Illustrative stock photo (source: Unsplash)
Have you ever thrown out a Lego set? Most likely not. In fact, the Danish-born and world-famous blocks tend to be passed down to siblings and cousins instead of ending up in landfills.
“The blocks fit one another, so you can still play with the set owned by your grandfather and combine it with new blocks,” said Adriana Jahňáková, general manager of Lego Czech Republic and Slovakia.
This is one reason why Lego is what marketers now describe as a love brand: a brand that exerts such strong attraction on consumers that it is not only preferred over other brands, but is even loved.
The word “love” in a love brand is neither a done deal nor a one-way affair. To remain loved and lovable, popular brands need to meet their customers’ expectations, especially regarding local communities and the environment, participants in a discussion focused on love brands and their social responsibility agreed. What is more, consumers seem to expect their love brands not just to behave responsibly, but to make them behave responsibly, too.
The discussion was part of the 2021 CSR Summit, organised by the Business Leaders Forum, an informal, educational and networking association of companies that have made a commitment to be leading promoters of corporate social responsibility (CSR) in Slovakia, in late October.
Customers expect a push towards responsibly
“The secret ingredient for being a love brand is our long-term vision to help improve the everyday lives of as many people as possible,” said Barbora Geršlová, country sustainability manager at Ikea Czech Republic, Hungary and Slovakia.
