Reading Response #4: Brick By Brick

I've officially lost interest in Girls Don't Fly (more like I just don't have the time to read it). I've decided to start blogging about Brick by Brick, which I am reading for Marketing II. Mrs. Moore told us all to pick a book off the cabinet in the backroom. We would be reading for 20 minutes at the beginning of each class. Being engulfed in ad campaign project, I was one of the last few two pick a book. I honestly didn't care what I read; they were all books about how different people or businesses had made it into the world of marketing. So I picked the second book in the stack. The first was Happy Happy Happy By Phil Robertson, and I hear enough about Duck Dynasty from my little sister. So I picked up Brick by Brick by David C. Robertson.


One of the wooden ducks that the boy only used two coats of varnish on.

What I was expecting to be a boring book about marketing filled with lame statistics has actually turned out to be quite an intriguing book. The book is actually about the well known toy company, LEGO, and how it has survived so long. The author starts with the basic background information. The company was started in the 1932 by Ole Kirk Kristiansen in Denmark. In the beginning they manufactured wooden toys. The company went though many hardships in the beginning including the death of Ole Kirk's wife, a fire, and the great depression. Ole Kirk had a drive to make toys that inspired kids imagination. The company operates on the idea that "only the best is good enough." This saying came from an instance where Ole Kirks son only used two coats of varnish, instead of three, on a batch of wooden ducks. He told his father that he was attempting to save money and that the ducks still looked good. He made the boy go back, get the ducks, and add another coat.
 It wasn't until later that the company made an attempt at plastic toys. At first it was far from a success. The book quotes the Danish toy-trade magazine, Legetojs-Tidende saying, "Plastics will never take the place of good solid wooden toys."  But obviously they were wrong. LEGO had a hard time with plastics at first but when they finally perfected the brick it took off. The company was very daring in deciding to eliminate wooden toys from their product mix which made up 90% of their products.
 I've really enjoyed learning about the company and how it has become the large toy empire it is today. Next time I have marketing, hopefully we'll find out how LEGO overcame their struggles with plastic.