Lego’s research revealed that its toys weren’t just appealing to curious children, but adults who wanted to relive their childhoods. A series of 18+ product innovations have since become bestsellers; including the 2,048-piece ‘Friends apartments’ (based on the sitcom), a 11,695-piece ‘World Map’, and the Mos Eisley Cantina from Star Wars. In fact adults now account for 25% of sales in the wider toy industry, according to the NPD group.
All Threads
Lego (temporarily) turned their Battersea Power Station store into a florist – a brilliant way of bringing the brand to life.
Lego’s Fortnite partnership has reached 83 million people (largely adults) and helped the toymaker achieve double digit growth this year: a perfect illustration of the power of creativity in commercial success.
In the 1930s, English toymaker Hilary Fisher Page was selling a system of ‘self-locking building bricks’ called Kiddicraft. It then became the main inspiration for Lego, as the company will readily admit.
Lidl owner Schwarz Group has a standalone unit that offers cloud computing to corporate customers. It generated €1.9bn in annual sales in 2023, and its clients include Germany’s biggest software group SAP and the country’s most successful football club Bayern Munich.
When Thomas Edison created the light bulb, he presented the unfamiliar technology in familiar terms. He set the power of the electric bulb at 13W – almost the same as the gas lamp – even though it was able to go brighter, and he copied the gas lamp tradition of using light shades, even though these were superfluous: their original purpose was to stop the gas flame guttering in the wind.
When electric bikes run out of charge their batteries need to be replaced. Lime cut their battery costs in half by moving from fixed batteries to swappable batteries, so employees could charge bikes there and then, rather than having to drive them back to the warehouse to charge overnight.
Hard Numbers, a PR company, claims that bosses of unicorns – start-ups worth $1 billion – who post regularly on LinkedIn and have lots of followers are more successful at raising money. But does one really lead to another? Or is the more likely case that successful business owners end up attracting lots of followers?
Don’t underestimate his influence. When Messi joined Inter Miami FC; subscriptions to MLS Season Pass on Apple TV+ more than doubled; retailer Fanatics reported that Messi’s jersey was the top seller all sports; ticket prices skyrocketed by more than 1,700% on resale sites.
An ad at the Superbowl is famously expensive – $7 million for 30 seconds – so water brand Liquid Death used this to their advantage. Instead of paying for airtime themselves, they allowed brands to bid to advertise on packages of Liquid Death, which are seen in store by 200 million+ people per week. A great way of zigging when others zag, and making the most out of existing media.
After disappearing during Covid, live music is back and bigger than ever. In 2024, spend (in the UK) was up 35% on pre-pandemic 2019 – largely driven by big tours like Beyoncé’s Cowboy Carter.
London taxis must have a turning circle not greater than 8.535 m (28 ft). Why? To be able to navigate the small roundabout outside the Savoy Hotel.
The London Underground Map says the quickest route from Lancaster Gate to Paddington is to travel two stops, change lines, and travel two more. As anyone familiar with the area knows, it’s much quicker to ditch the Tube and walk – the 500 metre journey between the stations takes seven minutes.
Harry Beck, the creator of the iconic tube map, was inspired by his training as an electrical engineer. According to Richard Shotton, he knew that circuit diagrams don’t need to show actual locations of components, just where they are in relation to each other – and he applied this to the London Underground map.
Covid couldn’t alter our appetite for the theatre. Attendance (in London) reached 17.1mn in 2024 – nearly 11 per cent above pre-pandemic levels.