Any estimates on what pct of sales we collectors represent?

[Gepetto]

Excellent link, thank you core for an enlightening interview. I wish they had toured the museum a little bit.

The cultural difference between  Lego and Playmobil's perception and response to their target markets are certainly made plain.

[Richard]

Hello, Peter ...

http://www.monocle.com/sections/business/Web-Articles/QA-with-the-CEO-of-Lego/

Check out this 20min video interview (in English) with Jørgen Vig Knudstorp, CEO of Lego - very insightful as to Lego's branding, product tie-ins, product development, production, and looks to me they recognize Lego adult fans AND cater to them.  There's also some interesting factoids, eg, about 12min into the video, he states 67million families in US buy toys, 10million buy Lego,  2million buy 50% of all Lego (he says "there's such a thing as a Lego family") - AND it is this sector that Lego is targeting in exclusion to all the others(!), even if it is already a saturated market).

Thanks for the link to this very interesting interview.

A $500 Millennium Falcon is not a kid's product 

Not usually ...

As for Playmobil, as a board member here had mentioned before it's quite certain the Medieval houses available via DS doesn't gets actively requested for by kids!

It is true that both Zirndorf and Billund appreciate their adult collectors.
However, it does seem that Zirndorf might be a bit more realistic about where they should focus their attention.

As you probably noticed, Lego is downsizing by at least 1,200 employees. We have seen estimates that are higher. Playmobil, if our memory serves us correctly, has never had to do a downsizing.

Playmobil is a much younger company than Lego. The "captain of Playmobil" is still at the helm! It has been a few years since the helm was passed to others at Lego.

Can any of us make an accurate prediction about what will happen, in the future, to either Playmobil or Lego?

I know that I can't!

Thanks again and all the best,
Richard