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| General Manager Michael Ebbesen of LEGO Korea speaks at a press conference held in Seoul, Monday. He introduced LEGO Life, an app for children. /Courtesy of LEGO Korea |
By Kim Ji-soo
As LEGO group, the Danish toymaker recognized for its plastic bricks, looks to mark its 85th year this year, LEGO Korea introduced an app for children called LEGO Life, Monday.
Michael Ebbesen, the new general manager of LEGO Korea, opened the press conference for LEGO Life and stressed that digitization was an opportunity for the toymaker.
Ebbesen took office about a month ago, after having worked in Poland, Russia and most recently in the Asia-Pacific.
Ebbesen said that "LEGO has reached 100 million children in the past 85 years and aims to reach 300 million through 2032," through innovations such as LEGO Life.
The app targets children 13 and younger or those too young for Instagram, allowing them to share their creations and connect with like-minded peers.
The company assures parents the safety of their children, as user names are issued randomly and user responses can be made only with LEGO emojis. Also, a monitoring team spread throughout North America, Europe and the Asia-Pacific monitors for harmful content and private information.
This November, the company will introduce LEGO Boost, which is for children aged seven and up in Korea. Boost is a lower-priced programmable LEGO robot combining physical LEGO play with programming.
The company held its first press conference since making its introduction into Korea in 1984, demonstrating LEGO's focus in Korea.
"We have seen unprecedented growth over the past 10 years in Korea, and we have become a sizable player on par with the biggest toy manufacturer," said Michael Ebbesen.
"Yet when we compare South Korea with other markets (like) Germany, Japan, then it looks as if Korean children do not play or at least they don't buy toys too much. We hope to change that," he said.
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