Built for effectiveness
The film is just one piece of the puzzle in an extensive fully integrated global campaign that will span TV, digital, out of home, PR, influencer and ecommerce. In-store experiences will also run around the world through playable experiences that tie into the character’s mission shown in the central ad.
It comes amid a challenging time for the toy industry, which is facing inflationary pressures and cost-cutting from financially squeezed families. Against this backdrop, Lego’s growth has slowed year on year, with revenues up just 1% in the first six months of 2023 compared to the 17% posted in the same period for 2022.
Despite this, it’s continued to outpace rivals as the largest toy manufacturer by revenue with a strategy that builds on its pandemic-era growth, boosted by a diverse slate of products that cater to both kids and adults and continued investment in marketing.
“Play is Your Superpower” will run for four months across peak holidays, including Black Friday and Christmas. Taylor acknowledged Lego would add a “holiday component” with the characters showing up a “little differently” in the seasonal spots.
This commitment to a single, integrated campaign running across markets was an “effectiveness decision,” she said. “We’re bundling what would ordinarily be different campaigns into one bigger one.”
Taylor said from a brand-building perspective, Lego was expecting a strong long-term boost, “but like all marketers, we’re looking for good short-term sales impact, especially over the holiday period,” she added.
The latest campaign builds on Lego’s “Rebuild the World” brand proposition, which launched back in 2019 and marked its biggest strategy shift in 30 years. The platform has spent the past four years positioning Lego as something that can strengthen creative resilience and problem-solving capabilities for kids in a world where young people are more likely to pick up an iPad than open a toybox.
Taylor said: “This is a seamless continuation of that narrative. ‘Rebuild the World’ is here to stay. This is a new way of creativity expressing it, and there’s a lot more juice in that platform for us to [be] active against for a long time.”
