Sanjea Taylor, Contributor Writer
Dr. Keith C. Jones, an associate professor of marketing, utilizes his class time to engage his students in Lego-playing activities.
Jones, in his Principles of Marketing class, teaches his students by using Legos to assist him. Students get to build with Legos in his classes while learning more about marketing, along with various topics like marketing strategies, promotional tactics, and more.
Jones does this because Lego is currently the No. 1 toy manufacturer in the world– and they’ve held this position for nearly five years.
“If you study the company and look at what it’s doing, you can see unbelievable marketing programs in place, so Legos must be doing something correct in the marketing world to be that successful,” Jones said.
Therefore, he brings Legos into the classroom to help students understand why the company is so successful, what it is doing, and how it is growing.
However, Lego was not always part of Jones’ lesson plan for this class. He initially brought in live clients instead.
“The problem with a [MKT] 301 class is the students don’t have the knowledge base yet to work with a live client. I’ve tried it, and it didn’t work,” said Jones, as he remembers a time before introducing the iconic toy into his classroom.
He made the change to using Legos in his classroom during a redesign of the Principles of Marketing course, just before the COVID-19 pandemic.
“I wanted to do something that was fun and different and maybe bring some interest into the students,” said Jones.
He already had a love for Legos, so he added them to his lesson plan for his Principles of Marketing class.
Although his love for Legos did not begin in his early years, his passion for the toy developed over time.
“As a farm kid, I couldn’t afford Legos,” Jones said. However, he noted that there were other things he could use that were similar to Legos.
“The big toys were Lincoln Logs and building blocks, and so it was an easy transition,” he said.
Jones didn’t become interested in Legos until he had his own children, and he bought Lego kits for them. Now, his office is filled with various Lego builds and toys.
With his passion for Legos, Jones decided they were the right product to introduce to the classroom.
“Legos are easy to use in the classroom. They’re easy to transport. They’re readily available,” Jones said. “Legos, from an application perspective, especially, being able to tie it to Saint Leo, was the place that made the most sense.”
However, Jones ponders whether Legos have been productive in his classroom and whether his bold plan actually worked.
“I don’t know if there’s a lot of response about learning marketing, but [the students] get excited about being able to play with Legos,” Jones said. “In fact, when I’m moving the Legos into classrooms, students sitting in the hallways ask ‘Oh, Legos. Where do you use those? What do you teach?’”
Jones said the attraction to the Legos is more appealing than the subject matter being taught.
“But I’m hoping that, through that interest of Legos, they will learn a little bit more about marketing,” Jones said.
Roberto Odor, a communications major, agrees on the success of this tactic.
“It’s not just about building Legos,” said Odor. “It talks about how to sell, how to buy, how to persuade people to buy more, how to make a company, and that’s all marketing.”
Odor realizes the connection Legos make to marketing, allowing students to become interested in learning about the topic at hand. Using this tactic in the classroom has been successful for Jones.
Jones hopes to continue constructing memories with Legos as he looks toward retirement next year.
“I live by the adage, family first,” said Jones as he thinks about his future goals. Now, he looks forward to retiring and enjoying his family, spending time with his grandkids, and playing Legos with them.
“I buy them Legos all the time,” said Jones.
