LEGO Case Study | TwoLine Studios
Do you remember this? It was the summer of 2013, and people from around the world gathered in Time Square to see LEGO history in the making!
But why did they watch LEGO create the largest model ever built? To understand, let’s go back to 1999 when the first Star Wars LEGO set was introduced. During this period, LEGO was hugely successful and gained mainstream popularity. That was until 2011 when sales dropped, and the company desperately needed to find a way to reinvigorate its fans.
Our client did everything, as you would expect, to solve this problem. Heather Willems, TwoLine Studios Founder, and the team co-created a three-day strategy session to support LEGO in their discovery of new ways to excite fans. We created an agenda that would ignite creative problem-solving. We brought in all the right people with the right information about their customers into one room.
It was the first morning of the session, and we explored the numbers, market trends, and focus group results. But something didn’t go as originally planned. As a transition into the afternoon’s activities, Heather led a simple ice breaker. She taught the team a drawing exercise, and we sent them into breakouts with one question to answer: If anything is possible, how can we reinvigorate fans? Dream the impossible. The universe is unlimited.
The teams split up to draw their big idea and reported back to the group. They had grand ideas that included landing a life-size Millennium Falcon at JFK Airport, having an epic battle between Yoda and Darth Vader in Time Square, and creating an entirely new storyline for Star Wars.
The session was graphically recorded: Heather listened, organized, and synthesized the key ideas in real-time. At this moment, something started to happen. It was as if the images in proximity to one another started to connect. New ideas were being formed. And they were fabulous!
The team looked at this page and suddenly realized the impossible was possible.
We needed to put these concepts into creation.
We gave the team a break and we redesigned the entire agenda. Based off of the brainstorming, we created templates that the teams could use to capture their ideas visually. By the end of the two days, they came up with a strategic plan for the next two years to make their dreams a reality.
Okay, they couldn’t build an actual functioning Millennium Falcon, but they did build an X-Wing Starfighter LEGO in Time Square, New York. It is the biggest model ever made with over 5 million bricks and weighing 23 tons. The team advocated the screens in Time Square for an epic battle between Yoda and Darth Vadar. Additionally, they launched The Yoda Chronicles which became a game, cartoon series, and internet video.
LEGO X-Wing Starfighter in Times Square, New York. Image Source: Business Insider by Chris C. Anderson
The initiative was a media hit globally, reinvigorated sales, and trended on social media for the three-day activation. The event went down in history as the company, “The Day LEGO Broke the Internet.”
When talking with the team a year later, Heather asked them what led to their success, and they said it came down to innovating the ideation process and having FUN with the problem. The team agreed that being aligned with a clear goal in mind allowed them to accomplish three things:
Trying something new
Pushing the boundaries as a team
Embracing failure
Innovating LEGO’s regular processes of ideation allowed them to envision new ideas for the company's future. Let’s break this process down.
What is innovation?
Innovation is not just a new technical device or a new idea. Innovation is harnessing teams’ creative abilities. It is not just about the end result but the process of trying something new, pushing the boundaries, adapting to change, and having confidence in failure.
What does innovation do? Why do we need it?
Innovation gives you an edge to stand with confidence out in a crowd. Innovation provides teams with new ways to look at problems. The LEGO team stated it, it allows you to have fun with the problem. Lastly, innovation allows for new ways for brands to connect with customers so teams continue to grow.
How to do it?
In our experience, innovation can happen three ways:
Try something new and get off of the path of least resistance.
Push the boundaries as a team and find new ways to combine dissimilar ideas.
Embrace failure This involves testing ideas and trying them again. If you keep creating, something will eventually become of it.
Graphic recording by Heather Willems at the LEGO strategy workshop
Two Line Studios has been helping brands communicate virtually for years. Our facilitator-led sessions implement a Clarity Through Creativity®™ approach using visuals, storytelling, and creative inspiration — even when getting together in-person is not possible. Subscribe to our newsletter below to learn more the success of our experimental workshops.