Lego started with someone who was a failed carpenter, this man at first made wooden blocks and with much criticism decided that changing the blocks from wood to plastic was a great idea. Even though many thought this was a terrible idea and no one would want to play with plastic bricks, they were wrong. The Danish company grew and many years later in the 90's faced a decline in profit and were struggling as far as creativity and innovation as many kids at this time had turned to video games and had moved away from traditional toys, which sales were suffering. .
The company responded like many companies responded to a similar situation, it tripled the amount of toys it brought to the market each year. Due to higher costs and lower profit because of more supply and less demand, Lego went through its first loss in the history of the company in 1998. Starting in 1999 Lego decided to innovate outside the box, away from the brick and involving many toys that didn't involve construction of pieces. .
It created LEGO Explore, electronic toys for toddlers, for example. It commissioned TV shows, offered jewellery and clothing, and spent massive amounts developing a virtual brick-building simulation called LEGO Digital Designer. It built theme parks and after-school learning centres. And, even when it made brick-based construction toys, it challenged its designers to try new things. Taking a direction it had never pursued before, it-produced lines of toys around two blockbuster movie franchises, Star Wars and Harry Potter. The result was a disaster. Most of the experiments failed. The theme parks, which eventually became popular, drained cash in their early years. And the Star Wars and Harry Potter toy lines, because of the volatility of their demand, almost bankrupted LEGO. While the four Star Wars and Harry Potter movies released between 1999 and 2002 boosted sales of the LEGO toys tied to those films, there were no new movies from either franchise in 2003 or the first half of 2004.
