Catching Up With Lisbeth Valther Pallesen, LEGO Group
This month, Executive Editor Kara Romanow sits down with Lisbeth Valther Pallesen, executive vice president, community, education & direct division for the LEGO Group. This division is responsible for the company's direct contact with consumers. Read on as Lisbeth gives a first hand look into the challenges associated with satisfying some of the world's toughest customers -- children -- across very different national markets.
What is the biggest challenge for CG manufacturers in the next three years?
Technology is changing the consumption paradigm as more and more boundaries are being removed and consumers start participating in creating content. Suddenly, ordinary people are able to compete against (and beat) the big organizations. This means that the infrastructure of big organizations or big brands is no longer needed to gain access to a large audience. This to me is one of the greatest challenges -- but also a great opportunity for consumer goods manufacturers! Because of this, the winners of the future will be companies that democratize their tools for production and distribution to lower costs and empower lead consumers. At LEGO, we have started this with the launch of LEGO Factory, where consumers can design, share and buy their own models -- or models designed by other consumers. This is a key to understanding what consumers really want as well as a key to offering a much greater variety in our assortment than what is feasible at a retail shelf. Another great example of consumer involvement is our recent LEGO MINDSTORMS NXT. We have had a lead user program where originally three, then 10, then 100 lead users participated actively in the development of the new product, which launched this August.
How do manufacturers and retailers better collaborate?
I think one of the key challenges is the diversified retail landscape. The fact that we are interacting with multiple retailers makes it difficult to create the ideal in-sync collaboration. However, I do believe that increased focus on understanding each other's business reality makes it a lot easier to cooperate and to tap into potential synergies to optimize the business opportunity.
A concept that has worked really well for us in the past has been the creation of "customer wheels" within the manufacturer's business. Participants "on the wheel" have been from all parts of the value chain (sales, marketing, planning, supply chain) and thus we have been able to make quick decisions to respond to market needs. We have also ensured that the respective functions from the retailer side have been connected to similar functions at the manufacturer -- all the way from top-to-top through sales to planners and merchandisers.
A very tangible example of cooperation is what we call "all hands on the deck," where key people from the manufacturer have helped in the stores during high season -- a great win/win situation as manufacturers learn (very rapidly and "hands on") about the retailer reality, while the retailer has an extra pair of hands and access to lots of brand and product knowledge at a peak sales period.
As a European-based company with 30 percent of your business in the United States, what are some of the global challenges you face?
The global challenges have to do with understanding the local retailer and local consumer. Gaining knowledge of the retail environment in the United States has been difficult being so far away. Most of the retail trends come out of the United States, and then we will see them in Europe. But there are pros and cons. Understanding the U.S. market makes it easier to tap into new trends and thus supports our position in Europe.
How do toy and game manufacturers gain consumer insight in their market where the products are used by children but purchased by parents or adults? This is the biggest challenges in our industry. To gain these insights, we do a lot of research with children and with parents. Often, we will conduct research when the parents watch us interact with their children; we try to discern what the parents see and how they react to what their children like.
To understand the differences between young consumers in Europe and in the United States, we need to do research in both geographies, including our lead market in Europe, which is Germany. There are many differences; the trends and media exposure are different, with kids in the United States being more sophisticated than in Germany.
First job: Sales agent at the local movie theater
Who Inspires You?
John Maeda from MIT for always thinking out of the box and focusing on the consumer/user experience
How do you reward yourself?
I watch a great movie or read a book.
Favorite movie: The Horse Whisperer
Favorite Musician: Phil Collins: great lyrics and music
Favorite Sports team
The Danish Soccer Team - although they did not make the World Cup this Summer!
FAVORITE Vacation spot: Albufeira, the Algarve Coast in Portugal
Hobby: Horseback riding - it's both demanding and relaxing at the same time!
Most recent tech purchase: iPod for my son
Biggest challenge:
Inspiring and motivating my team to balance between two paradigms of delivering strong business results short term while also identifying and developing completely new business ideas.
Favorite Quote: "If you can dream it you can DO it."
- Walt Disney