The Lego Group continues to drive play experiences for builders of all ages in 2023 with a series of new play and inclusive innovations.
Building on a successful 2022, which marked 90 years of Lego play, the Lego Group will continue to drive the evolution of play through 2023 with new play innovations for builders of all ages. This comes as NPD data reveals The Lego Group is the UK’s number one toy manufacturer for the eighth consecutive year with one Lego product sold every second between October and December 2022.
Isabel Graham, head of marketing, the Lego Group UK and Ireland, commented: “It has been fantastic to see how much Lego Play continued to be loved by kids and families across the UK in our 90th year. We’ve got even more to look forward to this year with an incredibly strong portfolio of products for builders of all ages, great partnerships and innovative campaigns. I can’t wait to reveal more over the coming weeks and months.”
The company’s Build to Give initiative ran once again during the festive period and continued to grow, with 2m products donated globally. This brings the total number of donated sets since the campaign started in 2017 to over 6.5m.
2023 will see new products, characters and storylines launching to excite builders of all ages.
A decade on from the launch of Lego Friends, the Lego Group has re-imagined the Friends universe, with the introduction of new diverse characters to enable more children to feel represented during play. This next generation explores the ups and downs of friendship, overcoming challenges, obstacles and differences to help children celebrate diverse friendships in the modern world.
The new Lego Friends sets, as well as a new TV series due to air later this month, will feature authentic and diverse characters, including the addition of multiple skin tones, cultures, physical and non-visible disabilities and neurodiversity. The Lego Friends Heartlake Downtown Diner was selected as one of Toy Fair’s Hero Toy winners for 2023.
New launches across the Lego Group’s portfolio of themes include Lego City; in addition to new products, there will also be new content launching with action-packed challenge videos hosted on YouTube.
From the Lego Technic Ferrari Daytona SP3 through to the Duplo Family House on Wheels, there is something for all ages and interests, with more additions to sets aimed at adult builders, including new Botanicals sets, Hokusai’s the Great Wave reimagined for Lego Art and more.
Campaigns set to launch in 2023 will continue to champion children’s creativity and, through its partnership with Comic Relief, the Lego Group will be supporting creativity in schools with building challenges designed to get kids thinking about how they can help the world around them.
The company will be helping Disney to celebrate its 100th anniversary by inviting families to share the wonder of storytelling, imagination and creative play that Lego Disney has inspired over the last 24 years.
The Lego Group’s retail offering will continue to expand with a brand-new store set to open at Battersea Power Station this spring.
The brand has started switching out single-use plastic bags for paper-based bags in its sets and continues to focus on developing more sustainable materials and circular design principles for core products, including making over 150 Lego elements from bio-polyethylene, a plant-based plastic derived from sustainably sourced sugarcane.
