New license possibility

Section8 · Post by **Section8** » Sun Jul 09, 2006 10:42 pm

I was filling up at a BP the other day when thought that the white, green, and yellow color scheme of BP was really quite pleasing to the eye. I think it would make a great set for lego town. It's been a while since lego made a new gas station (that reissue of the big Octan one a few years ago doesn't count, although it's a great set) and BP is colorful enough for kids. I know lego has a license with Shell plus their own Octan brand, but they've done Exxon in the past and I don't think having two licenses would conflict. I also haven't seen a Shell station stateside since at least 1992 (the first year for the Octan brand).

All I'd want is that it be a moderately priced set, $20-$40 and have a wide-scale retail release; with the ever-growing number and improving quality of new town sets, I don't think it'd be a problem. It would also open up the possibilities for exclusives at the stations, though such small sets are usually hit or miss on quality.

I know gas companies aren't very popular now in the public eye, but lego cars need a place to fill up too. What does everyone else think?

Post by **Athos** » Mon Jul 10, 2006 12:13 am

I don't see why not. They've already done a Shell license.

Steve

ragnarok · Post by **ragnarok** » Mon Jul 10, 2006 6:08 am

Why not? A BP set/sets will be a nice addition to the Town theme. Although I usually fill up at other gas stations.

Jake, of the Palace Guard · Mon Jul 10, 2006 9:54 am

I can't see it happenning myself. Look at the current liscences:

Star Wars
Batman
Spiderman (cancelled for the third movie IIRC)
Harry Potter
Avatar (Never heard of it)
Spongebob Squarepants (Why LEGO, WHY???

)

It's all the big(ish) films and programs, I just can't see LEGO adding something so mundane to the list. It might have happened once, but times are changing, unfortunately...

Recluce · Post by **Recluce** » Mon Jul 10, 2006 12:21 pm

We've already seen a gas station license... can we not branch out a bit to add some variety of services to the Lego town? Restaurants would be nice, or car/motorcycle dealerships (Can't you just see a Harley Store???), or something new.

TheOrk · Post by **TheOrk** » Mon Jul 10, 2006 2:04 pm

Personally, I'm not into Town, so I don't really care.

But if I were into Town, I would want alot more residential style sets.

porschecm2 · Post by **porschecm2** » Mon Jul 10, 2006 10:13 pm

While I certainly wouldn't have a problem with this license, I don't think it's necessary. Lego can make an Octan gas station without paying any license money, and they've already got(or at least, had) a Shell license.

Cm2

Post by **JoshWedin** » Mon Jul 10, 2006 10:51 pm

I have nothing against BP but I would be against this. I think Lego already has too many licenses, they need to concentrate more on their own stuff. Another gas license would be extremely redundent (as others have pointed out) and, if more licenses are needed, there are many other avenues that could be explored.

Josh

Section8 · Post by **Section8** » Tue Jul 11, 2006 3:23 am

TheOrk wrote:Personally, I'm not into Town, so I don't really care.

But if I were into Town, I would want alot more residential style sets.

I agree completely. Lego hasn't made a Town house in many years. But with the current and recent town sets they've made, I'm inclined to believe that they will continue to make action sets (construction, rescue, etc) and neglect to make anything else you would find in a functioning town.

Post by **architect** » Tue Jul 11, 2006 12:35 pm

I am not against small licenses for one or two sets. A great example would be the Burlington Northern Santa Fe license. LEGO was able to make the BNSF Engine and all of the Santa Fe sets. The license did not compete with other licenses or cost LEGO their shirts. So if LEGO decided to make things like a car dealership, grocery store, video rental store, hotel, etc, I would not mind. Of course spacing them out so you only had one or two of the sets per year would be nice. It could be a fun thing for Shop at Home to do. Plus the licensed companies would like to own miniature versions of their businesses.

Ben

JPinoy · Post by **JPinoy** » Thu Jul 13, 2006 8:13 am

BP? I thought they already had the Shell thing going on...

Anyway, why promote a gasoline/oil company?

It's better to license with something like movies and TV shows.

Like..... Lego StarGate.

Section8 · Post by **Section8** » Thu Jul 13, 2006 3:14 pm

JPinoy wrote:BP? I thought they already had the Shell thing going on...

Anyway, why promote a gasoline/oil company?

They make small sets for shell as promotions, yes, but I haven't seen an an actual shell service station since about 1987 in the US. I know there has been a few in Europe, and finding those on the secondary market is hard in the States.
Architect, you are completely right; a one- or two-set license wouldn't be so bad, and would probably be cheaper than an ongoing one. The BNSF engine is such a great set partially because of its colors, which is why I think BP would make a great set. Also, BP is a unversally known company and one of the more forward-thinking of the big oil companies as I understand it.

Lego holds the ferrari license, they could make a ferrari dealership for town that wouldn't detract from its racing line

Post by **Bruce N H** » Thu Jul 13, 2006 4:04 pm

I voted no, not because I dislike the idea in general, but due to a couple of aspects of your implementation. First, I think that Shell has a higher profile nationwide. After 20 years of driving in Nebraska, California, and now the Washington DC area, I see Shell stations all over the place. Looking at the BP site I think this is because the BP company is broken up across various brand names - Arco, AM-PM, Amoco and BP - and perhaps in different regions of the country the different subsections predominate, whereas the Shell logo is universal across the country (though with BP headquartered in London, perhaps the BP label is more universal across the pond?).

Secondly, I think that the benefit to TLG of the Shell partnership (which was last seen in 1999?) is not the possibility of a mid-range $20-40 town set that they sell in toy stores or through S@H (that's what Octan is for). Instead (IMO of course), they benefit by selling these little two dollar promo sets at the stations, e.g.:

These are the sorts of things that people might buy as impulse buys when they're at the station - either to quiet the kids in the back seat, or out of nostalgia for the toys of their childhood, or just because they look fun. This helps raise brand awareness and recruit new fans who might not have otherwise gone into a toy store seeking out LEGO. Heck, a set such as this:

Might just happen to catch the eye of someone as they're filling up their car at a Shell station in Westwood on the way back to the UCLA campus; they play with it at the desk in their office, remembering all the fun with LEGO when they were a kid; they're inspired to go back to the Shell station and buy several more of the promo sets, and, six years later they've bought tons of LEGO and are an admin on a fan site promoting Castle themed LEGO, helping further promote the brand name.

I really think that TLC should do more of this marketing of small promo sets via businesses where the people who might never go in a toy store will see them. Back to the Shell partnership, even the larger sets were never (I think) up to the $40 range. They were still in the $10-20 range, where people might decide "why not?" and buy them at the gas station. (E.g. the Select Shop, which is a great little set)

Bruce

ragnarok · Post by **ragnarok** » Thu Jul 13, 2006 4:31 pm

Section8 wrote:Lego holds the ferrari license, they could make a ferrari dealership for town that wouldn't detract from its racing line

Ferrari dealership???

I wonder how many people here and people you know live in a town where there is a Ferrari dealership?

Bruce N H wrote:I think that Shell has a higher profile nationwide.

... And all over the globe, IMHO.

Bruce N H wrote:Might just happen to catch the eye of someone as they're filling up their car at a Shell station in Westwood on the way back to the UCLA campus; they play with it at the desk in their office, remembering all the fun with LEGO when they were a kid; they're inspired to go back to the Shell station and buy several more of the promo sets, and, six years later they've bought tons of LEGO and are an admin on a fan site promoting Castle themed LEGO, helping further promote the brand name.

Those mean corporate sharks!

Once you are infected with the LEGO virus, they always try to deepen your addiction.

Lord_Of_The_LEGO · Post by **Lord_Of_The_LEGO** » Thu Jul 13, 2006 5:07 pm

Bruce N H wrote:Heck, a set such as this:

Might just happen to catch the eye of someone as they're filling up their car at a Shell station in Westwood on the way back to the UCLA campus; they play with it at the desk in their office, remembering all the fun with LEGO when they were a kid; they're inspired to go back to the Shell station and buy several more of the promo sets, and, six years later they've bought tons of LEGO and are an admin on a fan site promoting Castle themed LEGO, helping further promote the brand name.

I'll hazard a guess...this situation isn't entirely hypothetical, is it?

On topic, I voted no. I must admit I've never even heard of BP stations (yeah, yeah, I have no social life).

Classic-Castle.com

New license possibility

Would a minifig-scale BP Gas Station be a good license possibility?

New license possibility