LEGO leads the world
The LEGO Movie: the greatest feature-length advert ever made?
So LEGO has finally overtaken Mattel as the most profitable toy company in the world – see article link below:
‘Lego is the biggest toy company in the world’ – www.fastcodesign.com
Since beginning to write copy for LEGO a year ago, I can vouch for the colossal amount of thought and effort that goes into maintaining a consistent tone in their branding across all product lines. Whether you are dealing with seemingly polar opposites – like LEGO Friends and LEGO Star Wars – the underlying message remains clearly, unmistakably, LEGO.
Last summer, I wrote the text for 2014 products associated with The LEGO Movie. At the time, I was not able to see any excerpts from the forthcoming film and was given only a basic outline of the characters and story. Therefore, I was very eager to see it when it hit UK screens. Of course, the film has proved to be a worldwide smash-hit, compared by many reviewers to the seminal Toy Story animation films. When I finally got to see it, I was hugely impressed with the animation and intelligence and wit of the script, which reminded me of The Simpsons in its appeal to both children and adults. A couple of weeks later, I saw a stage production of George Orwell’s 1984 and, if I’m not mistaken, The LEGO Movie drew some inspiration from that classic tale.
From a branding perspective, I was even more impressed by how the movie remained utterly true to the LEGO brand throughout, from the vehicles and buildings to the way in which the characters moved (even wryly acknowledging the limitations of LEGO minifigures’ movements) as well as reinforcing core LEGO values of creativity and individuality, but also education and the power of working together as a team.
Compared to, say, the horrendously shoehorned product placement in the Sex And The City films, the branding in The LEGO Movie was cleverly integrated into the story. It is not only a fantastically entertaining movie for all the family, but also, arguably, the greatest feature-length advertisement ever made.
I feel very privileged to be a copywriter for such a premium brand; a world-leader, in fact.