The LEGO Group hand over the reins of its Holiday campaign to children (and Katy Perry adds a few extra Fireworks!)
Billund, November 1st, 2022: The LEGO Group has launched its biggest and most playful Holiday campaign to date. This year, the 90-year-old brand turned to some of the most creative minds on the planet, children, to help supercharge its festive celebrations with fun.
The children were handed creative control behind the cameras, building, unbuilding and rebuilding what the Holidays mean to them. Rather than picture-perfect shots of snow, exquisitely set tables full of festive feasts, and crackling open fires, the children chose to design, build and bring to life a playful vehicle to help them deliver presents and bring the community together over the Holiday season.
The film shows children using play to navigate their way and overcome obstacles on their journey to deliver gifts. The overarching campaign narrative highlights that play, not perfection, is the best way to bring people together to have fun throughout the season. This narrative was rooted in cultural insight, with new research from the LEGO Group finding that the vast majority (84%) of children wish they could play more with their parents.
But the LEGO Group couldn’t leave the children completely unsupervised, so playful icon and global superstar Katy Perry jumped aboard to help supercharge the Holiday season with play.
Aside from being one of the best-selling musical artists of all time, Katy is an avid LEGO fan and collector. As well as featuring Katy, the advert is backed by her chart-topping hit Firework, a song about self-empowerment, confidence and being your true self. It shows the group of children run outside to be greeted by Katy in an outfit inspired by LEGO bricks and riding on a larger-than-life LEGO vehicle they’ve just created together - with every character, animal, and gadget in the colourful adventure built using the LEGO System in Play.
“At the LEGO Group, children are our role models – they inspire us with their creativity, curiosity and imagination, so who better to turn to for our Holiday campaign,” says Julia Goldin, Chief Product and Marketing Officer at the LEGO Group. “Our new campaign is a celebration of the creative power and optimism that children possess. They see endless possibilities for play and show us the difference play can make to the world as they rebuild it for the better. We want to inspire people of all ages to prioritise play over perfection and unleash a childlike joy this Holiday season.”
When asked about her involvement in the campaign, Katy said: “As a LEGO fan who has built a lot of models with kids in the last few years, it was super heart-warming to see what happens when kids are put in charge of holiday gift-giving. Play comes in so many forms with no set of rules, and to see them apply that makes me hopeful for a really bright future for the generation.”
Developed by the creative team from the LEGO Agency, the fully integrated global Holiday campaign will run across a variety of channels including TV, digital, out of home, social and e-commerce, and in LEGO stores across 35 markets.
The film was created by a multi-award-winning team, including direction and production by Traktor and post-production by The Mill. It is the first time a celebrity has featured in one of the LEGO Group’s Holiday campaigns, and will be supplemented by further content featuring Katy Perry, including videos of children interviewing her and a look at her building a gift as part of the #BuildToGive initiative.
As part of the Holiday campaign, the LEGO Group has also launched digital and in-store wishlists for children to let their parents know what their perfect gift would be. There will also be an online LEGO Gift Finder so gift givers can easily find the LEGO products that inspire the children in the film.
Running alongside the Holiday campaign is the LEGO Group’s sixth annual #BuildToGive initiative. #BuildtoGive will encourage children and families globally to build a LEGO creation in order to give a LEGO set to a child in need. Once built, simply share on social media or LEGO Life using the hashtag #BuildToGive before the end of December. This year, the company will be giving a record-breaking two million sets to children in hospitals, children’s homes and vulnerable communities. To find out more, visit: LEGO.com/BuildToGive.
The new Holiday and #BuildToGive campaigns are both part of the LEGO Group’s Rebuild the World brand platform which celebrates the creativity of children, inspires them to imagine a better world and shows how LEGO play helps them develop vital life-long skills. To find out more, visit: LEGO.com/holiday-gifts.
Notes To Editors
For more information, please contact media@lego.com
Campaign Credits
The LEGO Agency
• SVP LEGO Agency: Nicole Taylor
• Global Creative Lead: Lucas Reynoso Vizcaino
• Global Creative Team: Julie Koch, Gonzalo Torres Arce, Martin Rathschau BNielsen
• Global Brand and Markets Partner: Julie Regis
• Sr. Global Communication Partner: Simran Khaira
• Global Brand Strategist: Sonal Jhuj
• Global Communication Strategist: Richard Yardley
• Social Strategist: Natalie Williams
• Global Project Manager: Malene Kallestrup, Roman Melo, Preben Gregers Jespersen
• Head of Production: Charlie Cooper Henniker
• Senior Lead Producer: Uffe Bryld
• Producer: Elaine Lee
• Senior Film production Manager: Mette Soegaard Lorenzen
• Post Production Manager: Lene Williams
• Sr. Content Planner: Kenneth Sanchez
• Brand Global Marketing Development Team: Alero Dawn Akuya, Lisa Nash, Charlotte Lor
External Partners
• Director: Traktor
• Producer: Traktor
• Production Company: Stink Paris
• EP Stink: Helene Segol
• Service Production Company: ICON Films Sofia
• EP Icon: Emil Rangelov
• Producer: Millen Nickolov
• Producer: Gergana Kuzmova
• Production Manager: Galabena Botova
• DoP: Sophie Winqvist
• Production Designer: Markéta Korinkova
• Art Director: Eva Vento
• Costume Designer: Djanina Baykoucheva & Dora Somova
• Costume Design Katy Perry: Heather Picchiottino
• 1st AD: Ben Gill
• Magic Unit Director: Rozaliya Dimitrova
• Magic Unit Director/DoP: Saam Gabbay
• Casting: Kate & Lou & Roo, London
• Editorial Company: Final Cut
• Editor: Amanda James & Leah Burton
• Editors Asst: Josh Chadwick
• Edit Producer: Nikki Porter
• Sound Design: Machine Sound
• Sound Designers: Patch Rowland, Alex Bingham and Chas Langston
• Music Composer Passion Films: Brice Cagan & Alex Bingham
• Sound & Music Producer: Ghazal Zargar Elahi, Rebecca Boswell, Amber Clayton
• Music Hero Film: Katy Perry/Universal Music
• Grading: Company 3
• Colorist: Jean-Clement Soret & Matthieu Toullet
• Color Producer: Ellora Soret & Kerri Aungle
• Post Production: The Mill
• EP: Chris Allen
• VFX Producer: Solomon Tiigah
• VFX SUPERVISOR: Lora Nikolaeva
• CG SUPERVISOR: Ted Harrison
• 2D: Vanessa Duquesnay. Loredana Gangemi, Davide Metti
• 3D Team: Jack Enever. Arnau Gilabert, Platon Filimonov, Jean Grandgirard
• Animation Lead: Mack Knights
• Animation: Marion Strunck
• Rigging: Maximilian Mallmann
• On set Supervisors: Filip Popov & Rodrigo Jimenez-Baena
About the LEGO Group:
The LEGO Group’s mission is to inspire and develop the builders of tomorrow through the power of play. The LEGO System in Play, with its foundation in LEGO bricks, allows children and fans to build and rebuild anything they can imagine. The LEGO Group was founded in Billund, Denmark in 1932 by Ole Kirk Kristiansen, its name derived from the two Danish words Leg Godt, which mean “Play Well”. Today, the LEGO Group remains a family-owned company headquartered in Billund. Its products are now sold in more than 130 countries worldwide. For more information: www.LEGO.com
About #BuildToGive:
In connection with the #BuildToGive 2022 Holiday Activation, the LEGO Group will donate one LEGO® set to charity for every gift that is built with LEGO bricks and shared on social media with #BuildToGive. Children under the age of 13 must obtain parent’s permission to post to social media. Total annual donation not to exceed 2,000,000 LEGO sets with a total value of 20,000,000 USD. Last year, the company donated 1.5 million sets to children across the globe and has increased that number this year to commemorate its 90th anniversary milestone.
About Katy Perry:
Katy Perry has racked up a cumulative 65 billion streams alongside worldwide sales of over 57 million adjusted albums and 138 million tracks. Her summer 2019 single, “Never Really Over,” off her album SMILE was the biggest streaming launch of Katy’s musical career. Views of her videos “Roar” and “Dark Horse” have each surpassed 3 billion views – making Katy the first and only female artist to reach this milestone. She is one of only 5 artists in history to have topped 100 million certified units with their digital singles – and the first-ever Capitol Records artist to join the RIAA 100 Million Certified Songs club. Katy’s 2015 Super Bowl performance is the highest-rated in the event’s history.
Aside from being one of the best-selling musical artists of all time, Katy is an active advocate of many philanthropic causes. In 2013, Katy was appointed a UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador and has used her powerful voice to ensure every child’s right to health, education, equality, and protection. Katy has also been a champion for LGBTQ+ equality, and has received numerous awards for her work, including the Trevor Project's Hero Award in 2012, the Human Rights Campaign's National Equality Award in 2017, amfAR’s Award of Courage in 2018, and Variety’s Power of Women distinction in 2021 for her work with her own foundation, the Firework Foundation, whose mission is to empower children from underserved communities by igniting their inner light through the arts."
She is currently performing her Las Vegas residency, PLAY. Show dates are available at www.katyperry.com/tour.