Every year around this time, the LEGO Group presents its annual report: taking in all aspects of the company. The document always includes a small paragraph or two on which themes performed strongly in a given year.
While the metric used to define this performance has not been presented to the public, it gives us a good idea of the sorts of material that pepople are buying, and which themes are strong sellers. Prompted by some online discussion, I have gone back to 2011, and tracked down the strongest performing themes for the last ten years, as referred to in The LEGO Group’s annual report. What we found out may not come as a surprise at all. Or perhaps it will?
Join us while we look through the last 10 years – we will look at the themes directly referenced in the annual report, look at some of the highlights, and maybe even evoke some mild feelings of nostalgia along the way..
2011
In 2011, Lego City unveiled a spaceport subtheme, range, as well as city harbor theme, featuring some new hulls capable of floating in water. Otherwise, it was a year that city was dominated with new police releases.
LEGO Star Wars sets were dominated by those tied in with the Clone Wars television series, although there was a minifigure scale, Millennium Falcon, and Echo Base produced that year. The UCS models included a Super Star Destroyer, and the Chromed Naboo Starfighter.
We also saw a new theme introduced early in 2011: Ninjago. With a collection of spinning tops, and a collectible card game, as well as return to some classical ninja designs, the sets based on the pilot season helped to see Ninjago rapidly become one of the top selling themes in the Lego lineup that year. 2010 he had seen the launch of the collectible minifigures, but in 2011, they started to step into their own with the series three and four, and five, all being released during the course of this year.
The flagship Technic set in 2011 was the Mercedes Benz Unimog U400. With over 200 pieces, it had the highest part count of any Technic set to date, and was a sign of things to come in the future. Collectable minifigures were introduced in 2010, and have had 2 previous waves. The ante is upped in 2011, with three series released during the course of the year.
As a theme, the new product line LEGO Ninjago sold considerably better than expected and became one of the best selling product lines in 2011.
However, LEGO City and LEGO Star Wars are still topping the list of best selling lines.Also LEGO Technic and the LEGO minifigures as collector’s items have achieved considerable increases, while sales of LEGO DUPLO and the board games, LEGO Games, have been in line with the year before.
2012
In 2012, LEGO City took on a mining theme, as well as many utilitarian buildings around the city – including the last hospital that we would see for almost 7 years. Star Wars saw a return to basics, with the return of the iconic X-Wing and TIE fighters to the range. Ninjago entered its first full season, the Rise of the Snakes. With a creative array of vehicles and locations, the series looks set to be able to keep on driving children’s imaginations for years to come. Although at this stage, there are only plans to run the series for another year or so.
After years of being concerned that the LEGO toys were mainly being aimed at boys, we saw the launch of LEGO Friends: with a new design of figure, the Minidoll, we saw a number of new colours enter the general LEGO Palette. Friends exceed expectations in its opening year, and has remained a strong core theme ever since.
LEGO Star WarsTM and LEGO City continue to be the best selling product lines, with LEGO Ninjago, launched in 2011, following closely. The new product line LEGO Friends that was launched at the beginning of 2012 has performed considerably above expectations.
2013
In 2013 Lego City saw the launch its Coast Guard line, as well as a wide variety of Fire Trucks and other vehicles feet. there was also a Police range, including locations for the crooks to hide, as well as burgle!
Star Wars this year introduced a collection of technic models, as well as the first UCS scale blockade runner. The UCS the Death Star two. We also saw a number of sculptures this year in the Star Wars sets including Darth Maul and Yoda.
DUPLO was also reported as one of the top selling core themes in 2013. During this year, we saw a collection of sets tied in with various Disney animations including Jake in the pirates as well as the Little Mermaid We had a number of figures tied in with The Circus in this theme.
2013 saw balloon launch of Lego Chima, initially intended to be a follow up to Ninjago after that theme had run its initial three year course. Chima featured a combination of zip line vehicles, card games, and constructible figures. Built around a society of anthropomorphic animals. Some might even suggest that Chima is in fact a post apocalyptic call back to the fabuland theme from the late 70s through to the mid 80s. It was reasonably strong at launch, but saw only 2 1/2 of its threee year mission. Ninjago continues on as a strong theme to this day.
Among the top selling lines in 2013 were core themes like LEGO® City, LEGO® Star WarsTM and LEGO DUPLO. LEGO® Friends that was launched in 2012 and LEGO® Chima that was launched at the beginning of 2013 added the most to sales growth in 2013. The pre-school products under the LEGO® DUPLO® brand as well as the LEGO® Technic and LEGO® Creator products also experienced high growth rates in 2013.
2014
In 2014, LEGO City took us on their first ‘out of town’ Adventure… visiting the Arctic for the first time. We also saw some new CITY Train sets that year. After some standard Heartlake city and farm adventures, the girls went of on a jungle safari in the second half of the year. Meanwhile, LEGO Star Wars expanded their range this year – introducing the Microfighters sets: a chance for kids to get a build, with a minifigure, for a pocket money price. Sets from the new Disney XD Series REBELS were also introduced this year, along with an invigorated range of sets from The Clone Wars. We also saw the release of the LEGO Movie, along with a fun range of extremelycreative sets, many either mashing up concepts, or being just plain bonkers. And then there was the Spaceship Spaceship! SPACESHIP!
Overall, the response to sets over the course of 2014 was very good, with the LEGO Movie seeing a renewed interest in the toy brand.
Among the top selling lines in 2014 were core themes like LEGO® City, LEGO® Star Wars™ and LEGO Friends. LEGO Creator and LEGO Technic experienced high growth rates during the year, and a significant contributor to the strong sales growth in 2014 was THE LEGO® MOVIETM product line which launched in conjunction with the release of THE LEGO MOVIE feature film in early 2014. The product line performed strongly across the full year.
2015
In 2015, LEGO City gave us the Swamp police, as well as another spaceport. The LEGO City Exploration theme started last year in Arctic was followed up with the introduction of Deep sea Explorers, a sub theme that will return in 2020. LEGO Friends introduced their first Hair Salon, while adding a Pop Star Diva to their lineup in the second half year. We were also introduced to the Grand Hotel – first seen in the animated series, this was one of the most impressive Friends sets to date. Star Wars was expanded throught the addition of sets from the Force Awakens’ the long awaited first film from the sequel trilogy.
We also saw a UCS Slave one, along with a TIE fighter this year. Constraction figures were introduced in Star Wars this year as well. Ninjago brought us the Tournament of the Elements, zip cord Flyers and the massive Temple of Airjitsu.
As well as its normal range of ‘Real World’ sets, DUPLO introduced both kinds of Super Heroes,DC and Marvel.
In 2015, children continued to have a high interest in core LEGO themes as well as engaging in new product innovations. Among the top selling lines in 2015 were core themes like LEGO City, LEGO Star Wars™, LEGO NINJAGO™, LEGO Friends and LEGO® DUPLO®. Furthermore, the new fantasy theme LEGO Elves is off to a good start as is LEGO DIMENSIONS™, a new play experience that merges physical LEGO brick building with interactive console gameplay. Like other LEGO video games, LEGO Dimensions is developed by TT Games and published and distributed by Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment.
2016
In 2016, we saw a few interesting changes which boosted some of the evergreen themes: LEGO City introduce its first ‘People Pack’ with ‘Fun In the Park’ This set brought us the LEGO Baby, as well as a wheelchair, and a great collection of people for our town. We also saw Prison Island Escape: a new twist on the police theme. LEGO Friends saw the introduction of an amusement park, including this rocket ride (checkout the callout to classic space on the flyers). LEGO Technic saw the reintroduction of pneumatics in the Volvo digger, as well as the introdution of a new range of scale performance supercars, with the Porsche GT3 introduced in August. Ninjago introduced the Steampunk Skybound theme, and followed it up with the Day of the Departed, in the second half year. Creator continued with their range of modular shops/street fronts, as well as some posable brick-built animals, and more. What is unclear is whether Creator Expert is included in this theme’s performance. This theme included the Brick Bank, Volkswagen Beetle, Winter Holiday Train and Big Ben.
The LEGO Star Wars UCS ‘Assault on Hoth was released this year, and was not well received by AFOLs, feeling like an anthology of sets based on the first sequence of The Empire Strikes Back, rather than a coherent UCS model.
Revenue growth was driven by performance of core themes including LEGO® City, LEGO NINJAGO®, LEGO Friends, LEGO Technic, and LEGO Creator.
During 2016, more than 335 new items were launched, including LEGO NEXO KNIGHTS™, an innovative platform that combines digital and physical play.
2017
2017 was a flat year for sales overall: we saw the release of sets for the LEGO Movie: the Second Part, but they did not seem to capture the imagination of shoppers and builders until they were available at deep discounts.
LEGO City returned to the Coast Guard theme, along with exploring the jungle in the second half year. A competition, including a trip to Costa Rica may have played a role in the popularity of the wave, but I suspect most builders were interested in the great cats present in the subtheme.
Our Friends started a puppy school, and then went on winter holidays, with snow related activities dominating the second half of releases for the year.
Duplo continues to inspire lots of younger builders, and their families, and the Creator 3in1 theme enters the notable themes for the first time in this decade. there are some great smaller and larger sets in the range this year, including the 31065 Park Street Townhouse.
Across the LEGO portfolio, performance of classic LEGO ranges was satisfactory and LEGO® City, LEGO DUPLO®, LEGO Creator and LEGO Friends continued to perform well, demonstrating the timeless appeal of LEGO play. LEGO NINJAGO also benefited from the release of the movie in September. LEGO Star WarsTM products, released in the second half of 2017, performed in line with expectations.
2018
In 2018, we saw some overall changes across the company, and an overall upturn in performance, after flat growth in 2017. LEGO City brought us some great vehicle sets in the first half year, and had a reinvigorated trip to the Arctic. introducinf a wolly mammoth, as a cool new colour scheme. The introduction of Powered Up, the new Bluetooth integrated control system makes its debut in the LEGO City Trains released in August.
LEGO Friends received a reboot: some updated appearances for some of the girls, and a new animated series: Girls on a mission. They find a cluhouse, take up gokarting, and start to experiment with life in pods, making comparisons to the Polly Pocket range almost inevitable: still, these sets are relatively inexpensive, and affordable with a childs own pocket money.
We saw new Star Wars sets tying in with both The Last Jedi, and the anthology film Solo, as well as a new approach to the large playset release: Betrayal at Cloud City was labelled as the first of the Master Builders Series – removin any pretense at being an ultimate collectors series set.
The Technic range saw some interesting developments, including a racing yacht, and the crane with the longest ever boom – over a meter long – released.
Ninjago took an intesesting direction with the Sons of Garmadon, as well as the Diesel Punk sub theme, ‘The Hunted’
The top selling themes in 2018 in no particular order were LEGO® City, LEGO® Technic™, LEGO® Star Wars™, LEGO® Friends and LEGO® NINJAGO®. LEGO® Harry Potter™, LEGO® Jurassic World™, LEGO® Classic and LEGO® Creator also performed strongly.
2019:
LEGO City headed in several directions in 2019: we saw some ‘regular’ city sets, as well as a few sets directed towards life on the mountains during ski season. We saw a return to a City Space theme – which felt more like a parallel to Classic Space than any other City spaceport in recent years. 2011, 2015 and 2019. A four yearly cycle. I’m calling it now: we will next see a LEGO City: Space subtheme to in 2023. We also saw the first of the sets tying into the new LEGO. City Adventures animated series, featuring Fire Chief Freya McCloud.
LEGO Friends continued to investigate Pod Life this year, in the form of the Heart boxes. We also saw an In the second half of the year, the girls joined with National Geographic in underwater exploration and Marine conservation – part of using the range to encourage girls to think about stem subjects and careers.
Technic sets introduced new Powered Up Hardware, with Control+ software, including the massive 42100 Liebherr R 9800 Excavator. We also saw the release of the Porsche RSR, regarded by many as one of the finest versions of t Porsche relased to date.
LEGO Star Wars Celebrated its 20th anniversary, with re-releases of a number of classic models from over the years. The portfolio was expanded again, introducing 4+ (formerly juniors) sets to the portfolio, as well as sets from the Mandalorian, and a brief foré into battle sets: with target shooting introduced into LEGO toy play. The Tantive IV was revistited as a UCS build.
Creator 3 in one explored a number of areas, including houses, ‘mainstreet shop, and also an amusement park ride.
Top selling themes in no particular order were LEGO® City, LEGO® Creator, LEGO® Friends, LEGO® Technic™, LEGO® Classic and LEGO® Star Wars™. The LEGO® Harry Potter™, LEGO® Super Heroes (Marvel Avengers) and LEGO® Disney™ Princess themes also performed strongly.
Christiansen said: “We are very pleased with the popularity of our core products such as LEGO City and LEGO Creator, which, like all our products, provide children with endless possibilities to build and rebuild. We are also satisfied with the performance of our IP sets and our new theme LEGO Hidden Side which seamlessly blends building and augmented reality.”
2020
So finally, we come top 2020. This was quite a crazy year in the real world, with a lot of the world in lockdown for a number of months, due to the pandemic. I suspect this saw people looking to stay home, and many were discovering LEGO building. As such, I am not surpised that the solid, taditional themes were all doing well.
LEGO City Adventures started to drive a lot of the narrative in LEGO City in 2020, and we saw a number of interesting sets, including a return to the deep sea in conjunction with National Geographic in the second half year. The LEGO City Main Square was marketed as a set designed to encourage the family to build together. We say a couple of interesting experiments in LEGO City this year, including rip-cord helicopters. Personally, I found the performance of these to leave a bit to be desired.
Lego friends continued their descent into podlife, with several waves of small pods housing all of the figures, and randomly coloured surprise animals included. As well as revisiting a few town environments, the Friends also joined up with National Geographic again, this time to aid in animal rescue work around the world. The subtheme saw the introduction of a number of new animal molds, including an elephant, reappearing after some years absence. Technic highlighted a number of builds to suit lovers of almost every sort of vehicle, including a cement mixer, Ducati motor cycle, and Dom’s Charger, from the fast and the furious franchise, the first Technic set associated with a movie IP since Star Wars, back in 2002. We alkso saw the launch of the latest Technic Supercar, the Lamboghini Sian. LEGO Star Wars had a bumber year, introducing a number of sets based on the Disney Plus series, the Mandalorian, as well strong sets from each of the trilogies, with sets from the final film of the Skywalker Saga arriving on the market. We also saw a number of long desired sets in the Clone Wars Range, including a fan favourite, 75280 501st Legion Clone Troopers. The UCS/ Master builder series set for the year was a revisit to the Mos Eisley Cantina, where we had an astonishing number of new Minifigures from that wretched hive of scum and villainy make their debut appearance. We also saw out first 18+ LEGO sets introduced in the star wars range, a number of Helmets to construct: Boba Fett, TIE Fighter Pilot and Stormtrooper.
The Classic theme saw another year in the top performing themes: I do wonder if this stems from people being frustrated with 3rd party licences, minifigure scale, or just wanting a ‘plain old box of bricks like I had when I was a kid…?’
The Graphic included with the annual report suggests that Marvel Super Heroes was another best selling theme in the top 6: with sets linked to both The Avengers (not the MCU version), as well as the Extended Spiderverse (although not exclusively the Spiderverse movie), there are some interesting sets, with a great collection of minifigures. Who doesn’t need Spider-ham?
Strong sales in 2020 were driven by more people of all ages building with LEGO bricks. They were inspired by a strong portfolio which offered creativity for all ages and interests. Top themes in no particular order were LEGO® City, LEGO® Technic, LEGO® Star Wars™, LEGO® Friends and LEGO® Classic.
LEGO Super Mario™ which uniquely blends digital and physical play was released in August 2020 and became one of the company’s most successful theme launches. Investments in products that seamlessly blend physical and digital play will continue in 2021 with this month’s release of LEGO VIDIYO™ which taps into children’s love of music and play.
So, What are the ‘Best Performing themes’ of the last decade?
Here is a quick bar graph, summarising the number of appearances of these in the ‘Strongest performing list’…
Probably no real surprise after looking at this list: LEGO City, Friends and Star Wars are the themes most commonly presented as being part of the best performing sets. Ninjago and Technic fill up a top 5 appearances on the list. Solid data regarding relative sales will not be forthcoming. However, this surrogate measure would have our best performing themes as being: City, Star Wars, Ninjago, Friends and Technic.
So, where to from here?
Despite the Naysayers, LEGO Friends has been consistently declared as being a best selling theme almost since its inception. I wonder who is buying these sets? Probably not just girls, but are boys also getting the sets, or are AFOLs attracted to the expanded story telling and colour palette. I do appreciate the effort made to have aspects of sets focussing on scientific exploration, even if there is the occaisional distraction to be found by baking.
In the last couple of years, LEGO City has become increasingly focussed on the LEGO City Adventures animated series for content. I am curious to see how this goes. Certainly, I find myself abole to enjoy friends sets without reference to the cartoon (although, when I have taken time to watch parts of the series, I do feel as though I relate to the retail sets in a more meaningful fashion.) I hope we can maintain this with LEGO City. I do feel that I do not readily relate to Ninjago – although I have never been disappointed with any set that I built with no knowledge of context. There appears to be a degree of periodicity with some of the exploratory subthemes in LEGO City: Arctic in 2014, 2018 and do we expect 2022? We say space subthemes in 2011,2015,2019… next 2023? The coexistance of Deep Sea and Space subthemes in 2015 however puts paid to any theory I am developing here. Time shall tell.
LEGO Star Wars, since Lucasfilm was sold to Disney has grown year after year. With the Skywalker trilogy complete, I would hope that we can continue to see sets related to Rebels and clone wars, as well as unexplored aspects of the existing films. We know there are a number of series forthcoming from Disney, for their streaming Service Disney plus. the Mandalorian has been a remarkable success. Will they bew able to follow up on this with The Bad Batch, The Book of Boba Fett, Rangers of the new Republic and Star Wars: Ahsoka?
Technic will, no doubt, continue to be a popular line: working mechanisms and the building style certainly holds appeal to both older children, as well as adults: I expect that it will continue in the ‘top 5 for some time.
Ninjago has celebrated its 10th anniversary: it may not have been top 5 in 2020, BUT it has seen renewed interest, as well as reimagining of sets in the LEGACY range. The Ninjago City Gardens has been a popular release, and I wonder if it will lead more adults to discover the world of Ninjago. When quizzing young visitors tyo publis expos over the years, they are always keen to see displays based on Ninjago, but certainly AFOLs in my part of the world have been slow to embrace it: these early fans of Ninjago are now growing up, and I wonder if we will see the legacy of their childhood fandom on disply in years to come?
I am excited to see Classic appearing in the most popular /best selling range. Along with the Creator 3in1 range, I believe it to be the epitome of LEGO’s creative DNA, the ultimate, undefined sandbox for kids and adults alike to explore their creativity. I wonder if we will see Creator 3in1 minifigure scale builds become increasingly prevalent, with more houses, shops and explorations of classic themes such as pirates, space, town and perhaps, we could hope going forward, castle? Will this nod to the classics, and the lack of reference to external intellectual properties see a resurgence of this line into the future. We see pocket money sets in some of the polybags ( now the only sets you can buy for under $10), as well as interesting sets for less than $AUD20, up to large sets. And then there is the creator expert line – gradually vansishing under the banner of 18+.
No comments were made regarding 2 of the bigger launches last year: DOTs and LEGO Art. these sets represent pretty good value for money, but are they appealing to people in any significant way? Time will tell, I expect. Certainly, I enjoy gether sets in the DOTs range, but I have not really engaged in the ‘dotting of my world’. LEGO Super Mario seems to be selling to the target demographic, as well as adults. Vidiyo, while aimed at the 6-8 year old demographic also appeals to collectors of figures and tiles. Personally, I have found using the app taxes my patience: 30+ seconds to start up , every time. I will not be suprised if it runs for 3 releases, and winds up i towards the end of next year, but I could also see the CMF rang incorporating some of the aspects of these figures, adding the tiles to those figures for the enthusiasts. I would prefer to see improvements made to make the app more responsive first however.
Of course, it is unclear whether, when it has made the list, Creator means All creator, including Creator Expert, or just those ‘normal creator sets’, as well as 3in1.
Given the increased advertising in an attempt to broaden the AFOL Market, I wonder if the 18+ sets, particularly those that might have been previously considered Creator Expert, will make their way into the highest performing themes? There were around 25 sets labelled 18+ in 2020. I think there is a good chance that 2021 will exceed that, but will there be the sheer bulk of sales that we see with CITY, Friends and Star Wars. Likewise, we typically only see 3-4 LEGO Ideas sets released per year: a drop in the ocean compared with the 40 or so in those best performing themes.
Of course, while this article has been based on the material published in the Annual reports, what constitutes a Best Selling theme remains a little vague? Sets manufactured? Sales in units? Sales in Dollars/DKK? Profit Margin? Performance compared with expectations? I remain uncertain.
It has been an interesting decade, predominantly filled with growth, but there was a bit of a glitch in this around 2017. The company now seems to be well on the road to continue to grow, while also being confident enough to experiment with novel way to engage digital natives along the way.
Were you surpised by the ‘top performing themes?’ What is your favorite of the mainstay themes? What would you like to see grow and become something more over the next few years? Whiy not leave your comments below. If you missed the press release associated with the annual report, you can see it below, or link to the annual report on LEGO.com.
Leave your thoughts and comments below, and until next time,
Play Well!
Thanks to Nabil T Noh in prompting this investigation, and for his, and Matej Pukancik’s’ assistance in locating some of the older reports.
BILLUND, March 10, 2021: The LEGO Group today reported earnings for the full year 2020. Revenue for the year grew 13 percent versus 2019 to DKK 43.7 billion and consumer sales grew 21 percent over the same period. Operating profit was DKK 12.9 billion, an increase of 19 percent compared with 2019. The brand’s global market share grew globally and in its 12 largest countries.
Niels B. Christiansen, CEO, said: “We are very pleased with these results. They show the timeless relevance of the LEGO brick and learning through play. This performance is also a testament to the passion, creativity and resilience of our people. Despite the challenges of the pandemic, they worked tirelessly to keep the world playing.”
Consumer sales in all market groups grew double digits, with especially strong growth in China, the Americas, Western Europe and Asia Pacific.
Growth in operating profit was driven by strong sales and offset by strategic investments and increased distribution costs associated with shipping products globally following the temporary, enforced closure of manufacturing sites in Mexico and China. Net profit grew 19 percent to DKK 9.9 billion, while free cash flow was strong at DKK 11.5 billion.
Christiansen said: “For the past two years we’ve made large-scale investments in initiatives designed to support long-term growth. In 2020, we began to see the benefits of these, especially in e-commerce and product innovation. We will further increase investments during the coming year with a continued focus on innovating play, our brand, digitalisation and developing an omnichannel retail network.”
Strong portfolio with broad appeal
Strong sales in 2020 were driven by more people of all ages building with LEGO bricks. They were inspired by a strong portfolio which offered creativity for all ages and interests. Top themes in no particular order were LEGO® City, LEGO® Technic, LEGO® Star WarsTM, LEGO® Friends and LEGO® Classic.
LEGO Super MarioTM which uniquely blends digital and physical play was released in August 2020 and became one of the company’s most successful theme launches. Investments in products that seamlessly blend physical and digital play will continue in 2021 with this month’s release of LEGO VIDIYOTM which taps into children’s love of music and play.
Christiansen said: “We know children and adults love the LEGO brick and that will always be the heart of our business. But today’s children are growing up in a digital world and they effortlessly blend online and physical play. We are excited to offer them safe, exciting play experiences that are fun and offer new ways to learn and be creative.”
The LEGO Group also continued to invest in its brand through its global brand campaign Rebuild the World and in 2020 was named the world’s most loved brand(1).
Innovative and agile omnichannel network
The company’s investment in its omnichannel retail ecosystem supported growth in its partners’ and its own channels as physical stores were forced to temporarily close to prevent the spread of COVID-19. The number of visits to LEGO.com doubled compared with the prior year, while the company continued its global store expansion programme. During 2020, it opened 134 new retail stores, including 91 stores in China. This brings the total number of LEGO branded stores globally at the end of 2020 to 678. The company plans to open a further 120 stores in 2021, 80 of those in China.
Christiansen said: “People are looking for unique and memorable physical brand experiences, so we will continue to invest to expand our global retail footprint, as well as elevate our instore shopping experiences. This approach strengthens our brand, creating a positive impact across all channels. We will also further build our e-commerce capabilities to support online shopping on our own and our partners’ platforms.”
Ambitious digital transformation
During 2021, the LEGO Group will accelerate its investment in digitalisation across the entire business. Its ambition is to develop world-class digital experiences for everyone who interacts with the company from consumers and retail partners to suppliers and employees. To support this effort, the company will expand its digital and technology teams during the year.
Christiansen said: “We have a solid digital foundation, but must move faster. The past year has shown the importance of having an agile, responsive business built on strong digital foundations. We will further develop our capabilities in this area so we are well positioned to meet the evolving needs of our retail partners and consumers now, and in the long term.”
Investing to create a positive impact for future generations
In 2020, the LEGO Group announced that up to US$400 million (DKK 2.6 billion) will be invested over three years in sustainability initiatives. These will focus on bringing learning through play to more children, reducing its environmental impact and ensuring inclusive workplaces for all people involved in making the company’s play experiences.
As part of these efforts, the company reached 3.2 million children, many in need, via learning through play initiatives. It also began trials of paper bags to replace single-use plastic packaging in its products and announced a commitment to reducing its absolute carbon emissions by 37 percent by 2032, a target approved by the Science Based Target initiative and consistent with levels required to keep global warming to below 1.5°C.
During the year, the LEGO Group announced partnerships with a range of organisations to support its efforts to have a positive impact on the society and planet today’s children will inherit. It will work with UN Women to empower women in all its workplaces and girls in society and the Ellen MacArthur Foundation to explore circular business models.
Christiansen said: “The challenges facing this generation of children are urgent and complex and must be addressed through a collective effort by companies, governments and experts. We look forward to joining forces with children, parents, colleagues and partners to help shape a bright future for generations to come.”
[…] of $6.6B (second place goes to Bandai Namco, with $1.9B), and LEGO Star Wars has been among their top 3 best-performing themes during the last […]