We took our kids to see The Lego Movie today.
Cabin fever is in full force in our home, and after a particularly tense morning of sibling bickering, I welcomed the 90 minutes of respite in the darkened theater.
However, as I sat there watching the opening credits (in the fullest movie theater I’ve seen in a very long time), the larger-than-life close-up of the Lego logo on a brick filled me with more than a little trepidation. My marketing cynic radar was on high alert. Were we just about to sit through a very long, crummy commercial?
Name one other corporate brand that has people trustingly forking out money hand over fist like Lego. Okay, one can argue that it’s no different than any Disney movie, the Justin Bieber movie, etc. But as far as toys go, I can’t think of another brand that went so far as to create a movie of this magnitude.
As the movie went on though, I realized that while yes, it is most certainly a thinly veiled commercial, it also carries a message that I firmly believe in: be creative, work together, use your imagination, and that in this world, there are both thinkers and doers, and both are important.
The coolest part? My kids walked out of that theater excitedly jabbering and inspired. On the car ride home, they were already strategizing the things they could build. When we got home, they spent the remainder of the day working together, nicely, quietly, respectfully, without the aid if instruction manuals. Just building to their heart’s desire. Their iPods collecting dust in their bedrooms.
That, right there, is marketing GOLD. Lego, you have struck the jackpot.
Now if I could just get that blasted “Everything is Awesome” song out of my head…
