BRAND MILESTONES

Iconic Lego brand turns 90 – but still remains far from retirement

By our News Team | 2022

Created in 1932 in a small carpentry workshop in Denmark, Lego has since evolved into a huge global brand valued at over US$9-billion.

The iconic toy brand Lego celebrated its 90th birthday yesterday (Wednesday, 10 August) with a campaign called World Play Day, in which the company invited families to spend time playing games together at Lego stores, online on the brand’s website, and at Legoland theme parks in various countries.

There was even a birthday ‘cake’ at the head office in Denmark – made of the famous Lego naturally blocks naturally. In all, the massive cake required more than 94 000 blocks and comprised nine layers; one layer for each decade of the brand’s existence.

Image by Matthias Wewering from Pixabay

“Our 90th birthday today gave us the perfect excuse to build this cake! A feast for the eyes if not for the stomach,” Lego noted on its Twitter feed.

“Play has always been the cornerstone of humanity,” said Julia Goldin, Global Chief Product & Marketing Officer at the Lego Group.

Helping to develop crucial life skills

“It’s not only fun, but it’s crucial to helping children develop essential life skills, strengthening family bonds and building communities. But with competing pressures on the lives of parents and children, play is often deprioritised.”

According to The Brick Fan website, since its inception the iconic Lego brick has featured in over 18,000 Lego sets and inspired millions of children and fans to play and create. It’s helped them master engineering, learn about robotics and coding, explore friendships and adventure, explore new digital playgrounds with over 85 mobile and console games, and even enabled them to help design some of the brand’s most popular sets.

The famous brick was even celebrated in the bright lights of Hollywood in ‘The Lego Movie’. In 2015, fuelled by the success of the movie, Lego overtook Ferrari to become the world’s most powerful brand, according to the Brand Finance Global 500 report at the time.

In 2021, the Lego brand was valued at approximately US$9.1-billion, the website Statista reported.

Watch a video of some of the 90th anniversary celebrations here.

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