Fast Company:

In the last 10 years, Lego has grown into nothing less than the Apple of toys: a profit-generating, design-driven miracle built around premium, intuitive, highly covetable hardware that fans can’t get enough of. Last year, fueled in part by The Lego Movie’s Pixar-size popularity, the privately held company briefly surged ahead of rival Mattel to become the biggest toy manufacturer in the world, reporting first-half profits of $273 million on revenue of $2.03 billion.

An interesting read. Three things I see that changed the arc of Lego’s fortunes: First, there was the Star Wars marketing deal that allowed Lego to create an incredibly popular series of Star Wars-themed kits.

Second, there was the move into video games with Lego Star Wars, Lego Harry Potter, Lego Batman, etc. These games also saw the emergence of Lego’s sense of humor.

Finally, all of these marketing deals came together (along with that tongue in cheek sense of humor) to create the “Everything is Awesome” Lego Movie.

Fans adore the brand. Just like Apple.