In a few lines, here are figures from professional reports that help to better understand the state of the current toy market in France as well as the place and strategy of LEGO.

Over the first 8 months of 2012, the toy market in France was negative at -4% in value and -8% by volume. Where the Action Figures (or action figures) is in sharp decline with a decrease of 27% of the turnover generated compared to 2011, the construction games market (incorporating LEGO) is up 18% over the same period.

In the market of Action Figures, only the Spider-Man licenses (+ 380% with the help of the film), Power Rangers (+ 696% thanks to the return of the license via Power Rangers Samurai), Pokemon (stable), Avengers and Batman are doing well .

Regarding the Friends range, LEGO communicates a few figures: The LEGO brand is considered mixed until the age of 5 via Duplo. After this milestone, only 14% of female customers acquired to the cause. This is why LEGO flooded the media with advertisements in 2012 in order to create notoriety around this new range as quickly as possible. LEGO believes that the potential of this range is at least equivalent to that of the City range over the 5-8 year range.

During the period from January to June 2012, LEGO is part of the Top 10 Advertisers in France with € 4.856.000 of invested budget (launch of the Friends range) and is in third place behind the two giants Mattel (€ 9.858.000) and Hasbro (€ 7.179.000). MEGA Brands is not present in this ranking, but the press relations manager I met at NYCC 2012 confirmed to me that the group would be more present in 2013 to highlight its licenses (WoW, Halo, Skylanders, Power Rangers Samurai).

The advertising budget allocated by LEGO over the same period in 2011 was € 3.162.000, i.e. an increase of 53.6% in 2012. For comparison, Playmobil invested 1.194.000 € in 2012, reducing its budget by 7.1% compared to 2011.

TV advertising represents 82.8% of the total advertising investments made over the first six months of 2012, all brands combined. 11.1% of the sums were invested on the internet, and cinema, radio and the print media share the rest.
The biggest advertising investors in 2011 were Hasbro, Mattel and Giochi Preziosi (Gormiti).

No reliable information for the moment concerning the licenses for 2012, but as an example, know that in 2011 the Top 3 consisted of Beyblade, Cars and Hello Kitty.

In the ranking game of the most sold licenses on the toy market and carried by a film we find Cars (2011), Spider-Man (2007), Star Wars (2011), Toy Story (2010) and Ratatouille (2008).

Regarding distribution channels, a few figures: Between 2009 and 2011 the market share of supermarkets / hypermarkets increased by only 1%, where the pdm of specialized brands increased by 7%. The biggest increase is to the credit of online merchants with + 47% pdm in 3 years.

Regarding the sale of collectible products in sachets, it is a huge market: Products under 5 € represent 40% of the volumes sold in France thanks to a price adapted to the children's budget and to impulse purchases. By way of reference, the PetShop brand launched in France in 2005 has already offered more than 2000 different references with the success that we know. Enough to whet the appetite of LEGO, Playmobil or MEGA Brands with their figurines in sachets in this segment.

The Lord of the Rings LEGO set 9474 The Battle Of Helm's Deep isn't fundamentally bad, but it still seems unfinished, much like all LEGO sets that consist of pieces of facades, portions of walls or somewhat skeletal interiors.

Eurolock did not let itself be defeated: He quite simply undertook to dress the fortress himself by creating what is missing, while respecting the original scale and the spirit of the official set.

The end result is really excellent, he got a believable fortress and he even integrated an interior in the heart of the mountain on which the building is leaned.

To see more, visit Eurolock's flickr gallery.

You have two hours.

More seriously, a quick nod to the new LEGO advertising campaign with this photo that reminds me of some childhood memories, and which must certainly remind you of some as well ...

On the other hand, if I do indeed remember having carefully displayed my soldiers / Playmobil / minifigs / etc ... I have no memory of having been forgiven for having cluttered the living room with my armies wisely aligned, ready to do battle. ... In my memories, I was copiously called to order and I was asked to pick up all that and go play elsewhere.

To discover other visuals of dirty kids invading the adult universe with their bits of plastic, go to the mini-site dedicated to this campaign.

LEGO is raising the pressure with the presentation of one of the sets from The Hobbit range each week. And this week, it's Hans Henrik Sidenius, a LEGO designer, to present us in detail the 79000 Riddles for the Ring set.

The gentleman strives to furnish the 2 minutes and 40 seconds that the video lasts as best he can and this minimalist set probably did not deserve as much consideration. A boat that does not float, a conceptual rock, the Ring, Gollum and Bilbo Baggins, all sold at the price announced a few weeks ago (by mistake) on amazon.fr of 13.99 €, not enough to make tons of it ...

Only a few more days to wait and Festi'Briques 2012 will open its doors to young and old alike who will be able to admire the creations of many exhibitors (over 1000) over more than 2m60 who have worked hard to offer something to have a good time in the world of LEGO.
I have from a (very) reliable source that many animations and other surprises are planned ...

Festi'Briques 2012 will therefore take place from October 26 and 28, 2012 in Chatenoy-le-Royal (71) with a night scheduled for Friday 26 from 19:00 p.m. to 22:00 p.m. which will allow all those interested to discover behind the scenes of an exhibition of this type (installation of stands, assembly of MOCs, etc.).

I would be there Saturday 27 all day. If you are in the area, do not hesitate to mention it in the comments, it will be the opportunity to have a drink in a necessarily nice atmosphere.
I leave early Saturday morning from Geneva, via Bellegarde, Bourg-en-Bresse, near Mâcon, Tournus and Châlons-sur-Saône. If anyone is on the road, I would gladly offer to take them.