DID I JUST PAY $20 TO WATCH AN AD? YES.
And I loved it. The Lego Movie was one of my favorite movies of 2014. The animated film scores a massive 96% on Rotten Tomatoes and grossed $257.8 million in North America. The adver- I MEAN MOVIE was so successful, that it led to a nationwide shortage in LEGO products. LEGO was selling faster than they could produce.
So how did LEGO make almost $200 million in profits from ticket sales and even more in product sales? By harnessing the power of narrative.
The story resonates with both of LEGO’s target markets – young children and parents – by creating a Pixar-like narrative that builds a perception of LEGO as a creative, wholesome toy that encourages individuality and self expression. The film also quite cleverly includes nostalgic elements from the childhoods of young adults and teenagers, which further increases brand loyalty.
BUT IT’S A KIDS MOVIE!
A great one! In fact, I would love to see more marketing of this type for children, instead of flashy 15 second commercials on Nickelodeon. LEGO is the first brand I know of to engage children in this way. After all, are the Transformers movies geared towards kids who buy Transformers? If they are, nobody told Megan Fox.
BoweryJE22
It was a fantastic movie , and an even more fantastic move by the Marketing department, maybe other companies should follow suit?
It was such a great success because it had a good story, great characters and excellent humor. Did LEGO come up with the idea? Did they design any of the story or get any of the profits? I’m curious how LEGO interacted with the production company in the creation of this, because it most certainly was a media marketing ploy.
I love the encouragement for kids to create stories with their toys, and this definitely reminds me of all the adventures my LEGO figures went on as they traveled through my house.