Company Profile - Lego

Building on the power of play

The Lego Group comes into 2025 off the back of another incredible 12-month performance, buoyed by soaring consumer demand, mutually beneficial retail partnerships and a portfolio that has something for just about every age and interest. Christian Pau, VP and GM of the Lego Group UK & Ireland, tells Toy World what the year ahead holds.

The company has enjoyed some hugely successful years since the pandemic and is currently outperforming the wider UK (and global) Toys & Games market by some margin. In your opinion, what is fuelling this growth?

We at The Lego Group feel incredibly fortunate to be in a position of strength and ongoing growth in what is otherwise a very challenging time for the industry.

The reasons behind our performance can be viewed through several lenses. First of all, the Consumer lens. In this day and age, making time to unplug and play, and to spend time with the people closest to you, is more important than ever. The Lego Group’s portfolio not only offers a huge amount of play value for kids, but our brand is also trusted and valued by adults. In fact, a recent Play Well study revealed that eight in 10 adults feel that playing with Lego bricks increases their confidence when it comes to experimentation and encourages them to explore new interests and passions.

Then there’s our Portfolio lens. The Lego Group has a broad and differentiated portfolio that offers something for everyone, across all ages and passion points. And we’re constantly bringing new innovation to the range, which keeps each set feeling fresh and exciting.

Thirdly, we have our Retail lens. We simply wouldn’t be where we are without our strategic retail partners. I’m sure Toy World readers will be aware that we lost some points of distribution in 2024, but regardless, we’ve pulled off some incredible things in-aisle, online and in secondary spaces. We’re grateful to still have those opportunities available to us and we’ll be building on this heading into 2025.

How do this year’s new product launches reflect Lego’s ethos and approach to play?

We know than when children play, they develop lifelong ‘20th-century’ skills. Our mission is to inspire and develop the builders of tomorrow, which means that our sets must build kids’ confidence, creativity, collaboration and resilience. I think we’ve proved beyond any doubt that playing with Lego sets does that, and our 2025 launches will keep this play and development promise at their heart.

Last year’s launches focused on major entertainment and gaming licences such as Wicked, Wednesday and Animal Crossing, all of which will continue for 2025. We also introduced plenty of innovation within core ranges such as Creator, which is performing very well, as well as new themes for adults including our Botanicals range. Looking ahead, we’ll be building on this success with new partnerships and licensing deals.

Chief among the introductions I want to highlight is our new licensed Formula 1 range, which launches early this year. Our first product reveals were made in Q4 2024 and we’re incredibly excited by the response. The partnership with Formula 1 has given us access to all 10 F1 teams, meaning we can bring the full thrill of the sport to the world of bricks in the form of cars, garages and racetracks. We’re sure this range will appeal to everyone, from lifelong Lego fans to new consumers with a love for F1.

We’ll also be continuing to tap into the world of gaming in the second half of 2025, extending it beyond the screen and into physical play. We’re introducing a multitude of themes across a number of new sets.

In the UK and internationally, we’re seeing huge demand from so-called Kidults – and Lego is a favourite brand. How is Lego ensuring its focus is spread evenly across kidults and core toy consumers: kids?

Children will always be our top priority. The mission I mentioned earlier, to inspire the builders of tomorrow, is ingrained in The Lego Group’s DNA and  kids remain at the heart of the business.

We know, though, that families often enjoy Lego play together, particularly when they’re building more complex sets when a little extra support or encouragement might be needed. There are also themes across the Lego portfolio that really resonate with adults and provide them with what we call ‘joyful focus.’ Our world is ever more volatile and uncertain; adults, as well as kids, also need to be able to unplug and unwind. This is something Lego products excel at. Our portfolio contains more than 100 products, in various themes from cars and buildings to sport and flowers, that skew towards older builders and we’re seeing a very positive reaction to them.

Our marketing remains strongly focused on kids, but we’ll also be introducing a decent slate of products across new adult passion points to ensure our assortment caters to all Lego fans, regardless of their age.

How will Lego be supporting its retail partners throughout the year (particularly the indie sector, which so depends on the success of Lego)?

Our retail collaborations are a huge part of our success, and for that we’re very grateful. And as you highlight, this is especially true of the indie sector, which has grown its sales very nicely this year despite overall trading conditions being very challenging.

We’re planning to go even bigger and better at retail in 2025, which means kicking off the year with a strong raft of spring launches. Our January F1 activation will be primarily driven by us above-the-line, supported by below-the-line activations at our retail partners. From in-store materials to secondary placements, we’re working hard to push consumers and shoppers into their local toy stores. We’ll also have a strong presence at Silverstone in the summer, tying in with the iconic British GP.

We’ll also be playing on occasions. This is a strategy that has really worked for us over the past three years; creating mini-spikes throughout the year around adult-leaning occasions such as Valentine’s Day, Mother’s and Father’s Day, as well as child-centric ones such as International Day of Play, summer break, Back-to-School and Halloween.

Q4 is a key shopping period, of course, but we want to lower retailers’ dependence on it by championing major occasions and working with our retailers on how to bring them to life. These occasions can be, and should be, a much bigger thing for kids and adults alike, and I don’t think we’ve even scratched the surface when it comes to how Lego products can be present within this area of the market.

How important are physical brand experiences to the Lego Group – will we see anything new in this sector?

Everything we do is focused on reaching and on inspiring kids. Physical events are a big part of this journey, whether Lego fans are experiencing the brand in-store or while out and about. Last year we took part in some really interesting and exciting brand awareness activations to tie in with major movie moments.

For example, from November 30th to December 1st, we hosted the Lego Wicked Build event at London St Pancras. This featured life-sized Lego models of Elphaba and Glinda, which fans could take photos with, while the Building Zone invited children to create something that represented the theme of friendship, inspired by the bond between Glinda and Elphaba. Additionally, as part of the event, we showcased a St Pancras Crystal Ball inspired by the Wicked movie, featuring the Lego Wicked range.

Fans can expect more of this in 2025, inspired by another major moment in the content calendar – but sadly, I cannot tell you anything else just yet! We’ve already shown some of our retail partners the materials we’re providing for this, and the reaction has been huge. People are going to have to rethink how secondary placement should look once they see this activation.

So – is it safe to say you’re optimistic about the months ahead?

Yes. We’ve only touched on what’s to come in 2025 in terms of newness and innovation in this interview, but I can promise you there’s a huge amount more on the way. I’m confident our growth journey will continue, in partnership with our valued retailers, and that we will continue inspiring kids (and adults) for many years to come.