It’s often said that we shouldn’t live life life alone. The same goes for ideas.
More often than not making ideas work is a solo thing. But, partnering up with ideas can be the real game changer and work wonders for the end results. History shows it and proves it. In fact it’s what saved one of the biggest and most famous companies on the planet.
In the 1970’s and 1980’s Lego was the go-to plaything for children. Almost all kids from that era owned some or had built with some at home or school. They were the staple play toy for children everywhere, and they were everywhere. But times changed and so did preferences. The mid 80’s saw the advent of technological toys like robots and computer games and the business seemed headed for bankruptcy after a $23m loss.
They needed help. And they got that help with an ingenious partner. The Star Wars film franchise was launching The Phantom Menace and sought to engage a younger audience in sci-fi and its brand. Further instalments of the Star Wars story were planned and a new fan base would be needed through the years. They felt creating special Lego based kits would achieve just that.
And boy did it! The revenue kept Lego afloat and led them to creating new licencing tie-ins elsewhere and the business turned around. In 2024 it made 17.1 DKK (over £2.4billion) profit and sold 12% more products than the previous year. That’s what partnering ideas can do.
And they are not alone!
Eating ice cream in a Rolls.
In 1978 two school chums who hated gym but loved ice-cream decide to take a basic $5 correspondence course on their favourite food. Enjoying it so much they decided to give it a go and set about making ice-cream through using local Vermont ingredients they also loved. They survived their first harsh winter and soon word got around. The two guys with their flavoursome ice-cream with chunky ingredients (that they threw in day to day on their own whim) such as cookies and candy, began to become popular.
Within a decade they had opened 80 shop outlets in 18 American states. These two ice-cream creating fans were Ben Cohen and Jerry Greenfield. The world knows them as Ben & Jerry’s. When they sold the brand in 2000, the price tag was $326m. Two friends, one idea, one partnered success story.
Perhaps their ice-cream is considered a bit of a luxury. Well there’s another luxury item that we all love that never would have come about without a partnership. The Rolls Royce car.
Charles Royce was the son of a Lord and had an affluent background. He studied engineering and became an accomplished driver even breaking the world land speed record in 1903. He set up one of the first car dealerships to import cars to fund his driving escapades. The very opposite can be said of Henry Royce who was a working child from the age of nine. He managed to gain an apprenticeship with a railway company and loved all things engineering.
Royce began to build cars as he felt other designs were lacking in engineering. Rolls was also disappointed in the foreign cars he imported. Hearing of Royce a friend of Rolls invited the two to meet and in 1904 they sat down together for the first time. They hit it off. Royce agreed to make cars for his new friend who agreed to sell them exclusively through his car dealership. They both needed each other for what the other brought to the table.
We all know how that story turned out. Today Rolls Royce is worth a whopping $100.3 billion!! Not bad for two people who probably would never have done what they did without their joined union.
Who’s your other ideas half?
If you have been struggling along alone with an idea or business, then ask yourself, ‘Who can I partner up with’?
Who can be the Ben to your Jerry? The Rolls to your Royce? The Star Wars to your Lego?
Don’t look in the obvious. It could be an old friend. A person who simply seems to know what people think or like. Another business who you can meet in the middle to form something good for both of you. Or a fellow enthusiast who loves what you do but in a different way. Even someone in the bus queue. Get talking, get sharing with others, get connecting, get yourself closer to your partner in dream. You could be theirs too!
Two can become one and create one mega success. Two works wonders where one is trying to work things out.
Two heads and two ideas are better than one. And can be waaaaay bigger as well.
References – www.thisforthat.biz – ‘The partnership that saved LEGO’.
www.cbr.com – ‘How star wars saved LEGO’.
www.lego.com
www.unilver.co.uk – Ben & Jerry’s
www.rolls-roycemotorcars.com – how rolls met royce.