The Lego Group senior VP on constructing a future where play trumps pixels and imagination reigns supreme

This story is one of nine on The Peak Singapore’s Power List. The list is an annual recognition that celebrates and acknowledges individuals who have demonstrated exceptional leadership, influence, and impact within their respective fields and the broader community. 

Our theme for this year is Joy, honouring business leaders who have contributed to spreading happiness, enhancing well-being, and uplifting the spirits of those around them. This theme responds to recent global challenges, highlighting the need for resilience, compassion, and, most importantly, joy in our lives to navigate uncertainties with grace and efficiency.

Growing up, Claus Kristensen spent many thrilling hours tinkering around with his Lego space command centre set, complete with a satellite station, rocket launcher and astronauts. The 49-year-old Dane, who was appointed senior vice president for the Asia Pacific region at toy conglomerate The Lego Group in January, recalls with a smile: “As a six-year-old, I could imagine being on the moon — there is a mix of humour and exploration with Lego sets in the world that you create.”

This unbridled joy of creating endless possibilities strongly resonates with Kristensen throughout his 12-year career at Lego, a portmanteau of two Danish words, “leg godt” (play well in English). “Joy, to me, is about witnessing the pride of creation — the sparkle in a child’s eyes as they run towards a Lego set, or how adults turn to Lego as a way of disconnecting from a busy world.”

The Billund-headquartered company is one of the world’s most well-known toy companies, with its products sold in over 130 countries. Last year, Lego reported that its total revenue, which includes sales to retailers, grew two percent to US$9.65 billion (S$13 billion) amidst a downbeat climate for the toy industry. Recent developments include its foray into the metaverse with the survival game, Lego Fortnite, a tie-up with Epic Games, and the launch of new Star Wars sets to mark the 25th anniversary of the popular movie tie-up.

The power of play

Today, with the constant bombardment of snappy social media content and relentless notifications on mobile devices, people’s hectic and time-starved lifestyles are one of the biggest obstacles children — Lego’s main customers — face in experiencing joy through quality playtime. “I've never seen anyone, including my kids, go off after an hour on the iPad and have that pride of creation or how that has built their confidence,” Kristensen muses.

Evidently, more must be done to educate adults on the importance of play for children and dedicating time to it. According to Lego’s Play Well Study 2024, 70 per cent of adults are unaware of children’s right to play, an article adopted by the United Nations (UN) in 1989.

In light of the growing importance of play, the UN inaugurated an International Day of Play on June 11, 2024, to champion and protect children’s right to play.

Building on this momentum, Lego and its charitable arm, the Lego Foundation, pledged one million US dollars in May to support initiatives to provide children and caregivers in Indonesia with more access to learning through play over three years.  They include supporting organisations that work with over 17,450 underserved children through a variety of programmes, including the Build The Change programme, where they can express their hopes and ideas for a better world through building Lego sets.

“You can create something and play with your imagination instead of consuming content delivered to you,” Kristensen shares. “In the business world, it is often about solving problems. There is a fundamental opportunity at Lego to bring an experience that can make a difference in people’s lives.”

Since assuming the top leadership post in APAC, Kristensen has been excited about the “massive opportunity to reach more kids and adults across the region”, with an expanding product line that is expected to hit around 800 next year. A US$1 billion factory in Vietnam is slated to start operations later this year, and there are plans to add a double-digit number of stores to the region, which currently has around 160 stores.

The human touch 

 Under Kristensen’s stewardship, a key focus area for the group is travel retail, capitalising on an uptick in global travel. Last November, Lego opened two stores in Changi Airport, a key hub for business and leisure travellers, and there are plans to grow this sector in APAC.

The latest additions to the Singapore stores boast Lego models of the Merlion and Changi Airport Tower and a mosaic wall of the Rain Vortex at Jewel Changi Airport, made with over 41,000 Lego bricks.

On tapping into the travel retail dollar, Kristensen believes it is an opportune platform to engage families and adults with the right spending power and shopping mindset while travelling.

Despite the rise of e-commerce, brick-and-mortar stores remain an integral part of Lego’s growth strategy. In May, it opened its largest Southeast Asian store in Senayan City Mall in Jakarta. Spanning 365 sqm, the store boasts immersive features like the region’s first minifigure factory, where customers can personalise Lego figurines and iconic landmarks such as the Selamat Datang Monument. There are also plans to open five more stores in Indonesia this year, and others in South Korea and Australia, which is home to the world’s largest Lego store at Sydney Arcade. 

Today, over nine decades since Lego was founded in 1932, the joy of building something brick by brick remains at the heart of what Lego stands for. This is why Kristensen is proud to be a “superhero” to his 11-year-old daughter and eight-year-old son — by carving out playtime with them. It is not surprising his love for Lego has rubbed off on them from bringing home many Lego sets over the years. 

“My son loves to build sets and display them, whereas my daughter builds based on her imagination,” he lets on. “We typically build bigger sets together on weekends, but we would also spend 10 minutes touching up on sets in the morning before they go to school.”  

This family-centred approach to play mirrors Lego's broader retail strategy, where creating diverse and engaging experiences is key. “Shoppers want to experience our products seamlessly — both online and offline — so creating a high-quality experience on both ends is important. At our stores, customers engage with our staff and go on a journey of creativity and excitement, where they buy sets and experience what they can do with Lego bricks.”

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