfaction, threatening LEGO's expansion into the German market. Gott, now helming the company, spearheaded the redesign by introducing internal tubes, enhancing the bricks' connectivity and durability—coined as "clutch power." This innovation solidified LEGO's reputation for precision engineering.

Notable Quotes:

• Nick Martell [25:21]: “It's these tubes that result in the satisfying click when you push two bricks together.”
• Jack Crivici-Kramer [25:26]: “It's these tubes that result in the satisfying click when you push two bricks together. The tubes also mean that the bricks will stay together until you pull them apart.”

5. Strategic International Expansion

Recognizing the end of Denmark's protective import restrictions, Gott proactively expanded into the affluent West German market during the Wirtschaftswunder (Economic Miracle). By tailoring products like the LEGO Town Plan to resonate with German car culture, LEGO successfully penetrated the market, doubling sales between 1957 and 1958.

Notable Quotes:

• Nick Martell [17:16]: “Beautiful.”
• Jack Crivici-Kramer [22:35]: “But Gott, he's very picky about which German toy stores he insists that they put up big eye-catching LEGO displays in the windows.”

6. Facing Adversity: Quality Control and Market Challenges

Despite initial success, LEGO encountered significant hurdles when German toy sellers complained about the bricks not sticking together. This crisis prompted immediate quality revisions, leading to the patented studs and tubes design that became the standard for LEGO bricks.

Notable Quotes:

• Nick Martell [24:01]: “Suddenly, as soon as LEGO was playing with success, it's now completely under threat.”
• Jack Crivici-Kramer [25:04]: “LEGO is one of the most precision engineered toys in the world.”

7. Dominance and Diversification

By the 1960s, LEGO had expanded into various product lines, including Technic for older kids and Duplo for toddlers. The company also ventured beyond Europe, making significant inroads into the American market through strategic partnerships like the LEGO Happy Meal tie-ins with McDonald's, solidifying brand presence.

Notable Quotes:

• Jack Crivici-Kramer [28:00]: “In 1965, Gott kicks off product development for a new range of toys to appeal to more ages.”
• Nick Martell [30:13]: “And they gave LEGO so much character.”

8. Crisis and Reckoning in the Late 1990s

Entering the late 1990s and early 2000s, LEGO faced internal mismanagement and strategic missteps, resulting in substantial financial losses. An internal audit revealed that some sets were more expensive to produce than their selling price. Diversification efforts into jewelry, clothing, and theme parks diverged from LEGO's core "system in play," exacerbating the company's struggles.

Notable Quotes:

• Nick Martell [34:02]: “You say 5 kroner or 50 kroner.”
• Jack Crivici-Kramer [35:12]: “They were a losing strategy that disconnected LEGO from its foundation.”

9. Resurgence Through Reinvention

In 2004, Jørgen Vig Knudstorp took over as CEO, delivering a candid speech about the company's dire state. He refocused LEGO on its core principles, reducing the number of brick types, divesting from non-essential ventures, and fostering community engagement through initiatives like LEGO Ideas.

Notable Quotes:

• Jack Crivici-Kramer [35:38]: “We are on a burning platform. We are running out of cash. We likely won't survive.”
• Nick Martell [36:33]: “The company also reinvigorates classic LEGO lines like city and space.”

10. Expanding into Media and Digital Integration

LEGO's revival continued with strategic expansions into media, including blockbuster movies like The LEGO Movie and LEGO Batman. These ventures not only reinforced the brand but also integrated digital elements, ensuring LEGO remained relevant in the digital age. The company balanced its digital presence with its traditional brick-making prowess, solidifying its status as a media powerhouse.

Notable Quotes:

• Jack Crivici-Kramer [38:30]: “And they did it all while doubling down on their North Star, the system in play.”
• Nick Martell [39:12]: “The 2014 Lego Movie was a smash global box office hit, bringing in $470 million in tickets sold.”

11. Conclusion: LEGO as the Best Idea Yet

The episode wraps up with reflections on LEGO's journey, emphasizing the importance of adhering to core principles while adapting to market changes. The system in play, which emphasizes interconnectedness and continuous engagement, proved pivotal in LEGO's enduring success.

Notable Quotes:

• Jack Crivici-Kramer [41:18]: “To quote Sun Tzu, in the Art of War, the best defense is a good offense.”
• Nick Martell [42:10]: “You don't go chasing waterfalls. You stick to the rivers and the lakes that you're used to.”

12. Bonus: The Best Facts Yet

The hosts share intriguing LEGO trivia, highlighting facts like LEGO producing over 300 million tires annually, minifigures traveling to Jupiter aboard NASA’s Juno probe, and the meticulous quality control ensuring only 18 pieces per million deviate from standards.

Notable Facts:

• Jack Crivici-Kramer [43:07]:
  • "LEGO is technically the world's biggest tire maker by volume because they produce over 300 million teeny little tires every year."
  • "LEGO minifigures traveled 1.7 billion miles to Jupiter aboard NASA's Juno space probe."
• Nick Martell [43:49]: "LEGO is dedicated to reducing its carbon footprint and being a global citizen because, you know, they're entirely built on plastic."

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Key Takeaways:

1. Resilience and Adaptation: LEGO's ability to rebound from fires, economic downturns, and internal crises underscores its resilience and commitment to innovation.
2. Core Principles Matter: Maintaining the "system in play"—interconnected, versatile bricks that encourage creativity—was pivotal to LEGO's sustained success.
3. Strategic Expansion: Proactive international expansion and strategic partnerships, such as with McDonald's, were instrumental in cementing LEGO's global presence.
4. Community Engagement: Initiatives like LEGO Ideas fostered a loyal fan base, allowing enthusiasts to contribute creatively and feel a sense of ownership.
5. Media Integration: Diversifying into movies, video games, and TV series helped LEGO stay relevant in the digital era while reinforcing its brand identity.

Final Quote:

• Nick Martell [44:40]: “And to think, it all started from a little woodworking shop in the Danish countryside and a family feud over plastic like six fires.”

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Join The Best Idea Yet on the Wondery App or your preferred podcast platform to uncover more inspiring product stories and the bold individuals behind them.

Transcript

[Nick Martell]

Wondery subscribers can listen to the best idea yet, early and ad free. Right now.

[Jack Crevici Kramer]

Join Wondery plus in the Wondery app or on Apple Podcasts.

[Nick Martell]

Wondery. Jack, can I make your ears day? I'm gonna make both of your ears happy.

[Jack Crevici Kramer]

No one's ever asked me that question.

[Nick Martell]

Okay. Okay, you ready? Close your eyes. Close your eyes.

[Jack Crevici Kramer]

All right.

[Nick Martell]

Just trust me on this.

[Jack Crevici Kramer]

I'm listening.

[Nick Martell]

Oh, okay. Jack, do you know what that was? You know what that was?

[Jack Crevici Kramer]

What was? The opening of a can of Coke.

[Nick Martell]

Or you'd think so. That was the opening of a Dr. Pepper, which is a very distinctive ASMR like sound. But once you hear it, you're like, I know exactly what that is.

[Jack Crevici Kramer]

Yeah.

[Nick Martell]

Yeah. You know what I mean?

[Jack Crevici Kramer]

There's some sounds that are just truly satisfying.

[Nick Martell]

They're not just iconic, they're transcendent.

[Jack Crevici Kramer]

I'm actually going back to Chad that thinking about some sounds.

[Nick Martell]

All right, what do you got? What do you got?

[Jack Crevici Kramer]

You know what? I just introduced to Wilder. Hear me One of those swirly twirly straws. And I demonstrated how to blow bubbles into a cup of chocolate milk.

[Nick Martell]

I can hear this right now.

[Jack Crevici Kramer]

Now, it's just the sound of any bubbles.

[Nick Martell]

Everyone's made that sound, but it hits.

[Jack Crevici Kramer]

Harder because you're using that TW straw and you know your cup is overflowing with milk.

[Nick Martell]

But, Jack, there is a third sound here that is the most universal of everything that we just said and anyone has ever heard. You ready?

[Jack Crevici Kramer]

What's the sound? I know exactly what that is.

[Nick Martell]

Yetis. That is not just the sound of two LEGO blocks coming together in that satisfying click. It's the sound of money.

[Jack Crevici Kramer]

Cha Ching.

[Nick Martell]

Because LEGO has become the biggest toy company of all time. Yeti's LEGO success, it comes down to something every product wishes it could have. It short circuits. The hedonic treadmill.

[Jack Crevici Kramer]

Is that like, Peloton's answer to the Happy Meal?

[Nick Martell]

It sounds like it is, Jack. But the hedonic treadmill is the psychological term for how your level of happiness has a baseline. It's why when you finally get that promotion you've been after or the car.

[Jack Crevici Kramer]

You'Ve been wanting to buy, you feel.

[Nick Martell]

Incredible for like, a week or two. Then you establish a new, higher baseline happiness.

[Jack Crevici Kramer]

The shiny new thing in your life becomes just another part of your everyday.

[Nick Martell]

Life, goes back to normal, and you're looking for your next dopamine hit. That Yetis is the hedonic treadmill. And it's not just adults who fall into this trap. Think about all the big toy crazes. Every holiday season, there's at least one must have toy that all the kids and all the parents are raiding the shelves at Target and Walmart for.

[Jack Crevici Kramer]

In the 90s, your mom tackled Elaine so she could grab your last Tickle Me Elmo on the shelf in aisle six.

[Nick Martell]

But here's the fascinating thing. There is one toy that is immune to the hedonic treadmill. And that toy is lego.

[Jack Crevici Kramer]

LEGO created a toy that, thanks to future purchases of more legos, never gets old. They created a gateway to a lifetime of fun, satisfaction and recurring revenue purchases.

[Nick Martell]

Legos appeal, it transcends age. The only downside is the more you own, the more likely you are to suffer a horrible foot injury on that midnight trip to the bathroom. You've been there. Yeti's legos is in fact the largest toy company in the world, beating Mattel, beating Hasbro, and even beating the McDonald's Happy Meal.

[Jack Crevici Kramer]

But few know that LEGO actually started in a carpenter's workshop in rural denmark in the 1940s.

[Nick Martell]

Today, we're going brick by brick, block by block, ouch by ouch. To tell you the story of LEGO is here. Hey kids, look.

[Jack Crevici Kramer]

It's the toy people. Keep repeat buying down the generations and across language barriers and through franchise tie ins like Star Wars, Harry Potter, Marvel and Minecraft.

[Nick Martell]

And when you're tired of building LEGO Hogwarts or the Home Alone House, you can tear down your builds and recombine them into endless permutations. It is this evergreen appeal that has created the passionate superfan communities of Lego. And it's at the heart of Lego success.

[Jack Crevici Kramer]

In 2023, Lego generated revenue of nearly $10 billion billion. That's enough money to buy you 4.4 million sets of the coveted and discontinued ultimate collector's LEGO Millennium Falcon, which goes.

[Nick Martell]

For a cool $2,000 or more at auction.

[Jack Crevici Kramer]

To put that in a wider market.

[Nick Martell]

Context, I would love for you to do so, Jack.

[Jack Crevici Kramer]

Lego's $10 billion in annual revenue is more than Lululemon, JetBlue, and Door Dash. And it's Double Mattel.

[Nick Martell]

Sit down, stand up and play with your toys again. Because those are numbers you don't mess around with on a play date, man.

[Jack Crevici Kramer]

Across the globe, between 80 and 90 million kids receive a LEGO box every year.

[Nick Martell]

Meanwhile, around 10 million adults buy a box for themselves every year.

[Jack Crevici Kramer]

Guilty. Today we are piecing together the story of LEGO and how its creator, Ole Kirk Christiansen, built it up from a small carpentry business and how his son grew his father's legacy and strategically turned those little plastic bricks into a global obsession.

[Nick Martell]

Besties. We'll hear how Lego survived fires, financial ruin, and even helped arm resistance fighters during World War II. Plus, we'll tell you why you need more than a killer product. You need a theory of winning.

[Jack Crevici Kramer]

There is so much to cover, so let's dive right in to this jumbo sized bucket of Legos.

[Nick Martell]

This yetis is why LEGO is the best idea yet from Wonder and T Boy. I'm Nick Martel.

[Jack Crevici Kramer]

And I'm Jack Crevici Kramer. And this is the best idea yet.

[Nick Martell]

The untold origin stories of the products you're obsessed with and the bold risk takers who brought them to life.

[Jack Crevici Kramer]

I got that feeling again. Something familiar but new. We got it coming to you. I got that feeling again. They changed the game in one move. Here's how they broke all the room. This episode is sponsored by Abbott. Let's talk about a small thing that can make a big difference if you have diabetes. The Freestyle Libre 3 sensor. It's amazing how the sensor gives you real time glucose readings so you can see the impact of every meal and every activity to make better choices. The Freestyle Libre 3 Plus sensor can help you live life with diabetes on your terms. You can try it free at FreestyleLibre US. Offer available for people who qualify. Visit MyFreestyle US to see all terms and conditions. Certain exclusions apply for prescription only. Safety info found @freestylelibre us. It's a pitch dark Nordic midnight. Snow dusts the chocolate box scenery of fir trees and peak roofed wooden houses. Somewhere someone nearby is smoking some Cod Classic Nordics. The crisp silence is broken by the faint clop clop clop of a horse's hooves on a gravel road. It's pulling a wooden flatbed cart with a green canopy and the driver guides the horse and cart into a hollow in the trees and waits. A few minutes pass, then dark figures slip ninja like from the forest and start unloading the cargo of wooden crates. One of the figures opens a crate nestled in sawdust among the wooden toy horses and pull along cars. Inside they see the prize, a bag of hand grenades. They quickly put the lid back on and drag the crate into the trees. As they do so, the moonlight catches the side of the crate, revealing a word in dark stencil. It says Lego.

[Nick Martell]

During the Nazi occupation of Denmark in World War II, Lego helped supply resistance fighters. Think of that legacy the next time you break open a box of Tinkerbell Castle Legos. There's more to the story too, because lego's founder, a Danish carpenter named Ole Kirk Kristiansen, ran this secret supply chain right under the Nazis noses.

[Jack Crevici Kramer]

During the occupation he was forced to house Nazi officers at his family home in the small town of Billund, Denmark. Doing anything to help the resistance was a colossal risk.

[Nick Martell]

Huge risk. Whole life on the line for this.

[Jack Crevici Kramer]

But that didn't stop Olay. He was known for his determination and his optimism.

[Nick Martell]

Optimism is an understatement because even before this uninvited houseguest moves in, life hadn't been kind to Olle. He'd been knocked down more times than the Chumbawamba guy.

[Jack Crevici Kramer]

And nothing kept this guy down. Ole started working as a farmhand when he was 6. And in his spare time he loved to whittle.

[Nick Martell]

I mean pre Game Boy, nothing better than a good whittle Jack. But all that whittling, it led to carpentry.

[Jack Crevici Kramer]

By age 25, Olay had saved enough to open his own workshop. He made household goods like stools and tubs.

[Nick Martell]

Think Bed, bath and beyond. But everything's made of birch.

[Jack Crevici Kramer]

But what Olleh really loved to make was toys. Toys like those pull along animals and the spinning tops. Handcrafted old fashioned wooden toys. The classics. As Olle closed in on 30 years of age, business was going okay. He got married, he had four sons and he started employing more people to keep up with the demand for his wooden creations. But then disaster struck.

[Nick Martell]

A fire tore through Ole's workshop and his family's home. Everything was destroyed. And that wasn't even the worst part.

[Jack Crevici Kramer]

To make matters worse, that fire, it was actually started by two of his sons goofing around with some matches. They were five year old Carl and four year old Gottfried, known to the family as Gott. But Olle built back better. He designed a larger workshop and business picked up. So he hired a handful of more workers. But then the tragedies came thick and fast. By 1932, the Great Depression came. Business dipped. Olay had to lay off his workforce. And that same year his wife died.

[Nick Martell]

Jack, so far we have a devastating fire, we have economic collapse and now we have bereavement. I mean, what more could go wrong for this guy?

[Jack Crevici Kramer]

A lot more actually, but we'll get to that. As we've talked about on this pod before, during times of economic depression, people need fun distractions for their kids even more. And since Olay's passion is making toys, he sees opportunity.

[Nick Martell]

This is when Olay decides to make a monumental change. He names his business Play well and Jack My Danish is still a little bit rusty, so could you help me with the Google Translate on this play?

[Jack Crevici Kramer]

Well, abbreviated in Danish is LEGO lego. But Nick, you're not going to believe this. Another fire hit. In 1942. His magical workshop burned to the ground again.

[Nick Martell]

Another. Another fire. Dude, I did not have LEGO disaster on my bingo card for this episode.

[Jack Crevici Kramer]

I feel bad for the guy.

[Nick Martell]

I do too.

[Jack Crevici Kramer]

But he didn't let this bring him down. He rebuilt again. And after World War II, demand for toys was growing. It's around this time that Ole goes to a toy convention in Copenhagen where he's dazzled by a futuristic new material that's being heavily promoted.

[Nick Martell]

Interesting.

[Jack Crevici Kramer]

It's cheaper and more versatile than wood. And Olle thinks this new material has huge potential. Not just because it's less flammable. By the way, I got one word for you. Plastics.

[Nick Martell]

Yetis. During the war, the United States and its allies ramped up production of plastic. It was cheap, it was durable, it was easily cleanable. It was a material that let them quickly make clothes and car parts and combat gear at way lower costs.

[Jack Crevici Kramer]

When the war ended, there was a ton of plastic making capacity, but no end market for plastic.

[Nick Martell]

This meant the field was wide open for innovators to create new plastic products aimed at consumers.

[Jack Crevici Kramer]

And one of those innovators was Ole. He put down 30,000 kroner, or about six months worth of his company's profits, to buy a cutting edge injection molding machine. Here's how it works. It melts down tiny plastic granules and then clamps them into a particular mold under hundreds of tons of pressure.

[Nick Martell]

Sounds fancy.

[Jack Crevici Kramer]

At the end it pops out identical copies of the same item. And now yeties, we gotta pause the.

[Nick Martell]

Pod and sprinkle on some context. Here it is. 1948. Plastics would reign supreme by the 1950s. But right now, plastics are uncommon, unprecedented and unknown. So Olay is taking a huge gamble on a material with no history. That is entrepreneurial risk.

[Jack Crevici Kramer]

Oh, and Olay's sons, they're all grown up at this point and they're helping in the family business. So it's not just Olay.

[Nick Martell]

We've got God who's in line to take over someday. He's the four year old firestarter, by the way.

[Jack Crevici Kramer]

Right, but he's 28 at this point and he's a capable partner to run the business alongside Olay.

[Nick Martell]

Gott has turned out to be more risk averse than his old man. If the old guy is the swashbuckling entrepreneur, then his son got is the Careful bean counter.

[Jack Crevici Kramer]

Their differentiation is their business inclinations.

[Nick Martell]

Oh, Gott is totally against plastic.

[Jack Crevici Kramer]

Gott thinks plastic is a fad. He thinks it's far inferior to wood, and he doesn't even want to touch the stuff.

[Nick Martell]

He's like, give me a Douglas fir or give me death. In fact, Gott's sure that if his dad doesn't stop with this whole plastic obsession, he's gonna bankrupt the entire family business.

[Jack Crevici Kramer]

But those words of caution do not stop father Ole from pushing ahead. After all, he's the patriarch. He makes the decision.

[Nick Martell]

True, true.

[Jack Crevici Kramer]

So he starts making plastic versions of his wooden toys.

[Nick Martell]

There's also something new that Ole wants to experiment with, something too complex to make it scale with wood. It's a sample of a British toy that is supposed Plier gave him colorful plastic bricks that can fasten together to build anything you could imagine.

[Jack Crevici Kramer]

Ole and his son Gott are in the basement of the family home. It's late 1951. Earlier that year, Ole suffered a stroke. So Gott is taking on more responsibility for the company. But when it comes to money, Olay still calls the shots. The basement is a playroom for Got's kids, in particular his four year old son Kjeld. And right now, the kids are building a fort. They're adding a tower here, a drawbridge there, and a small throne at the center. And they're doing it all from the piles of plastic bricks scattered around the floor.

[Nick Martell]

Now, Jack, our boy Got, he has grudgingly come to accept that the plastic bricks, they're here to stay. But he still thinks of them as a small part of all the other toys that LEGO makes.

[Jack Crevici Kramer]

Now, surprisingly, these small bricks from 75 years ago, they're actually a lot like the Legos we know today.

[Nick Martell]

I'm looking at now, Jack. They look almost identical.

[Jack Crevici Kramer]

There are, however, some key differences.

[Nick Martell]

Okay, what do we got? What do we got?

[Jack Crevici Kramer]

The bricks have studs on top, those little circles that you click into, just like the modern lego.

[Nick Martell]

All right, but if you turn the.

[Jack Crevici Kramer]

LEGO over, they're completely hollow on the inside. They don't have those little internal tubes that the circles click into.

[Nick Martell]

Today I feel like I'm seeing a naked lego. Like, I feel like we shouldn't be looking at this part of the LEGO right now.

[Jack Crevici Kramer]

Now, we'll come back to those inner tubes in a bit. Despite that missing detail, these are unmistakably LEGO bricks.

[Nick Martell]

The variety is super limited, though, by today's standards.

[Jack Crevici Kramer]

There's just the basic 2x2 and 2x4 bricks. And they only come in yellow, green, white and red. Oh, and they're not called Legos. They're called Automatic Binding Bricks.

[Nick Martell]

Does more syllables mean more fun? This sounds like the name of a construction business in Brooklyn. You know, like Sal's Automatic Binding Bricks of Bed Stuy.

[Jack Crevici Kramer]

Ole starts making and selling these automatic binding bricks in 1949 based on the samples he got from that British toy supplier, Yetis.

[Nick Martell]

These early Legos are copies of those British bricks invented by a toy maker named Hilary Page. His company, Kiddicraft, didn't have much success with them, but Olle was a believer. And according to Lego, Ole made his version of the bricks with Hilary Page's Blessing. And in 1981 Lego officially bought the rights from Page's descendants to make it all patent official.

[Jack Crevici Kramer]

But back to the early 1950s, Lego's automatic binding bricks were doing eh, okay. The most popular LEGO product at this point is a plain plastic toy tractor.

[Nick Martell]

And this is also when they dropped that catchy name Automatic Binding Brick and rebrand to LEGO Bricks.

[Jack Crevici Kramer]

But Gott, who is much more business minded than his old man is, sees peril on the horizon. For years, Denmark's government has used import restrictions to protect its fragile post war industry. But those protections are about to end.

[Nick Martell]

Gotts worried that the Danish market is about to be flooded by better funded rivals and more impressive toys, potentially even at lower prices.

[Jack Crevici Kramer]

We're talking serious competition, especially from neighboring Germany.

[Nick Martell]

Instead of waiting, he tries to pull off a chess move. He decides to go on the offense and enter the German market before they can beat him on his own turf.

[Jack Crevici Kramer]

It's the classic. The best form of defense is offense.

[Nick Martell]

And there's only one big question. How's he gonna do it?

[Jack Crevici Kramer]

By 1954, with his father's health declining, Gott is running Lego. And where Ole had a happy go lucky approach to business, GoT is a little more serious. He's all about the details and he's looking to get ahead of the game. So he's embarking on lego's international expansion. And he starts with Norway. Sweden and Iceland, they're next. Lego is covering Scandinavia like a svelte cross country skier.

[Nick Martell]

Beautiful.

[Jack Crevici Kramer]

But the real gold medal is Europe's biggest economy, Germany.

[Nick Martell]

Jack, can I sprinkle on a little geopolitical context and hit the whiteboard, please?

[Jack Crevici Kramer]

Yes, and I'll be fact checking you along the way.

[Nick Martell]

Now at this point, Yetis, the eastern half of Germany is behind the Iron Curtain, so Gott is targeting the affluent, democratic West Germany. The country is going through what will.

[Jack Crevici Kramer]

Later be called the Wirtschaftswunder.

[Nick Martell]

I'm glad you jumped in. Or also in translation, the economic miracle of post war investment and rebuilding. The money is flowing like beer at a Bavarian Oktoberfest. And demand for toys, toys in particular, is huge.

[Jack Crevici Kramer]

Gott is hitting toy conventions across Europe to find the right entry point into the German market. One day he's returning from a trade show in England by ferry. He gets talking to the head toy buyer of a big department store. And this guy says something that stops got in his tracks. He's complaining that all the toys he sells in his department store are one offs. And this makes it hard for him to build up repeat business. Yetis, as Jack and I like to.

[Nick Martell]

Say on our daily show, there is nothing better than a return customer profit.

[Jack Crevici Kramer]

Puppies are nice, but repeat rabbits are nicer. Here's the problem though.

[Nick Martell]

Think about traditional toys that you may get. You know, like cars, planes, Hot wheels, Easy Bake ovens. These are standalone products. Your kid, you see one, your parents get it for you, and then a few weeks later, it's at the bottom of your toy box. And the play date has moved on.

[Jack Crevici Kramer]

The hedonic treadmill.

[Nick Martell]

But now I see why God is stopping in his tracks. Because that problem is God's got realizes.

[Jack Crevici Kramer]

There'S one LEGO toy that could be the answer to this problem.

[Nick Martell]

It's those plastic bricks.

[Jack Crevici Kramer]

It's almost impossible to give a kid a few LEGO bricks and not have them build something. Then the kid will probably want to build something bigger, which means their parents will need to buy them more bricks. The more bricks a kid has, the more they play with them. And the more they play with them, the more LEGO they'll ask their parents for.

[Nick Martell]

They get LEGO for their birthday, for Christmas, bar mitzvah. Anytime they can get a gift, they will ask for lego.

[Jack Crevici Kramer]

Every LEGO set a kid gets will work with the sets that they already own.

[Nick Martell]

It short circuits the hedonic treadmill while supercharging demand for the product. And this is when got hops on the LEGO bricks bandwagon. Once he thought plastic would bankrupt the company. Now he thinks plastic will save the company. In fact, he thinks this can help LEGO overtake even the big well funded German toy machine. He also realizes that lego's secret power is how every brick can connect with each other brick. It is a system. And that system puts LEGO above all those other standalone one off toys.

[Jack Crevici Kramer]

He calls it the system in play.

[Nick Martell]

The system in play. It's lego's theory of winning something every successful Product really needs forgot.

[Jack Crevici Kramer]

This system in play is the key to putting LEGO at the top of every kid's wish list and conquering the all important German market.

[Nick Martell]

He just may have found his repeat rabbit. This episode is sponsored by Abbott. Let's talk about a small thing that can make a big difference if you have diabetes. The Freestyle Libre 3 Plus sensor. It's amazing to see how the sensor gives you real time glucose readings so you can see the impact of every meal and activity. To make better choices, the Freestyle Libre 3 Plus sensor can help you live life with diabetes on your terms. You can try it for free at Freestyle Libre US offer available for people who qualify. Visit MyFreestyle US to see all terms and conditions. Certain exclusions apply for prescription only safety info found @freestylelibre us.

[Jack Crevici Kramer]

So Nick, to make inroads into Germany's toy market, LEGO made roads. Literally, they created LEGO products that kids could use to create cities and streets perfect for every Hansel and Gretel who dreamed of driving their father's Porsche one day.

[Nick Martell]

And at the heart of this grand road plan was the LEGO Town Plan.

[Jack Crevici Kramer]

It's a LEGO baseboard with streets drawn on it and studded spaces where you could put the buildings. It comes with LEGO bricks, windows and doors, and instructions for building houses and shops, gas stations and hotels. This is the first LEGO set built with Gott's new system in play as its guiding principle.

[Nick Martell]

And this is wild yetis. But LEGO even got the sets endorsed by Denmark's traffic police as a way to teach kids about road safety. At a time when the use of.

[Jack Crevici Kramer]

Cars was on the rise, legos was DMV approved.

[Nick Martell]

Although we should point out, Jack, that at this point there are no LEGO cars.

[Jack Crevici Kramer]

True, LEGO wouldn't come out with their cars until 1961.

[Nick Martell]

Instead, kids were expected to use like their regular toy cars. As for people, by the way, the LEGO minifigures that we all know and love today wouldn't appear until 1978, but.

[Jack Crevici Kramer]

The Lego Town Plan was launched in 1955. That's when they felt ready for the big time. They hired an army of salespeople and set up a subsidiary across the German border. It was time for LEGO to go on the offensive. And their first target was the port city of Hamburg.

[Nick Martell]

That's right, the German city that broke the Beatles on the international stage did the same for Lego. And yes, there is a Beatles yellow submarine. LEGO set.

[Jack Crevici Kramer]

Toy stores in Hamburg start stocking Lego. But Gott, he's very picky about which German toy stores he Insists that they put up big eye catching LEGO displays in the windows. LEGO also puts together training materials for the toy sellers, teaching them about the system in play.

[Nick Martell]

Now Jack, that's a smart move because when they set up these displays, the store owners get hands on experience with building each lego. Even more importantly, passing kids are spellbound by these huge eye catching displays of like 3 foot lego merry go rounds in the store windows and they drag their parents inside.

[Jack Crevici Kramer]

This all helped LEGO crack the German market. Sales doubled in 1957 and doubled again in 1958. German kids are gaga for Lego and so are the German children's parents.

[Nick Martell]

And that's key, because while kids are the users, parents are the customers, parents are the ones making the actual purchase because the kids only have play money. So LEGO is on track to break into Europe's biggest toy market.

[Jack Crevici Kramer]

But then Gott starts getting angry letters from German toy sellers. They want their money back because the LEGO pieces have a fundamental problem. They're not sticking together.

[Nick Martell]

Suddenly, as soon as LEGO was playing with success, it's now completely under threat. Gott's system of play is literally falling apart. And so are Lego's chances in the all important German Toy Market.

[Jack Crevici Kramer]

By January 1958, Gott has been made managing director Legos. They're available all over Europe.

[Nick Martell]

LEGO looks like it's hitting its stride to keep up with demand. Their headquarters in Denmark now employ 150 staff. They got dedicated manufacturing, design and marketing departments. In 10 years, Leico's gone from one plastic molding machine to 40 of them. And now LEGO is cranking out LEGO bricks faster than Nvidia chips.

[Jack Crevici Kramer]

But all of this progress is in danger. Remember, parents are demanding their money back. If the bricks don't even fit together, the entire system in play is out the window. So now Gott and his designers are desperately trying to come up with a solution to this one major problem.

[Nick Martell]

Now remember we said early LEGO pieces were hollow underneath? Well, not only did those somehow look kind of inappropriate and revealing, they also prevented the pieces from fitting together properly. And that is when Got and his team introduce the tubes. The tubes for the underside of each and every Lego.

[Jack Crevici Kramer]

Adding them gives the studs at the top of each brick something to connect with.

[Nick Martell]

And you know what, Jack? It's not just something to connect with, it's something to hear with.

[Jack Crevici Kramer]

It's these tubes that result in the satisfying click when you push two bricks together. The tubes also mean that the bricks will stay together until you pull them apart. LEGO has a special term for this. It's called clutch power.

[Nick Martell]

First of all, Jack, love that term, filing it away. But second, the clicking noise. You know Lego, they take those clicks really, really seriously.

[Jack Crevici Kramer]

The clicks are there because of a firm fit between two Legos. And that's why LEGO is one of the most precision engineered toys in the world.

[Nick Martell]

The molds of LEGO are accurate to within 0.005 millimeters. What? Jack, you got to sprinkle on some context for us.

[Jack Crevici Kramer]

A millimeter is already crazy tiny.

[Nick Martell]

It is, it is.

[Jack Crevici Kramer]

We're talking 5,000th of a millimeter, which.

[Nick Martell]

Is the size of a red blood cell. So precise, in fact, that only 18 pieces per a million LEGO fail to meet their quality standard.

[Jack Crevici Kramer]

This newfound clutch power saves lego. So Gott files a patent for the new studs and tubes design, then immediately stops making the old style bricks.

[Nick Martell]

And that innovation is when LEGO bricks as we know them are truly born.

[Jack Crevici Kramer]

In a brand new LEGO plant in Billund, Gott is standing in front of a crowd of smiling workers. The white walls contrast with the huge tubs of brightly colored plastic beads that will become legos someday. When the foreman blows his whistle, the workers will spring into action and pour the beads into the gleaming new plastic molding machines. It's 1961, three years since Gott created the new and improved LEGO brick. It saved the company. They've got hockey stick growth in their sales right now.

[Nick Martell]

The sales are going Gretzky, baby.

[Jack Crevici Kramer]

And LEGO is well on the way to achieving cherished toy status all across Europe. But there was also tragedy during this time. Olle, the LEGO patriarch, has passed away. And then, I'm not kidding, another fire.

[Nick Martell]

Okay, besties. For anyone counting at home, we're up to three fires now.

[Jack Crevici Kramer]

This one struck the warehouse that held LEGO stock of wooden toys, destroying most of them. But Lego's plastic division is unharmed. Some reports say that the fire was started by a lightning strike.

[Nick Martell]

Or perhaps it was the unseen hand of Olle trying to put an end to the wooden toy side of the business.

[Jack Crevici Kramer]

And by this point, Got isn't going to resist it. No, he can't see any place for wooden toys and lego's system in play. So he ditches the wooden toy division once and for all.

[Nick Martell]

I mean, Jack, this feels like when Netflix destroyed their final dvd.

[Jack Crevici Kramer]

It's a major turning of the page moment for Got. He's also all in on Lego. He buys his brothers out of the business so that he can pursue his vision. And that vision is going extremely well. By 1961, over 11,000 toy stores in.

[Nick Martell]

Europe stocked Lego, they're turning plastic into gold. Figuratively.

[Jack Crevici Kramer]

In 1965, Gawk kicks off product development for a new range of toys to appeal to more ages. One of them is Technic Lego, aimed at older kids.

[Nick Martell]

Oh, and then they also bring out bricks for toddlers who aren't like quite ready for, you know, regular choking hazard Legos.

[Jack Crevici Kramer]

Yeah, these bricks are double the size, so they're named Duplo for double good Danish.

[Nick Martell]

Now there is another huge thing that happens from the company. In the 1960s, Lego looks beyond Europe to expand. Next stop, America. Cue the Statue of Liberty.

[Jack Crevici Kramer]

LEGO wrapping paper is strewn across a burnt orange shag carpet. An eight year old boy is sitting next to a haphazard pile of toys. An X Wing Starfighter, a Fisher Price toolkit, and a bunch of Hungry Hungry Hippos.

[Nick Martell]

I got a scar on my pinky from a Hungry Hungry Hippo game with my sister in 1998.

[Jack Crevici Kramer]

But the boy, he holds up a book shaped gift up to his head and gives it a shake. He hears the magical clatter of small plastic bricks. So he tears off the wrapping paper to find a box of the hottest new lego, the Space Command Center. You smell that?

[Nick Martell]

Yule?

[Jack Crevici Kramer]

All Yetis.

[Nick Martell]

It's Christmas morning, 1978 and Legos are in the stockings, baby.

[Jack Crevici Kramer]

LEGO made a major impression on American kids, thanks to the new Town Castle and Spacelines. All these were part of the new system within the system developed by Gott's son, Kjeld Kirk Christiansen, the same grandson who used to play with LEGO in Olle's basement.

[Nick Martell]

A system within a system. I'm sorry, but I feel like we're getting hit with a little LEGO inception here. But Jack, there was a logic to this that even Christopher Nolan would admire. Because all LEGO was still compatible. The system in play is honored.

[Jack Crevici Kramer]

These sets also introduce the classic LEGO minifigures that have since become the literal faces of lego.

[Nick Martell]

Yeah, and they give LEGO so much character. And of course they paved the way for huge hits like the LEGO Movie. It's actually hard to imagine LEGO without those little cute yellow guys, you know. And of course these LEGO men and women's heads, they had a bump perfect to stick a brick onto.

[Jack Crevici Kramer]

Believe in the system. In 1979, Kjeld Kirk Christiansen takes over as Lego's CEO, just in time for Lego's breakout decade in the U.S. and.

[Nick Martell]

That surge in popularity. It's also thanks in part to a very particular partnership with the perfect platform to launch Lego.

[Jack Crevici Kramer]

McDonald's.

[Nick Martell]

Yeah, McDonald's.

[Jack Crevici Kramer]

The 1980s saw not one, not two, but three Lego Happy Meal tie ins. This partnership gave away a total of 37 million bricks to Happy Meal buyers. In fact, there are more LEGO Happy meals in the 1990s and beyond. But it's those early ones that really helped introduce millions of American kids to Legos for the first time.

[Nick Martell]

And by the 1980s, 95% of Americans are familiar with the Lego brand. That is brand awareness. You can't print on a plastic mold, Jack.

[Jack Crevici Kramer]

By 1994, it has 80% of the toy construction market.

[Nick Martell]

Yeah, sorry, Lincoln line.

[Jack Crevici Kramer]

Although that is a narrowly defined market we're describing here.

[Nick Martell]

But it's not too shabby. In fact, LEGO is doing huge business all over the world, selling in 60,000 stores in more than 130 countries. By 1994, Lego's global revenue tops $1.4 billion.

[Jack Crevici Kramer]

From the outside, everything looks fantastic, but.

[Nick Martell]

On the inside, it was all about to come tumbling down like Jenga.

[Jack Crevici Kramer]

Yetis. It's another Christmas scene. There's still wrapping paper, but this time it's strewn across a low pile beige carpet. And a young girl sits among a stack of open gifts. A special edition Pokemon, a Game Boy color.

[Nick Martell]

And I think that Tamagotchi is like giving me the stink eye over there, Jack.

[Jack Crevici Kramer]

That's right, Yetis. Get ready to party like it's Christmas 1999. The girl eagerly tears into her next gift to reveal the LEGO Naboo Swamp set, complete with a Jar Jar Binks minifigure. Star Wars LEGO has arrived.

[Nick Martell]

Big moment here, because this is the first ever LEGO line based on outside ip. That set that Jack just mentioned, it's actually a tie in with Phantom Menace, the Fourth Star wars movie.

[Jack Crevici Kramer]

Or the first Star wars movie, depending on how you're counting.

[Nick Martell]

Thank you, Luke. But the key here is that because it's 1999, more than 50 years into Lego Story, it is the very first time they've now licensed movie characters for their sets.

[Jack Crevici Kramer]

Another fun fact that Jar Jar Binks minifigure.

[Nick Martell]

Yeah.

[Jack Crevici Kramer]

Was the first ever to have a customized head created for them.

[Nick Martell]

The most hated Star wars character of all time gets the first custom LEGO head.

[Jack Crevici Kramer]

He really must have been a Sith Lord.

[Nick Martell]

But when it comes to LEGO innovation, he blazes more trails than a pod race in the hot Tatooine sun.

[Jack Crevici Kramer]

The Star wars tie in helped reignite interest in Lego. And LEGO needed it because LEGO was.

[Nick Martell]

In a really rough spot at this point.

[Jack Crevici Kramer]

In 1998, they posted their very first annual loss. $38 million lost. And they had to lay off close to a thousand of their 10,000 employees.

[Nick Martell]

What Jack and I are saying is that while we were growing up, lego's numbers were actually going down.

[Jack Crevici Kramer]

And why? Well, some fundamental management problems. Actually an internal audit uncovered the mind blowing fact that no one in the company knew the manufacturing costs for a lot of their LEGO sets.

[Nick Martell]

You say 5 kroner or 50 kroner.

[Jack Crevici Kramer]

Some were actually costing more to produce than they were selling for.

[Nick Martell]

Jack, this is unit economics 101. Like if you don't know how much something costs to make, how can you price it? Right.

[Jack Crevici Kramer]

Bob Barker would be freaking out right now.

[Nick Martell]

He would be Yetis. By 2003, sales were down 30% and Lego was $800 million in debt. The only sets that sold well were the franchise tie ins like Star wars and Harry Potter.

[Jack Crevici Kramer]

And for those sets, they had to give a cut of the sales to the movie studios.

[Nick Martell]

So LEGO is now in trouble. And we haven't even entered the digital era of kids eating dinner with their phones and lying around with tablets in their hands.

[Jack Crevici Kramer]

True, but the traditional toy industry was facing competition at the time from video games.

[Nick Martell]

Yeah. So LEGO did what any business does when it's faced with an existential problem.

[Jack Crevici Kramer]

They paid for really expensive consultants.

[Nick Martell]

Yeah, Lego, they called it. A host of business consultants who put together a lot of PowerPoint decks and advised them to diversify beyond bricks.

[Jack Crevici Kramer]

So LEGO tried introducing new lines like jewelry and clothing and expanded into theme parks too. They're basically ditching the core strategy in their DNA, the system in play. Their theory of winning and losing your company is the first step in getting totally lost at sea. LEGO is about to learn this.

[Nick Martell]

And it's going to hurt because in 2004 it actually gets worse. Lego hosts a loss of $320 million and Kjeld resigns as CEO. A 36 year old who had only been with Lego for three years named Jorgen Vikenuderstrup takes over. And his first job is to rally the troops. And Jorgen's speech includes these stirring words.

[Jack Crevici Kramer]

We are on a burning platform. We are running out of cash. We likely won't survive. I can't believe you said that.

[Nick Martell]

I've never heard that like these Danes. They are right to the point. Jack, I don't know about coach over there.

[Jack Crevici Kramer]

It wasn't the most upbeat speech we've ever heard.

[Nick Martell]

Not exactly a pep talk. But Jorgen goes to work doubling down on the system in play. To cut costs and complexity. He reduces the number of individual pieces lego makes from 13,000 to 6,500. And he sells off the theme parks and he stops making LEGO jewelry and clothes. He also encourages the company executives to come up with ways to get LEGO fans more involved in the company. This includes the LEGO Ideas platform where fans submit their own designs for new.

[Jack Crevici Kramer]

LEGO sets, which is still going on today. If a design gets 10,000 votes, Lego will review the design and if they approve it, the creator gets a share of the profit.

[Nick Martell]

Really cool.

[Jack Crevici Kramer]

Winning ideas have included the DeLorean from back to the Future, the female NASA scientist set, and even the Home Alone house from Home Alone.

[Nick Martell]

The company also reinvigorates classic LEGO lines like city and space. And they launch entirely new themes, the biggest hit being the ninja themed Ninjago.

[Jack Crevici Kramer]

Ninjas, Nunchucks and skeleton bad guys.

[Nick Martell]

I mean, Jack had his that miss.

[Jack Crevici Kramer]

When Ninjago sets launched in 2011. They were an instant success. Lego sales jumped by 20%.

[Nick Martell]

Yeah, it was actually only meant to be a limited edition, but it's still going strong today.

[Jack Crevici Kramer]

Here's another brilliant move that LEGO made.

[Nick Martell]

Let's hear it, Jack.

[Jack Crevici Kramer]

This time, to win over adults. They unlocked the cadult market by letting adults express their passion through their bricks.

[Nick Martell]

Jack, is travel your thing? How about a 2,500 piece rotating globe?

[Jack Crevici Kramer]

Or if you're more the artsy type, maybe you get a LEGO Warhol or a LEGO Van Gogh for your wall.

[Nick Martell]

For architecture aficionados, there's Notre Dame, the Taj Mahal and the Eiffel Tower. Space enthusiasts, they get the NASA Artemis space launch system or the Perseverance Mars rover, which are also pretty expensive.

[Jack Crevici Kramer]

Now LEGO has always marketed to grown ups to convince them to buy bricks for their kids.

[Nick Martell]

Remember, parents were technically the real customers.

[Jack Crevici Kramer]

But now parents are just the customers.

[Nick Martell]

Oh, nostalgia, it's a heck of a drug. And those sets for kidd alts, they're a profit puppy because the cost per block the unit economics, it's the same as a kid set. But adults have a higher willingness to pay for that kidult set. Now, other kid focused brands, they've also moved to catch the kidult dollar. Notably Disney broadening its adult appeal with Star wars and Marvel and Barbie with the Barbie movie.

[Jack Crevici Kramer]

Even for Build a Bear, the adorable teddy bear company, 40% of their sales were two adults in 2023.

[Nick Martell]

And yetis this entire kid Al revolution, it began with Lego. This all helped put out the fires on Lego's burning platform. And between 2008 and 2010, Lego's profits quadrupled. So Lego, they got some swagger back and they started pivoting from the toy industry to the media industry. And this is the interesting twist, because what LEGO is pulling off now is adapting just in time for the digital era, their biggest existential threat.

[Jack Crevici Kramer]

And they did it all while doubling down on their North Star, the system in play.

[Nick Martell]

Instead of getting slammed by screens, LEGO found a way to make screens part of that system in play. We could build a submarine.

[Jack Crevici Kramer]

That submarine, patent pending.

[Nick Martell]

With the rainbows and dream catchers in.

[Jack Crevici Kramer]

Case we take a nap.

[Nick Martell]

What an underwater spaceship.

[Jack Crevici Kramer]

The 2014 Lego Movie was a smash global box office hit, bringing in $470 million in tickets sold.

[Nick Martell]

The fourth highest grossing movie of the year.

[Jack Crevici Kramer]

Not bad considering they were going up against Guardians of the Galaxy, Captain America and the Hunger Games.

[Nick Martell]

Oh, and that was followed by the LEGO Batman and Ninjago movies in 2017 and the Lego Movie Part 2 in 2019.

[Jack Crevici Kramer]

There have also been Lego animated TV series and a live action building competition, Lego Masters TV Show.

[Nick Martell]

Oh, and they didn't stop there, because then they pivoted into the video game industry. LEGO games came into their own in 2005 with the Lego Star wars video game.

[Jack Crevici Kramer]

After that, we got the LEGO game tie ins with Harry Potter, Jurassic park and more.

[Nick Martell]

And to tie it all in together, they leaned heavily into community building, online and offline.

[Jack Crevici Kramer]

There's over a thousand LEGO stores worldwide with hands on play areas, community events and interactive displays.

[Nick Martell]

If you're looking for a good date night, head on over to the LEGO store.

[Jack Crevici Kramer]

But when the Pandemic hit, LEGO put away the director's chair and unplugged the Internet router. It was back to its brick making roots.

[Nick Martell]

The COVID 19 pandemic saw a surge in LEGO sales as people use LEGO to beat the lockdown cabin fever. It was tough being isolated. But you know what? At least you can make a lego version of SpongeBob's bikini box.

[Jack Crevici Kramer]

Lego was digital when you were on your screens and it's analog when you're not tech.

[Nick Martell]

It didn't disrupt Lego, it just gave LEGO another business line, Bessies. Today, LEGO is the world's biggest Toy brand with $10 billion in annual sales.

[Jack Crevici Kramer]

That is twice as much sales as Mattel and Hasbro, the other big toy companies.

[Nick Martell]

Oh, and technically, the way we see it, Lego's really a full on media company because it's got theme parks, movies and video games as a core driver of growth.

[Jack Crevici Kramer]

And to think, it all started from a little woodworking shop in the Danish countryside and a family feud over plastic like six fires.

[Nick Martell]

So Jack, now that you've heard the incredible story of lego. It is time to clean up our bricks and share our takeaways. So what's your takeaway on lego?

[Jack Crevici Kramer]

To quote Sun Tzu, in the Art of War, the best defense is a good offense. Back in the late 1950s, Lego knew their window of exclusivity in Denmark was was ending and that the Germans would make a move. Instead of waiting for that German move, LEGO went on the offense by introducing their legos in Germany. And it worked.

[Nick Martell]

Oh, it totally worked.

[Jack Crevici Kramer]

LEGO flipped the narrative. Suddenly, German toy makers were on the defense from a Danish threat coming from the north.

[Nick Martell]

All right, Jack, as you say that, I also want to point out the brilliance of the first product line from LEGO introduced in Germany. The city models with the streets, the highways, the bridges and the tunnels, Right? Yeah, yeah, yeah. This touched on the autobahn and car culture unique to Germany.

[Jack Crevici Kramer]

They use Germany's passions to break into the market.

[Nick Martell]

Like Sun Tzu wrote in the Art of War, the best defense really is a good offense.

[Jack Crevici Kramer]

So, Nick, what's your takeaway?

[Nick Martell]

So, Jack, I'm going to take us from Sun Tzu to tlc. You ready for this? Here we go. Yetis, you don't go chasing waterfalls. You stick to the rivers and the lakes that you're used to. Here's how that fits into Lego. They lost their way in the late 90s and the early 2000s because they abandoned their winning formula, the system in play, and that is what had brought them success. Instead, they were chasing waterfalls. Yeah, too many types of bricks. The, like, jewelry stuff that was all.

[Jack Crevici Kramer]

Distractions, as TLC would put it. LEGO got a natural obsession for temptation.

[Nick Martell]

And those distractions were just scrubs.

[Jack Crevici Kramer]

But it later found its way again and it returned to the system in play.

[Nick Martell]

Because I don't want no scrub. But, besties, we are not done yet. It is time for our favorite part of the show.

[Jack Crevici Kramer]

The best facts yet.

[Nick Martell]

All our favorite tidbits and factoids that we couldn't fit into the story, but we couldn't leave you without.

[Jack Crevici Kramer]

I'm going to kick it off.

[Nick Martell]

You got it, Jack.

[Jack Crevici Kramer]

LEGO is technically the world's biggest tire maker by volume because they produce over 300 million teeny little tires every year.

[Nick Martell]

Michelin man. Who?

[Jack Crevici Kramer]

Here's another one. Lego. Minifigures of the Roman God Jupiter, his wife Juno and the scientist Galileo traveled 1.7 billion miles to Jupiter aboard NASA's Juno space probe.

[Nick Martell]

Oh, and Jack, if you think stepping on your son's LEGO is bad, listen to this. The world record for A barefoot walk over lego bricks is 29,195ft and 10.

[Jack Crevici Kramer]

To be clear, we're talking about someone who walked about five miles on a river of LEGO pieces with bare feet.

[Nick Martell]

And Jack, we should point out that LEGO is dedicated to reducing its carbon footprint and being a global citizen because, you know, they're entirely built on plastic.

[Jack Crevici Kramer]

In 2023, Lego abandoned a plan to use plastic made from recycled bottles. Part of the problem that recycled plastic wasn't wasn't durable enough to meet Lego's exacting quality standards.

[Nick Martell]

But Lego is still aiming to make half its bricks with renewable materials by 2026.

[Jack Crevici Kramer]

On average, it takes 37,000 clicks and unclicks for a typical LEGO brick to get damaged.

[Nick Martell]

And on that note, Jack, I'm gonna have to go full Beethoven and just whip you up a click symphony. And that's why Eddie's LEGO is really the Best Idea yet.

[Jack Crevici Kramer]

Coming up in the next episode of the Best Idea Yet. What time do you got, Nick?

[Nick Martell]

One sec, Jack. Let me just check my watch. That saved the entire Swiss timepiece industry.

[Jack Crevici Kramer]

Next up, we're covering the story of Swatch. Follow the Best Idea yet on the Wondery app, Amazon Music, or wherever you get your podcasts. You can listen to every episode of the Best Idea yet early and ad free right now by joining Wondery plus in the Wondery app or on Apple Podcasts.

[Nick Martell]

Before you go, tell us about yourself by filling out a short [e-mail] survey. The best idea yet is a production of Wondery hosted by me, Nick Martel.

[Jack Crevici Kramer]

And me, Jack Crevici Kramer.

[Nick Martell]

And hey, if you have a product you're obsessed with, but you wish you knew the backstory story, drop us a comment. We'll look into it for you. Oh, and don't forget to rate and review the podcast five stars. That helps grow the show.

[Jack Crevici Kramer]

Our senior producers are Matt Beagle and Chris Gautier.

[Nick Martell]

Matt Wise is our producer.

[Jack Crevici Kramer]

Our senior managing producer is Nick Ryan. And Taylor Sniffin is our managing producer.

[Nick Martell]

Our associate producer and researcher is H. Conley.

[Jack Crevici Kramer]

This episode was written and produced by Adam Skuse.

[Nick Martell]

Special thanks to Adam Asaroff.

[Jack Crevici Kramer]

Sound design and mixing by Kelly Kremerick.

[Nick Martell]

Fact checking by Molly Arch. We used many sources in our research. A few that were essential for this.

[Jack Crevici Kramer]

Episode were the Lego story by Jens Anderson, the official Lego website and Brick by Brick by David Robertson. Music supervision by Scott Velazquez and Jolina Garcia for Frisson Sync.

[Nick Martell]

Our theme song is Got that Feeling Again by Blackalac. Executive producers for Nick and Jack Studios are me, Nick Martell and me, Jack Revici Kramer. Executive producers for Wondery are Dave East, Jenny lauer, Beckman, Aaron O'Flaherty and Marshall Louie.