1. 英国大学 marketing strategy mangement report 的 sample 适合英国商业管
理课程的留学生用，主要 Lego (Case study)分析如何应用 marketing 来推广
并在激烈的市场竞争中获得它今天的地位
Background of the Company
LEGO was founded by Ole Kirk Christiansen in 1934. The name LEGO was
taken from two Danish words – LEG and GODT, which mean „play well‟. Play
is considered as an important element in the development of a child. Play
stimulates imagination, encourages creative expression and facilitates the
emergence of ideas. LEGO believes that „good play‟ enriches a child‟s life and
its subsequent adulthood. LEGO Group has developed and marketed a wide
range of products, all founded on the same basic philosophy of learning and
developing through play.
Global Marketing Communications Plan
Marketing communication is the collective term for all communication
functions used in marketing a product. The purpose of marketing
communications is to add persuasive value to a product for customers
(Kitchen and de Pelsmacker 2004, p. 20). Yeshin (1998, p. 3) defines
marketing communication as the process by which the marketer develops and
presents an appropriate set of communications stimuli to a defined target
audience with the intention of eliciting a desired set of responses.
Organizations who utilize marketing communication often use different tools
such as advertising, public relations (PR), sales promotions, direct marketing,
personal selling, and internet marketing. Together these tools make up the
marketing communication mix. Each component of the mix has a specific task
to achieve and the message is greatly enhanced if it is reinforced by other
tools in the mix (Yeshin 1998 cited in Kitchen and de Pelsmacker 2004, p. 20).
LEGO‟s Marketing Communication Message
The company is founded on the philosophy of „good play‟. Good play
according to LEGO enriches a child‟s life – and its subsequent adulthood
(LEGO Group 2009). Therefore, the basic principle of LEGO which will be
reflected on its global communication strategy is centered on „learning and
developing through play‟. The marketing communications message that will
be sent to the target audience for the global marketing communication
strategy is „learning and developing through play‟. This message will include
the different attributes of the LEGO brand namely creativity, innovation, fun,
play, and imagination.
LEGO Posterscapes
In 2005, an advertising campaign for LEGO in the form of postercapes made
a stir in Chile. The idea behind the postercapes is to bring LEGO to life. The
posters for LEGO as shown below made chunks of the everyday environment

2. appear as if they were constructed from LEGO. These posters made use of
modern technology to make powerful, attention-grabbing environmental
illusion. These posters continue to be circulated on the internet as something
that attract attention and awaken creativity. The project, which was launched
in Santiago Chile, was composed of two formats. The first relied on blending
in with a landscape people were familiar with, and catching people out with
the image of missing LEGO bricks as pedestrians and drivers passed by
(Springer 2007).
These type of posters that capture the interest of those that see them can be
used in a more global scale by the company. The marketing and advertising
department of LEGO can use posterscapes as an advertising tool. The
posterscapes can be strategically located in different key cities around the
world. These poeterscapes can be used to communicate the core values and
attributes of LEGO brand which are creativity, innovation, play, fun and
imagination.
Exhibitions and Trade Shows
Exhibitions and trade shows will provide an opportunity for LEGO to display
and demonstrate its products. These events can also be used by LEGO to
communicate with consumers and potential purchasers, bringing the brand
and the products closer to them.
Public Relations
Marketing public relations is defined by Harris (1993) as the process of
planning, executing and evaluating programs that encourage purchase and
consumer satisfaction through credible communications of information and
impressions that identify companies and their products with the needs, wants
and concerns and interests of the consumers. Griswold (1995) defines public
relations as the management function, which evaluates public attitudes,
identifies the policies and procedures of an individual or an organization with
the public interest, and plans and executes a program of action to earn public
understanding and acceptance.
LEGO Community Support
As part of the global communication campaign of LEGO, it can use various
public relations strategies. One of these is supporting LEGO communities of
fans and hobbyists. LEGO must intensify its support to local and international
clubs and exhibitions where members showcase their creative designs.
LEGO Inside Tour
As part of the company‟s global marketing communication strategy, LEGO
can sponsor similar programs and events. These programs should center on
education and should provide opportunities for LEGO products to be
promoted. LEGO can also sponsor an competition in which different
participants from around the world can participate. The international

3. competition can follow the same format as the FIRST in which LEGO products
can be used by the participants in creating solutions for world issues. In order
to ensure that this will become a key element of LEGO‟s global marketing
communication strategy, the international competition can be held in different
country each year.
Sponsorships is an important tool in the global marketing communication of
LEGO because it has the potential to develop a strong image in consumers‟
minds. Sponsorships also allow LEGO to promote its products and to
strengthen its core values and philosophy and connecting them with the
needs of the consumers and issues that concern them.
Internet Marketing
The internet can be used to send messages, transfer data, monitor news and
opinions, search and browse, and post, host and present information (Keeler
1995). Because of these, the internet is now considered as a powerful
marketing tool. LEGO can make use of the internet to communicate with the
consumers. The primary internet communication tool that LEGO uses is its
website. Opportunities for LEGO to communicate with the consumers abound.
LEGO.com
LEGO.com is the official website of the LEGO Group. The aim of the website
if to create a virtual LEGO universe in which users can enjoy one of the most
intense LEGO experiences. The website is also used by the Group as a place
for children, parents and LEGO fans of all ages can play and learn about
LEGO Group values and ideas through games, stories, activities and
experiences (LEGO 2008). The LEGO.com website will still be a key element
in the company‟s internet marketing in the succeeding years. The website can
be employed to update the consumers about LEGO‟s new products.
LEGOfactory.com
The LEGO Group now gives children the opportunity to build their own virtual
models on the computer and then have the bricks to the physical LEGO
model sent by post. At LEGOfactory.com children and other building
enthusiasts can build virtual LEGO models using the professional software
application, LEGO Digital Designer (LEGO 2008).
Builders of Tomorrow
LEGO‟s website, „builders of tomorrow‟ can also be used in the global
marketing communication strategy. The website is important in reaching
parents, especially mothers and encourage them to educate their children
using LEGO products. The builders of tomorrow campaign must continue its
objective of helping parents in choosing toys for their children. The website
must continue to offer advice and tips to parents on playtime. The website can
also be used to promote LEGO products and communicate to the parents the
benefits of learning and playing with LEGO. Through the builders of tomorrow

4. website, the company can communicate the core values and philosophy of
LEGO. It can also be used to strengthen the image of LEGO as a “good play”
toy.
Relationship Marketing
Relationship marketing is a concept that stresses the importance of
developing long-term win-win relationships with prospects and customers. It is
a marketing communications approach that is aimed at establishing profitable
relationships with loyal customers. Relationship marketing according to
Duncan (2002) is marketing seen as relationships, network and interaction. It
is aimed at establishing long-term relationships with customers.
The relationship marketing strategy of LEGO will focus on the different play
materials that it offers based on the market segments. The play materials that
LEGO offers are:
1. Play materials (0-5) consists of LEGO Primo (sets of toys for children from
birth to 36 months) and LEGO Duplo which targets basic bricks and themed
sets at children in the 18 month to six-years old age group.
2. Play materials (4-9) is aimed at am older age group. The traditional LEGO
Basic and LEGO System, which has more than 150 different sets based on a
range of themes designed to appeal to boys. Included in this segment are
Znap, Scala, and System Belville.
3. Play materials (7-16+) pffers a range of LEGO Technic products, based on
a technical design and construction system. This has recently been joined by
LEGO MIndstorms, a new kind of system using a microcomputer which allows
children and adults to build robots that are capable of moving.
Strengthening Lego‟s Brand Image and Reputation
LEGO group has embarked on a research in order to find out how consumers
connect with the LEGO brand. In conjunction with LEGO‟s revision of brand
architecture, the company did a research, which aimed to study how
consumers see and connect with the LEGO brand. It has been found through
research that consumers‟ images of the LEGO brand differed by market
segment. European and North American consumers view LEGO as a highly
trusted brand that is creative. The Asian and Latin American consumers, on
the other hand, view LEGO as an innovative and fun brand.
In order for the company to dig deeper into the differing opinions of
consumers and to have more understanding of how parents and children
connect with the brand, the Global Branding unit initiated ethnographic studies
of families with children in many locations around the world. These studies
reveal that in every culture, play is an important aspect of childhood
development and of life. The studies also reveal that parents and children
associate the LEGO brand with bricks, construction, creativity, imagination,
and the experiences of authenticity and autonomy.

5. In order to strengthen LEGO‟s brand image and reputation, the company
started its corporate branding strategy in the 90s. Corporate branding, simply
defined, is the use of one corporate brand for all products. Corporate branding
focuses attention on the company (Iacobuccid 2001). This is applicable for
experiential brands such as LEGO.
LEGO was a strong umbrella brand, guiding the company though extensive
international growth as well as product innovation. However, in the 1980s and
the 1990s, brand extensions and product sub-categories have resulted to a
fragmented LEGO brand. In order to deal with the challenges facing LEGO of
maintaining the company heritage and at the same time allowing continuous
innovation and expansion, the company employed a corporate brand strategy.
The corporate brand strategy of LEGO was made up of 4 cycles. The first
cycle focused on stating the foundation for the corporate brand and linking it
to corporate vision. The second cycle focused on linking vision to culture and
image. The third cycle focused on involving stakeholders through culture and
image. Lastly, the fourth cycle focused on integrating vision, culture and
image (Schultz and Hatch 2003).
In the next three years, corporate branding will remain as a strategy to
strengthen the LEGO brand and the reputation of the company. In the next
three years the LEGO brand will create a strong image and reputation in the
minds of the consumers by the different offerings of the company. The
company will still focus on the consumer experience with LEGO that serves
as communicator of the LEGO brand. Consumer experience is categorized
into:
Explore – where young children explore themselves and the world
around them through play;
Make and Create – where consumers engage in construction and
building processes creating their own universe;
Stories and Action – where consumers involve themselves in
predefined stories, characters or universes
NEXT – where consumers find the most innovative construction play
material that go considerably beyond the brick.
It is important that throughout the consumer experience, the core values of
LEGO are communicated to the consumers. Strengthening the LEGO brand
also requires strengthening LEGO organizational culture. The brand values
must also be communicated to the employees. The employees must embrace
the organizational culture. The organizational culture must be founded on the
core values of LEGO. The core values of LEGO that will be communicated to
the employees and will be embedded to the organizational culture are self-
expression, endless ideas, playful learning, active fun and trust. These are the
core values that will be promoted to the employees. The organization will
encourage the employees to display these core values in their work.
Market Research Approaches

6. As part of the company‟s 3-year global marketing communication campaign,
market research must be aligned with the goals and objectives of the
company. The primary purpose of market research according to Baines and
Chansarkar (2002) is to gather information which will allow a company of an
organization to make better, more informed decisions. Market research is
closely linked to the marketing concept as it implies a customer focus, that the
customer is central to the activities of the company, and the opinions of the
customer are highly valued and useful aid in decision-making (p. 4). The
Market Research Society of the United Kingdom defines market research as
“the collection and analysis of data from a sample of individual or
organizations relating to their characteristics, behavior, attitudes, opinions or
possessions. It includes all forms of marketing and social research such as
consumers and industrial surveys, psychological investigations, observational
and panel studies” (MRS 2000 cited in Baines and Chansarkar 2002).
In order to LEGO‟s market research to be successful, the company must
become more consumer-centric. The company must focus its research
initiatives on the consumers rather than its competitors. Discussed below are
some of the market research methods that LEGO can use in its 3-year global
marketing communication strategy.
Focus Groups
Focus groups or group discussions is one of the most popular form of market
research. A focus group according to Baines and Chansarkar (2002) is an
informal discussion conducted with approximately eight to twelve people who
are assembled by a business or research agency to discuss some aspect of
marketing. They are usually conducted for consumer research purposes (p.
67). The focus group research method can be used by LEGO in assessing
and studying consumer preferences, needs and wants. Focus groups can be
used by LEGO to determine which products and product features must be
developed and improved. According to Baines and Chansarkar (2002), focus
groups can be assembled to discuss the following:
1. New product concepts, or proposed product changes
2. Changes in customer tastes and requirements
3. Individual marketing mix issues
4. Advertising concepts and copy to determine its receipts among the
intended audience
5. Branding issues
in-depth Interview

7. Another popular market research method is in-depth interview. An interview is
concerned with gaining insights and determining meaning from an
interactional relationship between interviewer and interviewee. In-depth
interview is the communication between an interviewer and the individual
participants. In-depth interviews may be conducted in the home of the
interviewee. In-depth interviews usually lasts for an hour and the interviewer
may ask open-ended questions. The objective of the in-depth interview is to
probe the respondent‟s answers in order to identify underlying reasons and
motivations. A pre-structured questionnaire is not used as it is in survey
research. The interviewer is free to let the respondent explore a number of
issues related to the central themes of the questions (Baines and Chansarkar
2002).
Like focus groups, the data that can be gathered in in-depth interviews tend to
be subjective. In-depth interviews are helpful in gaining knowledge of what the
consumers‟ opinions are. However, the interviewer cannot solely rely on the
results of the in-depth interviews. In-depth interviews are limited in scope as
they only represent a small slice of the consumer population.
Desk Research
As stated above, the researcher cannot rely solely on the results of interviews
and focus groups. One useful research method, which can be used to present
supporting evidences, data and information, is desk research. Desk research
according to Baines and Chansarker (2002) is conducted from the office, a
computer, or a library using existing sources of information and can serve
marketing managers‟ needs for information on their markets, environments,
competitors, and customers (p. 43). Desk research can be used by Market
Researchers at LEGO as a first step in the market research process. Desk
research can be used in obtaining data and information that may guide the
flow of market research the company will conduct. Desk research can be used
by marketers at LEGO to obtain information by gathering existing internal or
external sources.
Desk research according to Baines and Chansarker (2002) is used to
accomplish the following objectives:
To assist at various stages in the marketing research process
To monitors the business environment
To make forecast and estimate the size of a market
To develop an understanding of current and potential customers
To investigate international markets
In the global marketing communication strategy of LEGO, desk research can
play an important role, since the company will need to gather data from
different markets around the world to guide its marketing initiatives. Since
conducting primary research such as focus groups and in-depth interviews in
different markets around the world, require more time, effort, and resources of
LEGO, a desk research can be used to obtain existing data from reliable
sources.

8. Internet Market Research
LEGO, judging from its current marketing strategies, recognizes the
importance of the internet in achieving success. It is expected that the use
and contribution of internet in marketing will continue to grow. It is then
justifiable that LEGO employ the internet in researching about its consumers
and markets.
The internet according to Baines and Chansarker (2002) has become a
primary source of information for researchers. The world wide web provides
ready access to secondary data on all aspects of business, including
estimates of the number of consumers connected to the internet, analyses of
specific market sectors, marketing intelligence reports and competitors
profiles (p. 225). The internet offers so many for market researchers. For one
thing, the internet can be a tool for obtaining primary data in the form of online
polls or online surveys. These can be informal ways of obtaining data,
however, because of the increasing usage of internet around the world, LEGO
can make use of the internet to analyze the demands and wants of
consumers from across the globe.
The internet can also be used for more serious kinds of research such as:
Estimating potential consumers (on- or off-line) for product or service
Audience gratification study
Consumer satisfaction survey
Product or service design and testing
The internet can be used at all stages of the marketing research process:
finding potential respondents; questioning respondents; following up initial
surveys; and disseminating research summaries to interested parties.
Observation
In observation studies, the researcher observes the behavior of consumers.
The applications of observation studies are relatively limited in marketing
research, although extremely useful in collecting behavioral data, as opposed
to attitudinal data. This allows marketing researchers to collect data on what
people actually do, rather than what they say they will do (Baines and
Chansarker 2002).
LEGO can make use of observation in investigating how consumers are
interacting with its products. This may help LEGO to identify new products.