2022 Winners & Shortlists

Background

For over 90 years, LEGO has connected with countless generations around the world and given them vibrant childhoods. Normally targeting children between 4-9 years of age, LEGO readjusted its marketing strategy as they and the world adjusted to the new normal. Now, unconventionally, LEGO started targeting adults. Majid Al Futtaim, the region’s leading lifestyle group and bring the LEGO Certified Stores to the UAE. The group asked for the social media content that created brand association and creatively tackle the unorthodox audience all while adding to the company’s overarching narrative.

Describe the strategy

In the UAE, adults were stressed as they adjusted to the new normal. From being glued to their laptops and working overtime from home to managing a new breed of homeschoolers, “me time” became a scarce commodity that was the cause. According to a survey by LEGO, building bricks reduces stress levels by making you focus and forget. 91% of adults felt better and 86% felt more relaxed after playing with LEGO. Making the narrative a simple formula: Me Time = Disconnect = LEGO. Unlike a campaign, this was meant to be a single social media post that adds to both LEGO and Majid Al Futtaim’s narrative, so we had to get imaginative and get to “building with adults”!

Describe the execution

We devised a snackable video that featured an adult in their 30s entering a LEGO store in Majid Al Futtaim’s flagship destination, Mall of the Emirates. The key? Imagination! Recorded overnight to avoid any interference, a stop motion film featured a sense of nostalgia, an exciting journey and provided edutainment on the store. We chose stop motion because, like LEGO, the medium has infinite possibilities with characters, adventures and locations. It also imitates the playtime people have, creating a perfect marriage of medium and message. Promoted for 5 days on Facebook and TikTok to 21–55-year-olds across UAE, Egypt and KSA, the content was boosted for USD 1,000 with the aim of primarily obtaining engagement and secondly followers.

List the results

The content achieved 1.3m views and 67.5k engagements in just 5 days both organically and through paid promotion. 88% of the engagement came from adults and Majid Al Futtaim’s B2C channels gained 8.7k followers. Majid Al Futtaim created brand association with LEGO and showed that building great moments isn’t just for kids! More importantly, the brand reminded their new audience that taking a break from all that stressful “adulting” is important.