If you have been following the LEGO Social Media feed over the last few days you may have felt a little baffled. Following a 10 second teaser, featuring a man carrying an oversized bow and arrow… cross to an anthropomorphised lion and deer sharing a coffee… a life size LEGO Fire truck and a crowd of people dressed as minifigures – with oversized minifigure accessories: camera, flower, flippers look to the sky to see a rubber raft fly by. We are now excited to be able to bring you the short film in its entirety. (after the break)
Heads turning 360º? Removable fire? A rabbit flying in a Caterham 7? The Hunter on a Harley Davidson?
What is this exercise in surrealism? Take a moment to unpack what you just saw. How many LEGO references, past and present, did you catch? I lost count after ‘many.’
Today in Billund, LEGO are launching their new global campaign ‘Rebuild the World.’ This campaign is designed to help nurture the creative skills of the next generation.
In Billund, at the LEGO House, over 100 children (and just a few grown ups) will meet singer Mark Ronson, David Aguilar (who has built several prosthetic arms out of LEGO elements and other creative people to explore the potential of creativity. They will also take part in a series of rebuilder workshops, facilitated by designer and inventor Dominic Wilcox.
“Who knows what will come out of today… a house with a hot air balloon for a roof? A car with long legs to jump over the traffic ahead? No one sees the world quite like children so we’re excited to see what they come up with,” says Dominic Wilcox.
I attended a talk regarding this new Brand Campaign at the Fan Media days in Billund earlier this year. We can expect to see an emphasis on the brand working to inspire Optimistic Creativity: ” The LEGO system has long been the ultimate platform for creative expression and creative problem solving. Children don’t just imagine what to build, they can build and rebuild. Experiment. Fail. Break the rules. Fail and Try again… This is the cycle of human creativity and the essence of the LEGO System in Play.”
Creativity is an important life skill, which has been identified as one of the top skill needed in the job market as we move into the future.
In the meantime, here is a discussion between Jørgen Vig Knudstrop (Executive Chairman) and Niels Christiansen (Chief Executive officer), about the importance of creative play…
One thing that might be considered is the way that strict adherence to instructions can be stifling to creativity. This might well be, in part seeing LEGO shifting its orientation from the construction toy space towards the creative toy space (currently occupied predominantly by arts and craft oriented toys, such as coloured markers/crayons etc or modelling clay).
There are rumoured to be upcoming workshops around the world coming up, but I have yet to hear of anything in Australia. If I hear anything, I ‘ll let you know.
We will certainly be seeing activities and challenges rolling out in LEGO Life, as well as possibly real life. I am intrigued as to whether we will return to the days of generic brick boxes, or just see an emphasis in advertising to make things that are not straight out of the box. Such advertisements were common place when I was a kid, and perhaps it is an attempt to regain this direction. Certainly we have had tag lines in the past such as :
“A new toy every day…” (late 70’s-80’s)
“…just imagine” late 1990’s. I find the distinction between imagination and creativity that is made by Jørgen Vig Knudstorp in the video above to be quite interesting.
We have not had such a catchy tag line in more recent years.
These date from a time where there was less overall emphasis on building sets, and more towards creative and imaginative play.
THE LEGO GROUP WITH MARK RONSON
INSPIRE KIDS TO REBUILD THE WORLD
Today, the LEGO Group and musician Mark Ronson launch Rebuild The World, a campaign to help nurture the creative skills of the next generation.
Over 100 children will meet Mark and other inspiring figures, such as 19-year-old David Aguilar, who built several prosthetic arms from LEGO® elements, at the LEGO House, Billund, to explore the infinite potential of creativity. Their imaginations will also be fired up in a series of workshops, where they’ll be challenged to rebuild the world they see around them.
“My whole career has been about working with brilliant, creative people and seeing where our imaginations take us. Rebuild The World, is a wonderful opportunity to help inspire the next generation of creators who will come up with their own ideas to shape the future of everything from the way we live to the music we listen to,” explains Mark Ronson.
The LEGO Group believes that every child is born with incredible creative problem-solving capabilities, but we need to act now to nurture that creativity so that it can become a lifelong skill, as the future depends on it.
Inspiring creativity is more critical and urgent than ever. The World Economic Forum Future of Jobs Report places creative problem solving in the top three skills the job market will require from 2020. Imaginative play helps children learn how to innovate, problem solve and think critically throughout their lives.
Mark Ronson will also be joined by representatives from other creative fields to discuss why it’s more important than ever to help nurture creativity as a key skill so that the builders of tomorrow can succeed in an ever-changing world.
Julia Goldin, Chief Marketing Officer, The LEGO Group, said: “Rebuild The World is all about seeing where imagination takes us and celebrating the natural creativity of children. We want to encourage kids around the world to develop and retain these skills as they grow older. With this campaign, we want to inspire people of all ages to play and unleash their creativity to create a world of infinite possibilities.”
Meanwhile, British designer and inventor Dominic Wilcox will lead a series of Rebuilder Workshops on the 17th September. He, along with two other creatives, will challenge kids to reimagine iconic landmarks, invent new gadgets and solve everyday problems – all with LEGO bricks. Other LEGO professionals will lend a hand, helping the kids bring their incredible ideas to life.
“Who knows what will come out of today… a house with a hot air balloon for a roof? A car with long legs to jump over the traffic ahead? No one sees the world quite like children so we’re excited to see what they come up with,” says Dominic Wilcox.
Kids around the world can also take part by sharing their creations on the LEGO Life app or by visiting www.lego.com/rebuild-the-world-challenge
The LEGO system has long been the ultimate platform for creative expression and creative problem solving. Children don’t just imagine what to build, they can build and rebuild. Experiment. Fail. Break the rules. Fail and Try again… This is the cycle of human creativity and the essence of the LEGO System in Play.
Now, we’re going even further. Through Rebuild The World, we want to inspire children to unleash their creativity, join the Rebuild The World challenge and rebuild a world of endless possibilities for real. Learn more by visiting www.lego.com/rebuild-the-world
Created by the LEGO Group’s internal agency with BETC Paris, the Rebuild the World campaign is the most ambitious global brand campaign ever. Directed by the multi award-winning Traktor collective, the adventure follows the chase between a clever rabbit and an unlucky hunter and unfolds in the kind of world that only LEGO play could create. Every character, animal and vehicle is based on an existing or past LEGO toy, so heads spin 360 degrees, everyday objects are outsized, and a boat can suddenly fly with a little help from a palm tree.
Certainly, we will be looking for creative solutions to the problems of the world as well move into the future. Problems that we have failed to solve, and problems that we are yet to encounter. Perhaps embracing our creative sides, without being constrained by the way we have been told things should be, is something that we should all strive to do.
Then we can set out to Rebuild The World.
Until then,
Play Well.