A subtlety which is not mentioned in the article: Why do we like the ad? Because it it targeted towards grownups! This is due to the understanding in the Lego company at the time, that parents decided what to buy for their children. Therefore ads where aimed towards parents, explaining how Lego help the kids develop and learn and so on.
But better market analysis later showed that it was a mistaken belief. Actually it is kids that decide what they want, and parent oblige. Therefore Lego does not make this kind of ads anymore. They make marketing directly towards the consumers: The kids.
While it may be the case that kids these days demand and get the kind of toys they want, it is also the case (at least in certain cultures) that parents obsess a lot on what kind of toys make their kids 'smarter', 'happier', etc.
So, Lego could look at ads that target parents in some of their markets.
You think? Maybe they would hire you as a marketing consultant, because they probably never got round to thinking about that kind of thing. Not sure if "marketing" is even a thing in socialist countries like Denmark.
Denmark is not a socialist country, and they certainly have marketers, especially in multinational companies like Lego. In fact, their current CMO held the same position at Revlon before joining them.
That's quite an interesting way to put what I always considered to be immoral behaviour of the companies, exploiting lack of experience and short attention span of children combined with the love of their parents.
But better market analysis later showed that it was a mistaken belief. Actually it is kids that decide what they want, and parent oblige. Therefore Lego does not make this kind of ads anymore. They make marketing directly towards the consumers: The kids.