LEGO confuses itself for Supreme, drops a ‘limited edition’ streetwear range on uh, Snapchat

February 14, 2019 | 8

Early this morning, LEGO announced a pretty bizarre thing – that they were dropping a ‘limited edition’ range of adult LEGO apparel, made in collaboration with Kabooki, a Danish apparel company that has the license to produce LEGO-related apparel through the LEGO Wear label.

The release was launched on Snapchat (lol), where you had to navigate your way through an Augmented Reality LEGO Apparel Store by way of a Snapchat Lens – but really it was a really roundabout way to get you to head over to limited.legowear.com which is only accessible on mobile devices.

All up, LEGO Wear dropped a grey and black sweatshirt for £65, a white or grey t-shirt for £50, and a black cap for £45. Yes, those prices aren’t typos.

Lmao, a cap for £45. What are these people smoking?

Peep the apparel below

Because these are aimed at adults, the iconic LEGO logo is stripped of all its colour, leaving only a faint outline, because God forbid your cool friends see you dressed in something with a child’s toy’s branding all over it.

If you thought these were cool and have a massive hole burning in your pocket and wanted to order a few of these, unless you live in the UK, France or Germany, you’re out of luck as those are the only countries that the website delivers to.

Part of this ‘activation‘ (yes, that’s what they call it in the marketing world) is an empty pop-up clothing shop in Soho, London with only a Snapcode on a plinth.

Scanning it via Snapchat opens up a lens, allowing you to browse an augmented reality shop, all through your mobile phone.

Scintillating stuff.

If you’re scratching your head, let me try to help explain as someone who works in marketing.

So the ‘trendy‘ thing in marketing is dropping limited edition merchandise. The poster-child for this is of course Supreme a New York Streetwear/Skater brand that drops limited edition merchandise and apparel to build hype.

A simple white shirt with a Supreme box logo can sell for hundreds (or thousands) on the secondary market.

Side note: this might explain why LEGO has been doing more limited edition releases like the LEGO Movie 2 Brickheadz, or Chinese New Year sets. Don’t expect this trend to stop any time soon.

Also, streetwear is super trendy these days, so the marketing boffins at LEGO decided to combine the two in an attempt to cash in on AFOLs.

See the liberal use of LIMITED EDITION all across the LEGO Wear site and all the marketing around this activation. All to drum up imaginary hype, lest you miss out on this super-hyped drop. Lol.

Brands have started jumping in on this trend (see KFC’s streetwear collab with Japanese designer Nigo or McDonald’s) for just some examples of just how prevalent this is. Not original at all, LEGO.

Oh, and throw in Snapchat (you know, the social media platform that is currently in decline) because that’s what millennials are into, and you have a half-baked marketing attempt to appeal to young adults.

For the sake of full transparency, I’m probably the exact type of person they’re targeting – I actually like some of these designs (mostly the sweatshirts – no way in hell I’m dropping 50 pounds on a t-shirt), and these pieces would easily slot into my wardrobe.

Too bad I live in Australia, so there’s no way of me ordering one, and even then, £65 is a big ask for a non-branded sweatshirt and I’m only considering it because I like LEGO.

As an objective observer, this ‘activation’ just reeks of LEGO putting on its best “how do you do, fellow kids” impression.

As a marketing person, I get that campaigns like this are on-trend, but this completely flies against rule number one of any marketing campaign: know your audience.

I have no idea who the heck this is supposed to appeal to, and I’m willing to bet that the cross-section of LEGO enthusiasts who are also streetwear enthusiasts who are willing to drop up to £65 on a no-name Danish apparel that’s made its name by selling kids clothes is excruciatingly tiny.

This is seriously Marketing 101: Understanding your target audience.

The “limited edition” nature of this release is also dumb as rocks, as there is absolutely no demand or even artificial “hype” created surround this drop.

Truly limited edition collections sell out instantaneously upon release – this entire collection has been sitting because I’m willing to bet no one really wants to drop stupid amounts of money on adult LEGO apparel.

Also, a cap for £45. C’mon. You’re LEGO, not Stone Island.

It’s been a day and this entire collection is still sitting online.

At least the Uniqlo collaboration was affordable and till today, is still a part of my wardrobe. They’re not dumb enough to charge £65 for a sweatshirt. For crying out loud, that’s even more expensive than a North Face sweat shirt.

I mean, if LEGO had collaborated with a respected Danish fashion brand like Wood Wood or Norse Projects (which have actual street cred and an established following), then maybe you could justify charging these prices, and you know, it would’ve appealed to another section of consumers that aren’t LEGO fans.

Man, this entire campaign has managed to piss both the LEGO blogger and Marketing person in me.

This is just so stupid I can’t even. Someone at LEGO must’ve forgot that it’s not the 1st of April yet.