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Brand Audit Report BU470D

February 11, 2014

Yichen He [100444030]

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Lego Company: Lego produces a popular line of toys that are composed of small inter-locking

plastic bricks and similar elements. Lego is one of the kings of co-branding, licensing and re-iterations of their flagship rectangular building brick toys. Creation Story: Started in 1949 with basic plastic bricks that users can choose to assemble however they want. Eventually evolved into many themed, licensed and dedicated sets and expanded into different industries including movies, games, books and amusement parks.

Creed: The Lego Group’s official motto is “only the best is the best” -which is very focused on quality. Lego stays afloat in today’s competitive market by constantly partnering with other brands and perpetuating their own brand through them, therefore adopting an innovation stance as well.

Icons: The Lego brick and the distinctive blocky style of their “minifigures” (the humanoid Lego pieces) are exclusively associated with the Lego band. Also the red square Lego Logo.

Rituals: Stacking building blocks to build something then disassembling them back into a pile. Using Lego block to create a physical product from creativity and imagination.

Pagans or Non-Believers: People who do not support the partners in co-branding

initiatives and people who do not believe in paying the price premium for Lego-branded toys when there are many similar competitors. (+boring people with no creativity)

One of the undisputed masters of co-branding, Lego prides itself in having a product

for just about every culturally-relevant mainstream entertainment brand out there. Looking

at the Lego website you can see a set for The Avengers, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles,

Star Wars, Harry Potter, the Simpsons, Ferrari, and more (Exhibit 1).

While there is no widely-known slogan associated to the brand, the website states

that Lego supports the development of children’s creativity through playing and learning –a

theme that seems very prevalent across their product portfolio.

The main brand personality is one focused at children (or arguably anyone who is a

“child inside”). All promotional materials from the packaging of the toys to the online creative

content feature colourful and exciting pictures of many Lego “minifigures” in an assortment

of exotic backdrops. It is clear that their primary target are children who use Lego toys,

combined with their imagination to enjoy thrilling experiences. Lego positions itself as an

exciting, playful and fun brand that exists to please creative minds.

In addition to their main brand, Lego also sub-brands the majority of their products

(i.e. Duplo, Lego Friends, Lego Creator and Lego Mindstorms –Exhibit 2). By extending the

main Lego brand to a lineup of sub-brands, Lego effectively targets different narrow groups

of consumers. For example the Mindstorms spin-off features an advanced mini-computer

Brand Summary

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and is pegged at a premium price. One can see this must be a sub-brand that is targeted an

older market that seek a more advanced outlet to their creativity.

Sticking with the Mindstorms example, it is very beneficial for Lego to create a sub-

brand as the $300+ price tag and the intricacy of the product may give consumers the

misconception that Lego is an expensive brand and not suitable for small children. Instead

Lego pushes both the Mindstorms brand simultaneously with others such as Duplo (giant,

round edged bricks –suitable for small children) to appeal to separate needs and target

demographics. By enforcing a strict quality standard and a harmonized theme of “creativity”,

all the sub-brands work to increase the brand equity instead of muddling and diluting it.

Lego’s direct competitor is Mega Bloks, who creates more or less an identical

product (think Coke and Pepsi). However they have different exclusive co-branding

agreements, and Lego has managed to win the battle for brand dominance through their

(arguably) better co-branding initiatives and expansion past creating plastic bricks. In

addition securing their brand as a proprietary eponym for colourful plastic bricks, Lego

created an exclusive culture for their products through experiences like “Legoland” where

people ride giant Lego rollercoasters, visit Lego museums, take pictures with “minifigures”

and eat Lego-themed food (Exhibit 3). By sticking to toys Megabloks and all other similar

competitors eventually just fell behind, unable to compete with this full-circle experience

Lego offers.

A more recent development of the Lego brand has been the entrance into the virtual

goods market. With the widespread success of many co-branding initiatives, Lego has

expanded past their physical toys to video games and movies. Positioning the brand as a

kid-friendly version of other popular brands (such as Lego: Batman), Lego targeted a large

market of kids who are familiar with the toys and a potential customer of the fertile game

industry (Exhibit 4).

With their latest bold initiative the Lego Movie, they are aiming for widespread fame

on the big screens. With raving pre-reviews from many critics, this movie aims to appeal to

a greater audience by featuring many A-list talents (Morgan Freeman, Will Ferrell – all

brands themselves) in addition to many of their co-brands such as Star Wars, Batman and

Lord of the Rings. This move can be compared to the big brand boost Hasbro’s

Transformers line received when the blockbuster films were launched. This intiative will

undeniably boost the Lego brand’s top-of-mind awareness and a fun, creative and

entertaining brand personality (Exhibit 5).

The best thing about premiering a movie is that many of the costs will be re-cooped

(and potentially result in additional profit). Because this movie features actual Lego pieces,

existing Lego products and a plot similar to a child’s imaginary adventures, there is a strong

connection between the brand and all movie-related advertising. By diversifying their efforts

in many industries yet retaining a strong cohesive theme (creativity), the Lego brand is well

received and a great example of a successful brand.

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Lego has successfully co-branded with many popular existing brand franchises

Lego has successfully created many sub-brands such as Duplo for kids ages 2-5, Friends for

girls ages 6-12, Creator for older audiences and Mindstorms for the technology-savvy builders.

Exhibit 1

Exhibit 2

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Lego’s brand extends past toys into other industries to represent the intangible joy of

creativity through expansions into amusement parks, hotels, etc.

Lego’s brand has also extended into a wide portfolio of digital games to represent a more

creative and kid-friendly twist on many popular franchises.

Exhibit 3

Exhibit 4

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Lego’s recent move into the Hollywood blockbuster industry seems to be a resounding

success. This movie gives the company to utilize various channels such as billboards, in-store,

restaurant partners, print, business promotions, physical displays and new product lines to

communicate their exciting, creative and fun brand personality.

Exhibit 5

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Brand Audit Report BU470D

February 11, 2014

Yichen He [100444030]

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Company: Seamless is an online food ordering system that allows users to order delivery or takeout through a variety of platforms. Their competitive advantage comes from being an early mover, a comprehensive roster of partnered restaurant and their brand equity from their decent service and being a dominant market player. Creation Story: Started in 1999 as an alternative way to order food, targeted at companies. Made available to the general public in 2005.

Creed: Be accessible (available on iOS, iPad, Android, Blackberry, and on all web browsers

and through foursquare) and be convenient (all takeout and delivery options aggregated on to one platform).

Icons: All food is delivered in Seamless-branded plastic bags. It is common to see delivery people and customers carry or use these bags around the cities.

Rituals: Instant access to food delivery through all platforms. People ordering food through their preferred method.

Pagans or Non-Believers: People who do not order delivery or are only loyal to certain

food providers.

Sacred Words: “Your food is here”.

Something no proper New Yorker can live without, Seamless has become

synonymous with food. Focusing its scope on some of America’s most densely populated cities such as Manhattan, Seattle, L.A., and Miami, Seamless has effectively consolidated all take-out and delivery food options to a single easy-to-use online service.

The motto of Seamless is “Your food is here.”, effectively encompassing the

experiences this brand promises to deliver (Exhibit 1). The food, your food, delivered to you. The brand pushes their astounding variety of food options (anything from imported frozen greek yogurt to gourmet gluten-free pizzas) in addition to the convenience of ordering online.

The brand personality eludes a “new-age cool” that is combined with the desire for

innovation and convenience. The brand experience promises a streamlined process that gets you what you want, reflected even by the company name: Seamless. There are no seams, nothing to break, get caught on or slow things down; a guaranteed smooth service from beginning to end. This is further reinforced by their creative advertising that emphasizes the convenience of online ordering and the inefficiency of the traditional restaurant calling method (Exhibit 2).

Brand Summary

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Speaking from personal experiences having lived in NYC for a short while, the brand community for Seamless is massive. This is where my interest stems from: how did this service rise to the point where every single New Yorker would literally replace the words “order food” with “Seamless it”? While NYC alone may be a biased sample, as the city tends to be quick adaptors of new technologies, one must still note in this specific city the brand has made its mark on just about everyone exposed to it –from grandmas to schoolchildren.

Even though Seamless has a good grasp of certain markets, a rival company GrubHub was once hot on its heels. Using a very similar style of branding (including the same bright red colour scheme), the employed the same business model. Seeing as the service offered is virtually the same less the different rosters of partnered restaurants (many of which partner with both), it was very much a battle to cut costs and brand effectively. Perhaps it was this extremely competitive nature of the industry that eventually led to the merger of the two largest players.

However, one would notice that despite the merger, both websites still remained. Upper management must have considered the customer loyalties to their food-ordering method of choice and decided publicly merging the two might lead to resentment that their freedom to choose was being rescinded. Moreover it may cause confusion over the social identity and dilute both brands. A comparison can be made to Best Buy and Future Shop, two almost identical retailers (that often set up shop right beside each other) that are owned by the same parent corporation. It is clear that in situations such as these the different brand really resonates with customer who prefers a certain shopping style and values choice.

An interesting activity is to compare Seamless with their Canadian alternative, Just-

eat.ca. While there are some fundamental market differences (population density comes to mind), these two companies offer nearly identical business models. Points of parity include the focus on getting food fast, the convenience of online ordering and the network of food vendors that can help the customer with their goal of enjoying a great meal without leaving a couch. However, the similarities end there, as when you visit the Just Eat website you are greeting with a very different experience.

Seamless greets users with tantalizing photos of delicious food that when clicked

can direct you to all the vendors that provide that offering. By offering a visually stimulating experience, seamless connects with customers on a sensual level, further reinforcing the connection between the brand and delicious food. Just Eat on the other hand simply presents the user with a wall of text describing how they have a good selection of foods, along with a passible list of food options. There are no pictures of food though, and the over experience feels lackluster (Exhibit 3). Perhaps this is why an almost identical product has failed to pick up.

In conclusion Seamless has done a superb job at branding their service to individuals in large American cities by having a great service and focusing on advertising that effectively communicates the advantages of ordering through their platform.

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The motto for Seamless is clearly seen on the website

Seamless effectively communicates their brand message of being

convenient and accurate and superior to other methods in their online

and print advertising.

Exhibit 2

Exhibit 1

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Just Eat (left) presents a boring list of restaurants while Seamless (right) shows tantalizing photos of food you could

order now and be eating in less than 30 minutes!

Just Eat, Seamless and Grubhub homepages. Just Eat does not effectively communicate their value proposition

with a wall of text and does not connect a slogan with their brand.

Exhibit 3

Exhibit 4