We have decided to take a family vacation this year to LEGOLAND in San Diego (Carlsbad, CA actually) and it has everything to do with LEGO's custom magazine. I've discussed LEGO magazine before, and it never ceases to amaze me how they are a clear leader in content marketing and custom publishing.
I'd just like to spend a bit of time on some of the behaviors that we, as a family, have initiated directly because of receiving LEGO magazine every two months.
- We first learned about LEGOLAND from the magazine (we've been receiving LEGO magazine for about a year and a half now). The pre-Christmas issue had a story on all the happenings at LEGOLAND around Christmas time, and our two sons talked about this constantly. LEGO reinforces the theme park in every issue. The most recent issue featured a ride called "Land of Adventure" that my youngest, Adam, can't stop talking about. Behavior - we purchased passes to LEGOLAND.
- LEGO has their own social network as well. A few months back, LEGO featured MyLEGO Network in one of the LEGO magazine issues. Not long after, our oldest son (Joshua) was finishing off his MyLEGO personal page and showing it to us, and with a self-created music theme to boot. Behavior - the magazine motivates my sons to spend more time on the LEGO website and the MyLEGO network.
- LEGO magazine's "cool creations" section includes winning models from photos kids upload to the LEGO website. Joshua uploads images frequently to the site and always checks the cool creations page to see if he made the cut that issue. Although he hasn't made it yet, he continues to try. Behavior - more time on the website, more time reading the issue - an integrated marketing dream!
- The value of co-branded partnerships is unbelievable, especially with children. My kids love Indiana Jones, Star Wars, Spongebob Squarepants, etc., for the simple reason that they were featured in LEGO magazine, bought the LEGOs, and then became fans of the shows (Note that the LEGOs came first). The only reason they haven't seen the new Indiana Jones movie is because it's PG-13 and we won't let them. Behavior - we have purchased both LEGO Star Wars video games, have the LEGO Indiana Jones game on pre-order, and have too many of the actual LEGOs to even count. It's sickening.
Custom print magazines can be an extremely powerful tool - maybe more so than ever before because of the integration of the web. It's amazing to watch my son read the print magazine and then jump up and head to the Internet to go to LEGO.com. Their blend of user-generated content, comic story lines (with branded characters), and magalog-type promotion is genius. It's also why the magazine has been around since I was a kid - because it works.
Two other important points: 1) At least four of our friends/family have requested a free LEGO magazine subscription from our recommendation, and 2) print will not die anytime soon because when kids can't bring their Playstation Portables, iPods or Nintendo DS systems into a quiet place, they can still bring their LEGO magazines. The same rule goes for many other business areas where technology isn't as portable as we would like (airplanes for one).
It's not often a company can show direct proof that sales happen from a custom magazine. In this case, our family is living proof that LEGO magazine is a profit generator and has helped LEGO become and stay the leading building-toy brand around.
Related Articles:
- Content Marketing Lessons from LEGO
- Webkinz - When Content Marketing Goes Good (and Bad)
- A Content Marketing Lesson from the Transformers
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Never knew LEGO had its own magazine. What a way to advertise, eh?
Big LEGO fan here, and the kiddo and I are building up our LEGO collection. Will be visiting their Carlsbad spot next month also, so that should be fun.
Are you looking forward to or have heard of the LEGO Universe?
Posted by: indoor antenna | March 20, 2009 at 08:02 PM