Franchise Spotlight: LEGO
While it may seem inconceivable today, LEGO, a timeless favorite among imaginative kids, once faced a significant downturn in the early 2000s, causing concern at its headquarters. The toy giant successfully rebounded by forming creative partnerships with mega franchises like Star Wars, Lord of the Rings, and Toy Story, as well as releasing The Lego Movie – all of which led to its #1 ranking on our poll of The Most Impressive Brand Comebacks.
With the much-anticipated fifth installment of the LEGO film franchise, Pharrell Williams’s autobiographical Piece by Piece, hitting theaters next month, we’re highlighting fan sentiment for LEGO as both a toy company and movie franchise, while also examining the major entertainment properties it's partnered with over the years. This deep dive will illustrate how Ranker’s psychographic data engine and targeting solutions identify which overlapping interests and fanbases from those IPs LEGO should target next, which will help broaden its portfolio of co-branded toy sets, films, and experiences.
How Do Fans Feel About the LEGO Brand?
Photo: The LEGO Group
Using Ranker Insights, we’ve pulled fan sentiment for the LEGO brand from a wide range of polls surrounding LEGO toy sets, movies, videogames and more. With a 77% positive sentiment score (i.e. percentage ratio of total upvotes vs. downvotes), the nostalgic brand is still heavily favored among Ranker’s voters, where it currently sits at #2 on our competitive list of Brands that Remind You of Childhood (114.9K votes), and even holds the top spot on our poll asking: If It Were Socially Acceptable, What Toy From Your Childhood Would You Still Play With? (1.5K votes).
That said, there’s always room for expansion, as our community of superfans clamoring for Nerdy Things That Should Have Their Own LEGO Sets (5.3K votes) can attest.
What Do Fans of the LEGO Brand and Film Franchise Also Like?
Photo: Warner Bros. Pictures
To help LEGO in its ongoing quest for expansion, the first areas worth exploring are its fans’ favorite entertainment properties. For instance, by looking at the preferences of voters who’ve helped LEGO reach its #3 ranking on The Most Nostalgia-Inducing '80s Toys (62.1K votes), we’ve learned they’re twice as likely to love the iconic franchise Friday the 13th, which has yet to partner with LEGO, but surely could for Halloween or a milestone anniversary.
Other new business opportunities lie in pinpointing what fans of its movies love. While it’s no surprise that fans of the LEGO Movies are also superfans of LEGO’s regular collaborators – they’re 8x more obsessed with the DC Extended Universe and 4x more into The Incredibles, The Muppets, Kung Fu Panda and How to Train Your Dragon franchises – LEGO has somehow yet to capitalize on partnerships with the Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs film franchise, which appeals 5x more to LEGO Movie fans, nor with hit TV shows like Bob’s Burgers and Arrested Development, which LEGO fans stream twice as much on their TVs.
LEGO Movie fans are also underrated comedy nerds – they’re at least 4x more drawn to cult classics from director Edgar Wright, like Shaun of the Dead, Hot Fuzz, and The World’s End, and they’re 3x more devoted to Adam Sandler flicks like The Wedding Singer, Big Daddy, and The Longest Yard. Perhaps LEGO would do well to treat prolific auteurs like Wright, and Actors Who Are Basically Their Own Genre, like Sandler (ranked #4), as mini-franchises worth building collections and films around.
What Do Fans of LEGO’s Largest Brand Collaborators Also Like?
Photo: Warner Bros. Pictures
At this point, it may seem as if LEGO’s left no brick unturned with its mega-franchise partnerships, but when we look at which untapped films, TV shows, books, and video games are especially beloved by the fans of its longtime collaborators, it appears that there’s plenty of room left for its multiverse to grow.
DC Extended Universe + Marvel Cinematic Universe Fans
Given The LEGO Batman Movie’s outsized box office returns in 2017, the interests of DCEU fans are a potential goldmine for LEGO. Some opportune film franchises LEGO should consider partnering with are the Ocean’s Eleven, Expendables, and Hangover franchises, which appeal at least 4x harder to a DC fanatic. Same goes for prospective partnerships within Pokémon’s gaming division, as DC fans are 4x as likely to play their video games. LEGO would also benefit from optioning more literary IP, as DCEU fans have shown they’re twice as drawn to the complete works of Edgar Allen Poe and Dr. Seuss classics like Fox in Socks and Oh, the Places You’ll Go!.
Likewise, due to LEGO’s financial success developing popular MCU-themed sets around the likes of Spider-Man and The Avengers, it should look towards partnering with MCU fans’ favorite TV shows, since they’re 5x as likely to watch The Witcher, and 3x as likely to binge The Last of Us, Reacher, and Good Omens. They’re also at least 3x more likely to love nostalgic adventure film franchises like The Chronicles of Narnia and Bill & Ted.
Star Wars Fans
Star Wars fans have also shown areas of opportunity LEGO would be smart to pounce on in TV and gaming. When it comes to TV shows, Amazon Prime Video is their best bet, as Star Wars-heads are 4x as likely to tune in to The Boys and 2x as likely to watch Jack Ryan as the average viewer. With video games, they’re 7x more likely to play Jade the Empire, 6x more into the Mass Effect franchise, and 5x more into the Halo franchise compared to other gamers.
Harry Potter Fans
Harry Potter fans also have some niche cinematic tastes that LEGO stands to profit from: they’re 4x more into the Divergent film franchise and 3x more nostalgic for the Grease franchise than the average movie buff. They’re also known to gravitate towards heavily-streamed fantasy TV shows, as they’re 3x more into Once Upon a Time and 2x more into Supernatural, Charmed, and Game of Thrones than the next guy.
Lord of the Rings Fans
As for LOTR fans, LEGO should also look towards TV shows like Game of Thrones, which they’re 3x as likely to watch, along with any TV show from the Stephen King Universe. They’re also twice as into classic film franchises like Night at the Museum and The Godfather.
Jurassic Park Fans
Jurassic Park fan preferences unsurprisingly gravitate towards other films centered around scary creatures, as we’ve seen they’re 3x as likely to enjoy the Alien and MonsterVerse franchises. They’ve also shown an affinity for psychological horror, as they’re 3x more into The Conjuring franchise than the average cinephile.
Disney Fans
While there are countless LEGO partnerships under Disney’s umbrella worth spotlighting, smash hits like Toy Story and Frozen will suffice for this exercise.
Toy Story fans have shown surprising adult movie tastes in film worth exploring, like the fact that they’re 2x more into the Halloween franchise and 3x more into the Legally Blonde franchise – the latter of which has a forthcoming third film and prequel series debuting on Amazon Prime Video in ‘25 worth capitalizing on.
Frozen fans, on the other hand, have uncovered gaps in the LEGO repertoire worth closing in on at the next anniversary or reboot opportunity–they’re 6x more likely to rewatch the live-action/animation movie Osmosis Jones and 4x more drawn to the teen musical franchise Pitch Perfect.
