This 17 minute video from LEGO provides a prime example of how a brand can engage users with long-form online content, rather than 30 second TV commercials. To celebrate its 80th birthday, Lego released an engaging animated short that recounts the company’s beginnings as a carpentry business in Billund, Denmark to the global toy brand it’s become today. Launched on August 10th, the video has so far attracted over 2.3 million views and 34,000 ‘likes’ on YouTube. The viral links back to the brand's Facebook page, with has over 2 million fans so far.
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Brand: Lego | Country: Denmark | Agency: Lani Pixels | Sector: Retail, Toys | Format: YouTube
"The Lego Story," created by Danish CG studio Lani Pixels, chronicles how the company has managed to survive factories being burned to the ground, economic downturns, and personal losses, as well as touching on lighthearted anecdotes of why the tubing in a Lego brick was created and the birth of Legoland--all narrated by someone as close to the story as one can get: Kjeld Kirk Kristiansen, grandson of Lego founder Ole Kirk Christiansen and former CEO.
The video tells the story of how Ole Kirk Christiansen founded a small toy company back in 1932 after his carpentry business failed.
It looks at the ups and downs faced by family members between 1932 and 1968 – from a fire destroying a factory during World War II to the opening of the first Legoland theme park.
Currently in its fourth generation of family ownership, Billund-based Lego Group has revenues of more than €2.5 billion and is one of the largest maker of toys in the world.
It is also the biggest manufacturer of tyres, producing around 381 million wheels in a year.
The word LEGO” comes from the two Danish words “leg” and “godt”, which translates to “play well”.
The video also paves the way for a forthcoming full length animated LEGO movie, staring Morgan Freeman, set for launch in 2014.
