LEGO's fairytail

As this week’s main focus was on storytelling, we have tried to find further successful implementations of this very important marketing technique. In fact, the process of storytelling is also used to produce movies and theatre performance.

One example of successful storytelling can be found for LEGO.

The story they are telling to their customers about the history of the company follows all the rules of a successful storytelling. 

1. Act: At the beginning we get to know the founder of the LEGO Company, the grandfather of the current owner. The sad story of his declining business as a carpenter is told and we get a sense of the current situation. Then towards the end of the first act we learn about his tragic loss of his wife and that he is now fully responsible for his 4 children. This is the turning point in the first act. 

2. Act: After the death of his wife, Ole has to come up with an idea to keep his business running in order to take care of his 4 children. He first decides to change his business from carpentering to toy making in which he gets support from his son Godtfred. They have to go through many setbacks such as the work shed burning down and low sales.
These setbacks have an end as we reach the second turning point as Ole discovers a plastic molding machine. 

3. Act: with the discovery of the plastic modling machine Ole and Godtfred soon start producing the famous LEGO bricks and the huge success story starts. The video telling the family history ends surprisingly by revealing that Ole’s grandson Kjeld has been telling the whole story and therefore once again brings the close family touch of LEGO to the forefront. 

We think that this touching and fairytale-like story about the makings of LEGO and the family behind it involves all the storytelling characteristics. The hero who just wants to produce toys with the highest possible quality but is stroke by bad luck until he finds the ultimate solution. 

See the full LEGO story: