 Brand strength, brand engagement, cultural importance of brands. It's always been something that was very close to my heart. Thank you for joining me today. I'm fascinated actually about your job. So you are Chief Marketing and Product Officer for Lego. But as I've kind of experienced now, every time I ask someone about their role, each one of the organizations is always different. So I'm interested about what does the Chief Product and Marketing Officer do? So with the Lego brand, there's so many different possibilities. And my team looks at how we build realistically all of the enormously exciting experiences you will have with the Lego brand at the global level. So it covers all the product innovation. We have over 700 different products. All of the innovation thinking for the future when it comes to our product because the Lego system at play has so many different possibilities. So we also look at innovation that is further out. Brands, marketing, media, really thinking about the future of the marketing model. We have a lot of digital platforms, our own digital platforms. So my team also looks after all of our own digital platforms, all of our own earned media. We have our own internal creative agency that also sits on my team. We also have very strong relationships with partners. So that also is managed by my team. And of course also managing our content because we develop so much content from movies to TV series to some unscripted shows. So partnerships, contents, creation is also part of the organization. Those are the really kind of big important areas to mention. So your work in Korea is being honored in the Adweek Brand Genius Lifetime Achievement Award, which is very impressive, congratulations. Thank you. I would love to kind of maybe understand sort of the achievements you're most proud of. I certainly hope that part of it is about the fact that I've managed to inspire and develop many people throughout my career. I worked with some brilliant people and brilliant teams. And I still feel that, you know, leadership and development of people is one of the biggest jobs of a marketer and a chief marketing officer. So definitely that's one of the things I feel very proud of when I see a lot of people that work to its rise up and achieve their own dreams and aspirations. And then from a brand perspective, I'm super proud of the work that was done at the Lego Group. I think for me, brand strength, brand engagement, brand relevance, cultural importance of brands has always been something that was very close to my heart. And I feel very passionate and humbled and happy with how the Lego brand has managed to stay so relevant, so cool, so loved by people around the world. I really value creativity and the fact that I've managed to inspire and continue to inspire many creative people that we have with the Lego Group to develop the kind of brand content that you see out there, the amazing products that we have, and to continue to push the boundaries of creativity and innovation, learn new things and be open to the world and the fact that I've sort of stayed on top of it continuously learning. Like right now I'm learning a lot about the matter of digital technology, where are we going in the future, sustainability, all of these new topics that are coming on board. I think staying relevant and staying on top of things and staying connected to your audience, that's something that for me is really important. If you give one piece of advice to someone coming into the industry fresh, what would that advice be? On top of staying relevant, I think that's important. Taking risks, I think a lot of people tend to, maybe not always wanting to take risks, it's always very easy to convince yourself not to move, not to move jobs or not to move countries, but for me what helped me the most in my career is being able to move across different industries, to be able to move across different countries and work with different people and jump into situations that were not easy, but challenges is what makes us strong and that's what helps us to have the best learnings in the world. So it seems like you are sort of at the heart of creativity at Lego, but I'm always interested about when creativity meets kind of the logical world of business, like how do you kind of have the two coexist? For me it's always art and science coming together and being very fluid. And the one thing that I don't really separate is I don't look at them as a trade-off, creativity versus commercial. Creativity delivers commercial results and strong commercial results allow us to have the investment in creativity. So we see this very symbiotic relationship and it's really interesting to speak, for example, with our designers, the designer products or marketers or content creators because they understand the impact of what they do on the commercial side. And I can give you just a few examples of where, and I know marketing effects are something that probably a lot of people are talking about, just to give you a few examples of where creativity can lead to tremendous commercial impacts. So for example, Lego Masters. Lego Masters, it's a non-scripted show about, I don't know whether you've seen it, but it's very popular in the U.S. It's one of the most watched unscripted shows, I think number one for families. Same in the U.K. and we are now in more, probably around 14 markets around the world and it has been really a massive success. That's a very interesting creative concept. It's an idea of an unscripted show where people compete with their Lego creations. But that actually helped us to recruit and reinvigorate the love for the Lego brand in so many markets, among so many consumers that actually we see the commercial impact also when a show like that comes out in the market. Or is, you know, when it comes to our marketing campaign. So in 2018, we launched the first sort of what we call super ultimate technique car, which was Technic Bugatti. It's a beautiful Bugatti, it's about this size. But the essence of the marketing campaign was we built a life-size Bugatti just out of the Technic elements. Everything, including all of the Technic engines. Like little motors. And this Bugatti was driven by the first ever Bugatti race driver and it drove at 11 kilometers an hour. That was the biggest marketing campaign we've done for, you know, for Technic. It created so much impact, just that one big stunt. So there's a weight of thinking about creativity that delivers really strong commercial impact. And as I said, commercial, when you have strong commercial results, you can invest more in creativity. And that means that you can also create a culture that is, you know, conducive to taking risks, trying things that might not always work. You know, doing things that you have not done before. And instilling a level of bravery and also sort of like what I sort of say, keeping the ceiling high and the walls wide to make sure that, you know, people can actually come up with different interesting ideas and try them out. So you're talking, you know, but I love to hear that and the idea of kind of creating an environment for people to take risks. I think it's hugely important. So when you think about, I guess, the people on your team, who are they? What kind of people are you looking to bring on board? I love the idea of diversity and inclusivity. And diversity comes in different ways. Of course, there's functional experience. So I have some people who are coming from deeply technical engineering background. I have people who come from literary background. I have people who come from creative background, you know, having lab agencies, et cetera. And I have people with very strong marketing expertise. Cultural diversity also very important. Cognitive diversity, I always look at. And on top of it, of course, gender, race, things like that, because ethnicity, culture, that's also very important because diversity is such an important topic and having a diverse team helps to, you know, achieve a lot of that. I also want to sort of maybe double down a little bit on cognitive diversity because we don't talk a lot about that, but that's about the fact that people think differently. You know, some people are very logical. They come at things much more from an intuitive perspective. Understanding each other, I believe in this idea of one team. I think we kind of work together very much as one team and my leadership team and in my organization. And being able to take, make the best out of what each of us brings versus trying to kind of mold us ourselves, you know, to fit each other. But it's a very diverse organization. You know, we represent in general amongst everybody I have on the team. We represent many different nationalities. So I love the idea of a team that sort of represents kind of all types of people. Does that, does that reflect in the marketing that comes out of the team and the activation? Yeah, that's, that's a really, that's a really big aspect of it because, you know, we, our aim is to inspire and develop the builders of tomorrow. And the builders of tomorrow are not architects. The builders of tomorrow are children. Yes. And, you know, all children. And we want to touch all children around the world. And that's why it's so important that culturally we're also relevant and we understand the dynamics of different cultures, what's important to them, what they celebrate, you know, what are their traditions. Use the R word relevant. I always think that Lego as a brand has managed to remain kind of culturally relevant. I think from the outside you might, sometimes you might maybe think it's by accident, but I'm guessing talking to you, it's very deliberate how it remains. What do you do and how do you instill kind of this desire in your team to keep the brand relevant? It is not by accident, not at all. Yeah, there's, we put a lot of emphasis on putting the children and our consumers in the center. So, you know, our conversations always start with what are kids into? Yeah. You know, what are they into? How do they spend their time? And we spend the time understanding that what's important for families? What's important for culture? What are the big cultural moments? Because we see ourselves as a brand that is not only shaping the, has a massive role to play in shaping the development of kids and what their childhood is all about. But we also brand that is a canvas for creative expression and for cultural interpretation. And that's why we also work and open ourselves to also be very culturally relevant, allowing artists and creators to express themselves through the Lego brick, because it's such an amazing creative canvas. You know, we work with very creative black artists in Canada who uses only black Lego bricks to celebrate the black brilliance, which we think is super cool. But similarly, we will also work with, you know, a brand like Louis Vuitton to do, you know, holiday windows to celebrate the 150th birthday of Louis Vuitton. So it's things like that that keep us on our toes, but also allow us to actually tap into things that are relevant and important for different people, for different, you know, societies, for different social communities, different fandoms. Things like that. It's very refreshing. I think it's important that brands understand that they're not the centre of consumers' universe and there are other things that occupy their minds. It seems that Lego is able to attach itself authentically to those things in culture. Yeah, we always say that, you know, our mantra in the team and in the organisation, we don't talk, we do. So we don't want to just attach ourselves to any kind of cultural idea or important movement or important message. Like many brands tend to have the impetus to jump on a bandwagon and say something about it on their Instagram or, you know, somewhere else. Earlier you talked innovation. And I was thinking that innovation obviously requires you to kind of look forward in terms of what's coming next. So if you're all looking ahead and maybe where it can in 2033, what do you sort of see as kind of will be big things that we'll be talking about? Well, 2033 is ten years away. I'll say a few things that I hope for, but also some of the things that are maybe a little bit closer in, but still not tomorrow. Yeah. And then, Keanu, you know, people are quite impatient and move on very quickly. We haven't done anything about it there until the next topic. But we're here this year because tomorrow I'm also speaking at the Palais about a very important partnership that we believe is going to pave innovation for the future. And it's our partnership with Epic Games. So last year a lot of people talked about the Metaverse. That was the big thing. And Keanu, this year it's AI. It's generative AI. We've already moved on. Exactly. But the Metaverse is being developed. Whatever is going to happen, all of the different technologies and capabilities will manifest themselves in a completely different way that people will engage in the digital world. The capabilities that will give people and brands. And we're here to talk about that future, which I believe will have a very important role to play in how children develop, which is why we really want to be involved in it, how people engage with brands, how we build brands, how we market, and how we create relationships direct with our consumers and personal. And that's one thing that I think is going to be an evolution of the future where all of these digital capabilities will manifest themselves in some kind of a Metaverse, or let's say Internet 3.0, that will provide a very different way for people to engage. It's not going to be just about gaming. It is going to be very much about creativity. But it also is going to be about much more immersive and broad range of experiences. I think it's going to give us a very unique opportunity to connect the digital and the physical world in a much more seamless way. And when it comes to the Lego brick, I can be personal then to what I think is going to have for us. I think that's going to give us a tremendous opportunity. So I think that's one area that's definitely going to evolve. Some of the things that we are talking about that I hope will be resolved or at least achieved sustainability goals. I certainly, right now, a lot of companies are working hard and making progress, but also setting their goals to 2030 or 2032 or 2033. I truly hope that these goals are achieved. Yes. I share your hopes and optimism. Thank you very much. Thank you.