LEGO clearly knows how to make our mornings a bit more surprising. Early today, LEGO has announced a new line of building sets that specifically targets adult fans of LEGO. Dubbed as LEGO FORMA, this is the first ever LEGO set that is promoted and launched on the Indiegogo crowdsourcing platform. The idea behind the project is supposedly to see if such an open approach to innovation will be an effective means of gauging AFOLs’ interest for future sets. But perhaps beyond being an experimental marketing tool, the selling point of the LEGO FORMAis its potential of being a means for adult fans of LEGO to express their creative side in a more unstructured way.
As a first in the series, this planned LEGO FORMA sets are composed of the following aquatic animals:
- LEGO FORMA Koi (81000)
- LEGO FORMA Shark Skin (81001)
- LEGO FORMA Splash Koi Skin (81002)
- LEGO FORMA Ink Koi Skin (81003)
The notable features of these builds are their interchangeable skins, particularly among the three Koi Fish variants. The Ink Koi Skin on the other hand allows you to color your own unique Koi, very similar to how you do it on a coloring page for adults. The pieces that come with the LEGO FORMA are derived from Technic parts composed of gears and axles that give the set a fluid, swimming motion when you turn the lever at the base of the build.
The LEGO FORMA Koi base set (81000) will be available through Indiegogo for a selling price of $45, while the Shark and other Koi variants will be offered for $15 each. There’s also a LEGO FORMA Super Box where you can get all the aquatic models for a retail price of $85.
Here’s a video demonstrating this newest LEGO theme, followed by the LEGO Group’s official press release. So what do you think of the LEGO FORMA? Do you think it will be a hit among LEGO fans? We have until January next year to find out.
LEGO® CREATIVE PLAY LAB TAKES PILOT PROJECT TO INDIEGOGO FOR OPEN INNOVATION
The LEGO Group embraces open innovation as it looks to test the new LEGO® FORMA product and build other play experiences via pilots.
September 27, Billund – Rather than concealing its new innovations inside its Creative Play Lab, the LEGO Group today announced a new strategic approach that will help foster open innovation and test ideas and concept experiences through pilot projects, the first being LEGO® FORMA on Indiegogo.
A series of pilots are being planned to run in various locations and formats over the coming year to float new ideas, crowdsource others, and receive real-time feedback from consumers to evaluate whether concepts should be developed and scaled.
Over time, this more transparent approach to product development is hoped to de-risk and accelerate innovation by validating and iterating new ideas, helping to fast-track the time that new products go to market and not least to pave way for unique product launches that sit outside normal procedures and reach new audiences.
Tom Donaldson, Vice President of LEGO Creative Play Lab, says: “Continuing to push our innovation approach means nurturing ideas that we don’t always know the outcome of, encouraging risk-taking and finding new exiting ways to launch products that are a bit different compared to what you would normally see from the LEGO Group. Pilots such as LEGO FORMA with Indiegogo open up an engaged and creative community that we can take inspiration from, and vice versa.”
The first of these pilots is a collaboration with Indiegogo Enterprise, where an entirely new product, LEGO FORMA, will be tested among a 10 million strong community of early adopters, entrepreneurs, makers and creatives on Indiegogo’s online platform.
The fertile ground of Indiegogo Enterprise will be used to provide real-time insights and real-world validation of LEGO FORMA, which is a model based on the LEGO® Technic building system designed for adults looking for creative activities. Inspired by nature, LEGO FORMA aspires to be a new theme where you can customise with different ‘skins’ – foil sheets – to create artistic interpretations of plants and animals.
Kari Vinther, Senior Marketing Manager and Head of Creative Play Lab Pilots Says: “LEGO FORMA is more of a creative project than a toy, and more about display than play. The young adults we speak to tell us they still feel the urge to be creative and enjoy the physical experience of making stuff – but life seems to get in the way. We want to help them rediscover the joy of building that children possess and unleash their imaginations for a couple of hours. We can’t wait to hear what people think and look forward to sharing some of the decisions that will be made along the journey based on consumer input.”
The product launches with one model of a fish with a variety of skins available, so it can change colour, species and even take on entirely new forms, unleashing the creativity of the maker. The model takes a couple of hours to complete and helps adults reconnect with their innate urge to be creative and encourages us all to prioritise recreational time.
Created as a limited short-run batch only, the pilot is primarily designed to learn whether there is an appetite and market for the product, more so than driving revenue.
Natasha Raja, VP of Marketing at Indiegogo adds: “Our platform brings some of the most efficient techniques used for startup research and open innovation to companies like the LEGO Group, who through our collaboration will be able to iterate and validate product offerings in real-time, with real users and real transactions.
Visit the page here: https://www.indiegogo.com/at/forma.
LEGO® FORMA Fun facts:
- 16 concept skins were explored before selecting the four final skins
- The model and different skins have been tested among adult consumer focus groups, fans from the LEGO Ambassador Network and LEGO employees outside the project team
- The LEGO FORMA project team consists of four people. Kari, Anne, Harald & Mikkel
- The extended project team consists of 25+ people
- Harald, the designer of the model, is left handed which is reflected in the way you turn the handle
- This is the first time the LEGO Group works with a crowdfunding platform
- Creative Play Lab works from four different locations: Billund, Singapore, London and Los Angeles
- 91% of adults say play is good for their own wellbeing*
- 86% of adults say play helps them de-stress and unwind*
- 87% of adults say construction toys such as the LEGO bricks help them be creative*
- 76% of adults say construction toys such as the LEGO bricks appeal more to them than other forms of play*
