Classic-Castle meets with Jørgen Vig, CEO of LEGO!
Posted: Thu Aug 18, 2005 3:52 pm
Classic-Castle meets with Jørgen Vig, CEO of LEGO
At BrickFest 2005, Admins of Classic-Castle were given a chance to have a one-on-one meeting with Jørgen Vig, CEO and President of LEGO. Ben, Lenny, and Troy were able to attend (Tony and Kevin had faulty time information), and give Jørgen an idea of what it is that we do, what sets we'd like, and how LEGO can help us.
The meeting went wonderfully! Jørgen and the others present were impressed and excited about what we do. They asked for an honest opinion of Castle over the past ten years and they got it! We also made a contact with Steve Witt, who is absorbing many of the functions Jake once performed. We have started a few connections with Steve and Jake, which we'll be telling you about more in the future.
But I'd also like to thank you, the CC Member. It is because of your participation that has made CC a club that LEGO knows and respects us.
-----------------------------------------------------------
This is a partial transcript of our meeting written by Ben:
In attendance:
Classic-Castle
· Lenny
· Ben
· Troy
LEGO
· Jørgen Vig Knudstorp, CEO
· Tormod Askildsen
· Jake McKee
· Steve Witt, Intern
Jake showed us into a small conference room adjacent to Christina Hitchcock’s office on the fourth floor of GMU. We shook hands with everyone and said our names. Steve Barile and Lenny began to set up the laptop for the powerpoint presentation. As it was loading up we all spoke about ourselves. Lenny said that he had been building castle since he was 7-8? and his first set was a civilian shop. So I said that it is 6041 Armor Shop which impressed them that I know all the numbers.
I said my name and that I began building with family 1960’s lego, bypassed duplo, and started with Lear Jet. Then, I said that it influenced me to study to be an architect. JVK asked if I am one yet and I said that I have 3 more years of internship. He then asked if I liked the National Trust room/event. I said that I thought it was wonderful. He asked if I built anything and I said that I made the grey tomb and it is quite fragile. They know which one it is (mainly because of the small number of entries in that room @ 30).
Troy introduced himself as the financer/host of the site. They talked a bit about the quantity of LEGO he purchased at fest.
By that time the presentation was ready. Lenny talked about how we started and gave a run through of all the Admins and their duties.
City Standard – talk a bit about shows and events
Sets – archive of old sets with unique pages, photos, etc. We talked about building idea book creations and making instructions to them which impresses the LEGO employees.
Events/Contests – We talked about the Colossal Castle Contest, number of entries, thanks Jake for prizes, said that admins donate prizes too (I mentioned 6080 for this year).
HowTo – Articles on building styles/techniques. They are most impressed with this section and think we fans should make our own idea book.
Highlighted Mocs – main page and written description (they also like this)
Suggestions:
· Minifig packs (castle and vikings)
· More realistic sets and accessories
· Modularity
· Legends – We would like CC members to be able to give feedback to LEGO.
· Surveys for our members to say what products they want
· Keep good sets on SAH longer - Siskind's Shop and BFF disappeared suddenly from USA SAH and we wanted those longer. Tormod, head of North America division, seemed surprised and said he didnt know that we still wanted them.
They also asked what we thought of Castle products from the last 10 years. Some of our complaints were a lack of modularity, lack of realism, juniorized designs, and poor sub models,etc. We said that recent sets weren't as good but kk2 2005 is an improvement over kk2 2004.They are hoping that Vikings and Vladek's castle will sell well this season. We also said that Duplo Castle is awesome and thank them for the KK2 Chess set.
------------------------------------------------------------
We would like to thank everyone at LEGO for meeting with us. Please post your thoughts on our meeting and any things you would like us to pass along to LEGO in the future.
Lenny, Ben E, and the CC Team
At BrickFest 2005, Admins of Classic-Castle were given a chance to have a one-on-one meeting with Jørgen Vig, CEO and President of LEGO. Ben, Lenny, and Troy were able to attend (Tony and Kevin had faulty time information), and give Jørgen an idea of what it is that we do, what sets we'd like, and how LEGO can help us.
The meeting went wonderfully! Jørgen and the others present were impressed and excited about what we do. They asked for an honest opinion of Castle over the past ten years and they got it! We also made a contact with Steve Witt, who is absorbing many of the functions Jake once performed. We have started a few connections with Steve and Jake, which we'll be telling you about more in the future.
But I'd also like to thank you, the CC Member. It is because of your participation that has made CC a club that LEGO knows and respects us.
-----------------------------------------------------------
This is a partial transcript of our meeting written by Ben:
In attendance:
Classic-Castle
· Lenny
· Ben
· Troy
LEGO
· Jørgen Vig Knudstorp, CEO
· Tormod Askildsen
· Jake McKee
· Steve Witt, Intern
Jake showed us into a small conference room adjacent to Christina Hitchcock’s office on the fourth floor of GMU. We shook hands with everyone and said our names. Steve Barile and Lenny began to set up the laptop for the powerpoint presentation. As it was loading up we all spoke about ourselves. Lenny said that he had been building castle since he was 7-8? and his first set was a civilian shop. So I said that it is 6041 Armor Shop which impressed them that I know all the numbers.
I said my name and that I began building with family 1960’s lego, bypassed duplo, and started with Lear Jet. Then, I said that it influenced me to study to be an architect. JVK asked if I am one yet and I said that I have 3 more years of internship. He then asked if I liked the National Trust room/event. I said that I thought it was wonderful. He asked if I built anything and I said that I made the grey tomb and it is quite fragile. They know which one it is (mainly because of the small number of entries in that room @ 30).
Troy introduced himself as the financer/host of the site. They talked a bit about the quantity of LEGO he purchased at fest.
By that time the presentation was ready. Lenny talked about how we started and gave a run through of all the Admins and their duties.
City Standard – talk a bit about shows and events
Sets – archive of old sets with unique pages, photos, etc. We talked about building idea book creations and making instructions to them which impresses the LEGO employees.
Events/Contests – We talked about the Colossal Castle Contest, number of entries, thanks Jake for prizes, said that admins donate prizes too (I mentioned 6080 for this year).
HowTo – Articles on building styles/techniques. They are most impressed with this section and think we fans should make our own idea book.
Highlighted Mocs – main page and written description (they also like this)
Suggestions:
· Minifig packs (castle and vikings)
· More realistic sets and accessories
· Modularity
· Legends – We would like CC members to be able to give feedback to LEGO.
· Surveys for our members to say what products they want
· Keep good sets on SAH longer - Siskind's Shop and BFF disappeared suddenly from USA SAH and we wanted those longer. Tormod, head of North America division, seemed surprised and said he didnt know that we still wanted them.
They also asked what we thought of Castle products from the last 10 years. Some of our complaints were a lack of modularity, lack of realism, juniorized designs, and poor sub models,etc. We said that recent sets weren't as good but kk2 2005 is an improvement over kk2 2004.They are hoping that Vikings and Vladek's castle will sell well this season. We also said that Duplo Castle is awesome and thank them for the KK2 Chess set.
------------------------------------------------------------
We would like to thank everyone at LEGO for meeting with us. Please post your thoughts on our meeting and any things you would like us to pass along to LEGO in the future.
Lenny, Ben E, and the CC Team