For the UK theatrical launch of Warner Bros.’ The LEGO Movie, the challenge was the movie having no existing cinema heritage, known characters or previous franchise knowledge to help it gain traction pre-release. This made it easy for cinema-goers to dismiss it at first glance, as ‘a kids movie about toys’. In order to deliver a successful box office performance, it was key to engage a ‘grown-up’ audience enough to get them to see the film.
The key to achieving this lay in understanding and harnessing grown-ups’ powerful childhood memories of LEGO and combining them with the best of Hollywood entertainment - a strategic approach they called ‘LEGO-tainment’.
To launch a movie in which the whole world is made of LEGO, a branded content idea which replicated that experience in media by turning an everyday part of ‘grown-up’ life completely into LEGO was created. So, five days before the movie’s launch four well-known existing TV ads were recreated in LEGO to create the World’s first all-LEGO ad break on peak time ITV.
The break was described by YouGov as the most successful it had ever tested and it delivered an ROI of almost £6:£1 in incremental box office to the movie’s opening week takings.
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(Please note: parts of this case study may have been redacted for confidentiality purposes.)
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