• Client

    LEGO Group

  • Category

    Technology

  • Awards

    Best Tech Innovation
    (Outdoor Media Awards)
    Best Creative Idea: Budget Over £250k
    (Campaign Media Awards)
    Best Outdoor Experience
    (Campaign Experience Awards)

About the project

Introducing LEGO Mid-Air Haptics: creating a magical way for children to play that could be seen by everyone.

Mark

The Challenge

After an utterly exhausting 2020 for families, parents had lost the simple joy of seeing their children play. Yet it’s only when parents see kids engaged in the process of building LEGO that they appreciate its true benefits of creativity, development and fun.

So to keep LEGO at the top of wish-lists, we needed to give parents and children a taste of the endless exciting creative possibilities that LEGO embodies. To relight the joy of play, we required more than just an ordinary campaign. We required a bit of magic too. But in the midst of a global pandemic when communal experiences were challenging, how could we give people the chance to play LEGO – without touching any bricks?

The Execution

We modelled three existing LEGO sets – a racing car, a duck, and a train – to create a totally new way to play with LEGO, giving kids the sensation of picking up and building but with bricks made of nothing but air! They were building LEGO out of literal thin air. Magic.

We used the latest advancements in touchless screen technology to create an immersive outdoor play experience for LEGO at London’s Westfield Stratford shopping centre. Using mid-air haptics technology, LEGO fans and families visiting Westfield Stratford were able to move, rotate and build virtual LEGO bricks using intuitive hand gestures. And to share the magic far and wide, social footage of the outdoor experience would take the joy of play across the whole of the country – reigniting imaginations and ensuring that LEGO was at the top of wish lists once again.

We brought this unique experience to one of the biggest shopping centres in the country, Westfield Stratford, in October 2020, when footfall had returned to pre-COVID levels. We used the giant digital out-of-home screen at Westfield Stratford to raise awareness of the ‘Rebuild The World’ experience and encourage participation; whilst shoppers queued to join the outdoor experience using LEGO-branded vinyl floor markers to ensure social distancing. When it was their turn, families entered the “LEGO house” – an experiential stand that had been designed to look as though it had been built from LEGO – where the haptics controller was housed.

Brand ambassadors, kitted out in LEGO branded clothing, were on hand to help participants play. Users selected one of the three different LEGO sets to build, and we used live motion tracking to replicate the build visually on the large digital out of home screen so participants – and everyone else in the area – could see their creation coming together in real life. Once their creation was revealed for all to see on the giant digital screen, the activation ended with a call-to-action QR code displayed on the screen – large enough to be scanned at distance and ensuring a completely contact-free experience – which directed participants to the ‘Rebuild The World’ portal on the LEGO website.

LEGO's touchless experience

350 children engaged with the game

The Result

More than 7 million people witnessed 350 children building LEGO out of thin air. At the end of a very tough year, this magical re-ignition of the joy of play helped LEGO to massively exceed its holiday sales targets, seeing its biggest Q4 on record. All this with zero physical contact, offering children a safe way to experience a 60-year-old brick in a new way, in a year unlike any in its history.

  • 0

    children played the game

  • 0

    physical contact

  • 0m

    reach on social media

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