LEGO® IDEAS
Crowdsourcing Community
Transforming fan passion into product innovation.
From 2011-2018, I led community and experience efforts for LEGO IDEAS. We grew from 20,000 Beta users in 2011 to over one million activated users in 2018 and 25 crowdsourced LEGO sets in the market.
Immediate Impact
Led LEGO's transformation from making toys for fans to co-creating hit products with them by asking them to build what they want and put their LEGO IDEAS to a public vote. The results were obviously LEGO® sets, but never seen before. LEGO fans around the world proved that LEGO + their idea = awesome! During my tenure, we grew the platform from 20,000 beta users to over 1 million members, shepherding 25 crowdsourced sets to market and established a new model for community-led product innovation.
Initial State (2011)
- 20,000 beta users
- 1 crowdsourced LEGO set in market
- Ad-hoc community engagement and minimal rewards system
- Minimal submission guidelines allowed a wide range of submissions, many of which could not be realized.
Final State (2018)
- 1,000,000+ active users
- 25 crowdsourced LEGO sets in market
- Established internal "Participation Promise" with governing principles for the company to solicit and capture user-generated content (UGC) and recognize and reward creators
- Matured submission guidelines developed by balancing stakeholder inputs from business units including Design, Production, Marketing, Licensing, Legal, and the user community
- Scalable idea intake and content moderation system with a trained multi-tier moderation team and clear SLAs
Role & Key Contributions
Platform Leadership
- Established and grew LEGO IDEAS as the company's crowdsourcing and open innovation hub
- Authored the "Participation Promise" establishing principles to engage community, capture value, and integrate value while celebrating and rewarding creators
- Led internal and external communication for platform migration from Cuusoo to Chaordix in 2014, managed burn-in post-migration
- Defined requirements for scalable moderation tools to handle 1,000+ monthly submissions and 10,000+ monthly comments
Community Growth & Engagement
- Established, communicated, and upheld quality standards for idea submissions
- Created onboarding content and documentation for new and returning users
- Developed the "10K Club" to recognize and profile successful project creators
- Coordinated store signing events and community celebrations for successful fan creators
Notable Products
Media Appearances
Podcast Interviews
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Working with customers as collaborators ⛑ Tim Courtney of LEGO IDEAS
The Get Together, April 2020
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LEGO Ideas and the Building Blocks of a Successful Crowdsourcing Community
Community Signal, February 2020
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Community Building: How LEGO built an empire with its fans
The Disruptors, May 2019
Video Interviews
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LEGO IDEAS 10th Anniversary Panel
Beyond the Brick, October 2018
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Brickworld Chicago Interview
Beyond the Brick, June 2014
Articles and Blogs
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How Lego's Great Adventure In Geek-Sourcing Snapped Into Place And Boosted The Brand
FastCompany, February 2012
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Medieval Micro Modulars by T-brick, plus answers from Cuusoo's Tim Courtney
Brickset, March 2013
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Turn Your Customers into Your Community
Harvard Business Review, January 2020
With then Head of LEGO IDEAS Daiva Naldal, LEGO Voltron designer Niek van Slagmaat, and Joshua Hanlon from Beyond the Brick at the LEGO Fan Weekend in Skærbæk, Denmark in 2018.
With LEGO IDEAS fan designer Maia Weinstock and fellow IDEAS team member Hasan Jensen at the Flatiron LEGO Store in New York, 2017.
On the cover of Gizmodo when we announced the Back to the Future DeLorean Time Machine.
With the Chaordix team after a successful migration from LEGO CUUSOO to LEGO IDEAS in 2014.
Legacy & Impact
The "Participation Promise" principles and community engagement practices established during my tenure continue to influence the LEGO Group's approach to fan collaboration. IDEAS demonstrated that community co-creation could be both profitable and brand-enhancing, and paved the way for popular product lines like LEGO Icons and the newer crowdsourcing line the BrickLink Designer Program.
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