Assignment

*Lego Bites was created for a group university project in 2021 as part of my 'Innovation and Entrepreneurship' module. We were tasked with using blue ocean strategy to ideate a novel product, in line with an existing firm of choice.
*Note: Lego were not engaged in any consultancy or collaborative capacity with this project and the outcome is in no way endorsed by them. Any publicity is limited to personal and academic use.

Outcome

The proposed venture introduces edible, mini Lego sets, made from a cereal bar interior. This exploits two critical areas of demand: healthy eating, using gamification to encourage children to choose a healthier snack; and sustainability, eliminating plastic waste by replacing Polybag sets with edible alternatives.
The concept was further expanded to tap into the mobile games market. Each packet contains a redeemable code, importing the model into 'Lego Bites Builder'. This addressed concerns that the Bites would lose out on Lego's longevity and replayability; and replaces in-game micro-transactions with real-life codes, which promotes repeat purchasing.

Parent Firm Analysis

To make sure the new venture was alligned with the parent business, we first analysed Lego's mission, vision and strategy.

Lego's core focus is on creativity, with a mission to 'Inspire the builders of tomorrow'. This is supported by their values of imagination, creativity, fun, quality and caring.

They have a share of over 5% of the physical toy industry, which has seen profit margins fall in recent years. Hence, our venture expands their offerings into alternate markets.

We also conducted a SWOT analysis, highlighting Lego's strength in unique, quality products; and threat of increasing competition from the video games industry.

Related Industries Analysis

Because industry boundaries are blurred, firms in this digital era can enter related or even unrelated industries with low barriers. We analysed the cereal-based foods industry to understand the potential for this venture.

This market was valued at £2.4BN in 2020-21, with cereal bars and snacks the 2nd biggest product in the industry.

Competition was deemed high, dominated by major brands like PepsiCo. This yields harder barriers to entry and hence, key success factors were considered to ensure success.

Trends were also analysed, underlining the increasing popularity of sugar-free snacks and gamifying consumption, with these innovations likely to drive revenue growth in the coming years.

Marketing & Financial Projections

We developed a marketing strategy and assessed the potential financial gain, estimating a serviceable obtainable market of 5.4 million in the UK alone. We used the '4 Ps of marketing' to define a strategy to reach this audience.

This consisted of above the line advertising (e.g., newspapers) to captivate parents with an affective message of healthy-eating and sustainability; and a conative below the line campaign, impulsing children to want the product.

To address the financials, we looked into the revenue growth of Graze, another successful 'blue ocean' snack enterprise. After conducting a user survey, our calculations suggested that Lego Bites will require an initial budget of £9.11 million, predicted to break-even in year 2.

Soft Skills

User-focused Research & Design | Communication & Teamwork

Hard Skills

Business Strategy | Industry Analysis | Financial Planning | Marketing | Concept Development | Report Writing