Dan Douglass on direct

Dan Douglass

Edging the great cumulus of negative financial news massing over our heads, I've spied one tiny sliver of silver. Last week, Lego reported a healthy rise in profits for 2008 - $232 million, up from $177 million in 2007. Analysts put it down to a number of things - innovation (the launch of an Indiana Jones edition and the strength of the Star Wars edition), comfort (people turn to tried and trusted brands at times like these), quality (Danish solidity, design integrity and dependability), service and heritage (born in a carpenter's workshop in 1932, Lego are fiercely protective of copyright, famously litigious and remain religiously pure to their brand values). All of which is entirely feasible and consistent with success. But here's a more psychologically-geared theory which could be the most potent. This recession is about managing uncertainty. And life itself looks a bit wobbly when the paradigm shifts so unpredictably and the walls of the free market come tumbling down. So maybe, just maybe, there's a whole generation of Dads out there who are thinking about mortality and looking for a little kit of permanence and solidity to bequeath to their offspring. Leaving them Lego bricks which they can be constructive with is the next best thing to giving them real ones which, let's face it, is the biggest single possession we can pass on in our lives. In this current climate, Lego bricks look safer (and a whole lot cheaper) than houses.