LEGO Brand Group

LEGO Brand Group delivers on KIRKBI’s fundamental objective to protect, develop and leverage the full potential of the LEGO® brand and to ensure active and engaged family ownership of the LEGO branded entities through generations.

LEGO Brand Group is a chairman’s office within KIRKBI. Jørgen Vig Knudstorp, Executive Chairman, and Thomas Kirk Kristiansen, most active owner on behalf of the 4th generation of the owner family, form the LEGO Brand Group in partnership supported by a small group of specialists. Together, they focus on the LEGO brand’s long-term development and on ensuring that the LEGO vision is realised across the LEGO branded entities.

REALISING THE LEGO BRAND VISION

The LEGO brand vision: A Global Force for Learning-through-Play builds on the original LEGO Idea and its play, creativity and learning proposition, which is unique and more relevant than ever. Fully delivering on this core idea represents an opportunity to make a meaningful difference for children and families by bringing the power of Learning-throughPlay to them across the world.

In pursuing the LEGO brand vision, each LEGO entity is responsible for executing the company’s or foundation’s strategy. The LEGO brand strategy focuses on a number of strategic initiatives that are crucial to the long-term development of the brand across entities i.e., the building of a technology strategy, continued commitment to sustainability and the strengthening of the LEGO brand experience in the LEGOLAND Parks and LEGOLAND Discovery Centres.

Furthermore, the LEGO brand strategy consists of three prerequisites that are required to enable execution of the brand strategy at all times, which are the overarching entity governance and brand governance as well as developing a people strategy for senior executive positions across the entities.

2020 LEGO BRAND HIGHLIGHTS

The LEGO brand is developing rapidly, and overall, the brand was strengthened during 2020. At the same time, 2020 was an extraordinary year, where the global pandemic impacted the LEGO branded entities differently. Because of the high level of uncertainty followed by the pandemic, KIRKBI and the owner family focused on taking the right decisions to ensure the health and well-being of employees, customers, partners and societies as well as securing liquidity for the LEGO Group and Merlin Entertainments.

Furthermore, an immediate response to the pandemic was initiated. The LEGO Foundation granted USD 50 million to a dedicated COVID-19 response and in collaboration with the LEGO Group, supported children and families impacted by COVID-19 in multiple ways, i.e., through the launch of the campaign #letsbuildtogether across social channels to share building ideas, daily challenges and live build-a-longs with LEGO fans.

Furthermore, the collaboration enabled the LEGO Group to reach many more children in the company’s Local Community Engagement programme. Children, who would not have been reached through commercial activities.

THE LEGO BRAND VISION: A GLOBAL FORCE FOR LEARNING-THROUGH-PLAY

There are at least six different ways in which the LEGO brand should be perceived in 2032 in addition to what it is known for today. These are the six brand characteristics for the 2032 LEGO brand:

DELIVERING ESSENTIAL LIFE SKILLS FOR THE 21ST CENTURY

The LEGO brand represents a set of skills that are critical to successfully navigate and thrive in an uncertain, fast-paced and ever-changing world: creativity, curiosity, critical thinking, collaboration and engagement

PERSONALISING PLAY

The LEGO brand engages all individuals with a childlike curiosity based on our ability to personalise and adapt all interactions to skill and affinity levels

COMMITMENT TO SUSTAINABILITY

The LEGO brand is in a leading position in terms of running a zero-impact operation. This cuts across energy consumption, waste management, sustainable materials and circular use of products

Despite the challenging year, The LEGO Group navigated extraordinarily well, and the company’s consumer sales outpaced the industry growth due to its strong and diverse portfolio, resilient supply chain and robust direct-to-consumer and e-commerce platforms. Furthermore, the LEGO Group delivered strong progress on strategic priorities and received significant benefit of earlier years’ investments and capability building. For more details, go to page 44-45.

The vast majority of the 130 attractions in the Merlin Entertainments Group, including LEGOLAND and LEGOLAND Discovery Centres, was closed for a large part of 2020, and the company’s focus turned to health, safety, and the well-being of the employees and visitors around the globe, and on ensuring a disciplined approach to cost and liquidity. In 2020, LEGO Brand Group invested approximately DKK 100 million in activities and experiments designed to strengthen the LEGO brand experience in LEGOLAND Parks and LEGOLAND Discovery Centres. For more information, see pages 46-47.

The market for education declined approximately 30% due to the impact of the pandemic and school closures, which also affected LEGO Education. During the year, LEGO Education strengthened its organisation and global leadership team, which is set to deliver on the entity’s growth plans. LEGO Education also launched the SPIKE™ Prime Set, which engages students through playful learning activities to think critically and solve complex problems, regardless of their learning level. LEGO Ventures is founded to explore opportunities in play, learning and creativity beyond the brick supporting the LEGO brand vision. LEGO Ventures has invested in 15 start-ups to date. In 2020, LEGO Ventures updated its strategy and now looks to expand its portfolio through focus on Digital Play and Education. During the year, LEGO Ventures saw limited investment activity due to the high level of uncertainty caused by the pandemic.

Jørgen Vig Knudstorp, Executive Chairman and Thomas Kirk Kristiansen, Deputy Chairman.

Similar to players in the leisure and entertainment industry, LEGO® House was highly impacted by the pandemic as it had to close down during a large part of the year. The number of visitors in 2020 was reduced significantly compared to last year. Despite the lower number of visitors, LEGO House continues to build and strengthen the brand through its unique LEGO experiences and very high visitor satisfaction.

KIRKBI A/S, through its subsidiary LEGO Juris A/S, owns the LEGO trademarks and LEGOLAND trademarks, which are licensed to the LEGO Group and Merlin Entertainments respectively. The trademark portfolio is constantly monitored and developed and misuse and infringements are addressed. In 2020, LEGO Juris A/S invested DKK 320 million in strengthening the LEGO brand with contributions to the global brand campaign “Rebuild the World”.

The LEGO Foundation, which owns 25% of the LEGO Group, aims to build a future in which Learning-throughPlay empowers children to become creative, engaged, lifelong learners. During the past four years, the activity level in the LEGO Foundation has tripled, and in 2020 the foundation granted DKK 1.2 billion for programmes, research and advocacy to promote the power of Learning-through-Play – including support for children affected by COVID-19. For more details, go to page 34.

A UNIFIED ECOSYSTEM OF TOUCHPOINTS

The LEGO brand offers immersive and fully integrated experiences across all touchpoints. This allows fans to pursue their passion points in an unbroken and frictionless fashion wherever and whenever they engage with the brand

DIGITAL PLAY IS A NEW CORNERSTONE – SAFE & ROOTED IN THE BRICK

The LEGO brand provides a safe, meaningful refuge for children in the digital landscape where children can actively engage in shared creativity and creation with offset in the LEGO® brick

DEEP SOCIAL ENGAGEMENT FOR FAMILIES AND CHILDREN

The LEGO brand brings people together to play across cultural, geographical and generational boundaries and works to ensure children’s access to learn and develop through play