3.1 Task
Founded by Ole Kirk Kristiansen in 1932, the LEGO Group has grown to become the world’s largest
toy manufacturer by sales. However, in 2004, the company was on the brink of bankruptcy. What
happened?
LEGO aggressively leveraged its popular brand by moving into action figures and video games,
believing that kids no longer wanted to spend time playing with old-fashioned plastic bricks. When CEO
Jørgen Vig Knudstorp took over that year, the company was losing $1 million per day.
In pursuit of a turnaround, Knudstorp focused not on adding new product lines but on understanding
LEGO’s customers and what “play” actually meant to them.
Expecting continued growth, LEGO had created an organisational structure with many layers that made
reacting to changing trends slow and marketing strategy implementation tedious. More fundamentally,
inaccurate forecasting led them to manufacture more products than needed, leading to a sell-off at
lower profit margins.
A new CEO was installed in 2017, and he moved the company back on a positive path with a focus on
expanding LEGO’s company-owned retail stores in order to fill a void left by the bankruptcy of Toys “R”
1 The grade is provisional until confirmed by the relevant assessment board(s). Your work will be marked in
percentages. This is considered to deliver the most accurate and fair outcomes for students. Each assessment
that you undertake will be assessed using the common grading system. Information about the grading system can
be found in your Student Handbook, Section 13.
The Grade Criteria can be found in Appendix C of your Student Handbook.

Assessment Brief: BUS7B70 – 2022-23 Page 3
Us. Many of these stores were in China, where LEGO’s research found that kids played in very similar
ways as kids of other nationalities.
The company also introduced new products in the digital arena, including an augmented-reality app
that uses a mobile device or tablet to animate LEGO bricks.
The company is also spending $150 million to create LEGO bricks made from plants, not plastic, in
order to meet growing demands for more sustainable products.
Source: – Solomon, M, et al. (2012) Marketing: Real People, Real Choices, Global Edition, Pearson Education,
Limited, 2022. Available from:
https://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/lsbmuk/detail.action?docID=6977560&query=michael+solomon
Task 1: Identify and critically evaluate any two of the following three theoretical frameworks or
processes in the context of making LEGO marketing strategies successful:
a) Agile marketing
b) Diffusions of innovation
c) Ansoff’s Growth Vector Matrix model
Task 2: Identify and critically evaluate any three main types of strategic digital marketing initiatives
taken by LEGO that use technological advancements and artificial intelligence.
Structure and guidance
The report (3000 words) should be completed using the following structure (additional guidance given
below the structure):
1. Introduction (approx. 250 words)
Introduce LEGO Company and the thesis statement of the report.
2. Main Body (approx. 2500 words)
Task 1: Choose any two of the following theories:
• Agile Marketing,
• Diffusions of Innovation
• Ansoff’s Growth Vector Matrix Model
For each of the two chosen theories, write:
• Theory concept explanation
• Theory Application
• Critical Evaluation
Task 2: Strategic Digital Marketing initiatives:
• Theory concept explanation
• Theory Application
• Critical Evaluation

Assessment Brief: BUS7B70 – 2022-23 Page 4
3. Conclusions and recommendations (approx. 250 words)
• Broadly summarise the major findings of the report.
• In recommendations, suggest how LEGO Company can improve their effectiveness in the
application of the different marketing strategies based on the critical analysis performed in
the report.
4. Reference list
5. Appendices (only if needed and referred to in the text; up to 2 extra pages)
3.2 Submission requirements
You must submit your assignment by using the Turnitin gateway in the module’s Canvas site.
Please Note: When you submit you will be asked to confirm you have referred to the Submission
Checklist (see Appendix 2) and the act of submitting your work electronically will be taken as an
acceptance of the Declaration of Authorship (see Appendix 3 and Appendix 4). Wrexham Glyndŵr
University provides guidance for students on Academic Integrity and it is available through their own
Academic Integrity Portal.
If you are experiencing technical issues with submitting your work, you should notify your Module
Leader/Tutor and IT Services [[email protected]] by email before the submission deadline with a
copy of your work file attached. Your file will not be accepted if you do not do so.
3.2.1 Word Limits and Penalties for Excess Word Count
All written assignments include clear guidance on the maximum amount that should be written in order
to address the requirements of the assessment task (a ‘word limit’).
If the submission exceeds the word limit by more than 10%, the submission will only be marked up to
and including the additional 10%. Anything over this will not be included in the final grade for the
item of assessment.
The penalty for exceeding the word count will be 5 marks per 1,000 words excess (e.g. a 1,000 word
assignment would have 5 marks deducted if it were to be between 1,101 and 2,100 words, 10 marks
deducted for if it were to be between 2,101 and 3,100 words and so on).
Abstracts, citations in footnotes, reference lists, bibliographies and appendices are excluded from any
word limit requirements.
In-text citations, embedded quotations, and all headings and titles are included in the word limit.
Where a submission is notably under the word limit, the full submission will be marked on the extent to
which the requirements of the assessment task have been met. Generally speaking, submissions under
the word limit fall short of the requirements of the assessment task.

Assessment Brief: BUS7B70 – 2022-23 Page 5
4. Learning Outcomes for the assessment
This item of assessment covers the following learning outcomes. For the full list of learning outcomes
for the module, please refer to the Module Study Guide.
• Critically analyse and evaluate theoretical frameworks and processes applied in strategic
marketing.
• Discuss and reflect on a wide range of factors, including strategic aims and context,
changing market environments and developments in digital marketing, that impact the
development and implementation of marketing strategies.