Lego Continues to Successfully "Build" Brand Through Video Games

Following in the footsteps of Lego Star Wars, Lego Indiana Jones and Lego Batman comes Lego Rock Band, which was formally announced today.

Lego is not new to branded video games, having been in the space since 1998. However, since the success of the original Lego Star Wars, the brand has seen huge gains in both their game sales and more importantly, the sales of Lego blocks.

In terms of game sales, the Lego Star Wars series of video games alone have sold over 19 million copies, Lego Indiana Jones has sold almost 8 million copies, and Lego Batman has sold over 4 million copies. And how has this new wave of Lego video games boosted block sales? Sales were up 38% in 2008 even in the face of the economic downturn.

Where does Lego succeed in the video game space where other brands fail? Let's discuss.

image from russellbeattie.com

The gamer in me instinctively wants to say that the plan works because the games don't suck. While they're not perfect, the games achieve an acceptable level of quality, unlike most advergames (including every Lego game before Lego Star Wars). The ad guys and gals of the world take this part for granted, and I hope in the future that they don't. The power of interactive advertising lies in the fact that you can associate your brand with a positive experience. If you give the consumer your brand and tie it to a negative experience, odds are they'll think negatively about your brand. Even kids have standards for video games and are looking for a positive experience, and a poorly developed game will get shunned the moment the game isn't fun anymore.

The marketers not well versed in the world of video games would probably say it sold because it was attached to popular licenses. Yes, having Star Wars, Indiana Jones and Batman helps quite a bit. However, if it was just the license association selling the games, then the increase in Lego block sales would only affect the Star Wars, Indiana Jones and Batman product lines. As big as those are, I don't think they're big enough to pull in the type of gains that Lego had in 2008. And they would have explicitly said their gains came from just those lines, which they didn't.

So what then makes these games sell more Lego blocks?


Let's break it down with the Anthony Kalamut classic, 1+1=3.

1+1=3
Client/Product/Brand Insights + Consumer/Audience Insights = Sweet Spot/Big Idea/Execution

Lego blocks have for many years been a childhood staple. To kids, they are more than just blocks. You're building ideas. You're taking an idea in your head and making it come to life.

+

Children love to play. They love to pretend. They love to make things and use their imagination.

=
Fun, virtual and interactive Lego experience.

Every game in the "Lego" lineage captures the experience of playing with Lego blocks. All the characters look and move as you would imagine Lego people would. They fall apart into Lego blocks when "killed". Lego characters in these games never die, they just get put back together. The Lego pieces never talk, but they emote so vividly that they can convey an entire story without actually talking. Just like playing with Legos in real life, your Lego pieces never talk, it's up to you to think/say what your Lego people will say. The games feature a lot of building elements. And even within the framework of a popular series like Star Wars, they allow room for children to use their imaginations and make their own fun. Everything fun about playing with Lego blocks, they were able to translate into these games and inspire the youth of today to invest in the brand even further.

Lego has managed to put together the pieces of the advergaming puzzle to form something that works very well for their brand (sorry for the unavoidable pun). It'll be interesting to see how successful Lego Rock Band will be. Unlike the other games in the current Lego series, this one is a music game and not an adventure, and I feel that adventure lends itself better to the Lego experience. However, Google search has just exploited the limits of my imagination, by proving that lots of people have been rocking out with their Lego pieces. Lego, if you're listening, all I ask for is some sort of nod to the brilliant video for "Fell In Love With A Girl" by the White Stripes.