The LEGO Group Celebrates the Incredible Power of Play with Its First Ever Fully Playable Brand Film

The LEGO Group has today released its new ‘Play Is Your Superpower’ campaign featuring the brand’s first ever fully playable brand film, which celebrates the heroes that can emerge in a world that has forgotten how to play.

The LEGO Group’s new ‘Play Is Your Superpower’ campaign has been created to encourage adults to prioritise play for the children in their lives. It will run for four months with three key moments: the fall launch, World Play Day on 12th October and during the brand’s peak holiday season.

Assembling Superpowered Talent

The film stars Hollywood actor Jane Lynch as a work-obsessed CEO who becomes enlightened to the merits of play by seeing its impact through the eyes of six adventurous children. Each child brings a different passion and skill to a mission to spread play in a monotonous, structured workplace. Superstar actress Sun Li takes on the role of the CEO in an adaption for families in China. The film, produced in collaboration between the LEGO Group’s creative agency, Our LEGO Agency (OLA), and award-winning agency Droga5 Dublin, part of Accenture Song, takes viewers on a journey that highlights the power of play.

The film was directed by pioneering cinematographer, screenwriter and director Ellen Kuras, best known for her work on Academy Award winning Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind.

Director of photography is Rachel Morrison, one of the first female directors of photography for a big budget superhero movie, 'Black Panther'.

Female led production company The Corner Shop along with Ellen worked with set designer and art director David Lee, whose credits include 'Star Wars' and 'Batman Begins'. Ellen also partnered with new Irish post-production and VFX company GABHA Studio to complete the superpower ensemble team behind the film that takes viewers on a fun-filled journey that highlights the power of play.

Celebrating the Power of Play

The campaign draws its insights from a recent global study finding that, on average, children are spending just 2% of their week (equivalent to 7 hours) playing with one in three (32%) spending less than three hours each week enjoying play. Comparatively, the study found the average adult spends 26 hours a week scrolling on their smartphone, an average of more than 3.5 hours per day.This current play deficit is a cause for concern for experts given the crucial role of play in shaping a child's cognitive abilities, overall wellbeing and most importantly, in them having fun.

Julia Goldin, chief product and marketing officer at the LEGO Group, said, “For over 90 years, we have been a champion of children and their right to play. We believe play helps children develop skills like creativity, confidence and communication that helps them learn and thrive today and in the future. Our Rebuild the World platform has helped us celebrate the power of play since 2019 and we’re excited by the next iteration of the campaign to inspire people of all ages to reprioritise play in their lives.”

Nic Taylor, SVP and head of Our LEGO Agency, said, “We knew we wanted to make a big statement around the power of play this year, so we designed a campaign that celebrates just this. The film showcases the endless possibilities for play that children see, in even the dullest of situations, and shows the difference play can make to the world as the children rebuild it for the better. Jane Lynch and Sun Li add to the playfulness of the film by revealing themselves as forward-thinkers who want to overthrow the norm and inject more play into their workplace.”

Jen Speirs, chief creative officer, Droga5 Dublin, part of Accenture Song, said, “Our creative team were on a mission to develop a big campaign idea that would be able to span from fall, right through to the holidays; and ‘Play is Your Superpower’ is exactly that. Of course, the only way to launch an idea like this was with a brand film that mimics a true superhero epic and opens people’s eyes to the wonders of play, which has actual ways to play hidden inside. We’re proud to have created a piece that features a line-up of diverse young talent that will empower both kids and adults to approach life in a more playful way and are excited to watch it unfold.”

Supercharging Play

The film is fully playable and packed with easter eggs, allowing viewers to play along and interact on LEGO.com and LEGO® Life app, where prompts on the site will encourage participation. Families will also be encouraged to transform themselves into minifigures like the characters in the film and join a global squad of passionate play advocates on LEGO.com.

As well as the hero film, the campaign will feature a series of playful outtakes and bloopers to bring moments of joy to families. The fully integrated global campaign will run across a variety of channels including TV, digital, out of home, cinema, PR, influencer, and e-commerce. The film will also come to life in LEGO stores globally with playable experiences that tie into the character’s mission from the hero film.

To launch the campaign, the LEGO Group has enlisted the help of a group of leading cultural figures who each attribute the skills developed through childhood play to helping make their dreams come true. The Play Squad, Tan France, Naomi Watanabe, Bindi Irwin and Stephanie Beatriz, will share the unique superpowers that play has given them and why they believe it should be a priority for every child.

The LEGO Group and a range of playful digital creators will also be bringing play to unexpected places around the world and sharing inspiration on how to inject moments of playfulness into even the busiest of schedules ahead of, and on, World Play Day on October 12th 2023.