LEGO Jurassic World

Challenge

How do you launch a product that ties together the world’s favourite toy brand and one of the biggest franchises in movie history and do it all in way that appeals to fickle and agile minds of digitally-native kids and leverages the viral potential of the platforms they spend time on?

In the spring of 2018, Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom, the second Jurassic World movie, hit film theatres worldwide. Continuing our 45-year relationship as global lead agency for LEGO, Advance was assigned to communicate the new LEGO Jurassic World product line on the preferred platform for kids, YouTube.

The challenge was to maintain the essence of Jurassic World and recreate the mood of the film's universe, but at the same time transform it into an engaging experience for children – all while remaining true to the LEGO brand.

We were faced with a target group that, because of their use of computer games and online platforms, expect entertainment, surprise and, not least, that they are in control and in the centre of it all, no matter what they do.

Solution

We created a ‘Choose Your Own Adventure’ narrative flow called Rescue Blue that took the user on a journey through several videos, each of which ended by asking them to decide how the story should continue if dinosaur, Blue, was to be saved from the impending danger of an erupting volcano. This meant that the users became active participants in the storytelling rather than passive recipients of content. In addition to creating a positive experience for the user, this behaviour plays very well with YouTube’s indexing algorithms because of the longer sessions it encourages.

Since the campaign's success was based on the ability to get the users to see the videos all the way to the end, we got the film's hero, Owen, to break ‘the fourth wall’ and talk directly to the user. So, in addition to involving the users as an off-camera character in the story itself, we took advantage of the conventions that users already expect from YouTubers who regularly ask their followers to respond, subscribe or see other related content.

Breaking down different elements of the campaign

Collaboration with LEGO-agency and supportive campaign toolbox

The project also required us to work closely with LEGO’s in-house agency. After being briefed by them, we carried out all of the concept development and production but had to deliver the elements and coordinate the rollout of tactical elements at a global scale. Derived assets were created using the original material to ensure both an engagement and conversion presence on platforms such as Facebook, Instagram, LEGO.com and LEGO Life. Though none of these assets directed viewers towards the YouTube experience, it made the Rescue Blue production as a whole a very versatile campaign toolbox for the markets to use.

Results

• The video series appeared on YouTube Ads Leaderboard two months in a row. According to Google, this is extremely rare, especially for YouTube Ads. The Leaderboard is determined by an algorithm that measures "organic and paid views, watch time and audience retention".
  


• The videos series ended up on YouTube's Global Year End 2018 Ads Leaderboard above the top 10 best commercials worldwide.


• In August 2018, the first of the videos rounded 10 million views on YouTube after only three months (US/UK version).
  


• The full story was shared by users on their own accounts on both YouTube and Instagram. One Spanish version received over 8 million views on YouTube.


• The ‘pick-your-path’ format and end card path kept viewers engaged for longer and created algorithmically favorable watch sessions that drove above-average viewer retention. 


• The positive reception of Rescue Blue contributed actively to the strong launch of the new product line and resulted in a follow-up being produced.


• Overall, the positive user reception of Rescue Blue actively contributed to the strong launch of the new product line, and in addition, resulted in the immediate request of a follow-up to be launched in the fall of 2018.

“First, I want to mention that the first feedback I received from the markets was very positive. They love the video and see it as a very strong asset. So, there is lots of excitement and enthusiasm in the markets which is perfect! So, thanks for all the effort of the team. Things have been really fast and the result is really awesome and above expectations.”

Hélène Desprets, Senior Marketing Manager, LEGO