A team of fresh-faced superheroes assemble, united by a single mission. As they advance toward their end goal, they battle obstacles with some moral support from Groot, before thwarting a villain and coming face to face with their mysterious boss, Jane Lynch, in a dramatic final summit.
No, this isn’t the new Marvel movie. It’s Lego’s latest ad: an epic 5-minute spot that celebrates the heroes that can emerge in a world that’s forgotten how to play.
Kids, Lego says, aren’t playing enough. On average, they spend just 2% of their time (or seven hours a week) playing, according to a global study conducted by the brand, which questioned more than 21,000 parents of children aged 6 to 12 across 22 markets. One in 3 kids (32%) spend less than three hours a week enjoying play.
These numbers are cause for concern for any company in the business of selling toys. However, for Lego, this play deficit is personal, because it built its brand on celebrating the power of play as a tool to enhance creativity, cogitative skills and well-being.
“Play isn’t a nice-to-have. It’s a critical thing to have in our kids’ development. This research was a gift to our creative talent, with the brief to tell this story in an entertaining way,” Nic Taylor, senior vice president and head of the toymaker’s in-house ad shop Our Lego Agency (OLA), told Adweek.
And so, the Danish-founded brand has launched its blockbuster “Play Is Your Superpower” film to encourage adults to prioritize play and drive sales throughout peak shopping season.
The 430-strong team at OLA and Accenture Song’s Droga5 Dublin developed the hero ad. Direction is from Ellen Kuras, best known for her work on Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, while Rachel Morrison of Black Panther fame is credited as director of photography.
Starring six adventurous kids who were painstakingly cast from different corners of the world, each one is shown bringing a different skill to a mission to spread play in a monotonous, structured workplace. Glee actor Lynch stars as the work-obsessed CEO who becomes enlightened by the power of play, while Sun Li takes on the role of the CEO in an adaption for families in China.
Taylor said the five-minute film is also Lego’s first ever “fully playable” ad. It’s packed with Easter eggs, inviting fans to crack the clues and play along with visual assets on Lego.com.
“We’ve created an interactive layer to the film itself,” explained Hazel Tracey, global creative lead at OLA.
“Kids and their parents can unlock different digital experiences, whether it’s building an avatar or collective virtual cards. We wanted to bring play into every touch point,” they added.